Myth, Music and Magick
The Dreaming is not a fixed state in sleep, but the Mythic, symbolic places of ritual, music, poetry, story and song. Where this has multiple conflicting meanings and yet are at peace with each other. A transformative and informative state that is healing and full of wisdom. The dirt and bones of the Celtic lands are made of stories and songs. In their names, and in their namelessness. In the gaps where our histories were destroyed and stolen the watery power of Myths and The Dreaming filled them finding new ways to reach the surface. A 'tween place and a gateway, to the land, and to Annwfn there is a collective memory. Our stories and myths have much depth and are still not as explored as their more recent Anglo-Saxon copies. Arthur, Merlin, Taliesin our Celtic stories and myths. Yet the Dreaming is not about the past, it is always rooted in the "now" no matter the echoes of what was before.
Daily Practice of Dreaming
The Dreaming covers many things. Yet at it's base are Myth, Music and Magick. From healing narratives, cathartic songs, rites and rituals, poems and chants; it is a state of drawing "otherness" from Annwfn and holding it in the Land, if but for moment. It is strewn with the language of dreaming. The symbolic, the multitude of meanings, the overlay of messages and feelings.
A symbol is not a straight forward thing. It can have a localized meaning for a few or a universal one, or both. It can be good, bad, ugly and beautiful all at the same time, even to the same viewer. A symbol taps into what is our unconscious code. It is (unlike a sign) comfortable with paradox. A signal or sign is meant to be read and clearly read one way. A symbol, doesn't just have contextual meaning, meaning where ever and when ever it is viewed.
Joseph Campbell in the Mythic Image put it like this:
"Mythic forms...may be regarded either as pointing past themselves to mysteries of universal import, or as functions merely of local ethnic or even personal idiosyncrasies. In India these two facets of all mythologies and their associated rites are known respectively as marga and deshi: marga meaning meaning "path" or "way", the path or way to immortal knowledge; and deshi, "of the region; local or ethnic," the peculiar sectarian or historical aspect of any cult, through which it constellates a folk, a nation or a civilisation.
... both aspects are regarded - indeed they have to be, since universals are never experienced in their pure state, abstracted from their locally conditioned ethnic applications. It is, in fact, in their infinitely various metamorphoses that their fascination resides."
My first exposure to this was music. While still in the womb the language of music was around me. My mother, a violin teacher. After that it was the poems of eisteddfod. Words that were like music, to be spoken, aloud, and shared. Words that created pictures and told stories. In both English and Welsh. Poetry was alive. Anyone could submit a poem or recite one and "win the chair".
Rich families, poor families, and somewhere in the middle families all competed. All equal. Poetry can express things that very few art forms can. It is definitely part of The Dreaming. Music and poetry can cast a spell, an aura that changes all who enter into feel. Most folks can not explain it when it is there, except everyone also knows when it is missing!
The Four Principals
The Daily Practice of Dreaming
"Practice makes better."
There is that old joke where a musician asks "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?"
The answer is "Practice, practice, practice!"
Magick and music are not just part of the same magickal circle of The Dreaming, they also share the bones of the same beast. You need a level of comfortable skill to be able to "wing it" and have it not be painful. That doesn't mean you "shouldn't do it". On the contrary, the only way to achieve the skills required are to practice. Meditation, ritual, and even prayer help flex the psychic muscles and build pathways within your mind. The point is not "perfection" because there simply isn't any to be had. However there is poise, ease and talent.
Vital Refinement of Dreaming
Ritual, myth and music are some of the most healing practices for the self anyone can undertake. Ritual (by it's nature) is the process of change made external. On our soul and magickal journey's it easy to neglect our inner well being. We all have areas of growth, dark corners and sharp broken pieces. Yet in "singing over our bones" new things can grow. Where we find our hearts locked shut, myth, music and magick open them like flowers. It is a vulnerable thing, The Dreaming. Yet it is how we process our lives, our thoughts and feelings. It gives us access to our inner landscape and maybe into a shared collective dream.
Everyday Magick of Dreaming
Music, ritual and narrative are some of the most easily accessible power and magick to bring anywhere, and often over looked. Learning a chant for protection that you can sing or hum to yourself should the need arise doesn't require any special equipment and can be very powerful indeed. Your favorite song. banging a drum, or a homemade chant will always add to your work.
As V once said "words will always have power".
Conscious Kindness with Dreaming
Hospitality, generosity and manners are deeply important in Celtic cultures. The social rules to music also apply to other areas too.
Read the room. If the room is tiny, watch the volume, if it's huge, make sure you can be heard. Are you in a fit state to perform? Being drunk might make you feel like you are amazing, but you may not seem that way to everyone else. Make room for everyone in the space, and work with the energy or tone of the room (no-one thinks your trombone solo works after the soulful ballad even if you think it's hilarious). Let folks have their limelight, and step into yours comfortably when it is offered; this means not only one person is "doing the work" or flow is balanced. If you mess up, stand on someone's toes, play of key or the wrong song, apologize and keep going. Warm up, prepare, and have a clue what you are doing more than five minutes before you are set to do it. If you are organizing give people the heads up, let them know so they can prepare accordingly. Watch for visual clues (or nods) to what you are doing and when. Paying attention is important. Enjoy the experience, have fun with it.
If you are doing a public ritual and their is someone "pulling focus" or "hamming it up" you have two choices. You can let them run with it. In the long run they will either learn or not. You could try and have a word with the person organizing the ritual/music/performance (which may or not be the same person) to ask them to "tone it down" or allow other people to have some time/limelight/attention. It might not go well but if no-one ever say anything they simply might not know how rude/difficult or cringe they are being.
No comments:
Post a Comment