The Chronicles of Gaia’s Prayer
The beautiful thing about this story is that I wrote an article in 2014 prior to the birth of this album. I was writing about the experience that was leading up to its creation. In the last paragraph I wrote, "I always create music from my experience and it is already stirring. When I feel that kind of movement within me, I call it being pregnant with a song. So perhaps at some point the energy of all of this will be shared with you through the energy of music."
Sometime later I wrote a second article prior to the release of "Gaia's Prayer" and then a final part upon its completion. I have compiled all three articles here in one place to give you the complete picture. Enjoy 😊
PART 1 COMMUNING WITH THE EARTH MOTHER: A DEEPER PRAYER (AUGUST, 2014)
Recently I have been called from deep within to spend more time with the Earth Mother, sitting upon her back and communing with her. As I would do this, I was prompted to sing some Lakota ceremonial songs I know.
From the time I began learning these songs some twenty plus years ago, I have longed to someday be able to sing them in the way I sing my own creations. With my own songs, it is easy for me to be in a space of "being the song". It's more like letting the song sing me. I always wanted to experience that with the Lakota songs but sometimes language can get in the way, especially when it's not your first language. I say this because I have an understanding of how some languages are metaphorical in nature. The way the language expresses paints a picture, a metaphor, much like a good song can do.
By contrast, English is a very definitive language and by its very nature can do a great injustice to our spiritual understanding. Chapter 24 of The Tao Te Ching (Stephen Mitchell Translation) says "He who defines himself can't know who he really is." Sometimes we try to define everything instead of just experiencing it.
So as I sat upon Grandmother's back I began to sing. I put my hands upon her and as I sang, the energy stirred profoundly within me. I became these songs and they became me. In Lakota ceremonial songs there are some words that are very significant for the depth of meaning they carry. It is such an irony here that I must use this definitive English language to communicate something so far beyond it. But I will attempt to use it as my tool to communicate. Think of it as fingers pointing to a greater truth: to the mystery that can only be experienced, not defined. Do your best to go to the energy behind the words for that is where the awareness resides.
Wakan Tanka—"Wakan" is the Lakota word used for "sacred" or "spirit". We say "Wakan Tanka" for "Great Spirit". Wakan (Sacred), Tanka (which means "big"): "Big Sacred" or "Great Spirit".
To break it down further, "Wa" signifies movement or motion and "kan" means "nerves" or "veins". "Kan" represents that which carries your life force. So together they mean "to make connection" and this translates in English to "sacred".
Tunkasila—This word generally has three translations that I know of. One is "Grandfather" and in certain contexts it is used to signify "the President". Generally the translation of "Grandfather" is thought of when we use it in a prayer form. But there is another deeper, richer translation. Here "Tunkasila" means "all that has come before--all of the wisdom that has come before" (and this includes the Earth Mother). In this case this is not ancestor worship but rather acknowledging the energies and wisdom of all--everything that has transpired in physical form to bring us to this place now. Think of the omnipresence of God and this would be closest to it.
Now as I have been taught, in the old days Lakota people only prayed to Tunkasila. It wasn't until the introduction of Christianity that they put the words "Wakan Tanka" together to describe the Christian understanding of God. We in our definitve English and externalized perception of God tend to immediately go to thinking that they were referring to an external being. In the dualistic nature of form our words tend to invariably lead us to this assumption. But from inside the culture and language of the Lakota people, Tunkasila is in and includes all things. Wakan Tanka also decribes this omnipresence with one difference. It includes spontaneous occurrence: the element of chance that has not occurred before. This is also the foundation of the I Ching and its teaching.
This element of spontaneous occurrence is profoundly important and should not be overlooked. Why? Because although we learn from the wisdom of what has gone before, we cannot find security in trying to make the future conform to the past. When we do, we can become rigid and get stuck. All that is living is constantly changing. This is the very nature of anything that is alive. Deepak Chopra's "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success" speaks to this: "...The search for security is an illusion. In ancient wisdom traditions, the solution to this whole dilemma lies in the wisdom of insecurity, or the wisdom of uncertainty..." He goes on to say "...uncertainty means stepping into the unknown in every moment of our existence."
My recent experience took me beyond words to an understanding that ultimately Tunkasila and Wakan Tanka are within each other with the exception of this one difference that Wakan Tanka includes spontaneous occurrence as described above. But words, no matter what language, can only point to our spiritual awareness and experience.
The first chapter of the Tao Te Ching says it best:
"The tao that can be told is not the eterenal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin of all particular things.
Free from desire you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire you see only the manifestations.
Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness (ie. the unknowable)
Darkness (the unknowable) within darkness (the unknowable).
The gate way to all understanding..."
As I sat upon Grandmother's back and became the songs, it was my heart that made the prayer, not my mind. I was the prayer. Without going into personal details, let's just say I was looking at certain patterns in my life and feeling I had done all I knew how to do to transcend them myself. So my heart, in these songs, asked all the wisdom of every woman who had come before me, including Grandmother herself, to awaken that wisdom and understanding within me. I will say it again, just to be clear; this was not about praying to people. It was about connecting with the totality of all that is--of this very life that I am--in a way to rise above my own limitations in regards to the personality self.
