In the Still of the Night

Once upon a time, on an island in the deep blue sea, a woman woke up at 3:15 in the morning, for no apparent reason. She tossed and turned, got up and went to the bathroom, thought about all the things she had to do once the sun rose, pondered the mysteries of life, read for a while, and finally dozed off not long before her alarm clock jangled her awake again. She sleepwalked through the day, fell into bed exhausted that night…and again awoke at 3:15.

Pretty soon she discovered that many of her friends were keeping the same early-morning vigil. In fact, a lot of people she knew were wide awake at 3:15, while the rest of the world slumbered. They established a network of sorts, so that when they awoke in those darkest hours before dawn they wouldn’t be alone––they could connect with kindred spirits.

Because on their small island everyone lived close to everyone else, they agreed that when they woke up in the wee hours of the morning they’d shine flashlights out their bedroom windows to signal fellow insomniacs. If you saw a circle of light shining faintly in a dark house on a dark street, you knew you could call, or come over, and chat with a friend instead of lying there by yourself, bullied by your closet monsters.

An informal “after hours club” evolved. A secret society of sorts, where shadow worlds unfolded, where dreams and nightmares could be shared, and where ideas too elusive or wild or disturbing for daytime discussions emerged.

At the time, the group of friends knew nothing about the so-called “devil’s hour,” a Christian theory that suggests sinister forces lurk at 3:00 AM to “dis” the righteous, because Jesus supposedly died at the clock’s opposite hour: 3:00 PM. Nor were they aware of what Pagans called the “witching hour” (from midnight to 3:00 AM, on the night of the full moon), when the barrier between the spirit worlds and planet earth ostensibly dissolves, allowing ghosts and other eerie entities access to the human realm. They hadn’t read The Amityville Horror, the story of a Long Island family haunted by the spirits of victims murdered at 3:15 in the morning, or seen The Exorcism of Emily Rose, in which strange events occurred at 3:00 AM. They had no idea that more deaths occur in the early morning hours, when the body is particularly vulnerable, than at any other time.

What they realized, however, was that their imaginations blossomed in the still of the night, unhampered by the distractions of the mundane world. Sometimes they discovered answers to daytime problems. Other times their deepest fears showed up to be reckoned with. In the silvery moonlight they often saw more clearly than in the bright white light of day.

A lot of inspired thinking took place then. It still does. We believe the Divine Feminine dances in the dark, sings in the shadows. The unconscious reveals itself once the lights go down, and wisdom whispers across the Void if we’re willing to listen. Our sensitivity to things beyond our normal sphere of understanding expands, allowing us to see and feel subtle energies we miss during the daytime.

The 3:15 Club is an extension of that early circle. It’s a place to share thoughts, dreams, insights, questions, experiences, fantasies, fears, secrets, and more. We welcome creative thinking, humor, practical advice, and lunatic ravings.

What wakes you up? What keeps you awake? What do you do when you’re awake while the rest of the world sleeps? What do you contemplate alone in the dark? What were you dreaming about before you woke up? How do you handle insomnia? What nightmares terrorize you? What worlds do you visit when you’re asleep?

When sleep eludes you, don’t just lie awake alone in the dark, share your thoughts with a circle of friends.