Dear Subscribers,

This year, I am breaking with tradition a little by adding much more text to my customary music choices. Also, this year, there is no dance selection, but perhaps I will find one?

Consistent with the endings and new beginnings, I am taking these liberties and yet allowing time to look back as well as forward (which may be a separate post).

The End of the Old

As I have previously mentioned, I have known since 1972 that this would be the time when many old systems would end, but I knew from as early as I can remember that my destiny was about creating the future, not about preserving the past.  I have, in fact, written extensively on this over the years.  I believe in the importance of memory, continuity, and traditions, but not in the perpetuation of what has either outlived its usefulness or become too corrupt to be sustainable.

Entrainment

Music teaches us many things, but the most important takeaway revolves around entrainment, a term that became popular in my world with the publication of Stalking the Wild Pendulum by Itzhak Bentov,a Czechoslovakian mystic who died in the American Airlines crash in Chicago in 1979. The concept of entrainment is easily understood by reference to sound since we know that a violin that is in the room with another violin that is being played will start to quiver and resonate even if not being played. 

Sound actually acts on the etheric body which is the matrix for the dense physical world so all sounds, audible or not, not only have vibrations, but they create or collapse creation.  This idea was well understood by Greek philosophers who believed one could ennoble or corrupt society through music.

One can also lure memories out of the recesses of the unconscious and heal or hurt through sound or music.  I differentiate the two since there have been specialists in sound healing as well as music healing.  I have written extensively on this but not published everything.  There are however volumes of literature on this subject.

The Veil

Before revealing my selections, I would like to say that out of respect for the sensitivity of souls in transition, I did not discuss too much about my work with Gail.  I felt she needed to move forward and not look back to the work she and I did together.  However, I never had a better friend, and I miss her.

We went so deeply into mystical realms, starting the evening we first met. She was a Piscean from the Pleiades who had a Leo Moon and the biggest and most generous heart in the world.

That said, our souls have origins in Divine Intent and therefore have plans, some of which are clouded by Lethe while others manage to squeak through. 

I have always been attracted to the harp.  I had never seen one up close until Gail came into my life, but to give an example of how we might know but not know, I had a very musical boyfriend in grad school.  Once we had a very intense debate over the glass harmonica.  We actually went to the Smithsonian to settle the argument.  In terms of the instrument used to produce the eerie sounds in the mad scene from Lucia di Lammermoor, I won the argument, but I watched a video recently about unusual instruments that included one closer to his concept, but not exactly what he imagined.  Suffice it to say that the glass harmonica is not a percussion instrument but is played with wet fingers on very fine crystal glasses, like wine glasses. The sound can be very, very beautiful or out of this world strange.  That said, the glass harmonica was an excellent choice for the mad scene as a flute or piccolo is no match when trying to portray a mind that has gone off course.

My boyfriend actually played the cello, but we had a little ritual that when we started something, we played the Boieldieu Harp Concerto and when we ended, we played his choice, the Haydn Cello Concerto. 

As fate would have it, around 1973, I came to know that I was married to a harpist in a past life but the question remains whether I married the music or the man, and that is actually a very fair question when we consider what attracts and repels.

I know I could write a few volumes on this, but I want to give the reasons for today’s music selections since I tend to start with a list that is way too long.  I begin by looking for excellent performances that have significance in the context of the year that is ending or the one that is beginning.

2018

Though much of the news in 2018 focused on the Middle East, always a trouble spot since a space ship crashed there thousands of years ago (my psychic insights and not corroborated by anyone else so far as I know), my pick was Venezuela, not Syria or Yemen.  The reason is that the situation is not getting much publicity but it is completely out of control.

So, to kick off the New Year with the obligatory polka, here is my choice from Venezuela:

The Tears of Compassion

As some of you know, it was tears that caused me to descend into life on Earth.  As we examine why we have gone almost as far as we can on the reckless trajectory that has become increasingly dominant over the course of our lifetimes, you can perhaps understand the reason for shedding tears.

I chose an exceptionally beautiful performance by a cellist paying tribute to the hugely talented Jacqueline du Pré. My mother and I attended a concert in Honolulu in which the then very young du Pré showed interpretative maturity well beyond her years.  I would have said she is a tough act to follow but the cellist, Werner Thomas, will probably bring tears to your eyes.

