The Sacred Alphabet
I am coming into the final stages of my latest book entitled The Sacred Alphabet. In certain ways it is an offshoot of my book The Healing Power of the Human Voice in which there is a chapter called The Meaning of Vowels and Consonants.
The thrust of this book focuses on the toning of vowels, consonants and seed syllables in relation to the chakras. While there are a few books which takes up this theme, mine has a particularl angle. That is, that the vowels used out of Western tradition and the consonants extracted from the Tantra Yoga seed sounds are often found in words that directly relate to the psychological and elemental nature of the chakra. This hypothesis is largely based on the English language with some reference to German, Sanskrit, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. In the case of the vowels it is either the central one of the word or begins the word. For the consonants it is the opening letter.
For example, the vowel sound I use for the root chakra is UH as in the word "hug". The root is of the earth element. In its wet state earth becomes mUHd and in its dried up state it becomes dUHst. Also at the root level we have the consonant sound of L. So right at the outset of the chakras we have the choice between LUHve and LUHst. Note that these are strong keywords containing both the vowel and consonant sounds.
The advantage of describing the chakras using these keywords as related to vowels and consonants is chiefly psychological. It deepens the trust of the person who does the toning that these sounds can be healing and corrective to the energy centres.
My publishers, Inner Traditions, like the approach even though as yet a contract has not been offered. Considering they are re-issuing Jonathan Goldman's book The Tantra of Sound in 2011 which covers some similar ground, they have been very encouraging to me. So watch this space.
I'm very pleased to be once again leading courses at Holy Isle Scotland (24-26 September) and Brightlife, The Isle of Man (12-14 November) as well as on Hawkwood College's 2011 programme. See www.soundspirit.co.uk
James D'Angelo