As this prayer was "singing me", I felt this energy stirring in a way I have no words to describe. If I could share it with you, I would, because it expresses such a tremendous gift of life.
Within a few hours a friend stopped by. I hadn't mentioned any of this to him. But something that transpired in our conversation somehow miraculously sparked a light within me and a release of an old pattern simultaneously. In that instant everything became clear and I knew that the Divine was manifesting through this person in answering my prayer without him even knowing it. The movement of energy through this experience has brought profound healing on such a deep level. Yet it was so simple--sort of like a plug just falling out of the socket.
I always create music from my experience and it is already stirring. When I feel that kind of movement within me, I call it being pregnant with a song. So perhaps at some point the energy of all of this will be shared with you through the energy of music. I offer this deeply personal journey with a hope that something of this sharing might awaken some chord within you to your own connection to all that is.
After all, "We are all related."
Mitakuwe Oyas'in.
PART 2 TEACHINGS FROM GAIA (JUNE, 2016)
In 2014 I said I was pregnant with a song. I did not know at the time just how very true this was going to be. I was "pregnant" with an entire album!! Since the album is not quite complete, it will be a little later in which I tell the rest of the story behind it. But for now, I would like to focus on some important teachings given to me by Gaia herself.
The first being this—The behavioral patterns that we develop as human beings have their seed in the moment we first "take in" the energy of something we have taken deeply personal. Attachment to our past can be found here. And if we wish to truly let go of the past, we must first let go of the earlier occurences where we took in deeply something that hurt us and we took it very personal. Where that event leads us in how we develop may look very different later in life. What your scenario will look like will be unique to you. And of course this is not about all attachments being from one event, but rather many events that we took personally.
It is important to understand that the event that you took personally really had nothing to do with you. You just took it in at that moment and made it your own. The truth is that it had everything to do with the person doing that act or saying those things to you. It belongs to them. With compassion, however, it is important to understand that their patterns were passed on to them in the same way.
Though I am attempting to communicate something here that can lead you to profound healing, it is truly up to you to ponder it deeply. It is your journey and yours alone, should these words speak to you. As I write this I am realizing that the music was born in the time period of intense healing for myself from this teaching from Gaia, as she responded to my songs and prayers. Perhaps it will be the music that acts as a catalyst for you too.
The second teaching—A few years ago I was led through intuition to a major change in diet. It was my body calling for this and it took me a while to figure it out. Through the process I was led to The Essene Gospels of Peace, Book One in particular, and from there into the raw food world. I didn't even know there was a "raw food movement". It was my own body that led me there organically (no pun intended :-)) As soon as it became clear, I knew without a doubt that it was the food lifestyle meant for me. I had found what my body was trying to lead me to.
Earlier this year I returned once again to reading the Essene Gospels. Words were leaping off the page as I read what Jesus had to say about our Earthly Mother. Did you know there is an "Earthly Mother's Prayer" in addition to "The Lord's Prayer"?
In Lakota language and tradition "Tunkasila", whose deeper meaning is "all that has come before", includes the Earthly Mother. I saw this parallel in the words that Jesus was speaking in these gospels. The earthly body, flesh, bone and blood come from her. Without going into quoting passages, the essence of his teaching regarding the Earthly Mother is that she loves you more than any biological mother ever could and if you align with her, she will protect and nourish you always. Please understand that this is not as opposed to "the Heavenly Father". She is simply a part of all that these words and phrases mean in a greater context of creation! I have found through my own personal experience that when I ask for her help with earthly matters in the right way, she responds! It is so beautiful and comforting to know and thus why I am sharing this with you now.
This summer I was led further into the knowledge and wisdom of wild, edible plants and began to understand these beautiful beings that we call "weeds" as a wonderful source of true nourishment right outside your door (if they haven't been sprayed of course!). With plants like dandelions, think of the resilience they have to survive what humans put them through. I don't know about you but I want to take in the energy and wisdom of their resilience in these times we are living in! Katrina Blair, author of The Wild Wisdom of Weeds, says there are thirteen of these plants that grow on every continent. It seems they follow humans and thrive in disturbed soil. (Disturbing soil is something humans are good at!)
So why am I telling you all of this about plants and food? Because I have come to realize how deeply connected with Gaia we can be through these plants, rooted in the same deep wisdom they contain. I feel even more grounded, balanced, and healthy because of it and this is such an incredible gift from Mama Gaia.
May you take these teachings from Gaia into your heart that they may richly bless you.
Mitakuwe Oyas'in.
