Trance Induction

TRANCE
Old French transe "fear of evil", from the Latin transīre "to cross", "pass over"

Wier, in his 1995 book, Trance: from magic to technology, defines a simple trance (p. 58) as being caused by cognitive loops where a cognitive object (thoughts, images, sounds, intentional actions) repeats long enough to result in various sets of disabled cognitive functions. Wier represents all trances (which include sleep and watching television) as a dissociated trance plane where at least some cognitive functions are disabled such as volition but not consciousness within the trance typically termed hypnosis.

Nina Epton argues that trances are creative states, or ‘the key to most creative processes’. This involves the ‘extinction’ of the ego which allows for an altered state of consciousness, an inspirational state wherein the mind can achieve ‘a higher form of being with a deeper understanding of self,’ as well as communion with the divine.

Sound can play an important role in inducing trance, although as Rouget points out, music does not of itself induce trance; sometimes it triggers trance while at other times it has a calming effect. In archaic trance ceremonies, different sounds can send people into trance, from loud drums to soft rattles. People can go into trance while dancing or while lying still. There are different theories as to why music can induce trance, from its emotive power to conditioned reflex. Rouget feels that music is a socializing influence on the trance phenomenon, and that this depends on the ideological systems in which it occurs. He also considers trance as ‘a state of consciousness composed of two components, one psychophysiological, and the other cultural’.


EXITORY GNOSIS
Mindlessness reached through intense arousal. It is aimed to be reached through sexual excitation, intense emotions, flagellation, dance, drumming, chanting, sensory overload, the "right way of walking" described by Carlos Castaneda, hyperventilation and the use of disinhibitory or hallucinogenic drugs.


MANTRA
The Sanskrit word mantra- (m.; also n. mantram) consists of the root man- "to think" (also in manas "mind") and the suffix -tra, designating tools or instruments, hence a literal translation would be "instrument of thought". A sound, syllable, word, or group of words that are considered capable of "creating transformation"

Mantras, the Sanskrit syllables inscribed on yantras, are essentially "thought forms" representing divinities or cosmic powers, which exert their influence by means of sound-vibrations

The orthodox attitude of the elite nature of mantra knowledge gave way to spiritual interpretations of mantras as a translation of the human will or desire into a form of action, with some features in common with spells in general. These sounds are manifestations of ultimate reality, in the sense of sound symbolism postulating that the vocal sounds of the mantra have inherent meaning independent of the understanding of the person uttering them.

To attain single-pointedness of mind, repetition of mantra's can be done in the following ways

• Mantra Yoga (chanting)
• Japa Yoga:
• Vaikhari Japa (speaking)
• Upamsu Japa (whispering or humming)
• Manasika Japa (mental repetition)

The vibrations and sounds of the mantra are considered extremely important, and thus reverberations of the sound are supposed to awaken the Kundalini or spiritual life force and even stimulate chakras according to many Hindu schools of thought


The Transcendental Meditation technique uses mantras that are assigned to the practitioner to be used as sound only, without connection to any meaning or idea.


Spiritual exercises of Surat Shabda Yoga include:

• Simran (repetition, particularly silent repetition of a mantra given at initiation),
• Bhajan (listening to the inner sounds of the Shabda or the Shabda Master).

People can also use trance, particularly in the context of ‘ritual’ events, to learn new strategies of thinking or of relating to one another. States of consciousness bring about a momentary release from the subjective personality and permit experience of the collective consciousness within the human psyche.


Trance phenomena result from the behavior of intense focusing of attention, which is the key psychological mechanism of trance induction. Adaptive responses, including institutionalized forms of trance, are 'tuned' into neural networks in the brain and depend to a large extent on the characteristics of culture. Trance is still conventionally defined as a state of reduced consciousness, or a somnolent state. However, the more recent anthropological definition, linking it to 'altered states of consciousness' (*Charles Tart), is becoming increasingly accepted.


Trance can be deliberately induced using a variety of techniques, including:

· Prayer

· Religious rituals

· Meditation

· Pranayama (breathwork or breathing exercises)

· Physical exercise

· Coitus (and/or sex)

· Music

· Dancing

· Sweating (e.g. sweat lodge)

· Fasting

· Thirsting


Ecstasy
The particular technique that an individual uses to induce ecstasy is usually one that is associated with that individual's particular religious and cultural traditions. As a result, an ecstatic experience is usually interpreted within the context of a particular individual's religious and cultural traditions. These interpretations often include statements about contact with supernatural or spiritual beings, about receiving new information as a revelation, also religion-related explanations of subsequent change of values, attitudes and behavior (e.g. in case of religious conversion).


Benevolent, neutral and malevolent trances may be induced (intentionally, spontaneously and/or accidentally) by different methods.


Auditory Driving : Trance through the sense of hearing by chanting, auditory storytelling, mantra, overtone singing, drumming, music, etc.



*Charles Tart provides a useful working definition of auditory driving. It is the induction of trance through the sense of hearing. Auditory driving works through a process known as entrainment.

The phenomenon of auditory driving is culturally still clearly evident and may be found in electronic dance music culture, which in many ways may be considered a modern version of shamanism. The same effect is caused by many jam bands. Churches which chant their services may also induce the same effects resulting in a trance state through the use of odd inflections and off-kilter or polyrhythmic structures. Similarly, white noise has been scientifically documented [citation needed] to assist neural connectivity, creativity and problem-solving.


Eric Jantsch calls ‘conscious learning’ is a transaction between consciousness, the environment and memory. Jantsch also identifies ‘superconscious learning’, which takes place with the addition of ‘outer’ and ‘inner’ ways of learning. These arise through the interaction of consciousness with transpersonal mass/collective consciousness (Jung’s "collective unconscious"). The feedback link between consciousness and superconsciousness gives rise to inner experiential learning or tuning-in to the dynamics of meta-systems transcending man and his immediate environment.

