I am the Song
I am the Sun
I am the Soil
I am the Seed
I am the Shadow
I am the Longing
I am the Darkness
I am the Need

Two or more are gathered now
and here we Be
Two or more are gathered now
and so we See

song + lyrics + vocals: Lyndsey Scott 
production, harmonies, instrumentation: Michael Linder

I Am the Song

This song was born on Wintu Pom (Northern Wintu) & Nom Sus Wintu land (trinity alps // swift creek // mumford meadows). I was preparing for a four-day earth-communion time of solitude & fasting. I laid down at the place where two rivulets came together, watching a spider weave between blades of grass, feeling in myself this question: 

"Toward where is the Golden Thread tugging me now? What is my heart asking for? What do I KNOW?"

Lyrics:

At the place where the waters meet 
Spider weaves a web
Casting a Golden Thread to the center of your knowing

At the place where the waters meet
Spider weaves a web
Ze (she/he/they) say(s)
"Be still & wait. It will all become clear."

I am still breathing this in. Spider invites me to stay; to keep going -- keep weaving, Ze says. Trust that what you need will come. Prepare for the known unknown even though it has not arrived yet. Weave. Trust. Listen. Do your work, cast your spells, & then wait. It will all become clear. Somewhere in you KNOWS -- Knows what is on its way +++ 

What in you KNOWS? Where is the Golden Thread tugging you? Where can you surrender to trust a little bit more?

---

Recorded with Lisa Littlebird & Karisha Longaker.

The Golden Thread

An awesome song for three voices by Meredith Buck, inspired by a wilderness workshop exercise she participated in where she had to cross a river blindfolded, following only the sound of a drummer on the other bank.

Eel River Song by Meredith Buck (Listen)

the last couple of years at the Fairy Congress, we've had a ritual called the Angel Wash. I'm not sure of its origins, however Saphir Lewis and Rafe Pearlman crafted the tune and lyrics. Here it is performed by Aimee Kelley and Aimee Ringle

“I behold you Beautiful One,
I behold you Child of the Earth and Sun.
Let my Love wash over You.
Let my Love watch over You”
 
- Saphir Lewis & Rafe Pearlman (from the Angel Wash Ceremony)

Aimee Ringle & Aimee Kelly - Angel Wash Song

A fun, rhythmic, layered song inviting us to listen deeply to the rhythm of the Earth and the sound of the river. 

Lyrics:

Part 1: Put your roots down, put your feet on the ground, can you hear what she says when you listen?

Part 2: Cause the sound of the river as it moves across the stone is the same sound as the blood in your body as it moves across your bones.

by Molly Hartwell

To learn the individual parts to this song, please visit my Public Song Library:
https://heatherhoustonmusic.com/sisters-in-harmony-song-library/

Put Your Roots Down - Molly Hartwell - All Parts

An original 5-part polyphonic song that serves as a reminder to listen to life's subtle nods and not wait until the rug is pulled out from under us to make a change... This song has also become somewhat of an anthem for environmentalists and climate change.

Written and arranged by Britta Gudmunson, 2019.

For individual parts, visit inCourage Chorus on SoundCloud. 
For permissions to perform or inquiries, please write Britta at info@brittagreenviolet.com

iCC Spring '19

Soft Breeze

This song is called “Blessed Motion.” I learned the songs at Singing Alive and the songstress is Annie Zylstra. I am amazed by the song and the story of the song, which is as follows:

Blessed Motion is a 4-part acknowledgement of the nature of Life as an unpredictable, ever-changing movement toward itself. The melody came squatting on a rock next to a fast moving fork in the Trinity River, where salmon were in their first week of journeying to their spawning sites in northern California. Martin Prechtel said after surviving the Guatemala earthquake of 1976, during which he witnessed the ground beneath him rising up and swallowing people and villages whole, that solid ground is a myth believed by people who live on the earth rather than in it. This idea has stayed with me through the years and provided partial inspiration for this song. This is a big song! It travels through two dimensions, the first, a three or four part set of repeating lines, the second, a layered riff topped with a solo section. 

Thank you Annie. 

I hope you can hear the waves and motion in the voices of the track. It is genius. 

LYRICS

I believed in solid ground until I saw the earth in motion,

in the winds of steady change and in the ever-rolling ocean.

All moves on in perfect, perfect motion.

All is change and ever-rolling ocean.

All is moving, all is change, though I once believed that there

might somehow be something firm beneath my feet, but

All is motion, and all is well for solid ground is just a myth 

for those who never swim in it.

All is moving in blessed change, o the world we know

will come and go and everything will rearrange, so

be the ground beneath that sky,

tumbling round the by and by.

All is change, so am I.

lye lye lye, lye lye lye.

Blessed Motion Cover (Original by Annie Zylstra)

Humbly

Caim :: Scots Gaelic. ("kyem") n. Sancuary; an invisible circle of protection, drawn around the body with the hand, to remind one of being safe and loved, even in the darkest times. 

I was moved to discover a word in my lineage that describes something I've found powerful throughout my life: to draw an invisible circle around the body with the hand for safety and protection in challenging times. 

This song honors my ancestry. I welcome you to sing this song remembering your own roots. Who are your people? What language(s) did they or do they speak? What are the songs of your ancestors?

Caim

https://thebirdsings.com/fall2020-playlist/

Not A Lone Wolf - Steph Drouin & Aimee Ringle

Singing circle tune I wrote inspired by a feeling that safety matters, hearts and minds can open when we feel safe in ourselves and in our communities of loved ones.

painting by Megan Duncanson

Come Home

Alexandra “ahlay” Blakely is a descendent of Ashkenazi, Scandinavian and British folk. She is a singer-songwriter, grief tender, community organizer, facilitator and ceramicist walking the path of ancestral healing and the reclaiming of lost cultural memories. Her community singing album, Spells from the Unknown encapsulates songs for the community to transform, ask questions, and seek to lead lives that might make us ancestors worth honoring. Her upcoming 2024 community singing album, WAILS: Songs for Grief was recorded in July 2023 with a choir of 200 voices. The album is completely dedicated to grief, inspired by the Whales and Frances Weller’s “the five gates of grief.”

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJiuxVf4FhGSkYT4K0zpGyA/videos?view=0&sort=p&flow=grid
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexandra_blakely/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/alexandrablakely
Website: https://www.healingattheroots.com

Blessed Motion Cover (Original by Annie Zylstra)

Alexandra Blakely