For the moments we need to feel held, connect, sink in and feel resourced. I use the lyrics earth, sea, tree, sky, stars, but please use as a zipper song and ask your participants to bring their ideas in to the mix. 

Lyrics: 

The earth holds me
so I can hold others,
yes I can hold others,
these arms are strong.

In this version I add in:
Sea, tree, sky, stars, sun, etc...

© Heather Houston
02/2021
All rights reserved
https://heatherhoustonmusic.com

Heather Houston's Album

The Earth Holds Me - Heather Houston, All Parts

GRIEF SONG - feat. WREN PEOPLE
This song came through me as I lit a candle at my altar praying for a song to hold our communities in our deepest grief - from pre-covid unmetabolized sorrow to the compacted grief we have been holding in isolation over the past year. 
I can feel my Jewish ancestors on my tongue in these sounds and melody. I sent this song to one of my Jewish mentors asking him about what came through me and to tell me more cause it felt very Jewish. This is what he told me: “Ahlay! This song is a “nigun” (in Hebrew) translated as a “wordless melody.” They are very common in Ashkenazi tradition (which is my lineage) although there are wordless melodies from Jewish traditions all around the world. These songs come from a time in Jewish history when a lot of the people were lacking institutional knowledge and didn’t know the prayers and didn’t speak Hebrew because the institutions had been destroyed in the Cossack uprisings in the 17th century. It was at this time in Poland (where my ancestors are from) when a mystic healer came forward, Baal Shem Tov (the master of the good name) - and taught that the melody of the heart is more potent and more appreciated by spirit than any formal prayers or specific blessings that someone could learn in an institution.” I sat with my mouth wide open in awe for entire moments at everything he had just told me. 
SIDENOTE: In the Nigerian religion Yoruba, Oya is the orisha of winds, lightning, violent storms, death and rebirth - when I listen to this recording I can hear her name. 
And what is grief if not all of the above? Just whoa. 
 
phonetic sounds:
oh ayo
da-da-day-daiya-ya-ya | da-da-day-daiya-ya-ya
ohya
da-da-day-daiya-ya-ya | da-da-day-daiya-ya-ya
Ohya ohya
da-da-day-daiya-ya-ya | da-da-day-daiya-ya-ya

to hear more community songs by ahlay, visit: https://www.alexandrablakely.com/songlibrary

Grief Song

MENTORS
This song came through about a year after a grief ritual where several of us were grieving lack of mentorship in our lives, lack of in tact culture - a sense of cultural orphans - wishing we were waking up to 30 pairs of eyes on us in our youth - longing for village and connection. And then a friend told me, we have to become the mentors we are seeking for the next generations. And I was like “Pum!”
  
lyrics:
we must become the mentors that we are seeking
is also dreaming us, what it is that we are dreaming

to hear more community songs by ahlay, visit: https://www.alexandrablakely.com/songlibrary

Mentors

lyrics:
PT I: Sometimes, some things are so badly broken - soften the closed hearts until they open
PT II: and they will never be the same, they will never be the same, 
they will never be the same, let the broken pieces claim
a new beautiful shape
PT III: piece by piece, piece by piece we’re healing - even if our hands, even if our hands are bleeding

to hear more community songs by ahlay, visit: https://www.alexandrablakely.com/songlibrary

Mosaic

TOGETHER WE REMEMBER
Guidelines for our workings together inspired by Rain Crowe’s temple tending

lyrics:
No one knows everything and together we remember a lot

to hear more community songs by ahlay, visit: https://www.alexandrablakely.com/songlibrary

Together We Remember

A fast-moving, up-beat, quick-to-share song by Cindy Kallett that I learned from Karisha and Sarah of MaMuse.

For more information and lyrics visit:
http://thebirdsings.com/my-heart-is-ready

My Heart Is Ready

This short but luscious 4-part, dense harmony piece by Annie Zylstra is a true joy to sing. Note that Annie delineates the parts differently than we do in the Wholehearted Chorus. The high line is the Air/ Soprano line, middle-high is the Tenor/ Water line, middle low is the Fire/ Alto line and low is the Fire/ Bass line.

The Way is Clear by Annie Zylstra

Wood Stone by Joules Graves

This song is a most beloved classic in my song circles. I've been teaching it since 2005 and everyone loves it! It's one that people can really sing out on. I typically use a rattle to help keep the beat. Enjoy!

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

Lyrics:

Wood stone feather and bone
Roaring of the ocean guide us home
x2
High angel singing
x2
In my soul
x4
River sea redwood tree
Howling of the wind gonna set us free
x2
High angel singing 
x2
In my soul
x4

Wood Stone by Joules Graves - All Parts

Let it Unfold

to hear more community songs by ahlay, visit: https://www.alexandrablakely.com/songlibrary

The Neuroplasticity Song

Love Don't Worry, 
Love Don't Worry, 
Perfect Love Casts out Fear 

inspired by 1 John 4:18 from somewhere deep in my childhood Bible brain ...." There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. "

Caught 2008ish? The melody is one I wrapped myself in to traverse the dark four flights of the mostly abandoned Lemp warehouses in STL to get to my art studio safely.   I was learning by doing, casting a circle, song medicine.  The echoes made everything epic. 

Here I am teaching it to the circle at Village Fire 2014, first ever call-and-response song leading. I burst out crying laughing when they sang the first line back. Total coming home moment.

pic: move in day at that studio?

Love, Don't Worry (Perfect Love Casts out Fear) <village fire remixX>

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

Mentors

Alexandra Blakely

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