Rhythmic Induction
Entrainment is the synchronization of different rhythmic cycles. Breathing and heart rate have been shown to be affected by auditory stimulus, along with brainwave activity. The ability of rhythmic sound to affect human brainwave activity, especially theta brainwaves, is the essence of auditory driving, and is the cause of the altered states of consciousness that it can induce.

Mythology and Belief Systems
· Maenads and Bacchae: in Greek mythology, Maenads were female worshippers of Dionysus, the Greek god of mystery, wine and intoxication, and the Roman god Bacchus. The word literally translates as "raving ones". They were known as wild, insane women who could not be reasoned with. The mysteries of Dionysus inspired the women to ecstatic frenzy; they indulged in copious amounts of violence, bloodletting, sexual activity, self-intoxication, and mutilation. They were usually pictured as crowned with vine leaves, clothed in fawnskins and carrying the thyrsus, and dancing with wild abandon. They were also characterized as entranced women, wandering through the forests and hills.[3] The Maenads were also known as Bassarids (or Bacchae or Bacchantes) in Roman mythology, after the penchant of the equivalent Roman god, Bacchus, to wear a fox-skin, a bassaris.


· Norse berserkers were said to have often entered battle naked and entrenched in a state of primal rage, biting their shields and howling like wolves. This fanaticism was so powerful that they were known to continue fighting even after having lost limbs or being otherwise deeply wounded.


· Samādhi: yoga provides techniques to attain a state of ecstasy called samādhi. According to practitioners, there are various stages of ecstasy, the highest of which is called Nirvikalpa samādhi. Different traditions have different understanding of Samādhi.

· Bhakti: is a word of Sanskrit origin meaning "devotion" and also "the path of devotion" itself, as in Bhakti-yoga. Within Hinduism the word is used exclusively to denote devotion to a particular deity or form of God. Within Vaishnavism bhakti is only used in conjunction with Vishnu or one of his associated incarnations, it is likewise used towards Shiva by followers of Shaivism. Saints in these traditions exhibit different trance states or ecstasy.


· Agape or "Divine Love": the term agape appears in the Odyssey twice, where the word describes something that creates contentedness within the speaker.


· Communion: In the monotheistic tradition, religious ecstasy is usually associated with communion and oneness with God. Indeed, ecstasy is the primary vehicle for the type of prophetic visions and revelations found in the Bible. However, such experiences can also be personal mystical experiences with no significance to anyone but the person experiencing them.


· Rapture or religious ecstasy: is an altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness which is frequently accompanied by visions and emotional/intuitive (and sometimes physical) euphoria. Although the experience is usually brief in physical time, there are records of such experiences lasting several days or even more, and of recurring experiences of ecstasy during one's lifetime. Subjective perception of time, space and/or self may strongly change or disappear during ecstasy.


· Peak experiences: is a term developed by Abraham Maslow and used to describe certain extra-personal and ecstatic states, particularly ones tinged with themes of unification, harmonization and interconnectedness. Participants characterize these experiences, and the revelations imparted therein, as possessing an ineffably mystical (or overtly religious) quality or essence.



Neuroanthropology and cognitive neuroscience are conducting research into the trance induction of altered states of consciousness (possibly engendering higher consciousness) resulting from neuron firing entrainment with these polyharmonics and multiphonics. Related research has been conducted into neural entraining with percussive polyrhythms. The timbre of traditional singing bowls and their polyrhythms and multiphonics are considered meditative and calminative and the harmony inducing effects of this potentially consciousness altering tool are being explored by scientists, medical professionals and therapists.


Brain Entrainment
There are four principal brainwave states that range from high-amplitude, low-frequency delta to low-amplitude, high-frequency beta. These states range from deep dreamless sleep to a state of high arousal. These four brainwave states are common throughout humans. All levels of brainwaves exist in everyone at all times, even though one is foregrounded depending on the activity level. When a person is in an aroused state and exhibiting a beta brainwave pattern, their brain also exhibits a component of alpha, theta and delta, even though only a trace may be present.


Castillo (1995) states that: "Trance phenomena result from the behavior of intense focusing of attention, which is the key psychological mechanism of trance induction. Adaptive responses, including institutionalized forms of trance, are 'tuned' into neural networks in the brain and depend to a large extent on the characteristics of culture. Culture-specific organizations exist in the structure of individual neurons and in the organizational formation of neural networks."


Hoffman (1998: p. 9) states that: "Trance is still conventionally defined as a state of reduced consciousness, or a somnolent state. However, the more recent anthropological definition, linking it to 'altered states of consciousness' (Charles Tart), is becoming increasingly accepted."


Hoffman (1998, p. 9) asserts that: "...the trance state should be discussed in the plural, because there is more than one altered state of consciousness significantly different from everyday consciousness."


The sound dimension operates through the harmonics of the melodies as well as the physical impact of amplified sound waves. These elements combine to entrain the human organism within the ‘soundscape’ created by high volume sound systems, just as for example monks chanting together entrain themselves, body and mind, to the collective harmonic.


Gilbert Rouget (1985) notes that the amplification of sound achieved by modern technologies resonates sound through the body to involve the listener in the musical field, vibrating the ‘internal erogenous zones of the abdomen’ as well as producing a ‘light hypnosis’, just as the music of archaic trance ceremonies aims to do. Music alters the ‘relation of the self to the world’, modifying the psyche both internally and in its relations to the external space/time environment.


In Altered States of Consciousness, the subject can experience various ‘subjective realities’ or dreamlike visions, including mythical, science fiction, religious and mystic experiences. These experiences can have a positive and lasting effect on the subject. Masters and Houston have coined the phrase ‘Visionary Anthropology’ to describe a process whereby subjects are invited to explore a world in their imaginations, and to experience and describe elements of it such as its art, customs, music etc.