PART 3 GAIA'S PRAYER: THE ALBUM AND THE REST OF THE STORY (AUGUST 2016)
In that same spring of 2014 I was led to a website of one who was to become a dear friend. His name is Kiara Windrider from India. It is not ordinarily in my nature just to contact someone "out of the blue" but I was compelled to do so with Kiara. He replied within 15 minutes! What I learned is that he already knew of me through my music. It turns out that he had spent many years in the US and while living in Mount Shasta, he used to drive around listening to "The Weaving".
What unfolded in 2014 was that Kiara ended up coming to the US that fall and one of the places he spent time was a community about an hour down the road from me called Hummingbird. So we made the arrangements and I ended up spending time at Hummingbird myself, getting to know Kiara and this beautiful community of amazing people. It was at this gathering that I first introduced the earliest version of the Gaia's Prayer song.
During the period leading up to our meeting at Hummingbird, I had been exploring and practicing a profound energy work that Kiara was teaching. It is called "Ilahinoor" which means "Divine Light" in Turkish. The gift of Ilahinoor was in part given to Kiara one day when he was out swimming with dolphins. As I remember the story he told me, a huge whale came up about twenty feet beneath him and gifted the knowledge and understanding of Ilahinoor through an energy transmission. This resonated so deeply with me because of my own experience with the whale people in the dreamtime.
You see, there is a heartbeat at the center of our galaxy, and approximately every 11,500 years we experience this "pulse". We are experiencing it now through the earth changes and potential polar shift possibly already occurring. But this time is also accompanied by a spiritual renaissance, if you will, which we are also currently going through. What Ilahinoor does is to bring light more fully into the physical body and help to deeply ground us with Mama Gaia's magnetic field. I have found this to be ohhh so true. I have been doing this since 2014 and I can tell you that I most times just stay calm and centered, simply observing the world around me going through its chaos. It's not to say that I don't have challenging times too. I do. But they are grounded in a calm center. My friends, it is profound!
As "Gaia's Prayer" was unfolding, I was guided to do the energy transmission of Ilahinoor through the use of sound. Ee-ahh-ee-oo is the sacred sound of "Ilahinoor". In "Gaia's Prayer" (14:56 in length), you will hear this as a mantra chant subtly mixed in with the whales and their song. I also sing these sacred sounds interspersed throughout the main vocals. On the "Ilahinoor Whale Song" (26:38 in length), I alternate with the word Ilahinoor and the sacred sounds while making space for the whales to share their magnificent song and transmission as well.
As you may recall, in the story of "Wiku", my previous album, the whale people had come to me in the dreamtime gifting me with the "Oaya Chant" but also requesting to sing not only with me, but with the eagle and the wolf, as this was something they could not achieve in nature. I was never able to integrate the eagle and wolf in that piece but boy did it ever find it's place in this album! What I discovered, quite by accident was that there are places where the whales were making sounds that were indistinguishable from the wolf--same pitch, same sound. It was amazing! Then the same thing happened with the eagle. I couldn't believe my ears. I just happened upon the right place where they were doing this. This was their true singing with the eagle and wolf. They knew it long before I did. You will hear them in places where you can tell that it is a wolf or the eagle, but know that they are also singing along with the whales in other places where you can't tell them apart. This was astounding to me!
So I have covered the story of the first and last tracks on this album (Gaia's Prayer and Ilahinoor Whale Song). Now lets look at the other tracks for a moment.
"Ilahinoor-Divine Human" expresses the understanding of Ilahinoor through song and of course was inspired by Kiara's writings.
Kiara is a very prolific writer who gathers much scientic information to support the knowledge and wisdom that he shares. There are two specific books he has written that were an inspiration to me. The first, "Year Zero: Time of the Great Shift" goes deeply into the detail of what is going on in the Universe that brings us to this time and what is likely to occur. The second book is called "Ilahinoor: Awakening the Divine Human". This book is more specifically about the practice of the Ilahinoor energy work.
"Gaia I Am" is expressing Gaia's point of view from the essence of what she is and what you are!
As many of you know I am a long time student of Unified Physics and the Resonance Academy founded by physicist Nassim Haramein. The lyrics of "Gaia I Am" express through the language of the unified field. I love this song! Gotta have some dance music in there
"Mni Chant" was inspired of course by "Mni". This is a word I have talked about before and also discuss in the "Tao of Mni Natural Action Water" section of my website, Mni (pronounced meh-nee') is the Lakota word for water. "Mni" comes from two words. "Mi" is a word that shows possession as in "mine". It usually goes before another word. "Ni" means "life" or "breath". So together "mni" means "my life, my breath". Another way to say it is "water is my life, my breath". Mni Chant is the celebration and expression of just that! Another song that's easy to learn and that will make you dance around the room:-)
"Gaia Speaks" is a short interlude leading us back into the Ilahinoor energy of the closing track, "Ilahinoor Whale Song", which is a 26 minute meditation to bring the album to its completion.
This has been such an extraordinary journey for me and I hope I have been able to convey and share at least some of that process with you in this story and of course in the music itself. For all the words, it is truly the music that comes the closest to sharing experience. May it bless you!
Mitakuwe Oyas'in.