Times to Come

This brings me to an encore, but one I could not resist.  I tend to think of Offenbach as having been a very talented composer who preferred to be entertaining rather than serious.  Jacqueline’s Tears brought out a dimension of Offenbach I had not heard before but the encore is a teaser.  When I was going through a very dark night of the soul, I listened to music to keep from falling completely to pieces. Among the most lyrical and elevating was a wonderful performance by Barbara Hendricks, a truly great soprano, of an aria from another Offenbach composition called “Le Voyage dans la Lune”. 

The Economist, as usual, put its prophecies for 2019 on the cover of its recent edition.  It included the four apocalyptic horsemen as well as some sort of vehicle heading for the Moon, but I feel optimistic.

In any event, in light of Trump’s new Space Force and the shared determination of many to “return” to the Moon, this aria seemed to fit even thought I am sure I have shared this piece before. To be honest, the frivolity is fitting for New Year’s Eve, but so is the insanity about going to the Moon.

Indigo

The next piece is about our future and the hope the Indigo children bring to us.  For those who think the planet is doomed, I would like to ask why so many unbelievably gifted people are incarnate at this time. 

There were many options for precocious children, even precocious child musicians, but I chose this wonderful performance by Alisa Sadikova playing a piece that Gail often played and, truth be told, in a very similar style and with almost as much nuance.  She is playing a full concert grand harp with the fingers of a nine-year old and a left arm that is not really quite long enough to reach the farthest base strings.

This was selected not simply to make me cry but to suggest that we can pierce the veil and when we do, we will tap into our immortality and touch our relationship to the Creator.

The Right to Love Again

Finally, I want to use music to show that it is not just politicians who are often corrupt, but academicians and musicians can also be corrupted.  There is a very strong movement to change the tuning used in most modern performances from A = 440 Hz to A = 432 Hz.  I have posted before on this topic.  There are now lots of people interested in the subject but momentum picked up tremendously on the 200^th anniversary of Verdi’s birth.  At that time, it was alleged that the shift to 440 was instigated by Nazis, but there is actually quite a lot of history to be considered.

Nearly everything we have heard in our lifetime has been with this A = 440 Hz tuning, but I see more and more emphasis on returning to ‘Verdi tuning” and I want to give two examples of how that movement is playing out.  In the first case, the pitch is lowered and the performance itself is slowed down a bit.  In my opinion, there is no question but that 432 Hz is more comfortable to the ears and nervous system.  It feels natural because it is actually natural.  It is mathematically correct and much easier on the ears not to mention the voice because the voice has registers and transitions and these points can be precarious. The lines are smoother and more natural using the slightly lower pitch.

So, the first example is with the slowing down of a Chopin Nocturne in E-flat major, my favorite key, that will be familiar to many people old enough to remember the music from the Eddie Duchin Story.

The second example is the overture from one of my very favorite operas, Norma.  This is played with a tiny Swedish ensemble, 13 instruments that have actually been tuned at A=432 Hz. Critics might say that the overture is beautiful regardless, but the point here is to feel the music, not think it. 

In a way, one could say it is better not to believe Ingrid, just listen to side-by-side comparisons.  You can do this, but you will generally find the same performance slowed down, as in the Chopin selection.  The other possibility would be to take two different performances, such as Norma played by a different orchestra but then one could have a full Metropolitan Opera size orchestra and the comparisons would still be a little uneven.

In previous New Year’s posts, I have put the emphasis on the music rather than my commentaries, but I feel a little more sober this year.  We are at a turning point in civilization, and because of the polarities and the emotions attending the polarities, I am suggesting a softer approach.

For those who are sure who and what are corrupt or out-of-tune with spirit, take a little time with the music.  Let it capture you the way it did me.  I really cried a lot because the music is deep and evocative.

These days, it is very difficult to have a political discussion with anyone because we are either talking to people who share our views or we find ourselves pitted against those who disagree.  With music, we certainly have preferences, taste, and so on and so forth, but we rarely fight over music.  We allow people to have favorites but we don’t go berserk.

That said, all I am suggesting here is that we listen.  It might take half an hour or more of your time, but I think it will be 30 minutes well spent.  If you find you like Verdi tuning better, the gauntlet I would throw would be to ask how you feel about electromagnetic tinkering with your aura.  It is actually that serious and I think the issue will move to center stage in 2019.