The ASCID seems to enable a creative visualization process, which aids artistic practices. Auditory musical imagery (or hallucinations) can also be experienced, especially by musicians. Such imagery can be described as ‘automatic’ or ‘self-creating’ works of art. Another phenomenon which can occur with the ASCID is ‘accelerated mental process’ (AMP), which is a form of subjective ‘time distortion’. In this state, the subject experiences a volume of thoughts or images far greater than that experienced in normal time.


Objective Research

Tribal drumming tempos

Alpha Waves 8-13 cycles per second

480 bpm

540 bpm

600 bpm

660 bpm

720 bpm

780 bpm


Brain Waves
Beta – 14-20Hz Normal waking consciousness

Alpha – 8 -13Hz Daydream, meditation

Theta – 4-7Hz Heightened creativity, Shamanic work, deep meditation

Delta - .5 – 3Hz Deep sleep, unconsciousness

*White noise is useful in overwhelming the conscious mind

*Both Alpha & Theta waves are needed for Trance States


HU

Introduced by Hazrat Inyat Khan repeat this syllable inwardly and soundlessly.

Vowels

U (Oo) 300Hz F

A (Ah) 500Hz B

Ae (Eh) 1000Hz B

Oe (er) 1350Hz F + 500Hz B

O (aw) 1550Hz G + 300Hz F

Ue (French u) 1800Hz A + 700Hz F#

E (Ay) 2100Hz C# + 300Hz F


Egyptian Mantra:

A E Ae I O U = Ah Ay Eh Eye Aw Oo

Defining TaRkHeM Further - Jung's Shadow Self

The word Khem, Black in Egyptian can be associated with 'Dark' yet Dark is often used synonymous with 'evil' but 'dark' just means the absence of Light.

The Practice of TaRkHeM seeks to "remove the inhibitions and sense of limitation, and to reintroduce a feeling of unlimited possibility, but at the same time looking to instill positive and empowering beliefs that can guide the conscious mind to actually achieve what it really wants. To tap into one's creativity and Authentic Self, and be in touch with one's Constructive Shadow". (paraphrased from Detoxorcist's blog)


- from Detoxorcist's blog

Jung's concepts of the Shadow (along with the persona, superman and the wise old man) were heavily influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche, the prominent German philosopher. Jung used Nietzsche's descriptions as specific archetypal images. It is also worthy of note that Nietzsche had some deeply esoteric aspects in his philosophy, based around the concept of self-overcoming, whereby man can overcome his limitations to become the higher man, on the road to becoming the superman. Jung recognized Nietzsche's deep understanding of, and willingness, to confront the dark shadows and irrational forces, which lay beneath our ‘civilized' humanity.

The three main archetypes, which have a major influence over the individual are the Shadow, the Anima and the Animus. The Shadow Jung notes is always the same gender as the individual. To become conscious of the Shadow takes considerable moral effort, recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. Jung contended that this act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.

The Shadow is considered to be a collection of inferiorities, undeveloped, and regressive aspects of the personality. They are primarily of an emotional nature and have a kind of autonomy, displaying an obsessive or more accurately a possessive quality. Jung describes emotion as an activity that happens to the individual rather than an activity of the individual, further reinforcing the idea of the autonomy of certain aspects of the psyche such as the Shadow.

The actions of the Shadow usually happen where adaptation is weakest, and at the same time reveal the reason for its weakness – that is a degree of inferiority and the existence of a lower level of personality. It is at this lower level, with its uncontrolled or scarcely controlled emotions that one behaves more or less like a primitive who is more or less a ‘victim' of these emotions and is practically incapable of moral judgment.

Although with persistent effort the Shadow (to some extent) can be integrated with the conscious personality there are certain features which offer a great deal of resistance to control and prove almost impossible to influence. These aspects are generally associated with projections, which are not recognized as such, and their recognition is an achievement beyond the ordinary.

Projection is defined as "the situation in which one unconsciously invests another person (or object) with notions or characteristics of one's own: e.g. a man, fascinated by a woman because she corresponds to his anima, falls in love with her. Feelings, images, and thoughts can be projected onto others. One also projects negative feelings: e.g. a woman has a grudge against a friend, so she imagines that her friend is angry with her."

If an individual shows no inclination to recognise his projections, then the projection-making factor has a free hand and can realise its object, or bring about a situation characteristic of its power. Again is should be noted that it is not the conscious mind, but the unconscious which does the projecting. The projections are not made, they are encountered. The effect of a projection is to isolate a person from their environment as instead of a real relation to it there is only an illusory one. Projections change the world into a replica of one's own unknown face – the Shadow – and lead to an auto-erotic or autistic condition in which one dreams a world whose reality remains forever unattainable. The resulting feeling of sterility are in turn explain by projection as the malevolence of the environment, and by means of this viscous circle the isolation is intensified.

At a certain point, projections are no longer the realm of the Shadow, but the contra-sexual side of the unconscious, that is the Anima in a man, or Animus in a woman.

The Shadow represents first and foremost the personal unconscious, and its content can therefore be made conscious without too much difficulty. While the Shadow can be seen through and recognized fairly easily, the Anima and Animus are much further away from consciousness and in normal circumstances are seldom if ever realized. As far as the nature of the Shadow is personal, it can be seen through, but in its greater archetypal aspect on encounters the same difficulties as with the Anima and Animus. Jung wrote, "it is a quite within the bounds of possibility for a man to recognize the relative evil of his own nature, but it is a rare and shattering experience for him to gaze into the face of absolute evil."

The Divine Utterance

The Hermetic Occult principle of vibration originates in Egyptian philosophy, and underpins most magical systems.

Hermes is the Greeks version of Egyptian God Thoth also known as Tehuti.

