Back in the 90's, I was hanging with a buddy, listening to some Santana. It had very heavy latin percussion and almost an African shaman vibe. I went into a spontaneous trance. It was if time stopped and I began rocking. My friend was watching me and when I came back, he asked me what the hell happened. I tried to explain to him something that I had experienced for the first time.
While I grew up a jazz fan, I became interested in "world" and classical music in college because I was reading about how the music effected the psychological and spiritual well being and the effect of the music. For example, I read that they used different scales in Indian classical music to produce different states.
One esoteric book, I was reading talked about how the great classical composers were influenced, and used by a higher force and the author went on to describe the visions he had while listening to different music. Some music was great for better left and right brain coordination like Bach.
So I figured the guy was visualizing many of the inner scenes he described in the book. So my first test was listening to slow pieces of baroque music and imagining I was out of the body. I was lying on the couch listening to the slow section of Mozarts Piano Concerto #21 when I was taken to this beautiful country road wtih a tree and a very peaceful/remote country area.
I went and bought me some tickets to see the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie hall and tried the experiment while I was listening to Loengrin Prelude and found myself in a field with large swaying grass. These weren't just figments of my imagination. The imagery was as real as watching a movie.
Then I learned that drum and flute were used by many indigenous cultures to produce out of body experiences. Native American flute and drum, you have the Bodhran Irish and many, many African cultures that have intense drum traditions that they used for ritual. I had been listening to Native American drum and flute music and I felt this energy move through my body that was very healing.
But the day I was listening to that Santana cd, was the first time the music just took control and I was brought into the experience without intention.
Suffice to say, I can confirm from my personal experimentation that music can be used to experience altered states. Visions and/or Out of body experiences.
I don't think everybody can do it, not because it's not available to everyone, but because of our social contracts, religious dogma and beliefs put onto us by family, school and culture. We're not taught about this stuff. So we close down this ability.
Most people listen to music for entertainment, relaxation etc... Nothing wrong with it. I do too. But few use the music to have an experience, an altered state or expanded state.
I've been going through Ted's archives in search of new music especially experimenting listening to his list of immersive music. I have used John Luther Adam's music to do very deep healing on an energetic level.
This subject is a rabbit hole and the last thing I'd expect to read on a popular blog. But are we are. Give it a try. Listen to the music with your body, with your eye's closed and just allow yourself to have an experience.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I am a music teacher and I have also practiced "sound healing" for about 16 years or so. A lot of my learning has come from the shamanic and Indian traditions. Did you know Mozart was a Freemason and used many of the esoteric teachings to create his music? Once you start diving into the magical world of music, you can begin to understand why extreme religious groups have such strong rules around music. The Catholic church has an insane number of rules around what can and cannot be used in their music and the Orthodox Jews forbid women to sing in front of men. It's wild. I love this subject. When I practice sound healing, I compare it to tripping on psychedelics. Cheers.
I was aware that Mozart was a freemason but not aware of the rules different regions have pertaining to restriction on music. Great that somebody with an appreciation for the esoteric nature of music is teaching others. The study of the healing properties of music is definitely AWESOME!! Thanks you for the reply! David
Hi David. Can you recall the books you refer to reading early on about “world” and Indian classical music and their effects on us? I’d like to add to my reading list on this subject.
I read whatever I could get my hands on that was available in the late 80's before internet on esoteric history and power of music. I don't recall exactly how I was introduced to the Raga and how the scales were used to induce certain moods but now with internet, there is no dirth of sites that talk about Raga or the history of the Greek modes long before Miles made it a thing.
Here are three sources that I recall reading at the time. More have been written on the inner/esoteric side of music
"That is the cup of a carpenter"..."You have chosen wisely."
Don Juan told Carlos Castaneda that they were not equals. Carlos reassured him, condescendingly, that of course they were equals (even though Carlos was a sophisticated scholar from the States and Don Juan was a lowly Mexican Indian).
No, repeated Don Juan. You are a self-indulgent, weak man driven by absurd emotions and clouded thinking. I, however, am a powerful sorcerer.
