"...there is a power of longing which turns the mist in ourselves into sun."

I was deeply drawn to and inspired by the poetry of Shelly, Tagore, Rilke and others, so much so

that some words from their poetry were included in a few songs from the Album Light Breaks. Working in an improvisational spirit, I added some field recordings from my walks in the forested Land of Medicine Buddha. Later in post-production, I worked with Christopher Hedge (best known for his soundscapes and award winning film scores) at The Magic Shop to add layers of additional recordings of the ocean, a drone cello, percussion and lap steel guitar to selected mixes.

Magic Shop 2015

It has been eight years since the release of my first album, Deep in a Dream. Shortly after its release, I was in an accident, from which I developed a concussion. This incident, however, set me on a course of healing and recovery where music, poetry and meditation played a significant role in helping me to transcend the difficulties. Over time, I continued to compose and record songs in my home studio, songs that would later make it to the new album, Light Breaks.

One example of the creation and evolution of the work is the song Blue Butterfly. The song was born from an experience of observing a butterfly in a garden and wanting to capture this vision of the creature’s dance in music. This meditation on the butterfly later deepened and brought to mind its mythological significance; for example, as in the myth of “Psyche,” a word that means both soul in Latin and also butterfly.

In this myth, Psyche, as described by Marion Woodman, “goes through a chrysalis phase. Trust emerges when there is a willingness to die to the old, to be vulnerable and have faith… a time when you know that you have been taken only so far by your own human abilities. Something else must come in to make the soul connect with Eros. And often when we start the transition journey, there is a loss of love, or of our ability to love, we’re depressed. We have had difficulties.'' (Marion Woodman, The Myth of Psyche)

The song Child of Light, on the other hand, was born out of a time of my grandmother’s passing. Not being able to be with her as it was somewhat sudden, I began to pray for her spirit. But a song came first, the words of Child of Light. It was a way of connecting with my grandmother’s spirit and her passing. The song begins with the words,

"Child of Love, Child of light, going home...Hear my song in your heart, you're not alone."

"Only a Child- soul can climb so softly, quite softly to heaven's height..." Rainer Maria Rilke

"The strangest things are the closest to the real truth. In the will of man there is a power of longing which turns the mist in ourselves into sun." Gibran

Seeds of Contemplation...

"When men live huddled together without true communication, there seems to be a greater sharing, and a more genuine communion. But this is not communion, only immersion in the genuine meaninglessness of countless slogans and cliches repeated over and over again so that in the end one listens without hearing and responds without thinking. The constant din of empty words and machine noises, the endless booming of loudspeakers end by making true communication and true communion almost impossible..."

_ Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

"Liberation from the thorny path refers to the path of physical life, and is nowhere more beautifully referred to than by the Christ in his parable of the Sowers where some of the seed fell among thorns. The explanation is given that the thorns are the cares and troubles of worldly existence which succeed in choking the spiritual life and in veiling the true man for so long. The thorny path must lead to the northern path and that in turn to the Path of Initiation. In one of the old books in the Archives, are found these words:
"Let the seeker of truth escape from drowning and climb the river's bank. Let him turn towards the northern star and on firm ground stand, his face directed towards the light. Then let the star lead."

Instructions to disciples, Lucis Trust

photograph Rodney Smith

"Through the black alpine forest thick with furs, it passes like a twilight..."

"Evening bell. From the mountains it gets retold in echoes whose tones grow more and more subdued. And you feel, rising from the floor of the green valley, a fluttering breeze, a cold one. In the white meadow springs, it babbles on like stammering small children saying prayers; through the black alpine forest thick with firs, it passes like a twilight, a century-old one."

Excerpt from Dream Crowned by, Rainer Maria Rilke

“ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WAS A CHILD WHOSE LIGHT SHINED SO BRIGHT…”

"You have been telling your story in personal terms… now tell it in mythological terms,
Take the story past the wounding to the place of transformation. When finished share it, a show put to music and dance [and sing] the living myth” -

Jean Houston explains further that imagining or identifying with a healing archetype In particular, invoking Asklepios , [or Chiron the (wounded healer), or as in the album Light breaks, Prometheus, or Psyche, the Child ....] ..." We move out of identifications with our personal and localized illness and into a relationship in which archetypal forces greater than our illness can come to us to touch, teach, heal and provide meaning."  

