A song or two in my head


Pagan music

You may have noticed my fixation on music lately.

I have been going through a lot of music. On the off-chance I get to spend time in the county lockup again, I want songs that fit my faith. I want something simple and unifying. I want something I can remember at 2:38 AM with a scratchy wool blanket and no pillow.

As tempting as it was, I had to put aside Brother of Mine by Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe (and part of the catalog of the reunified Yes). It's a powerful song but it's too complicated to remember. There's video of it on YouTube inter-spliced with interview footage.

So giving all the love you have
Never be afraid to show your heart
So giving all the love you have
There is a special reason
A special reason...

In the big dream
We are heroes
We are dreamers
Of the big dream

Someone told me
There are brothers
Live forever
In the big sky

Just hear your voice
Sing all the songs of the earth
Nothing can come between us
You're a brother of mine

Sing out your sisters
All the dreams of the world
Nothing can come between us
We are the travellers of time


So to start with, there are two songs I'm going to concentrate on. One is obvious, it's a personal favorite. New Forest is by Gwen Knighton and performed by the Three Weird Sisters (not to be confused with the much edgier Wyrd Sisters, another very good group).

There's a light in the forest
When the moonbeams filter down
There's a mirror in the greenwood
When the dew is on the ground
Every branch and every blossom
Every root and every leaf
Drink the tears of the Goddess in the morning.

Well, the sun was her lover
When the twilight came around.
He said, "Lady, I'll protect you
'Til the world stops turning round."
And she danced in his brilliance
While the forest people slept,
And she whispered in his ear the word, "Remember."

And the owls sang her song
And the crickets sang along,
And the people were soothed in their sleep.
Where her feet touched the earth
Midnight orchids sprang from nothing,
And the forest grew thick with her dreams.


My second choice is just hard to forget. Circles uses the tune of Windmills by Alan Bel, but Gwendolyn Zak and Isaac Bonewits did the Pagan version of the lyrics. According to the liner notes, Barbara Weinberg and Orion Stormcrow did additional lyrics.

In days gone by, when the earth was much younger
Men wondered at Spring, born of winter's cold knife.
Wondered at the games of the moon and the sunlight
They saw then the Lady and the Lord of all life.
 
Around and around and around turns the good Earth
All things much change as the seasons go by
We are the children of the Lord and the Lady
Whose mysteries we learn from the Earth and the sky.
 
In all lands the people were tied with the good earth
Plowing and sowing as the seasons declared
Waiting to reap of the rich golden harvest
Knowing her laugh in the joys that they shared.
 
Around and around and around turns the good Earth
All things much change as the seasons go by
We are the children of the Lord and the Lady
Whose mysteries we learn from the Earth and the sky.

I'm still looking, but that is where I am so far.

Posted: Sun - December 14, 2008 at 02:08 PM
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