The idea stems from the cosmological model whereby the manifest world was created by a divine utterance of sound; it is this sound that both brings forth and sustains creation. The Hermetic Gnostics viewed this vibratory motion as polar; the higher the vibration, the closer to the divine, and vice-versa. However, the world of man and the world of the divine were inextricably intertwined via these vibrations, so influencing the vibration of one influenced the other.

This is expressed in the "Hermetic Axiom," "As above, so below," first expressed in the Emerald Tablet, which may date as early as the first millennium BCE.
Early Egyptian practices were based on the notion that this creative principle could be tapped through the power of the voice; an idea echoed in many other magical cultures, including Norse rune-singing; Hebrew Kabbalah is modeled on a similar principle.

"Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates."-The Kybalion.

The Teachings are to the effect that Spirit is at one end of the Pole of Vibration, the other Pole being certain extremely gross forms of Matter. Between these two poles are millions upon millions of different rates and modes of vibration.

Modern Science has proven that all which we call Matter and Energy are but "modes of vibratory motion," and some of the more advanced scientists are rapidly moving toward the positions of the Occultists who hold that the phenomena of the Mind is likewise as modes of vibration or motion.

In the first place, science teaches that all matter manifests, in some degree, the vibrations arising from temperature or heat. Be an object cold or hot-both being degrees of the same things-it manifests certain heat vibrations, and in that sense is in motion and vibration.

All particles of Matter are in circular movement, from corpuscle to suns. The planets revolve around suns. The molecules of which the particular kinds of Matter are composed are in a state of constant vibration and movement around each other and against each other. The molecules are composed of Atoms, which, likewise, are in a state of constant movement and vibration.
The atoms are composed of electrons, protons, ions etc., which also are in a state of rapid motion, revolving around each other, and which manifest a very rapid state and mode of vibration.

The Universal Ether, which is postulated by science without its nature being understood clearly, is held by the Hermeticists to be but a higher manifestation of that which is erroneously called matter-that is to say, Matter at a higher degree of vibration.

The Hermeticists teach that this Ethereal Substance is of extreme tenacity and elasticity, and pervades universal space, serving as a medium of transmission of waves of vibratory energy, such as heat, light, electricity, magnetism, etc. The Teachings are that The Ethereal Substance is a connecting link between the forms of vibratory energy known as "Matter" on the one hand, and "Energy or Force" on the other; and also that it manifests a degree of vibration, in rate and mode, entirely its own.

Trance Musiq

'Pure' trance inducing music is simple to produce. All that is needed is at least three or four (or more) individually engaging rhythms. In much so-called generic trance music only two rhythms are used, and only occasionally three. The 'engaging' aspect of trance inducing rhythms is important. What may be 'engaging' to one person may be repulsive to someone else. Repeating rhythms can be perceived as 'boring' but it is precisely this 'boring' aspect which is the precursor to trance. If a rhythm is 'engaging' and not boring, then trance is certain to occur
One important characteristic of successful trance inducing music is what trance theory would call 'modulating the dissociated trance plane'. The music of shamans and many aboriginal tribes create effective music which modulates the dissociated trance plane by slightly varying the underlying trance generating loop.

The fundamental repetition is the trance generating loop (TGL) and the variations in each repetition results in the modulation of the dissociated trance plane. It is for this reason that the sounds of nature tend to produce trance.
When there is some 'subtlety' or artistry in the creation and modulation of the DTP, then the trance is compelling and there is an increase in the trance force.
Repetition produces trance. But it will be the type of repetition which is 'engaging' or which produces an involvement with the inner reality. Subtle loops tend to bring the attention to a finer focus. The resulting splitting or dissociation results in trance.

Deeper trances are more easily produced when, after some time of engaging rhythms, there are increasingly more subtle rhythm or melodic changes, or if rhythm loops become longer and longer. The point is that the rhythms or melodic sequences become more subtle and more engaging. Avoid sharp or unsettling rhythmic or melodic changes as these will most likely terminate the trance by destroying the trance generating loop resulting in the collapse of the dissociated trance plane. One of the reasons that 'trance music' works to produce trance is that there are long periods of the same loop or loops.

Most instances of trance music do not allow sufficient time for deeper trances to develop, as complexities are introduced too quickly. Remember, in shamanistic trances, drumming would go on for days. Subtle changes in the rhythm and melodic structures over time will produce deep trances because it is the 'subtlety' which is engaging. Commercial trance music should continue for a minimum of 20 minutes to induce deep trance.

Cymatics - Hans Jenny - Pythagoras

A number off videos can be viewed of this life creating phenomena here . . . Hans Jenny

The term Cymatics (pronounced sigh-matt-ix) was coined by Dr. Hans Jenny (1904 -1972). It is derived from the Greek word Kyma or ta kymatika meaning: matters pertaining to waves. By the term waves, Jenny was particularly wishing to point towards periodicity or cycles. Dr. Jenny was an Anthroposophist (a follower of the teachings of the Austrian philosopher, occultist, mystic and clairvoyant Rudolph Steiner 1864-1925).

This work revolves around the ability to demonstrate acoustic phenomenon, which work was begun in the late 18th century by Ernst Chladni (1756-1827) and then, in the late 19th century, developed further by Margaret Watts-Hughes (using the human voice and several diaphragms) and then taken a stage further by Jenny in the middle of the 20th century.

The famous Chladni Figures had previously visibly demonstrated the organizing power of sound and vibration. The method was to take a metal plate and to suspend it as freely as possible and then to excite it into activity via the use of a violin bow. Most typically, this was to clamp it at its center leaving the rest of the plate fairly free to vibrate. Placing some sand upon the surface and then bowing the plate aroused the sand particles into activity and into very beautifully organized regular geometric shapes. Bowing the plate at different points excited other harmonics, which further developed the resulting patterns into different, yet still ordered and repeatable, geometric or mandala-like patterns. Each single harmonic of the plate when sounded created the same pattern, which increased in complexity as one progressed along the harmonic series.

