Songs are living beings. They birth into this plane of existence with qualities that reflect the reasons they were called here, some romantic, some filled with rage, others to sell products, to manipulate, and still others to comfort, confront, strengthen, or elevate. Those presented here all have an affinity with the currents of ceremony. Such primordial, sacred encounters with life hold space for our deaths and rebirths, help midwife us out of our sticky cocoon of ignorance, and give us refuge for self-transformation. Many of these songs come from profound places of pain and suffering, from Divine ecstasy and grace, the depths and heights of the hells and heavens that turn the wheels of karma for this world. Many are born with a mission of spiritual healing, and go thru any number of changes in melody and word as they adapt to their life’s journey.
These songs are sung at fairs and festivals, darshans and medicine circles, churches and contemplative retreats, yoga schools and permaculture workshops, intentional communities and tribal revivals; around campfires, altars, gardens, dinner tables, compost piles, cob pits, stalled cars, and in solitary vision quests and meditation practice. Such songs purify, bless, celebrate, move with devotion, call into Creation, disperse or metabolize negative energies, honor and invoke all manner of helpful Beings, give guidance, give thanks. They tell of an emerging global culture of compassion and earth-conscious living weaving a new world into existence. By singing our prayers, we open to the heart of the Eternal Now. We thereby give space for forces greater than us to work positive change thru us, strengthen the links and intentions of this culture, and sing the world yet further ALIVE.