Me parece muy interesante el abordar el sentido esencial de la música asociada a lo mas primordial, a lo chamánico. Siempre he pensado que es así. Desde el mítico Orfeo hasta los cantos chamánicos de la etnia yekuana. Gracias por compartir y permitirme expresar mi opinión.
Great grist for the alchemical mill, Ted. I would add Marie Louise von Franz to your list since she completed Emma Jung's work on the Grail Legend after Emma Jung died.
This confirms many of my intuitions - and I think David B. is exactly right that many of us have had these abilities blocked by our upbringing and culture. Great stuff Ted. I can’t wait til this whole thing is available in one piece!!
Interested folks should check out Gary Tomlinson's classic Music in Renaissance Magic (U Chicago, 1993) and A Million Years of Music: The Emergence of Human Modernity (Zone, 2015).
Another brilliant piece! I'm in the middle of Death of Merlin by W.J Stein, a student of Steiner's. I highly recommend it. Steiner in lectures entitled "Christ and the Spiritual World and the Search for the Holy Grail" details his personal search to answer "what is the Grail?" His findings are kindof astronomical and universal.
Thank you for these insights into Grail lore and its like. I am curious to know where you found Ruskin's discussion of "pathetic fallacy". I am interested to read more.
Walk into my writing room past a picture of ,St.Michael who guards the door. There is a Hopi weaving of 4 YEI dancers on the wall over the desk. There are 10 dragons on windowsills, Gold, Plastic. Glass and Rosewood. Ravens, Coyotes, Pennywhistles, Bodhrans, Guitars, books on music. I find it interesting that people find a certain “Vibe” in here, and my songs seem to run counter to the prevailing “Pop” culture, as my heros are R.E.M., Guy Clark and U2. And yes, I sometimes dream songs, waking bolt upright at 2 am to grab a pen & notebook.
Joseph Campbell wrote extensively on these themes, albeit not directly the musical connection Ted is making. A cool thing he said I’ll never forget is about the dragon stories. The dragon is the ego preventing us from transcending the physical realm to experiencing the eternal mystery. The dragon represents the ego’s fear and desire. He’s guarding gold and virgin princess, two things he can make no use of. Fear and desire - most often represented by greed & lust - need to be slayed to find the grail of transcendence.
For what it’s worth, I’ve recorded a number of songs that came to me in dreams. Not saying they are anything fantastical. Not in the least. Just that’s how it goes sometimes. Wake Up the Sun (the lyrics came in a dream like that scroll at the start of Star Wars movies, I woke up and couldn’t write them fast enough) and Time come to mind. Perhaps not the place, but sharing just because why not, what the hell to lose?
I first encountered the neopagan revival of witchcraft via the music - simple chants sung repeatedly as the singers in the circle expanded harmonies and rode them into ecstasy - I fell in love with them instantly, especially as the repetition enabled me to finally learn to find and sing harmonies after spending my childhood in choirs singing soprano. Many of the songs had commonly sung harmonic lines that gave them a special, slightly haunting quality, that was also pretty easy to sing. Those lines generally follow the melody at an interval of an open fifth, neither major nor minor, but indeterminate.
Parallel fifths - one of the first lessons in classical music theory (taught via 4-part harmony) stipulated this as a forbidden movement of voices, along with parallel octaves. I never understood why. They sounded fine to me, and no one bothered to outlaw things that really didn't, like tritones. The 2 parallel interval movements forbidden in classical music (when were those rules written?), also happen to be the 2 in most common use by modern day witches.
I've never met anyone else familiar with both worlds, but seems to me farfetched to be coincidence. Could we still be singing the same kind of thing?
Back in the 90's, I was hanging with a buddy, listening to some Santana. It had very heavy latin percussion and almost an African shaman vibe. I went into a spontaneous trance. It was if time stopped and I began rocking. My friend was watching me and when I came back, he asked me what the hell happened. I tried to explain to him something that I had experienced for the first time.
While I grew up a jazz fan, I became interested in "world" and classical music in college because I was reading about how the music effected the psychological and spiritual well being and the effect of the music. For example, I read that they used different scales in Indian classical music to produce different states.