The harmonic series, or natural overtones, is likewise a law of nature that follows a strictly mathematical progression for the human voice, strings, and brass instruments. This series is predictable and ordered and finds its reflection within the Cymatics phenomenon.

For instance, the first overtone is known as the Octave, whilst the next overtone is a perfect Fifth and the following overtone is a Fourth. Each overtone produces an interval that gets progressively smaller as the process moves along until they are so close together that the human ear cannot detect the difference. Each succeeding Octave is also divided up in an arithmetic series. That is to say that the first Octave produces One interval (known as the Octave) and in the next Octave we find Two intervals, whilst in the next higher Octave we find Four intervals and the next Octave Eight intervals and so on.

The interval of an Octave is when the note upon which the whole series begins is reached again only vibrating at twice, four times, eight times - and so on - its original speed. Therefore, if we begin on the note C the next Octave is also called C but it is vibrating twice as fast as the original C. If the first tone is vibrating at 250 cycles per second (cps) then the Octave vibrates at 500 cps, the next Octave at 1,000 cps (4 times the original speed) and so on.

The introduction of this Law into Western music is attributed to the great Sage of Samos - Pythagoras (around 600 BC) - and an entire cosmology was further developed around these musical principles, and published in certain of his writings, by the 17th century English Rosicrucian apologist Robert Fludd (1574-1637).

Dr. Jenny took the idea of the Chladni plate but went on to excite it using precisely measured vibrations (cps - Hertz) and amplifications (volume) via a piezoelectric effect using a crystal oscillator and then to cover the plate with various substances and finally to document his results in both photographs and films.

He researched this phenomena for 14 years. The results are truly awe inspiring, breathtaking, most inspiring and enlightening. The films in particular are most stimulating. By filming the experiments, we are able to see instances of when forms arise out of chaotic substance and then return back again into what we might term the Virgin Space of Repotentialisation only to come forth again forming the same pattern (providing the tone remains the same).

Here we see cyclic phenomenon taking place, where all is in constant movement. Even the regularly formed geometric patterns are shown to be comprised of numerous particles constantly moving within those patterns - like an army of ants walking backwards and forwards along a straight line (demonstrating the Particle / Wave phenomenon).


(From the German edition, Cymatics, Vol. 11.)

Primordial Vibration & Amen

Primordial Vibration

From the onset of the Big Bang or something relevant came forth a Primordial Vibration. From this, all things were created within our Universe from the Physical to the Metaphysical to the Spiritual. It has been called the Word in the Judeo-Christian Bible, Hindu Scriptures call it Naad and Shruti, Persian scriptures Sraosha, Kalma in Muslim scriptures, ‘the Sonorous Light' in Buddhism, Naam or Shabd by the Sikhs, in Patanjali Yoga Darshan, the God/dess Ishwara is a Being expressed by this original vibration (Pranav) and Madam Helen Blavatsky and the Theosophists call it ‘the Voice of Silence'. It is interesting to note the similarities between the above word ‘Pranav' in this case denoting the personification of the Primordial Vibration and the word ‘prana' which is the life force within us.


OM

Though the most famous and enduring name we know it as is probably by OM.
From Blavatsky's article entitled ‘AUM' in the Theosophy literature ‘Path' [April 1886 issue p.6, Vol. I], the article mentions the first sound as Aum and describes it as a Divine Resonance, a power that manifests itself into being. This self manifesting power? can be traced back to Ancient Egypt (Kemet) as the Primeval God Amon creates Himself from the black waters of Nun.

My Fretless Friends

- from Wikipedia
A fretless guitar is a guitar without frets. It operates in the same manner as most other stringed instruments and traditional guitars, but does not have any frets to act as the lower end point (node) of the vibrating string.

Fretless guitars are fairly uncommon in most forms of western music and generally limited to the electrified instruments due to decreased acoustic volume and sustain in fretless instruments. However, the fretless bass guitar has gained fairly widespread popularity and many models of bass guitar can also be found in fretless varieties. Fretless Electric Bass is particularly popular among Jazz, Funk and R&B players due to the similarity in feel and sound to the acoustic double bass.

Advantages and disadvantages
Fretless guitars are not constrained with particular musical tunings, tuning systems or temperaments, as is the case with fretted instruments. This facilitates the playing of music in other than 12-tone scales; these scales are typically found in non-Western or experimental music.

Fretless guitars produce a different sound than their fretted counterparts as well, because the fingertip is relatively soft (compared to a fret) and absorbs energy from the vibrating string much faster. The result is that the pizzicato on a fretless guitar has a more damped sound. One can finger notes with their nail like an Indian sarod player does. This will sustain and brighten the sound. However, playing a fretless instrument usually requires much more training of the fretting hand for exact positioning and shifts, and more ear training to discern the minute differences in intonation that fretless instruments permit.

To make this easier, many fretless guitars and basses have lines in place of frets and side position markers (dots or lines), indicating half-tone increments. Acoustic fretless guitars produce less volume than their fretted counterparts, which is usually addressed by the use of pickups and amplification.

Fretless bass guitars, which have much heavier strings and a bigger body, are also typically amplified. On fretless basses the fingerboard is usually made of a hard wood, such as ebony. To reduce fingerboard wear from round-wound strings a coat of epoxy may be applied. Other strings, such as flat-wound, ground wound or nylon tape-wound strings, can also be used to reduce fingerboard wear.

Fretless guitars are typically modified versions of factory-made traditionally "fretted" guitars, the frets being removed by the player or a professional luthier. There are also professional builders specializing in custom-made fretless guitars. Fretless bass guitars are much more common than fretless guitars, and there are many manufacturers offering these as standard models.

