Prayers, Chants, and Blessings

This deity does not have to be the Christian God, or Jesus only. Many religions pray. Everyone, whether religious or not, prays to something, whether they realize it or not. 

To me, prayer, like I explained in the ”Charge of the Goddess” section, is not about the words. It is about the emotion behind the words. The Gods, or the Spirit, or the Source, Power, God, Allah, Gaia, etc., speaks through the primordial language of sincerity and emotion. If we feel something strongly, they can feel it.

And so, prayer, whether it is to the Christian God, the Pagan Gods, or any other tradition, is the same thing, the same emotion, we simply call the deities by different names.

Chants, are used by Witches, and often in Catholic churches (in latin, they are a prayer but simply repeated) to build power. In my “Rituals and Celebrations” section, I will give an explanation about how to create a circle of power, and how to build that power through chanting, meditation, and other methods. Chanting is a great way to focus the mind. Sometimes if I cannot get to sleep at night, I repeat something over and over, like counting sheep, until I wake up in the morning, not even remembering when I fell asleep.  

Blessings, simply, are gifts you give to others (not to be mistaken with a “present” given). They are…just that, blessings. When someone sneezes, it is common knowledge that we say bless you, because “way back when” the people believed when you sneezed, some of your soul escapes your body, and so we bless you.

Here are some chans, prayers, and blessings I have collected over the last few years. I hope you can use some of them in your daily lives, or in rituals, or sabbats.

Morgainn.

Chants, Prayers and, Blessings

May the sunshine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft upon your fields,

and until we meet again,

May the Goddess hold you in the palm of Her hand.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Grace of the love of the skies be thine,

 Grace of the love of the stars be thine,

Grace of the love of the moon be thine,

Grace of the love of the sun be thine,

Grace of the love of the crown of heaven be thine.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

May the blessings of light be on you–

Light within and light without. 

May the blessed sunlight shine on you,

And warm your heart, till it glows,

Like a great peat fire.

A/N: I never liked this one as much, not for the message, but because it has no symmetry, and it doesn’t RHYME!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Power of raven be thine.

Power of eagle be thine.

Power of the fiann.

Power of storm be thine.

Power of moon be thine.

 Power of heaven. 

A/N: They were all about their ’thine’s back then, weren’t they?

The fiann were Celtic warriors, who fought while the Druids ruled.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chant for Moon gazing:

“Hail fair moon,

Ruler of the night.

Guard me and mine,

Until the light.”

Chant for the Sun’s rising:

“Hail fair sun,

Ruler of the day.

Rise on the moon,

To light my way.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

“We are a circle

Within a circle.

With no beginning,

And never-ending.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

“I am a strong woman,

I am a story woman.

I am a healer,

My soul will never die.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Dryghtyn Prayer

In the name of Dryghtyn, the Ancient Providence,

Who was from the beignning and is for eternity.

Male and Female, the Original source of all things;

All-knowing, all-pervading, all-powerful; 

Changeless, eternal.

In the name of the Lady of the Moon,

And the Lord of Death and Resurrection.

In the name of the Mighty ones of the Four Quarters,

The Kings of the Elements.

Blessed be this place, and this time,

And they who are now with us. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Earth teach me quiet, as the grasses are still with new light.

Earth teach me suffereing, as old stones suffer with memory.

Eath teach me humility, as blossoms are humble with beginning. 

Earth teach me caring, as mothers nurture their young. 

Earth teach me courage, as the tree that stands alone. 

Earth teach me limitation, as the ant that crawls on the ground. 

Earth teach me freedom, as the eagle that soars in the sky. 

Earth teach me acceptance, as the leaves that die each fall. 

Earth teach me renewal, as the seed that rises in the spring. 

Earth teach me to forget myself, as melted snow forgets its life. 

Earth teach me to remember kindness, as dry fields weep with rain.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bedtime Blessing:

“In the still of the night,

while the world around me sleeps. 

May the angels smile upon me,

and the Lady bring me peace. 

Blessings upon (list those whom you

would like to remember in your prayers)

Instill in me great harmony, 

In thought and word and deed. 

