Riding the music
This is a page from the third version of Technopagan Yearnings. There are some formatting differences. Originally published at www.neowayland.com/C1325529963/E20061226200836
Some songs work amazingly well as meditation aids, IF it's the right music and the right lyrics.
If you have done any shaman-related work, you know that the drum is very important. Harder to manage for a solitary, but possible.
But that is only one way that music can work. Dancing can bring on ecstatic states too. So can singing or playing an instrument.
But there is another, and that is what I want to talk about tonight. That is just letting the music wash through you and carry you along.
For me, some songs work better. Instrumentals are usually better than vocals, but there are exceptions. Songs where the words and tunes fit so perfectly the power of both is amplified.
Have you been half asleep
And have you heard voices
I’ve heard them calling my name
Are these the sweet sounds that called
The young sailors
I think they’re one and the same
Ive heard it too many times to ignore it
Theres something that I’m supposed to be
Someday well find it
The rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me
—The Rainbow Connection, The Muppet Movie
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 travelers of time
— Brother of Mine, Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe
From the day we arrive on the planet
And, blinking, step into the sun
There's more to see than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done
There's far too much to take in here
More to find than can ever be found
But the sun rolling high
Through the sapphire sky
Keeps great and small on the endless round
It's the Circle of Life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope
Through faith and love
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the Circle
The Circle of Life
— Circle of Life, The Lion King
These are just some of the songs I use.
If you let go of yourself while listening to these songs, you might enter a hypnagogic state. I find it works as a form of meditation as long as I choose the music and it's lyrics carefully.
As I am sitting here typing this, I have to listen to each of these songs and the others I thought about including on my list. These are "non-Pagan," but that is sort of the point.
And now I think I need to go talk to the stars for a while.
Posted: Tue - December 26, 2006 at 08:08 PM
