Listening for the Voice of Change
2012 is shaping up to be all that it promised to be and more. It includes staggering extremes and all colours in between. I am singing in technicolour.
On the one hand I find myself horrified daily by the atrocities that still occur on this planet - whether that be the silencing of the protests in this country as bills get passed that carve up our communities into saleable commodities for the next big buyer, or the enforced marriage of 8 year olds girls who have not yet even found their voice. In both these cases money talks louder than the voice of humanity, and the madness of it brings me to tears.
On the other I find myself uplifted, exhilarated and encouraged by the amount of people who are sounding the trumpets of love and bringing down the walls. I witness innovative, creative and heart-felt campaigns by major charities such as Plan’s Because I Am a Girl Campaign.
I witness a move towards transparency and heart centred business in the entrepreneurs around me - pioneered by Lynn Serafinn, whose book The 7 Graces of Marketing lays out the way to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell. The 7 Graces Global Conference in June sets the stage for the dialogue we all need to be having about creating graceful, sustainable, ethical and humane business practices.
I witness beautiful works of art being made which search for ways to align and live by core values - such as Road to Peace, Leon’s Stuparich’s up-close documentary about the Dalai Lama which will be released during the his visit to the UK this year.
I witness mainstream media and music being infused by events such as Flash Mob Meditations or The Big Om, on 12.12.12 which will bring world-wide dance DJs together with sound healers, gurus from across the world in a huge sound healing event.
Gone are the days when the prophets were alone in the wilderness, crying out in their turquoise shirts only to be crucified by the press. It now seems that the spiritual values can be heard and delivered in a way that is much more audible and immensely more groovy.
As more and more people gather together to create, dialogue, sing, express, dance, party and work out in ways which re-align with core values, it is surely inevitable that the constricting, repressive elements of society will be challenged. It was, of course, ever thus because there is always the old, which is in decay and always the new which is emerging. How this particular version of the cycle plays out is yet to be seen and whilst there will no doubt be dramatic shake-ups, the most far reaching changes are probably occurring in the smallest yet far-reaching of incremental shifts towards whatever is to come.
All major forms of change are formed from a thousand tiny shifts, and as the wave builds towards what many are excitedly discussing as the 1000 Monkey Effect, a Golden Age or the Tipping Point there is a jubilatory and urgent sense of the need to reclaim the voices that have been silenced. The growing movement towards Citizen Journalism reflects a desire for a media which more accurately reflects and represents the voices of our communities than the distorted circus mirrors provided by Rupert Murdoch and his empire. Sites like Global 21 or The Latest offer a space where people can learn skills and use media to make their voices heard.
I am doing some musical reclamation myself, having just contributed a track called The Witches Reel to a compilation album created by artists taking inspiration from folklore which will be released at Wierdlore in Bristol on 10th June. The Witches Reel is a song attributed to witches in the 1590s and I have interwoven it with a popular pagan/wiccan chant and some words from ‘The Lament of the Old Woman of Beare’, with the intention of reclaiming the voice of the silenced feminine. Gelie Duncan, burnt at the stake for supposedly singing this song at a demonic ritual was a maidservant with a knack of helping people get better using natural remedies. Her story is not so different from contemporary therapists who now, thanks to recent EU legislation find themselves under threat of legal prosecution if they use certain herbs and practices now deemed illegal. A preview of the track can be heard at: Wierdlore
Truly, the draconian shadow of the old patriarchy - which manifests as the dysfunctional masculine within both men and women - belongs in the past, along with the repression, abuse, violence, corruption and destruction it begets. This terrible old monster, which still roars at us from certain Parliamentary benches, must surely be on its last legs. I witness individuals realising that the power of their own voice is much more loving, insightful and truthful than this nonsense spewing, fire and brimstone blowing pedagogue. For whilst most people have internalised some sort of authoritarian voice from various external and internal influences, which beats them up daily, there are now an infinite variety of self-help tools, therapies and remedies available at every level of society. Whilst the multiplicity of ways to salvation can seem incredibly messy and chaotic, the fact is it means that everyone can now find a means of unique expression that ultimately liberates them - whether that is a homeless blogger who becomes an award winning author or a military wife singing to keep herself going through war - the way out of the matrix is becoming apparent.
For me voice is key within that. We must keep singing, sounding, breathing deeply, speaking - even when it emerges as a crackle, a moan, a whimper, a barely audible whisper - we must keep searching for that voice that says - ‘there is another way, it does not have to be like this.’ We must also cultivate acute, sensitive listening - for the words between the lines, for the lies hidden in the hype, for the truths which are too deep to be spoken.
We must listen for the silence that births the sound of our hearts, enfolding it in infinite unspoken wisdom so that we can resonate more fully.
I invite you to celebrate, reclaim and rejoice in the power and beauty of your own voice and to join me, if it resonates for you at any of the following:
Blessings
Mind Body Spirit - Ocean of Sound - Sound meditation - June 2nd, 3pm
Eco-Choir - Love Your Voice and Love the Planet! - June 12th- July 17th
Garden of Roses - Venusian Love Petals with Anne Malone & Johnty Wilks - June 5th
Wierdlore - 10th June
Road to Peace- World premiere film screening - 19th June
The 7 Graces Global Conference - 22nd-25th june