So mote it be.”

 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meal Blessing:

“The table round contains the Earth,

and thus becomes the Mother.

We share her bounty in this hour,

And bless and love each other.

So mote it be.”

I decided to start the The Wednesday Night Yoga Playlist here to motivate myself to change up on yoga class playlist at least once a week. Since I teach twice a week, I don’t want my students to get bored of my playlists!

From the House of Flying Daggers Soundtrack (Shigeru Umebayashi)

1.1st track  Performed by Zhang ZiYi (Untitled)

2. Bamboo Forrest

Planet Yoga-Music for Yoga, Meditation, and Peace

3. Jai Ma- Wah!

4. Home- Ephemeral Mists

5. Sri Ram- Diana Rodgers

Buddha Bar

6. Golden Lotus- Asia Beat

7. Huong Vietnam- Phong Nguyen

Krishna Das

8. Ma Durga

9.Hara Hara Mahadev

10.Mountain Hara Krishna

11.Prayer to Rudra

12. Namah Shivayah

Tomorrow: A Good Yoga Class

Friday: A Mantra for the New Year

I checked the stats for this site yesterday, and saw one of you landed here in a rather unexpected way.  You typed  ”witchcraft- chants for stretch marks“ into your favorite search engine.

Really.

Now I am not running down chanting.  Or stretch marks.  Or curing stretchmarks.  With witchcraft.  But I haven’t written a chant to cure stretchmarks.  So how’d you end up here?

Curiosity got the better of me, and I tried it myself.  If you Google “witchcraft- chants for stretch marks,” here’s what you’ll see:

Well like witchcraft, the internet abhors a vacuum.  So here it is, to be said while rubbing generous amounts of Belly Butter onto your stretchmarks:

I checked the stats for this site yesterday, and saw one of you landed here in a rather unexpected way.  You typed  ”witchcraft- chants for stretch marks“ into your favorite search engine.

Really.

Now I am not running down chanting.  Or stretch marks.  Or curing stretchmarks.  With witchcraft.  But I haven’t written a chant to cure stretchmarks.  So how’d you end up here?

Curiosity got the better of me, and I tried it myself.  If you Google “witchcraft- chants for stretch marks,” here’s what you’ll see:

Well like witchcraft, the internet abhors a vacuum.  So here it is, to be said while rubbing generous amounts of Belly Butter onto your stretchmarks:

…… but with all the new gearing options available with ICC now being opened (partially) to players, one might find themselves a bit confused/overwhelmed with what options in gearing they have to maximize their rogue DPS potential. 

Courtesy Shadowpanther.net

Enter my favorite website, http://shadowpanther.net.  Basically a treasure-trove of spreadsheets/tips/tricks/techniques for maximizing your damage potential.  I’m aware that most hardcore, (or even casual players), might already be acquainted with this cool website, but I thought I’d just throw that out there in case you didn’t know

It IS difficult to please everyone, eh?!

What is “appropriate” (or non-) music during yoga classes?

Coldplay

As a yoga student, I’ve been through phases of liking/disliking lyric-based or non-devotional music during class.  Pop music, like Coldplay, for example.  Sometimes I felt “put-upon” by the teachers’ tastes or moods.  Many, many years ago, I even wrote a similar complaint to the owner of DC’s premiere yoga studio stating this opinion!  I’m quite certain these complaints pop up in studios around the world.

These days, I simply understand and accept music as part of the teacher’s unique voice and spirit.

As a teacher, during the Integral Yoga classes taught at Past Tense Studio, I typically do not use music during Asana – just a meditative sound CD if anything, then something meditative or devotional for Nidra.  The studio is on the first floor of a city intersection, so I like to dull the street sounds with yoga sounds at times.  IY teachers are trained to not use music, so I try to follow suit out of respect for Satchidananda’s teachings.

However…

…lately I am choosing lyric-based Yoga Nidra songs to match our “comfort” theme for December (see set list in the “Comfort…” post).  I admit that I could be forcing my idea of “comfort” onto the class!  But I’m letting them know ahead of time that we’re trying it out for this month only.

