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Apr 10, 2026
The Bells Podcast
The Bells Podcast
00:00
09:49
Transcript
0:00
[intro jingle] Hello again. Welcome back to the Dark Moon Podcast. Okay.
0:18
Today, I want to talk about the resonance of bells, sound, stone, and the dark moon. [chuckles] I'm Kate Silvenus, and in this episode, we want-- I want to talk about the deep reverbing v-voice of old church bells.
0:34
Now, I'm not Abrahamic, so I don't follow the Christian faith, but the sound of church bells always makes me stop and breathe, just like [gasps] takes my breath away sometimes.
0:47
So the impact of the frequency is, to me, something that is wonderful, okay? It's enjoyable. It's like, oh, yes. It's like a, a bath of frequency.
0:59
So when I see things on social media about sort of the old bells were taken down and melted for the war and stuff like that, and how, you know, they're being phased out, I'm kind of disappointed.
1:10
One of the things I do like about Christianity, and especially in this country, in, in my country of England, is the church bells as it resonates over the fields. I love listening to them.
1:20
Uh, most of them do bell practice on a Monday night, and then they... Sunday, they, they have their full services, and I can just sit and listen to them for hours because they're beautiful.
1:31
And if they're going, I-I'm a bit upset about that. So let's look at the history, the history of the, um, the pulse of the bell. It's much more for... than a tool for making time, right?
1:43
So in other words, it used to toll. The bell tolled. It's one of the most oldest surviving sonic technologies still in use today. So the bells of significant sizes have existed at least to a thousand BC,
1:58
uh, Before Common Era. So the Chinese were casting enormous bronze bells for ceremony use during the Shang dynasty, often inscribed and with, um, cosmological symbols.
2:11
In Europe, the tradition of the bell towers became widespread in the seventh century, particularly within the Christian monastistic communities.
2:19
So Saint Paulinus of Nola is often credited with introducing bells into the church around four hundred, um, Common Era.
2:30
By Middle Ages, nearly every European village had a bell tower, not just to call people to worship, but to regulate the communal rhythm, working hours, funerals, fires, curfews, war alerts, et cetera. But why the bell?
2:46
Because nothing quite penetrates space quite like it. The bell is a unique acoustic signature.
2:52
Its ability to travel for miles due to its shape, the density of the bronze alloy, and the harmonic complexity of its overtones.
3:02
A large bell can resonate in multiple frequencies at once, including what's called the hum tone, a low-frequency vibration that is felt as much as heard. These aren't just sounds.
3:15
I mean, like, they're resonant structures that imprint in time-space all around it. They're truly a magical sound frequency that comes from old, old, old things, old times, and it's an... I, I just love it.
3:33
They don't only affect architecture, they affect us. Okay, so this is where I did some research. Low-frequency sounds, particularly between twenty to eighty hertz, have a psychological effect on the human nervous system.
3:46
Large bells often fall into this range. They can slow the heart ba-rate. They alter brainwave activity. They introduce a parasympathetic response, rest and digest. They also invoke emotional memory.
4:05
That's why hearing a deep bell toll in an empty town square can stir something primal. It's not just nostalgia, it's a neuroacoustic entrainment.
4:18
So when it's still and quiet, when the psyche naturally turns inward, like at a dark moon, sounds like this can activate internal processes we've buried or ignore. I reckon they're healing as well. Depends on the tone.
4:33
If you find something that's particularly resonates to you, uh, just sit down and just absorb it because it's like activating something and it does... it is actually having a, uh, an effect.
4:50
So the symbolo-symbolism of bells across cultures, okay? So in Christianity, bells are blessed, okay? Named, carrying spiritual power, rung to dispel demons. Yes. Okay.
5:05
Well, they, they, they draw me in, so I can't be a demon. They mark transition and sanctify time. Okay. They are the original clocks, and I'm not necessarily approving of that.
5:16
I think, man, people were a lot better off without being strapped to time. But okay. In Tibetan Buddhism, the bell, the ghanta, is paired with the varaj-va-vajra in ritual.
5:29
The vajra rep-represents masculine energy or method. The bell represents feminine energy or wisdom. Today, toda-together, they symbolize enlightenment. In Shinto,
5:43
bells are rung at shrines to summon kami, spirit beings, and purify space. Purify space seems to be the common denominator here.
5:52
So in Pagan and wipp-wic- uh, Wiccan traditions, altar bells are used to clear energy, sig- uh, signal circle openings, and call in elemental forces.In alchemy and hermeticism, bells symbolize the crystallization of sound, a meeting point of matter and vibration.
6:11
Often linked with Saturnarian discipline and thresholds.
6:16
There's a Zen meditation where they do a gong and at the end of the gong, before the sound ends and the silence begins, that you are meant to find enlightenment in that space. I love that sort of thing.
6:33
Bells are liminal objects. They exist at boundaries between silence and sound. Life, death, sacred and profane. Isn't that beautiful? Church bells and the death culture. So historically,
6:49
large bells were tolled to announce death. The passing bell would be rung slowly to signify a soul leaving the body. Funeral bells were often used at a lower tone than bells.
7:02
The bells used for funeral, for weddings and holy days. Even the phrases for whom the bell tolls originate from this death watch tradition.
7:13
In some regions, bells were believed to scare off death spirits and guide souls to the afterlife. The physical vibration was thought to loosen the grip of hauntings and malevolent energies.
7:28
During plague periods, bells rang constantly, becoming a sonic marker of collective grief. The grief embedded in those sound waves still echo in the old bell towers today. So what does it mean for us?
7:43
So if it's under a dark moon, it's a time for psychic evaluation. So when the sound of a bell, especially an old one, an old imperfect one, it resonates directly into our limbic system. It vibrates your very bones.
7:59
Old church bells in particular hold resonant memory. They've rung through war, birth, funeral, silence, fire and feast. When we hear them, we don't just hear them in our memories.
8:12
We're tapping into centuries of communal psychic imprint. So if you have a bell, give it a little ring. I think the deeper the better. But the things like Tibetan chimes, they're quite common these days.
8:29
And you can find the resonance in it. And it's beautiful. Some of them are disharmonious. Again, you have to find one that resonates right to you. But it releases stagnant emotional energy.
8:43
It helps you move forward, basically. Connects with the ancestors, clears energetic residue from space, transform across inner thresholds.
8:55
So next time you hear a bell toll, whether it's from a distant church or a recording even, just pause. You just hold. You don't just listen, feel it. Where does it move through your body? Where does it shake loose?
9:09
Bells are not just old relics or charming village sounds. They're powerful sonic tools that survive for a reason. They reach across time, death and silence, reminding us that even in the deepest dark, there is a call.
9:24
Not to action, but usually to attention. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed today's Dark Moon podcast. If you'd like to check out my website, weavesofwaves.life,
9:38
I have a new coaching package coming together called the Shadow Weaver's Dance. Anyway, love you lots. Take care of yourselves and each other. Bye now.
Dark Moon Rocks Radio
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