Reflections

As some of you know, I do music therapy.  There are many kinds of music therapy, but what I do involves the use of music to access the unconscious.  As I started by saying in the opening of this post, our etheric bodies are manipulated by sound.  Every strand in the etheric body, is affected by vibrations. The strands have correlations with the nervous system.  The ears are, of course, the sensory organs that hear sound, but we only hear in a limited vibratory range.  Our hearing limitations do not however suggest that there are no symphonies of the spheres that are inaudible to ears.  Of course there is a Primal Sound and all the overtones and harmonies thereof.  There is also a lot of noise, not just the jarring sounds of Mach 2 jets but every imaginable sonic dissonance and disturbance stemming from life in a technological world to life in a world of terrifying corruption, which includes music choices and tuning.

The Collaboration of Yin and Yang

In my experience, Yang energy is full of notes.  These are either arranged melodically or helter skelter.  Yin calibrates the manifestation so the melody and harmonies are yang and the rhythm is yin. Too much of anything overwhelms Yin and She pulls back and withdraws Her cooperation leading to disintegration of that which provides inspiration.  Yin is basically magnetic and has the option of accepting or rejecting, but blocking energy is ultimately devitalizing even if what is blocked is dissonant and objectionable.  A point then comes when the magnetism needed to hold the Idea in place is missing and we witness the disintegration of the Idea.  Disintegration is not the same as Death.  The Idea continues to exist and will try again to incarnate, perhaps using a different Yin receptor or reprogramming the receptor and sending the message again. Nothing really dies.  Energies fall off our radar because we can only consciously process one Idea at a time.  It thus behooves us to think about where we are investing our time and energy so that we support the integrity of the soul and its purpose and not get swept off track by the din.

I will follow up on these thoughts in the New Year, but I want to reiterate that if something that is supposed to be inspired is actually out of tune, imagine how much more dissonant other aspects of modern life are.  We can label these issues as forms of corruption or as dissonance.  Whether or not there is intent behind the dissonance determines the magnitude of the karma but the impact in terms of outcome is the same, meaning that the dissonance poses wear and tear on all who are exposed, but the guilt of the initiator of the dissonance depends somewhat on whether the dissonance created was intentional or accidental.

The Dots

I would like to wrap up this long post by connecting a few dots. Over Christmas, I said the calendar is a mess.  Realistically, there is no astronomical reason for starting the new year on January 1^st.  This, among other issues, suggests that we are trying to synchronize whatever celebrations and festivities we observe without reference to our relationship to anything in particular such as seasons, climate, agricultural production, or turning points. 

Traditionally, there were four royal stars that marked those turning points:  Aldebaran, Regulus, Arcturus, and Fomalhaut.  These now coincide mainly with the early degrees of mutable signs, but, of course, with the precession of the equinox, this was not always the case. 

In any event, we are as people with cultural identities free to refer to any point with reference to our own faith.  For example, the royal stars have been correlated to the Archangels:  Michael, Raphael, Uriel, and Gabriel.  If, however, our faith is based more on our relationship to Nature, we could use the same bright stars and reference them to the elements or seasons.  As it stands now, people hardly sense their relationship to the stars even though almost everyone I have facilitated in music therapy clearly remembered coming here from a particular star or constellation.

As an astrologer, I feel we should have access to this knowledge.  The ancient Egyptians took this so seriously that they inscribed the travel directions to the stars on the inside lid of the coffin so no one would get lost in the afterlife.

Being from a particular star does not preclude traveling to another one.  Each one is unique so we can expand our experience by spending time in different places.  That said, if we look at the Sky, we realize just how vast the Universe is and how far we traveled to get here. We are not trapped here. Everyone here came for a reason, but we brought different gifts as well as different needs.  We can leave if on the level of the soul that is the right decision.  We can reject suffering on the personality level, but everything makes sense on the soul level which is why I hope everyone will commit to the serious undertaking of awakening to self by clearing the obstacles that impede access to the memories we should have of our relationship to Source.

Music is one tool for accessing that awareness.  The therapy I do is very labor intensive because going into an altered state of consciousness is safer if a guide is present.  In the meantime, I suggest that when we listen to music, we give it our full attention.  Sure, we can have a candlelight dinner with some music in the background, but when we want to entrain, we must give the process our undivided attention.  I am going into my hole now for three days but you are welcome to align with me and to see what happens.

I apologize for the length of this post.  I did not get to what I see for 2019 so there will be a sequel.  This is however the time of year when our good intentions are center stage.  I would like to suggest we resolve to correct everything that is out of balance, to listen to ourselves and take our feelings seriously, and to devote time to self-perfection as well as to helping others.

Many blessings,

Ingrid

Copyright by Ingrid Naiman 2018

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