On the other hand, for this month’s special Sunday Seva Nidras (see “Events” page), I’m using relaxing devotional Sanskrit chants only.

When I choose music for sub-ing non-IY classes, I use set-lists of rhythms and lyrics that support the feel of the class style.  For example, swinging and groove-y for Vinyasa’s dance; or driving and energizing for Hatha’s longer holds.  Indeed, a mix of genres – singer/songwriter, folk, Brazilian, Latin pop, R&B, Sanskrit devotional, American gospel, and so on – but all themed to a spiritual and encouraging nature.  (In my opinion, of course!)  Even on most current yoga-mix CDs (i.e. Shiva Rea’s collections), there is a mix of genres – from reggae to new age to chant – that are mostly devotional songs.

I recently attended a very intense Iyengar class where the teacher matter-

B.K.S. Iyengar

of-factly instructed a crowded list of detailed anatomical directions with little space to breathe (I’m out of breath just typing that sentence) – but with a soundtrack of beautifully moving Sanskrit chants of many styles.  Eventually, the odd juxtaposition faded and I melted into his amazing yogic knowledge and authentic yogic sounds.

And not so long ago, I attended an Anusara-inspired class where the teacher played Cuban “Timba” (like Puerto Rican Salsa, but better) – with lyrics that might be inappropriate for a yoga atmosphere.  But the energy of the music drove the class, who probably didn’t know Spanish!  I loved it, honestly.

Then there was the time I was outside the door of a Jivamukti class and heard the teacher blasting “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin.  I figured it was a heart chakra focus!

All that to say – lord only knows what people think of our music at any time!  I know one student who cringes when he hears Krishna Das – a well-respected yogi and Kirtan musician!  To this friend, it’s over-used and really distracts his peaceful practice.

Go figure!

There is probably world-wide debate on the subject of “yoga music.”  Frankly, as a yoga teacher AND musician, I can have a very liberal opinion of what’s “appropriate” music for a yoga class.  But mostly, I try not to analyze it too much – instead, I trust the teacher’s intention to pass on teachings and share vibrations.  I hope others can allow that freedom, as well.

If not, there are millions of classes and teachers to choose from!

OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

Each morning I gather my little tadpoles around me and start our day by reading a poem or singing a song. One of our favorite frog songs th classic, 5 Green and Speckled Frogs .

Five Green and Speckled Frogs
sat on a speckled log
Eating some most delicious bugs.
Yum, yum!

One jumped into the pool,
where it was nice and cool.
Then there were four green speckled frogs,
Glub glub.

Four green and speckled frogs…
Three green and speckled frogs…
Two green and speckled frogs…
One green and speckled frog…
…Then there were no green speckled frogs!
Glub glub, glub, glub

I have written the words out on large chart paper and had them laminated for durability.

Beside the chart I have an umbrella stand of pointers for the Froglet of the Day to use for pointing to the words while everyone follows along. I used to use a yardstick but recently discovered that there are many more exciting possibilities.

C’est le mardi 24 à 20h15 au Presbytère de Saint-Yrieix que les personnes intéressées par cette préparation sont attendues (comme indiqué sur la page “Agenda”.

Deva and Miten’s music is an expression of spiritual devotion, through song and chant. http://www.devapremalmiten.com

Moola Mantra

Om
Sat Chit Ananda Parabrahma
Purushothama Paramatma
Sri Bhagavathi Sametha
Sri Bhagavathe Namaha

This mantra evokes the living God, asking protection and freedom from all sorrow and suffering. It is a prayer that adores the great creator and liberator, who out of love and compassion manifests, to protect us, in an earthly form. This Moolamantra has given great peace and joy to people all over the world, who have chanted, or even listened to it. It has the power to transport ones mind to the state of causeless love and limitless joy. The calmness that the mantra can give is to be experienced, not spoken about. Dear reader, here is the key with which any door to spiritual treasure could be opened. A tool which can be used to achieve all desires. A medicine which cures all ills. The nectar that can set man free! All auspiciousness and serenity is yours simply by chanting or listening to this magnificent Moolamantra.