Egyptian Symmetry

The importance of the Egyptian D scale
The Arabic name for this scale which can be traced back to Egypt is the Bayati scale, the Greeks used the name Dorian for the same scale as it was associated with one of the three tribes that the Greeks had broken into. Never the less it is of Egyptian origin as are most things.

Egyptian religion was and still is very much based on Cosmological symmetry and balance (Ma'at). It is no wonder why this scale was dominantly used given it is the only diatonic scale that is symmetrical.

The notes are d E F G A B C D
This turns out to be d-w-E-1/2-F-w-G-w-A-w-B-1/2-C-w-D
As you can see the formula is: whole step - half - whole - whole - whole - half - whole step
Perfect symmetry backwards and forwards from octave to octave

The Big Note

Beauty exists in music and the universe. Humans will never know what existed before the Big Bang, but we do know what exists after the explosion. In 1965 at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, two radio astronomers, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, developed a well-calibrated-hypersensitive, 20-foot horn-shaped antenna. The antenna was designed to detect radio waves bounced off echo balloon satellites.

No matter where they pointed this antenna at the sky, they heard the same hum. This was not their expected result. Penzias and Wilson thought they had made a mistake. They even considered the possibility that it was due to "a white dielectric substance" (pigeon droppings) in their horn. Their puzzling findings were published in a famous paper, Excess Antenna Temperature at 4080 Mc/s. Penzias and Wilson were radio astronomers, with expertise in electronics rather than cosmology.

It soon came to their attention through Robert Dicke and Jim Peebles at Princeton that this unexpected noise, this background radiation, had been predicted years earlier by George Gamow as a relic of the evolution of the early Universe. Penzias and Wilson had, in fact, accidentally discovered the Cosmic Background Radiation, the fingerprint of the early Universe, the echo of the Big Bang. In 1978 Messrs Penzias and Wilson were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery.

The Cosmic Background Radiation is a residual vibration from the explosion of the Big Bang, vibrating at a frequency of 4080 Mega Hertz (4,080,000,000 Hertz). All vibrations can be interpreted as sound. Octaves are defined as the lower frequency being half that of its higher frequency. For example, A 3 = 440 Hz and one octave above is A 4 at 880 Hz. Twenty-two octaves below The Big Note (4,080,000,000 Hertz), is calculated to be 972.75 Hz. This is slightly lower than B 4 at 987.77 Hz and somewhat higher than B Flat 4 at 932.33 Hz, in equal-tempered tuning. Therefore, the Universe is resonating at a tone a little flatter than B, as defined by standard tuning.

Physicists think that time began with the Big Bang. Today, just about every scientist believes in the Big Bang model. The evidence is overwhelming enough that in 1951, the Catholic Church officially pronounced the Big Bang model to be in accordance with the Bible. The Tibetan Gyuto Monks perform Buddhist ceremonies while chanting on one fundamental note. Their refined chanting technique enables each member of the choir to sing a three-note chord, exciting the harmonics of the fundamental drone note. A listening to their recording for Windham Hill Records reveals that the monks are droning on a note slightly flatter than B, exciting all the overtones above. Their valve-less brass horns are designed to play this note as the fundamental partial. The Gyuto Monks have been resonating the Big Note for the past 500 years at the Gyuto Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet, now living in exile in Dharamsala, India.

There is no explanation as to why the monks drone on that particular note. Penzias and Wilson's Nobel Prize winning discovery was an accident. The Big Note is an incredible combination of science, art and religion.


"Everything in the Universe is made of one element, which is a note, a single note. Atoms are really vibrations, you know, which are extensions of the BIG NOTE, everything's one note. Everything. The note is the ultimate power..."
- Spider Barbour from Frank Zappa's Lumpy Gravy, Part II © 1968

ROBERT FRIPP

I would like to speak of a musician that I have had the honor to study and live with during 1985 in West Virginia.

Robert Fripp is the founder, guitarist, composer and main inspiration behind the group King Crimson (1969 – present) as well as a much in demand ‘gun for hire' having worked for David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, David Sylvian, Brian Eno and Andy Summers to name but a few. Before I go into my discourse concerning the magical end of my Fripp relation I would like to detail the equally magical event in October of 1985.

Early in the summer of 1985, I was made aware (from a friend who worked for the same music company that I do now 25 years later) of a chance to study with Fripp, whom he knew I admired greatly. I was shown the magazine article, which I mulled over and eventually inquired about it. Soon I found myself to be one of twenty two guitarists from around the world chosen to Become the very first Guitar Craft Course. Robert Fripp, it seems, had taken a teaching position at the American Society for Continuous Education in Claymont Court, West Virginia, and this was his immediate task. I was 25 years old and had been working in the music business as a guitarist for about 6-7 years already. I welcomed the chance for what I would now consider as a "Rite of Passage".

In October of the same year, I arrived in West Virginia, at a cold and desolate train station late at night; it had been raining and thunder/ lightning were all around. I was picked up in a van and shuttled back to what turned out to be George Washington's Nephew's Estate (now a small village designed for the study of all things Extra Sensory). Most of us had arrived during the day and were already there. I entered into the behemoth mansion that would be my home for the next week, the lightning and thunder increased and I was sure that I had entered The Court of the Crimson King (King Crimson's first album, released in 1969).

To say that a little bit of LBM was taking place became an understatement as we stood in a huge, dark-lit room. Then at the top of the stairs with the help of a lightning bolt to illuminate the area, stood Mr. Fripp. This was way too cool and I knew this was going to be life-changing. After greetings and small talk, we were advised to group into threes and fours, and were given the "New Standard Tuning' that we would retune our guitars to. We were then informed that we had a gig this Wednesday at a local watering hole full of rednecks. Say what?

This was one of many devices used that week to break down our habits and force us to "Become Awake", as Gurdjieff would put it (a favorite study of Mr. Fripp by the way). We learned Alexander Technique, meditation, various Zen-like activities, as well as music instruction. The goal was to develop a personal relationship with the instrument and to Become a voice for the Muse to be heard through.