One esoteric book, I was reading talked about how the great classical composers were influenced, and used by a higher force and the author went on to describe the visions he had while listening to different music. Some music was great for better left and right brain coordination like Bach.
So I figured the guy was visualizing many of the inner scenes he described in the book. So my first test was listening to slow pieces of baroque music and imagining I was out of the body. I was lying on the couch listening to the slow section of Mozarts Piano Concerto #21 when I was taken to this beautiful country road wtih a tree and a very peaceful/remote country area.
I went and bought me some tickets to see the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie hall and tried the experiment while I was listening to Loengrin Prelude and found myself in a field with large swaying grass. These weren't just figments of my imagination. The imagery was as real as watching a movie.
Then I learned that drum and flute were used by many indigenous cultures to produce out of body experiences. Native American flute and drum, you have the Bodhran Irish and many, many African cultures that have intense drum traditions that they used for ritual. I had been listening to Native American drum and flute music and I felt this energy move through my body that was very healing.
But the day I was listening to that Santana cd, was the first time the music just took control and I was brought into the experience without intention.
Suffice to say, I can confirm from my personal experimentation that music can be used to experience altered states. Visions and/or Out of body experiences.
I don't think everybody can do it, not because it's not available to everyone, but because of our social contracts, religious dogma and beliefs put onto us by family, school and culture. We're not taught about this stuff. So we close down this ability.
Most people listen to music for entertainment, relaxation etc... Nothing wrong with it. I do too. But few use the music to have an experience, an altered state or expanded state.
I've been going through Ted's archives in search of new music especially experimenting listening to his list of immersive music. I have used John Luther Adam's music to do very deep healing on an energetic level.
This subject is a rabbit hole and the last thing I'd expect to read on a popular blog. But are we are. Give it a try. Listen to the music with your body, with your eye's closed and just allow yourself to have an experience.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I am a music teacher and I have also practiced "sound healing" for about 16 years or so. A lot of my learning has come from the shamanic and Indian traditions. Did you know Mozart was a Freemason and used many of the esoteric teachings to create his music? Once you start diving into the magical world of music, you can begin to understand why extreme religious groups have such strong rules around music. The Catholic church has an insane number of rules around what can and cannot be used in their music and the Orthodox Jews forbid women to sing in front of men. It's wild. I love this subject. When I practice sound healing, I compare it to tripping on psychedelics. Cheers.
I was aware that Mozart was a freemason but not aware of the rules different regions have pertaining to restriction on music. Great that somebody with an appreciation for the esoteric nature of music is teaching others. The study of the healing properties of music is definitely AWESOME!! Thanks you for the reply! David
Hi David. Can you recall the books you refer to reading early on about “world” and Indian classical music and their effects on us? I’d like to add to my reading list on this subject.
I read whatever I could get my hands on that was available in the late 80's before internet on esoteric history and power of music. I don't recall exactly how I was introduced to the Raga and how the scales were used to induce certain moods but now with internet, there is no dirth of sites that talk about Raga or the history of the Greek modes long before Miles made it a thing.
Here are three sources that I recall reading at the time. More have been written on the inner/esoteric side of music
The Secret Power of Music David Tame
The Healing Energies of Music-Hal Lingerman
Esoteric books on music by Corinne Heline
Thank you 🙂
"That is the cup of a carpenter"..."You have chosen wisely."
Don Juan told Carlos Castaneda that they were not equals. Carlos reassured him, condescendingly, that of course they were equals (even though Carlos was a sophisticated scholar from the States and Don Juan was a lowly Mexican Indian).
No, repeated Don Juan. You are a self-indulgent, weak man driven by absurd emotions and clouded thinking. I, however, am a powerful sorcerer.
Me parece muy interesante el abordar el sentido esencial de la música asociada a lo mas primordial, a lo chamánico. Siempre he pensado que es así. Desde el mítico Orfeo hasta los cantos chamánicos de la etnia yekuana. Gracias por compartir y permitirme expresar mi opinión.
I think that there may be many of the same opinion and have difficutly expressing it in words.