Whenever you chant the Moolamantra even without knowing the meaning of it, that itself carries power. But when you know the meaning and chant with that feeling in your heart then the energy would flow million times more powerful. Therefore it is essential to know the meaning of the Mantra when you use it.

The Mantra is like calling a name. Just like when you call a person he comes and makes you feel his presence, the same manner when you chant this mantra, the supreme energy manifests everywhere around you. As the Universe is Omnipresent, the supreme energy can manifest anywhere and any time. It is also very important to know that the invocation with all humility, respect and with great necessity.

Namaste Sai Baba – happy birthday.

for more details on the Moola Mantra please visit the website:

http://www.omoneness.com/moolamantra.html

Un classique parmi les classiques… en attendant le prochain match et l’éventuel Champagne qui pourra en (dé)couler à flots.

A Caracas, au marché de la place
Les ananas de la belle nana
Sont aussi beaux de profil que de face
Et croyez-moi on vient de loin les voir

Avec un seul, vous avez les mains pleines
Avec les deux, vous êtes amoureux
Avec les trois vous ne savez que faire
Des ananas de la belle nana

.
A 14 ans elle n’était plus pucelle,
Elle vénérait le sexe masculin,
Plus elle baisait plus elle devenait belle
Et c’est ainsi qu’elle devint une putain

Lala la la

Mas vale tarde que nuca. Aquí os dejamos estos enlaces para que practiquéis un poco en casa:
Tongue twister
Followers of fashion
Happily ever after

We have penetrated into the Laundry Room. Deep Seeing Techniques are not wise in crowded quarters. A stern man chides an infant on the washer. He twists his gray marmouse in silly faces.

Next to his Anglo Laundry are the Latino Clothes. Cuffs of Dungarees flash through my peripheral vision. There is obviously an ongoing Anglo/Latino Detente. They speak of Everything Else while speaking of Nothing. Deep Listening Techniques inadvisable except by invitation.

I learn chants and rituals of a social male. I am here because it’s a class for Learning to be Men Doing Laundry in the Projects.

If there was a degree of dja vu for fans of Obama crammed inside a university athletic arena in Hackensack, NJ, the other evening, it was entirely deliberate.

They only had to close their eyes and listen to the deafening chants of “Yes We Can” to imagine they had been transported back to the heady days of a year ago when their candidate was

Source:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/obama-twelve-months-on-the-star-falls-back-to-earth-1811148.html

Un nouveau recueil de chansons militantes des I.W.W. a été mis en ligne sur archive.org ( 32° édition du Little red songbook, Chicago, avril 1968):

pdf

pdf allégé

Voir aussi:

• Chansons des I.W.W. (1917)
• IWW Songbook ( 19° édition, 1923)

]]> http://utcarte.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/football-chants/ Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:39:39 +0000 U T Carte http://utcarte.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/football-chants/

To the tune of Ottowan’s Hands up, sung by Blackburn fans to Burnley fans at the derby last week.

“Hands up, baby hands up, show me your six fingers, show me your six fingers!”

Gayatri Mantra

Om Bhur Bhuva Swah. Tatsavitur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi. Dhiyo Yo Nah
Prachodayat, Svaha

Translation

Gayatri Mantra (the mother of the vedas), the foremost mantra in hinduism and hindu beliefs, inspires wisdom. Its meaning is that “May the Almighty God illuminate our intellect to lead us along the righteous path”. The mantra is also a prayer to the “giver of light and life” – the sun (savitur).

Oh God! Thou art the Giver of Life,
Remover of pain and sorrow,
The Bestower of happiness,
Oh! Creator of the Universe,
May we receive thy supreme sin-destroying light,
May Thou guide our intellect in the right direction.

Mahamrityunjaya Mantra

Om Trayambakam Yajamahe Sugandhim
Pusti Vardhanam
Urvarukamiva Bandhanan Mrtyor Mukshiya
Martat, Svaha

Translation

OM. We worship and adore you, O three-eyed one, O Shiva. You are sweet gladness, the fragrance of life, who nourishes us, restores our health, and causes us to thrive. As, in due time, the stem of the cucumber weakens, and the gourd is freed from the vine, so free us from attachment and death, and do not withhold immortality.

