לַכֹּ֖ל זְמָ֑ן וְעֵ֥ת לְכָל־חֵ֖פֶץ תַּ֥חַת הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃
To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.
- Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 3:1

Listen, the world is turning, turning
Listen, the land is burning, burning
But we, the people, are learning, learning
Listen, the world is turning, turning

May all recognize the time for action on climate justice, and the end of the era of fossil fuels. May we learn, and turn to a better future for all earth's creatures.

Turn (Demo)

Cover of by Arik Labowitz

From Psalm 27, traditionally recited daily in the month of Elul leading up to the Jewish new year.

לׅׄוּׅׄלֵׅ֗ׄאׅׄ הֶ֭אֱמַנְתִּי לִרְא֥וֹת בְּֽטוּב־יְהֹוָ֗ה בְּאֶ֣רֶץ חַיִּֽים
קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל־יְ֫הֹוָ֥ה חֲ֭זַק וְיַאֲמֵ֣ץ לִבֶּ֑ךָ

Lulei hemanti lirot b'tuv HaShem b'eretz chayim
Kaveh el HaShem, chazak v'ya'ametz lib'cha
-Excerpt of Psalm 27:13-14

Oh how I trusted that I would see G-d's good in this living land
Open to the one, may your heart stay open to the one

Lulei He'emanti by Arik Labowitz (cover)

This song came out of me as a natural instinct to soothe my nervous system after engaging with secondhand and intergenerational trauma from the Holocaust. May it bring softness to our pain and courage to the resilient parts of us who still reach for the good in life.

Song For Soothing Trauma

This is a chant I wrote and recorded while hiking the Superior Hiking Trail in northern Minnesota. It aims to connect to the chanter to balance of the universe, the eternity underlying our temporality.

In the wind, there is a stillness
In the stars, there is a holy darkness
I am prescencing the Infinite
I am holy (wholly) here

In the trees, there is a river
In the rocks, there is a sacred fire
I am flowing on eternity
I am the wind and stars

Elements Chant

The clouds are clearing now
Whether dark or light, all will be revealed somehow
Do not fear what's in sight
The morning sparrow sings the song of the night

All is One, no I or Thou
Weave your sacred thread into the fabric of the Tao
No more time, space erased
Awakening to find there was only one place

The mountains know how to call your name
Wanderer return to the place from which you came
Walking in the riverbed
The water teaches how to follow where we're led

Let go, even of what you love
to make room in your heart for the things you are afraid of
Sing a song to soothe the pain
The warmth of the sun brings the season of the rains

The clouds are clearing now
Whether dark or light, all will be revealed somehow
Do not fear what's in sight
The morning sparrow sings the song of the night

The Clouds Are Clearing Now (Mt Shasta Medicine v2)

Patience, Patience
We came here to be here
Patience, Patience
Our vision is becoming clear

All that I'm here to do
is already flowing through
Savlanut, Savlanut

There's nowhere I must go
Nothing more to know
Than the Here, and the Now

Patience, Patience
We came here to be here
Patience, Patience
Our vision is becoming clear

Relinquishing my force
coming back to the Source
Letting go of the fear

The time has come to stand
in the truth of what I am
I am strong, I am here

Patience, Patience
We came here to be here
Patience, Patience
Our vision is becoming clear

Savlanut/Patience

Brucha at Shekhina (Blessed are you, divine presence throughout the physical world) who grounds me
Brucha at Shekhinah who reminds me that I know
Brucha at Shekhinah who guides me
Brucha at Shekhinah who gives me courage to let go
Brucha at Shekhinah ruach ha'olam hameikhinah mitzadei isha
(Blessed are you, Shekhina, spirit of the universe, who makes firm a woman's steps)
-Ri J. Turner

From Siddur HaKohanot: A Hebrew Priestess Prayerbook by Rabbi Jill Hammer and Kohenet Taya Shere 

Available here: http://isabellafreedman.org/store/siddur-hakohanot%3A-a-hebrew-priestess-prayerbook-rabbi-jill-hammer-and-holly-taya-shere/dp/6432

Birchot haShachar by Ri J. Turner

Lo yisa goy el goy cherev; lo yilmidu od milchama
לֹא יִשָּׂא גוֹי אֶל גוֹי חֶרֶב לֹא יִלְמְדוּ עוֹד מִלְחָמָה
Nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
(B'ko​l Echad, pg 90)

Tear down the walls that keep us fighting, dividing and conquering
They cannot take our humanity
You're a part of me, sibling

-----------------
Cease. Fire. Now.

Sibling (Lo Yisa Goy)

A friend recently reminded me of this song I wrote 5 years ago in quarantine. It was such a time of unknown, pain and fear. I hope it can be a balm and a hand on your heart for whatever is difficult to accept about this moment. Image also taken by Riv in April 2020, Ohlone land.

Breathe

Cedar Sprouting (Instrumental) ft. Madhu Anziani

Holy Darkness / Presencing the Infinite (Preview) ft. Adhamh Roland

Original three-part harmony with English lyrics version

Ozi v'zimrat yah vayihi li lishua 
My strength and the divine song will be my deliverance 
(Psalm 118:14, Exodus 15:2) 

A prayer for courage, strength, and surrender as we navigate these trying times.