I cherish every moment and every memory I have of that week, and use to this day the various techniques that were taught. The late night discussions in the basement make-shift pub over a pint of home-brewed beer with Robert will enlighten me until my dying day, and I am proud to say that I have passed some of this enlightenment to a few of the musicians and other media artists whose paths have crossed mine.

Aside from the disciplined, mind numbing technical prowess this musician has worked towards, Fripp has always ventured into the Dark corners of the World's cultures, a dip into the Underworld if you will, and brought back with him new ways of expression on the guitar, he is without a doubt a true ‘hero' of the guitar in every sense of the Joseph Campbell Word.

Some of these new expressions were exotic scales and sounds from the Middle East and the Gamelan of Indonesia. These sounds on the guitar resonated heavily through me when I heard them and still do today. So intrigued with them as I have become, they have led me to take up playing fretless guitar and studying ancient music, particularly Egyptian and Middle Eastern. I have also, from reading much on these music's philosophies, discovered a universe of deep and metaphysical attributes associated with the creation of this music.

At times I have used sigilism, mantras and yantras during the composition process to engulf myself in the essence of what I am working on. This came to fruition with my three part composition for orchestra and fretless guitar, A'nen Khem Sedjet. This piece is based on Egyptian and Persian scales and is homage to Egyptian Goddess Aset/Isis. I am greatly looking forward to learning advanced magical techniques to create further evolved music with.

1985 W.Virginia - Student Master

Musiq and Ritual

The scent of incense swirls around the darkened room. Two figures, their faces illuminated by a few flickering candles, stand in the darkness; they are discussing death. A hooded figure explains to a young woman that death is a transformation and release to those to whom it comes in its own time.

Remembering the pain and suffering her grandmother felt in her last days, the woman understands. As she turns to thank the hooded figure and ask him his name, she discovers that he has disappeared. Almost inaudibly the phrase "We will meet again, when the time is right, and you won't be afraid" quietly echoes through the darkness. She stands alone in the chill of autumn, contemplating this.

The silence in the room is broken by two voices, softly singing a haunting tune beckoning "Take me back, oh hills I love." Soon they are joined by more voices, and harmonies fill the room with music and words that welcome the embrace of the earth, oaks and stars and speak of death as a release and return to that which is comforting and sacred. As the melody floats through the air, the voices and energy building, no one in the room is unaffected. As the last note of the song fades away, the room is silent. Some are in deep thought; others have tears in their eyes, even the children who normally squirm and make noise are still.

The mystery play described above, part of Gaia's Grove's Samhain ritual, was complimented and made more powerful by music. Moments like that happen rarely in large public rituals. In my experience, when they do, they are more likely to occur when there is music.


Vitally important emanations of Tone are believed to inundate the Earth at certain times of the year. These are the two solstices (winter and summer) and the two equinoxes (spring and fall), vast radiations of sacred energy is released at the spiritual level. Music acts as the medium which aids these forces in manifesting into our physical world.

Incorporating recorded music into ritual will put participants in a different state of mind, separate from the mundane world and open to the energies of the elements, deities and magick.
Adding live singing to rituals raises energy. Music becomes the inspiration and focus of the ritual, rather than an addition to it.

Regardless of which magickal path you follow, each spell, each prayer, each evocation is an act of will. Finding music that moves you can help focus that will,



Music and Ritual - Music as Ritual: by Prof. Dr. Lorenz Welker - Ludwig Maximilians Universities

Music is strongly linked to ritual, not only in Western civilization but all over the world and from its first appearance onwards. Music as an essential part of religious rites, is to be found in rites of transition and has its obvious and central place in medical and paramedical rituals such as shamanic healing processes and in the treatment of obsession.

On the other hand, references to music can be found in numerous studies on rituals from ethnological, sociological and cultural points of view, from the seminal works by Victor Turner (The Ritual Process, 1969) and Mary Douglas (Natural Symbols, 1970) to more recent studies such as Hans-Georg Soeffner's Die Ordnung der Rituale, Frankfurt 1992, and the articles collected by Andrea Belliger and David J. Krieger, Ritualtheorien, Wiesbaden 1998. Artur Simon's magisterial contribution on African rituals of obsession Musik in afrikanischen Besessenheitsriten in: Artur Simon, Musik in Afrika, Berlin 1983.

The particular importance of music in ritual might be due to the fact, that music itself is a ritualized means of communication, especially in contrast to ordinary speech and spontaneous vocal utterances.

Dance of the Arktoi

Dance of the Arktoi
The Goddess Artemis had worshipers from all over the ancient Greek world. One of the most famous worshiping sites for Artemis was in Attica at Brauron. Artemis is said to have presided over all the biological transitions of females from before puberty to the first childbirth. “Young girls began to prepare for the event of the first childbirth at an early age. Even before menarche young girls danced for Artemis, in some places playing the role of animals. At the Attica site, or Brauron, in the rite called arkteia, girls representing the polis of Athens imitated she-bears, arktoi." “The initiation ritual for girls was called the Brauronia, after the location of Artemis' shrine at Brauron, in Attica, where the ritual, performed by girls before they reached puberty, took place.”

I composed this piece of Musiq for two specific 'friends' of mine that spend much of their time at the aid of the Animal Kingdom and specifically with the wolves.

Included in the recording are nature sounds and of course wolf howls. The idea was to atone the mind's ear to the natural ordering of the universe. The composition unfolds calmly yet firmly, just as do the Fibonacci Sequence, Golden Mean, and Phi. As one of my 'friends' commented, it is a very elegant composition, thank you.