This spell is great for right before meditating or doing serious spellwork. I like to use it as a little chant before I go to sleep. Hope it works for you!

Chant three times:

“Magick within, magick without, clear my mind of all doubt.”

Diary,

The last few days have been both and blur of activity and of unbridled excitement in Azeroth, especially for yours truly!

So Brewfest is over last night, (the dwarves loved the brew so much we all partied for two extra days)… last night was last call at the Grim Guzzler, Coren Direbrew can take a long deserved rest from being pummeled endlessly until next year.  As a guild, we had a decent amount of drops… pretty much anyone who wanted a piece of gear got it; several people got rams, (me included, YAY), and one or two got the kodo.  I also got the Brewmaster title using the little sell-back workaround Blizzard made available for the Brewfest clothing.

Finally got a productive drop from HToc again, (have been running it for Champion Seals for awhile now, pretty much had all the leather drops in there)… Black Knight’s Rondel, which is wicked awesome.  Also, finally gave in two nights ago and had two higher end gear pieces crafted… The Footpads of Silence (Item Level 226) and Bracers of Swift Death (Item Level 245… QOOT).

So needless to say, I have had a lot of changes recently, (not to mention the change from Combat to Assassination)… so I have been doing alot of research and reading lately on gear enhancements; i.e. getting the most out of the gear you have.

Though this is available readily from sites like ShadowPanther.net, I thought I would make a quick list here of my favorites for gear enhancements, since usually there are a few alternatives that are considered “best”.  Today I will deal with gear enchantments.

Enchantments

Weapon:   Berserking – Ok, so I know this is probably one of the most expensive chants you can get, but if there was one thing I had learned early in “roguing” it was not to cheap out on your weapons… period.    An increase in AP by 400 at the reduction of armor  is TOTALLY worth it, especially if you duel-wield on BOTH weapons, (yes, they do proc separately and can stack… oh baby!

Easier/Cheaper Alternative? Mongoose (Occasionally increase Agility by 120 and attack speed slightly) – Is cheaper in terms of mats, however it is still pricey… just save your pennies for Beserker, whose 400 AP trumps Mongoose by[ 1 AGI = 2AP]  so Mongoose = 240AP…compared to 400AP … again, don’t skimp on the weapons… you could have uberleet gear elsewhere, but if you are hitting mobs with cheap toothpicks, what’s the point.

—

Head - Arcanum of Torment – Don’t be a baby and complain about grinding Ebon Blade rep… some of the easiest and most profitable dailies in the game… plus you will be laughed at and scorned if you show up without it, (newbies excluded, but you have been warned).Permanently add +50 AP and +20 Crit to headpiece.

Easier/Cheaper Alternative? Glyph of Ferocity (+34AP and +16 Hit) – Assuming you got to revered with the Cenarion Expedition in Outlands, this is a viable alternative until you scrape together enough rep with Ebon Blade, (again, they are EASY and you only need to get to Revered), or need +hit in an emergency… DON’T go around with NO enchant unless you don’t have the rep with either, and then be prepared to explain why to inquisitive folks

—

Shoulders - Greater Inscription of the Axe – Ok, so this one is a BIT more of a pain to get… exalted with the Sons of Hodir… however they have enabled both relic turn-ins and regular daily rep gains to make this easier… a MUST-DO on any serious rogues TO-DO list.Permanently add +40 AP and +15 Crit to shoulders.

Easier/Cheaper Alternative? Greater Inscription of Vengeance OR Lesser Inscription of the Axe (both are +30AP and +10 Crit) – if you are a returning rogue, you probably got Exalted with Aldors back in BC… so go back to Shatt and pick up the G. Inscription of Vengeance until you grind the necessary Hodir rep… otherwise you will be able to get the L. Inscription of the Axe from Hodir upon getting to Honored, (with quests available and a few days of dailies, you should be able to pick that up).