"First we struggle and suffer alone. Eventually, with grace or guidance, we identify with the myth... In the myth we labor not for ourselves alone but for all humanity. Our struggles become ordeals in service to the archetypal dimensions of human life that we too are helping into the world. Finally, we accept that the divine is the true power and that divinity's myths are living us. When we enter that consciousness, we gain a true acceptance that there is no way out. There is only the way through. There is only living the myth with willingness and consciousness. Through such living we gain an invaluable and irreplaceable sense of our destiny, purpose, and relationship to our cosmic home and story." - Edward Tick, Dream Healing

In Buddhism there is a teaching called the Four Noble Truths. Thich Nat Hanh says, The first Noble truth is called ill -being , which says when you look deeply into ill-being you’ll find a way out. You will find a way of transformation and healing. You have to begin with ill-being and looking deeply into the nature of ill-being you will find the second noble truth which is the path that leads to the making of ill being… What we discover when we look into the nature of ill-being. i.e. wrong practice, speech, action. When you can see into ill being you can begin to see the path leading out of ill- being.”

This practice goes against society's tendency to avoid looking into one’s pain and suffering .Whether its a physical or emotional injury, there’s really no running away from it, the suffering follows you until you choose to turn around and face it in order to move through it. The third noble truth is well-being. Cessation of ill-being where the absence of darkness means the presence of light. [The light of awareness.] The fourth noble truth is the transformation of ill-being, a path of healing. Joy and happiness are the fruits of the path of well being.”

"May I awaken within this dream and grasp the fact that I am dreaming so that all dreamlike beings may likewise awaken from the nightmare of illusory suffering and confusion" - unknown

 -  H.C.Love, Deep in a Dream Album liner "notes to self"

"The owl was requested to do as much as he knew how..."

He only hooted and told of the morning star,

And hooted again and told of the dawn."

"The Owl Hooted" (Yuman and Yaqui), translated by Frances Densmore

Susan Seddon Boulet

"When in the soul of the serene disciple..."

"When in the soul of the serene disciple with no more fathers to imitate

poverty is a success, it is a small thing to say the roof is gone:

He has not even a house. Stars as well as friends, are angry with the noble ruin.

Saints depart in several directions.

Be still:

There is no longer need of any comment. it was a lucky wind That blew away his halo

with his cares, A lucky sea that drowned his reputation. Here you will find Neither a proverb nor a memorandum.  There are no ways, N o methods to admire where poverty is no achievement.

His god lives in his emptiness like an affliction. What choice remains? Well to be ordinary is not a choice: It is the usual freedom Of men without visions"

- Thomas Merton

Moon Shadow #3

"I dream my song and I sing my dream..."

I am inspired by the ways and wisdom of the indigenous tribes and people who have a deeply rooted connection with nature and feel whatever is done to her is done to ourselves... who are fighting to protect our lands and rivers and waterways..." Anyone who has received the many gifts that nature has to offer knows we as humans cannot live without her.

Yuman music is the music of Yumans, a group of Native American tribes from what is now Southern California and Baja California. They include Paipai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Walapai, Mohave, Quechan. Maricopa, Tipai-Ipai, Cocopa, and Kiliwa people.[1] Folk songs in Yuma culture are said to be given to a person while dreaming. Many individuals who are in emotional distress go to a secluded area for a few weeks, there to receive new songs.[2]

"Nature needs our tears..."

The poet W.H. Auden said, ..." A poet feels the impulse to create a work of art when the passive awe provoked by an event is transformed into a desire to express that awe in a rite of worship."

"We start with an awe inspiring event, what Kerr calls "the passive awe" of this experience is transformed by the artist. The rite of worship, in words is poetry, In movement , its dance, in color and line, it is painting.  In all these forms there is a rite of worship.

In order to face reality in whatever form it may be, we have to hold still. What kind of stillness is meant here will become clearer... " David Steindl Rast

"Silence is like fertile soil, which as it were, awaits our creative act, our seed." - Arvo Part

"The human face shines like a dark sky..."

"It is very late. I am the only one awake. Men and women I love are sleeping nearby.

The human face shines as it speaks of things Near itself thoughts full of dreams.

The human face shines like a dark sky As it speaks of those things that oppress the living.""

Excerpt from Late At Night During A Visit Of Friends, Robert Bly

Moon Shadow #4

"I came in and found the the moonlight lying in the room...."

"Come Friend I have an old story to tell you -

Listen. Sit down beside me and listen.."      -  Anne Sexton, Excerpt from Wallflower

"After many strange thoughts, Thoughts of distant harbors, and new life, I came in and found the moonlight lying in the room. Outside it covers the trees like pure sound, The sound of tower bells, or of water moving under ice, the sound the deaf hear through the bones of their heads.

We know the road; as the moonlight Lifts everything, so in a night like this, the road goes on ahead, it is all clear."

Robert Bly, After Working

Moon Shadow #1