Great grist for the alchemical mill, Ted. I would add Marie Louise von Franz to your list since she completed Emma Jung's work on the Grail Legend after Emma Jung died.
Von Franz is a great scholar. I love her work on active imagination.
This confirms many of my intuitions - and I think David B. is exactly right that many of us have had these abilities blocked by our upbringing and culture. Great stuff Ted. I can’t wait til this whole thing is available in one piece!!
Wow. Amazing stuff.
Hi Ted. I carefully listen to you with Rick Beato, Really amazing futurist thinking. Lewis The Futurist
I have so far subscribed to everything Beato. Good stuff!
I loved this! Thank you!
Interested folks should check out Gary Tomlinson's classic Music in Renaissance Magic (U Chicago, 1993) and A Million Years of Music: The Emergence of Human Modernity (Zone, 2015).
You don’t think Jimmy Page is a warlock?
because he was into Crowley? or bedded underaged girls? or courted Satan? truth is, we wouldn't care if his music wasn't so good.
Another brilliant piece! I'm in the middle of Death of Merlin by W.J Stein, a student of Steiner's. I highly recommend it. Steiner in lectures entitled "Christ and the Spiritual World and the Search for the Holy Grail" details his personal search to answer "what is the Grail?" His findings are kindof astronomical and universal.
Thank you for these insights into Grail lore and its like. I am curious to know where you found Ruskin's discussion of "pathetic fallacy". I am interested to read more.
Walk into my writing room past a picture of ,St.Michael who guards the door. There is a Hopi weaving of 4 YEI dancers on the wall over the desk. There are 10 dragons on windowsills, Gold, Plastic. Glass and Rosewood. Ravens, Coyotes, Pennywhistles, Bodhrans, Guitars, books on music. I find it interesting that people find a certain “Vibe” in here, and my songs seem to run counter to the prevailing “Pop” culture, as my heros are R.E.M., Guy Clark and U2. And yes, I sometimes dream songs, waking bolt upright at 2 am to grab a pen & notebook.
Sacred music is still getting in trouble.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/jun/24/apache-students-school-reservation
Wow!
Joseph Campbell wrote extensively on these themes, albeit not directly the musical connection Ted is making. A cool thing he said I’ll never forget is about the dragon stories. The dragon is the ego preventing us from transcending the physical realm to experiencing the eternal mystery. The dragon represents the ego’s fear and desire. He’s guarding gold and virgin princess, two things he can make no use of. Fear and desire - most often represented by greed & lust - need to be slayed to find the grail of transcendence.
Starts in earnest at 2 minute mark.
https://youtu.be/VH5acDIo1RU?feature=shared
For what it’s worth, I’ve recorded a number of songs that came to me in dreams. Not saying they are anything fantastical. Not in the least. Just that’s how it goes sometimes. Wake Up the Sun (the lyrics came in a dream like that scroll at the start of Star Wars movies, I woke up and couldn’t write them fast enough) and Time come to mind. Perhaps not the place, but sharing just because why not, what the hell to lose?
https://youtu.be/zFZR8Ejdr_0?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/_Sb1ItLpYv4?feature=shared
https://mikeabbass.com
I first encountered the neopagan revival of witchcraft via the music - simple chants sung repeatedly as the singers in the circle expanded harmonies and rode them into ecstasy - I fell in love with them instantly, especially as the repetition enabled me to finally learn to find and sing harmonies after spending my childhood in choirs singing soprano. Many of the songs had commonly sung harmonic lines that gave them a special, slightly haunting quality, that was also pretty easy to sing. Those lines generally follow the melody at an interval of an open fifth, neither major nor minor, but indeterminate.
Parallel fifths - one of the first lessons in classical music theory (taught via 4-part harmony) stipulated this as a forbidden movement of voices, along with parallel octaves. I never understood why. They sounded fine to me, and no one bothered to outlaw things that really didn't, like tritones. The 2 parallel interval movements forbidden in classical music (when were those rules written?), also happen to be the 2 in most common use by modern day witches.
I've never met anyone else familiar with both worlds, but seems to me farfetched to be coincidence. Could we still be singing the same kind of thing?