—

Chest - Powerful Stats – pretty straight-forward, +10 to all stats

Easier/Cheaper Alternative? Super Stats (+8 to all stats)

It's me dancing on Kel'Thuzad's throne!

Waist - Eternal Belt Buckle – lol, this is the only enchant we have currently… so use it.   Add a gem slot to a bound belt

—

Legs - Icescale Leg Armor – Another must, a significantly better leg enchant than the Nerubian Leg Armor  Permanently add +75 AP and +22 Crit to legs.

Easier/Cheaper Alternative? Nerubian Leg Armor – meh, if you have to, get this instead… same idea with lesser stats.  Permanently add +55AP and +15 Crit to legs.

—

Feet -  Icewalker – provides a good boost to your base hit rating and added crit strike.  Permanently adds +12 Crit and +12 Hit to boots.  Many people swear by Greater Assault, but from what I read, you gain more DPS from the increase in both the +crit and +hit… the only way I would recommend one of the easier/cheaper alternatives would be if you are WAY over hitcap.

Easier/Cheaper Alternative? If you can’t get the Icewalker, any of the following chants will do instead, (for the short term, save your pennies!!!)

• Surefooted -  A lesser version of Icewalker… Permanently enchant boots to gain +10 Crit and +10 Hit.
• Greater Assault-  Permanently enchant boots to increase +32AP
• Superior Agility-  Permanently enchant boots to gain +32 Agi—

Wrists - Greater Assault – A good boost to AP to gloves.  Permanently add +50 AP to gloves.

Easier/Cheaper Alternative? A lesser version of Greater Assault can be found in Striking, permanently adding +38 AP to wrists.

—

Hands – Crusher – Permanently add +44 AP to gloves.

Easier/Cheaper Alternative? Major Agility – Permanently add +20 AGI to hands.  Is just barely outperformed by Crusher because of the rogues 1AGI = 2 AP… so Crusher = 44AP, whereas Major Agility would give you +40 AP.

—

Back – Major Agility– Permanently add +22 agility to cloak.

Easier/Cheaper Alternative? Greater Speed – Permanently increase haste rating by +23… this is a decent chant, but is slightly outperformed by Major Agility.

—

Next time, I will speak a bit more about some of the gems and socket strategies I have come to use during my roguish time… until then…