Occult Notes on Frequencies

The Six Sacred Solfeggio
Corresponding scale: G Ab C E F# A
UT – 396 Hz
RE – 417 Hz
MI – 528 Hz
FA – 639 Hz
SOL – 741 Hz
LA – 852 Hz

Binaural Beat Theory
40 Hz Gamma waves Higher mental activity, including perception, problem solving, fear, and consciousness
13–40 Hz Beta waves Active, busy or anxious thinking and active concentration, arousal, cognition
7–13 Hz Alpha waves Relaxation (while awake), pre-sleep and pre-wake drowsiness
4–7 Hz Theta waves Dreams, deep meditation, REM sleep
4 Hz Delta waves Deep dreamless sleep, loss of body awareness

The 18 Sacred Solfeggio’s frequencies
Hz Note Equivalent
147 - D3 146.83
174 - F3 174.61
258 - C4 261.63
285 - C#4 277.18
369 - F#4 369.99
396 - G4 392.00
417 - Ab4 415.30
471 - Bb4 466.16
528 - C5 523.25
582 - D5 587.33
639 - E5 659.26
693 - F5 698.46
714 ?
741 - F#5 739.99
825 - Ab5 830.61
852 - A5 880.00
936 - Bb5 932.33
963 - B5 987.77

*Notice that the lower the frequency (Qliphothic frequencies?) the closer to entropy one becomes.
*Illness is associated with a lack of movement,or an imbalance in the body's vibrations.

57-60 mhz Colds & Flu begin
58mhz        Disease starts
55mhz        Candida overgrowth begins
42mhz        Receptive to Cancer
25mhz        Entropy begins

Jung - Music of the Spheres and the Devil's Note

C.G. Jung: “the ascent through the planetary spheres (music of the spheres) therefore meant something like a shedding of the characterological qualities indicated by the horoscope, a retrogressive liberation from the character imprinted by the archons (planetary rulers).

The journey, like the crossing of the great halls in the Egyptian underworld, therefore signifies the overcoming of a psychic obstacle, or of an autonomous complex, suitably represented by a planetary god or demon. Anyone who has passed through all the spheres if free from compulsion: he has won the crown of victory and become like a god.” The journey is an initiation, or a series of initiations, taking place in the imaginal world. The music that is heard there is none other than the knowledge gained in these initiations by those who have attained the requisite stage of psychic growth.

The Tritone (Devil's Note) :Diabolus en Musica

Three whole tones (the Tritone) is six semi-tones, and six is another number that has become associated with the mysterious figure of the Devil through the number 666, which is actually the divine number of the Sun and the occult number of the Hexagram, which is a magickal symbol of the Sun.

The Tritone is made up of three whole tones, thus it was originally associated by the Church with the Holy Trinity and when this did not work it was linked to the Devil, who was also connected with the number three by the Church (let us not forget the Unholy Trinity and the number of the Devil, which is made of three sixes.

Qabalistically speaking, the Devil is linked to the third Sephira on the Tree of Life of the Qabalah called Binah (Understanding) through its connection to the gods Pan, Set and Saturn (Satan), who are forms of the Devil.

Binah is the Sephira of Saturn on the Tree of Life in the Qabalah, and the Tritone itself became associated with the planet Saturn in medieval times, since Saturn was thought to be the planet of the Devil.

The Tritone adds a spiritual tension and mysterious quality of sound which cannot be had otherwise. Like the Devil, who represents one half of the nature of man, the ambiguous Tritone is one half of the Octave, it pivots and divides the Scale into two equal parts, and it is the same as its inverse.

- David Cherubim

Revisiting Claymont Court with the Crimson King

Upon the very first evening of my stay with Robert Fripp in 1985, he had all 21 of us students re tune our guitars to what he prescribed as “the new standard tuning’.

This tuning was completely foreign to every one of us. Suddenly, not one of us knew how to play the guitar. We had limited mobility since our fingers could still move but we didn’t know where to move them to! This required a new thought, a new approach, it leveled all of us off to the same expertise (that of non-expertise).

After a few nights of fumbling around with this new tuning, it began to reveal itself to us, it was not designed to play any music that we had heard, it was designed to become a new voice, and it was designed to become a collective voice, of which it has Become.

Acoustic Sigils

Occasionally I find it useful to create a musical sigil to help focus on a certain subject. I found this procedure online and have changed it to my liking. It consists of two rhythms, one in 4/4 the other in 12/8, a selected scale of choice and the notes drawn from the sigil procedure.







1 Statement of Intent/Focus - In this case I will use Red Sand

2 Eliminate repeat letters and vowels; Reduce to 2-6 consonants which will create the rhythm events - in this case I am left with RDSN

3 Draw a circle and mark the quarters and cross quarters (this represents both the diatonic melody and also the rhythm in 4/4) *see diagram above

4 Decide on a seven note scale - I will use a Persian scale; G A Bb C# D E F G'

5 Write the alphabet around the circle starting at the top with “A” going clockwise

6 Find the letters RDSN and their corresponding scale notes - A C# Bb E

7 Note them on an 8th note rhythm, this will be the 4/4 loop

8 Next create the 12/8 loop; make a new circle marking the quarters but this time ultimately have 12 stations on the circumference of the circle like a clock. Take our notes A Bb C# E and place them on the wheel, this will give us our 12/8 polyrhythm; C#2 E5 A10 Bb11
*see diagram below

9 Superimpose this rhythm 12/8 on top of the 4/4 (I use recording software to overlay these rhythms, but have also had success in layering them with a looping device on guitar)

Soundscapes and Mantra

"A portion of my practice is usually devoted to creating a Soundscape (collage of notes and sounds), this is done with a looping device. I have on occasion locked the loop and meditated on the Soundscape. I will be incorporating these mantras along with this aspect of Tar Khem.

ink hry seshta
ink sejem ink maat
"I am the Master of Secrets"
"I am He who Hears I am Harmony"

ankh udja seneb
"Life, Prosperity, Health"