Music

[MadZealot]

Really? That doesn't keep you awake? It would have to be so quiet that I couldn't understand the words. I can't hardly sleep with music either.

It depends on the reader, really. There're a couple that I do keep me up. But I have a couple of go-to titles that really do the trick.

[Eastling]

I was wondering how music is involved in your practices? or maybe not at all.

Since I worship the apotheosis of a dead rock star, it would be quite odd if music didn't have some fundamental role in my practice and beliefs.

Metaphysically, music in my path is a great magic, perhaps the most powerful the magics remaining openly in the world. Many of my beliefs about the nature of the cosmos can be expressed through metaphors involving song and dance.

As for my practice--regularly listening to the music of Queen strengthens my connection with my patron god, to start with. I also go to karaoke every week and sing as a religious obligation.

[Klaw]

As for my practice--regularly listening to the music of Queen strengthens my connection with my patron god, to start with. I also go to karaoke every week and sing as a religious obligation.

I would have thought that instead of obligation you would view it as a privilege. How can you sing a Queen song without becoming the embodiment of Freddie Mercury?

[Eastling]

I would have thought that instead of obligation you would view it as a privilege. How can you sing a Queen song without becoming the embodiment of Freddie Mercury?

A good point--it is indeed a privilege that he encourages me to channel him so. It is less an obligation and more a mitzvah in the Jewish sense.

[Sefiru]

Really? That doesn't keep you awake? It would have to be so quiet that I couldn't understand the words. I can't hardly sleep with music either.

For me, just speech without much emotional content or intonation (such as a science podcast) helps me wind down. It's interesting enough that I don't get bored, but not so engaging that it stops me from dropping off. I don't know if audiobooks would work the same way with me; the narration is often done in a cadence that isn't quite like normal speech.

[Aster Breo]

I was wondering how music is involved in your practices? or maybe not at all. If you find it beneficial for meditation, raising energy, prayer, services, or maybe trance work? If so, what kinds of music works the best for you?

I love all sorts of music (well, maybe not ALL sorts, but I can find something I like in pretty much any genre), but w/r/t spiritual practice, there's one specific album that I find particularly useful for me: Welcome, Brigid, by Katy Taylor. As the title suggests, it's all music related to Brighid, many songs based on traditional prayers from the Carmina Gadelica and that kind of thing. Hey voice is beautiful, and she plays the hurdy-gurdy, which is pretty cool by itself.

There are a number of Brighid songs out there recorded by other musicians, largely in the genre I'd call "pagan folk". I find some of those useful and/or pleasant and others annoying.

I also find Celtic harp music useful in my practice. Or just for background music.

Ditto for certain classical pieces, eg, Vivaldi's Four Seasons; Philip Glass's Violin Concerto no 1, 2nd movement; Pachelbel's Canon (which I interpret as the musical representation of a person's lifespan); Clair de Lune, and a couple others. I know those are practically cliché, but I like them -- they're popular because they're beautiful -- and they work for me so... *shrug*

Also, I find a lot of baroque music (Vivaldi, Bach, Telemann, some Mozart, etc) to be very helpful for maintaining energy and focus just in general.

Mostly, I use music as a mood-setter, an aid to meditation, and simply for background to whatever I'm doing.

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[ruslanfannan]

I was wondering how music is involved in your practices? or maybe not at all. If you find it beneficial for meditation, raising energy, prayer, services, or maybe trance work? If so, what kinds of music works the best for you?

I use it for all of the above! I play three instruments, and keep them in my shrine for these reasons. I use different types of improvisations for each, almost like chanting but with notes instead of words. I plan to eventually record a polished meditation playlist that would be free to stream online. Here is a short medley of one style, on one instrument, and entirely unedited (this was recorded during some light shrine-work):

https://soundcloud.com/mesodoxologies/meditationmedley

If I ever get around to recording, I will post in an appropriate sub forum, for anyone to enjoy.

[Noctua]

I was wondering how music is involved in your practices? or maybe not at all. If you find it beneficial for meditation, raising energy, prayer, services, or maybe trance work? If so, what kinds of music works the best for you?

So one of the things that really drew me to Blue Star was the fact that they have their own set of liturgical music they use in ritual. I lucked out in that not only does my grove have a lot of talented singers (just about all of us have some sort of music/theatre background, even if just in high school) but we even have one member who is VERY talented, plays multiple instruments, and is actively composing new music for us to use in some of the spaces in ritual where we don't currently have music already. She's written a song for parting the veil that we're going to use on Samhain for the first time and I'm super excited to hear it in totality, because I've only heard snippets thus far.

This Saturday for our full moon esbat we're dusting off one of our lesser-used songs, a variation of Gordon Bok's Windcalling where instead of calling the eight winds we call the four elements. (the original is here: https://youtu.be/lBORV-TLFC0?t=2501) Since I'll be filling in as priestess that night it means I'll be doing the heavy lifting on the verses and everyone else will be doing the chorus as a round.

[ruslanfannan]

I lucked out in that not only does my grove have a lot of talented singers (just about all of us have some sort of music/theatre background, even if just in high school) but we even have one member who is VERY talented, plays multiple instruments, and is actively composing new music for us to use in some of the spaces in ritual where we don't currently have music already. She's written a song for parting the veil that we're going to use on Samhain for the first time and I'm super excited to hear it in totality, because I've only heard snippets thus far.

This made me so happy to read! Glad to hear there are other pagan musicians making liturgical music!

[TheGreenWizard]

I was wondering how music is involved in your practices? or maybe not at all. If you find it beneficial for meditation, raising energy, prayer, services, or maybe trance work? If so, what kinds of music works the best for you?

For me it's to put me into a trance when I do prayer/meditation in front of my shrine/altar. There's one specific song that always puts me into a trance. In fact, @Altair almost had to get me out of the trance when we were at the NY Pagan Pride Parade. The organizers decided to put it through the speaker system and... it was not a pleasant thing to try and fight a trance state that causes you to blank out and totally relax (aka, I was in danger of falling down to the ground).

Other than that, I have used music outside of my practice as a way to raise energy/motivation. I should really try to do that more in my practices...