/stab
Elentari gains BESERKING

All stats and links courtesy http://www.shadowpanther.net

My Samhain “play list”:
Let It Begin Now,
Set Sail,
Opening the Gates, and
No End to the Circle,  all from  “Let it Begin Now” by Reclaiming & Friends
Blood of the Ancients, and
Calling on the Spirits, both from “Canticles of Light” by Charlie Murphy & Jami Sieber
When We Are Gone, and
Hecate, Cerridwen, both from “Second Chants” by Reclaiming & Friends,
Samhain Revels from “A Dream Whose Time is Coming” by Assembly of the Sacred Wheel, and
Breaths performed by a local group called Harmonia
~~~
If you happen to come across the recording “Mother Earth We Sing to You” by Squirrel, you will find a treasure trove of Pagan holiday songs for kids.  As far as I can tell the recording is out of print.  But it has this cute little song that appears to be designed to teach kids that there is meaning behind the costumes they choose for Halloween/Samhain:

“Spirit Come to Me” by Squirrel
Chorus:
Spirits fly ooo-ooo, on Sahmain night ooo-ooo.
You call them through your costume
So choose one carefully, choose one carefully, ooo-ooo ooo-ooo
I’m trick or treating as a princess with a crown of gold,
Gown of white against the night, a beauty to behold.
A princess is the Goddess, young and strong and free.
Sacred little maiden princess, spirit come to me.  ooo-ooo ooo-ooo
Chorus
I’m trick or treating as a reindeer- brown fur coat so fine,
Antlered head, a nose so red, the first in Santa’s line.
A reindeer is the symbol of creature energy.
Horned God full of power, reindeer spirit come to me.  ooo-ooo ooo-ooo
Chorus
I’m trick or treating as a witch, a black robe in the cold-
Broomstick tall, and crystal ball, a pentacle of gold.
A witch pulls up the power of earth, air, fire, and sea,
Ancient earthly healer witch’s spirit come to me.  ooo-ooo ooo-ooo

Tracklist
1. Jisas Yu Hand Blong Mi
2. Soon My Lord
3. God Yu Tekkem Laef Blong Mi
4. Early Morning in Tabalia
5. Procession Chant No. 1
6. Procession Chant No. 2
7. Holly
8. Procession Chant No. 3
9. We Love to Sing
10. Mi Go Longway
11. Jisas, Masta Mi Save
12. Procession No. 4
13. Together Be
14. Sunday Service Hymn
15. Halleluia!, Sing to Jesus
16. Jesus, You Are Here
17. Bybye
18. We Are One Big Happy Family
19. Traditional Lullaby
20. Cho Cho Vancho
21. Remember
22. Jisas Yu Holem Blong Mi
23. Pray For Us
24. God All Mighty
25. Procession Chorus
26. Kyrie

อัลบั้มรวมเพลงชาว Melanesian ที่เป็นทั้งส่วนเสริมและอัลบั้มแยกที่ได้แรงบันดาลใจมาจากภาพยนตร์ The Thin Red Line โดยอัลบั้มนี้ได้รวมทั้งเพลงที่ถูกใช้ในตัวหนังและเพลงที่ถูกนำมาร้องพร้อมบันทึกเสียงใหม่ ซึ่งตัวอัลบั้มนี้ก็ยังคงบรรยากาศชวนผ่อนคลายไว้ด้วยเพลงฟังได้เรื่อยๆสบายๆที่ชวนให้ติดใจกันได้ไม่ยาก
ถ้าใครชอบเพลง God U Tekem Laef Blong Mi จากอัลบั้มปกติของ The Thin Red Line ก็ไม่ควรพลาดเพลงในอัลบั้มนี้เช่นกันครับ

Up2U

(Mp3 / VBR)

By Chris Hedges

September 29, 2009 “TruthDig” — There is a scene in “Othello” when the Moor is so consumed by jealousy and rage that he loses the eloquence and poetry that make him the most articulate man in Venice. He turns to the audience, shortly before he murders Desdemona, and sputters, “Goats and monkeys!” Othello fell prey to wild self-delusion and unchecked rage, and his words became captive to hollow clichés. The debasement of language, which Shakespeare understood was a prelude to violence, is the curse of modernity. We have stopped communicating, even with ourselves. And the consequences will be as extreme as in the Shakespearean tragedy.

Those who seek to dominate our behavior first seek to dominate our speech. They seek to obscure meaning. They make war on language. And the English- and Arabic-speaking worlds are each beset with a similar assault on language. The graffiti on the mud walls of Gaza that calls for holy war or the crude rants of Islamic militants are expressed in a simplified, impoverished form of Arabic. This is not the classical language of 1,500 years of science, poetry and philosophy. It is an argot of clichés, distorted Quranic verses and slogans. This Arabic is no more comprehensible to the literate in the Arab world than the carnival barking that pollutes our airwaves is comprehensible to our literate classes. The reduction of popular discourse to banalities, exacerbated by the elite’s retreat into obscure, specialized jargon, creates internal walls that thwart real communication. This breakdown in language makes reflection and debate impossible. It transforms foreign cultures, which we lack the capacity to investigate, into reversed images of ourselves. If we represent virtue, progress and justice, as our clichés constantly assure us, then the Arabs, or the Iranians, or anyone else we deem hostile, represent evil, backwardness and injustice. An impoverished language solidifies a binary world and renders us children with weapons.

How do you respond to “Islam is the solution” or “Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior”? How do you converse with someone who justifies the war in Iraq-as Christopher Hitchens does-with the tautology that we have to “kill them over there so they do not kill us over here”? Those who speak in these thought-terminating clichés banish rational discussion. Their minds are shut. They sputter and rant like a demented Othello. The paucity of public discourse in our culture, even among those deemed to be public intellectuals, is matched by the paucity of public discourse in the Arab world.

