I'm Making Space

Where there is grief there is holy ground
Where there is grief there is holy ground
Walk this ground, walk this ground
Walk this ground with me

Where there is grief there are sacred tears 
Where there is grief there are sacred tears
Shed these tears, shed these tears
Shed these tears with me

Where there is grief there is deeper love
Where there is grief there is deeper love
Feel this love, feel this love
Feel this love with me

Where There is Grief

I am of this Earth, I am of this sky
And the seasons turn, and so do I
I am made to change, I am made to bend
I am made to break and to grow again

Of This Earth

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

I Belong

Song/prayer/meditation to heal personal and societal grief. For ordinary grief, extraordinary grief, the unbearable kind and the unseen kind and the enduring kind, in service of exhales and letting go of what is ours and not ours, of compassion, lightness, & becoming who we are after and through it all.

Aly Halpert's Album

Loosen Loosen

This gorgeous melody from Jennifer Levenhagen was further beautified by Annie Zylstra who added the polyphonic harmonies, making this an ethereal gem, and a bit more challenging to sing than others in current oral tradition repertoire.

Original song copyright Jennifer Levenhagen, arrangement by Annie Zylstra. Recorded here by Lisa G. Littlebird for Wholehearted Chorus.

For lyrics, individual part tracks and more, visit: http://thebirdsings.com/most-beautiful-sky

Most Beautiful Sky by Jennifer Levenhagen and Annie Zylstra

Artist: Laurence Cole
I learned at the 2017 Rewild Conference from Rose and Heron Brae.

Sung at a (mini) song circle on August 1, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Lyrics:
Trees grow slow
And trees grow strong
And trees sway with the wind
Their whole lives long

And trees hold the ground
As they reach for the sky
And fallen trees still feed the seeds
They cast before they die

Trees Grow Slow (Laurence Cole)

Original song by Debbie Nargi-Brown inspired by a poem by Suzanne Morrow.The seeds of this song were planted at Song Village 2019. This is a live recording with the Wholehearted Chorus in Monterey, CA
Lyrics: 
Oh Grief  Oh Joy
Held in the very rhythm of my beating heart
Oh Grief  Oh Joy
May you come together so I don't fall apart

Breathe In   Breathe Out
Gather your Strength
Breathe In   Breathe Out
Remove all Doubt

You are Held, You are Held, You are Held
Surrounded, Grounded (by Love)

Dig down into your roots
That's where is all begins
Reach up into the stars
Embrace all that you are

Oh Grief! Oh Joy!

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

Not A Lone Wolf - Steph Drouin & Aimee Ringle

Artist: Saro Lynch-Thomason

Lyrics:
There are more waters rising
This I know, this I know
There are more waters rising
This I know
There are more waters rising
They will find their way to me
There are more waters rising
This I know, this I know
There are more waters rising
This I know

There are more fires burning...

There are more mountains falling...

I will wade through the waters
This I know, this I know
I will wade through the waters
This I know
I will wade through the waters
When they find their way to me
I will wade through the waters
This I know, this I know
I will wade through the waters
This I know

I will move with the fires...

I will rebuild the mountains...

*Note: Saro's lyrics are "I will walk through the fires" - I changed them to "I will move with the fires"

I'm Making Space

River of Fire

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