Ozi Vizimrat Yah Original Version

Ozi v'zimrat yah vayihi li lishua 
My strength and the divine song will be my deliverance (Psalm 118:14, Exodus 15:2) 

A prayer for courage, strength, and surrender as we navigate these trying times.
lyrics
Ozi v'zimrat yah vayihi li lishua 

Claim your place in the fabric of creation 
Know your face as the face of the divine 
This is our time, we've come to unwind 
the tangled patterns of history. 
Lifetimes fall and rise 
surrendering to the Mystery. 

Don't stop now, don't turn back 
It's just beginning to flow 
Let go and see what your body knows 
You were made for this, made for this 
Open wide and shed your skin 
Through fire we begin again
credits
released September 14, 2017 
Composed by Cedar Ranney 
Arranged by Cedar Ranney & Madhu Anziani 
Vocals: Cedar Ranney & Madhu Anziani 
Percussion: Madhu Anziani 
Produced by Madhu Anziani 
Hebrew Lyrics: Psalm 118:14, Exodus 15:2 

With deep gratitude to my bright and well ancestors, Kohenet community and beyond, and my teachers Taya Shere and Ibrahim Baba. Thanks to Rabbi Shefa Gold for inspiration and Madhu Anziani for collaboration, allyship and recording.

Ozi V'zimrat Yah ft. Madhu Anziani

This song came through inspired by the season of Teshuvah/Returning in the Hebrew calendar and the Run4Salmon led by the Winnemem Wintu people of the Shasta/Redding area. Please visit www.run4salmon.org and support their efforts to bring the Chinook salmon home and ensure a healthy watershed for future generations.

www.gofundme.com/salmonwillrun

Salmon / Teshuvah Song Taught at Thrive Song Circle 9/16/18

This song came through just before Rosh Hashanah 5779,  inspired by the season of Teshuvah/Returning in the Hebrew calendar and the Run4Salmon led by the Winnemem Wintu people of the Shasta/Redding area. Please visit www.run4salmon.org and support their efforts to bring the Chinook salmon home and ensure a healthy watershed for future generations.

www.gofundme.com/salmonwillrun

We are the salmon returning home
to the places these bones have known
We know the way
We know the way
We are the salmon returning home

I hear the sound of the stars
I feel the beating of the drum
It's time to come
It's time to come, come home
I know every rock, tree, bend
in this river comin' to another end
and it's time to come
it's time to come, come home

Salmon Teshuvah Demo

Inspired by nomadic years, the wisdom of the body and nervous system, change, Somatic Reality: Bodily Experience and Emotional Truth by Stanley Kelemen, the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess community, and the Judaism of my ancestors. Received to the tune of Avinu Malkeinu, a traditional Jewish High Holidays prayer. 

Deep gratitude to my teachers, community and bright and well ancestors: Taya Shere, Ibrahim Baba, my parents, Zaide, Grandpa, the Romanian women, Kohenet and so many more. Thank you.
lyrics
Slow down, child, slow down 
Slow down and listen to the wind 
All comes together; all falls apart 
Forming anew your beating heart 

Slow down, child, slow down 
Slow down and draw yourself near 
The rocks are your keepers 
Tell them your stories 
Now it is safe to be here 

A river flows from within you to where you will go 
The current carries you home 
Let your life unfold 

Slow down, child, slow down 
Slow down and you will receive 
Life wants to meet you where you are 
Not where you think you should be 

A river flows from within you to where you will go 
The current carries you home 
Let your life unfold 

Slow down, child, slow down 
Slow down and you will be shown 
The love that was always lifting you up 
You are never alone 

A river flows from within you to where you will go 
The current carries you home 
Let your life unfold 

Slow down child, slow down (x4) 

Slow down, child, slow down 
Slow down and listen to the wind 
All comes together; all falls apart 
Forming anew your beating heart

Slow Down / The Mother's Response (Demo)

More at: www.patreon.com/rivshapiro

Song from project "fragments":

"Fragments" is a multimedia process of ancestral re-membering. Music and film become the container for the artist's quest to recover the stories and strengths of their Jewish ancestors who migrated from Romania to Minneapolis at the turn of the 20th century. "Fragments" challenges linear space-time to illuminate the past through the present and invite the audience into the question: How do we remember what's been forgotten?

Remember Me (Live)

Adaptation of traditional High Holidays liturgy
Written by Kohenet Riv Shapiro, Elul 5780
with vocal support from Becca Heisler, Jes Heppler & Binya Koátz

Hayom t'amtzeinu: Amein
Hayom t'vorcheinu: Amein
Hayom t'gadleinu: Amein
Hayom tidr'sheinu l'tova: Amein

Art by Anya Riddell-Kaufman @_anya_mind_

HaYom (High Holidays chant)

Kohenet (ecofeminist Jewish clergy)
multi-modal artist and digital storyteller
educator

fka Cedar Ranney

Kohenet Riv Shapiro

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