This emptiness of language is a gift to demagogues and the corporations that saturate the landscape with manipulated images and the idiom of mass culture. Manufactured phrases inflame passions and distort reality. The collective chants, jargon and epithets permit people to surrender their moral autonomy to the heady excitement of the crowd. “The crowd doesn’t have to know,” Mussolini often said. “It must believe. … If only we can give them faith that mountains can be moved, they will accept the illusion that mountains are moveable, and thus an illusion may become reality.” Always, he said, be “electric and explosive.” Belief can triumph over knowledge. Emotion can vanquish thought. Our demagogues distort the Bible and the Constitution, while their demagogues distort the Quran, or any other foundational document deemed to be sacred, fueling self-exaltation and hatred at the expense of understanding. The more illiterate a society becomes, the more power those who speak in this corrupted form of speech amass, the more music and images replace words and thought. We are cursed not by a cultural divide but by mutual cultural self-destruction.

The educated elites in the Arab world are now as alienated as the educated elites in the United States. To speak with a vocabulary that the illiterate or semiliterate do not immediately grasp is to be ostracized, distrusted and often ridiculed. It is to impart knowledge, which fosters doubt. And doubt in calcified societies, which prefer to speak in the absolute metaphors of war and science, is a form of heresy. It was not accidental that the founding biblical myth saw the deliverer of knowledge as evil and the loss of innocence as a catastrophe. “This probably had less to do with religion than with the standard desire of those in authority to control those who are not,” John Ralston Saul wrote. “And control of the Western species of the human race seems to turn upon language.”

The infantile slogans that are used to make sense of the world express, whether in tea party rallies or in Gaza street demonstrations, a very real alienation, yearning and rage. These clichés, hollow to the literate, are electric with power to those for whom these words are the only currency in which they can express anguish and despair. And as the economy worsens, as war in the Middle East and elsewhere continues, as our corporate state strips us of power and reduces us to serfs, expect this rage, and the demented language used to give it voice, to grow.

The Arabic of the Quran is as poetic as the intricate theology of Islam. It is nuanced and difficult to master. But the language of the Quran has been debased in the slums and poor villages across the Middle East by the words and phrases of political Islam. This process is no different from what has taken place with Christianity in the United States. Our mainstream churches have been as complacent in fighting heretics as have the mainstream mosques and religious scholars in the Middle East. Demented forms of Christianity and Islam have largely supplanted genuine and more open forms of religious expression. And they have done so because liberal elites were cowed into silence. Corruptions of Islamic terms and passages are as numerous in the militants’ ideology as in the ideology of the Christian right. The word jihad for the militants means the impunity to kill, kidnap, hijack and bomb anyone they see as an infidel, including children and other Muslims. Jihad, however, does not always mean holy war, or even war, in the Quran. According to Islamic tradition, the “great jihad” is the battle within one’s self to live in accord with God’s will. A jihad, for the prophet Muhammad, is often the struggle to achieve inner-worldly asceticism, in accord with his call “to command the good and forbid evil with the heart, the tongue and the hand.” And the Quran condemns the use of violence to propagate the faith. “There is no compulsion in religion,” it states. The Quran also denounces forced piety and conversion as insincere. Calls to martyrdom, presented by militants as a direct path toward eternal life, conveniently eschew the Quran’s rigid ban on suicide. But theological nuance is beside the point for zealots. The fantasies peddled by the Christian right, from the Rapture, which is not in the Bible, to the belief that Jesus, who was a pacifist, would bless wars in the Middle East, injects our own version of sanctified slogans into the vernacular.

Our crisis is a crisis of language. Victor Klemperer in his book “Lingua Tertii Imperii” noted that the distortion of language by the Nazis was vital in creating fascist culture. He was repeatedly perplexed by how the masses, even those who opposed the Nazis, willingly ingested the linguistic poison the Nazis used to perpetuate collective self-delusion. “Words may be little doses of arsenic,” he wrote. “They are consumed without being noticed; they seem at first to have no effect, but after a while, indeed, the effect is there.”

Tal y como os he dicho en clase, aquí tenéis “The sports chant”, para que cantéis un poco este fin de semana.

The sports chant