Chants for the Journey Home
January 06, 2020 Filed in:
Music/PoetryToday on Epiphany (January 6) I have reached the destination of a long light-filled journey! I am so excited to have a special audio project ready to roll. It’s been a long time coming.
During my life, I have written many poems and songs, starting with a poem about the sunset when I was 8 years old. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, chants began to come through that I sang with my students in animal communication courses and shamanic retreats. They were instrumental in deepening students’ opening to telepathic connection with animals and all of life, helping to ease through the hard parts, smooth rough edges, and expand realizations. The lyrics and melodies arose out of dolphin/whale journeys, shamanic ceremonies, contemplative moments, and during dreams. Some of these chants sung in gatherings led by me and other teachers are reportedly still remembered and sung by people in places around the world.
After years of singing the chants with students, I wanted to record them with musical accompaniment. I started working with a guitarist on the music over fifteen years ago, but he was too busy with his own music and teaching, and the project stalled. When I met musician/singer, James Schattauer in 2018 in Prescott, Arizona and heard his music that echoed the spirit of my own, I knew I found the right collaborator at last. He loved my chants and we worked together with a natural improvisation and harmony that made the project very smooth and fun.
I am not a professional singer and I thought of getting someone else with a more beautiful voice to sing them. I was critical of my vocal quality and tendency to sometimes stray off key. James felt that the songs wouldn’t have the same meaning and feeling if not sung by me, their author. After all, I’d sung them live for years and students enthusiastically sang along. So, I hoped, with James wonderful guitar and vocal accompaniment, I would be able to make an excellent recording.
Even though I still sometimes wince at my vocal flaws, I sang the chants with pure heart and presence and we did very little editing and certainly did not use Auto-Tune! When I listen to them with my internal voice critic turned off, I really enjoy them, am inspired by the songs and music, and love singing along. Consider this recording like a live group experience for you to join in.
Here’s the story behind the songs. The year after the title is when each was born.
We Are One Life (1997)
The One Love (1998)
In The Heartbeat (2002)
These three chants were inspired by communicating with the Great Whales and dolphins while sponsoring journeys to swim with them in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Of all the chants, these have been sung the most with students in courses, retreats, and dolphin/whale journeys and are all-time favorites.
Divine Mother (1999)
After a group chanting session and shamanic journey in a beautiful coastal California forest, I felt great peace and joy. As I stood in the sun streaming through the tall trees on a bridge crossing a sparkling creek, this prayerful song poured out. When James first heard the recording, he heard water (without knowing the story of where the song arose) but no other musical accompaniment. We decided Divine Mother should be sung a cappella. Cicadas from the trees outside of the recording studio spontaneously added a watery sound.
In The Mother of Love (2004)
I was teaching animal communication in Brazil. This song came after traveling around São Paulo in the company of sponsor, Sheila Waligora, and my assistant, Mary Ann Bumbera, who helped me get through a migraine headache with their healing presence. As I came through the pain, the song was born. We all sang it together.
May Your Love Keep Growing (2000)
A simple chant that flowed from a loving state of being.
We Are The Ones (2000)
In recognition of our nature as our own life teachers and dream fulfillers, this chant incorporates the popular phrase, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
I Breathe You In (2001)
A mystical feeling of oneness with others inspired this chant. It can be sung alone or to other people, animal friends, trees, the air, mountains, Mother Earth… You may want to sing it more slowly and breathe deeply as you sing it to others and relish the feeling of communion.
Rest in the Heart (1997)
Honor Yourself (2000)
Sweet Heart of Mine (1997)
During a period of profound personal transformation in the late 1990s/early 2000s when many people I knew were going through tumultuous changes, these chants appeared. They helped to generate the exquisite tenderness and compassion for ourselves and others needed to make it through the skin-shedding evolution that unfolds, reveals, and helps us stand in more of our true nature.
Sweet Heart of Mine refers to your heart, rather than to another beloved or “sweetheart” but you can sing it either way. Just before the end of the chant, Pepito, longhaired Chihuahua friend, added a little percussion by shaking the tags on his collar. We decided to keep his unique doggy contribution in the song.
It’s a Long Way to Go (2019)
This was written after our first rehearsal session, just in time to be included in this recording. It came to me in a vivid dream in which a man who personified evil wanted to harm me. I asked Divine Mother to help me and then I was prompted to sing a song having great transformational power. The song stopped the evil being in his attempt to destroy me. He burst into tears and realized what had made him wish to hurt me. He saw the patterns of his life and dissolved into his tender side that he had hidden even from himself.
I woke up and wrote down the words to the dream chant. The next morning, I couldn’t remember the melody, and it remained elusive that entire day. I asked Spirit to please help me get it back so I could share it with others. It returned to me the next day, and I quickly recorded “It’s a Long Way To Go.” The lyrics and music have a primeval quality and compassion for our life journey. Musical buddy, James, said it reminded him of Appalachian folk music and also songs enslaved people sang to help get through hard times. We both agreed it needed to be sung in pure, unaccompanied form. It moves me every time I hear it.
Keeper of Peace (1997)
This was one of the earlier chants, anchoring our physical journey to the divine energy in and around all.
A Strong Wind (2001)
Inspired by an invigorating wind, blowing away what I didn’t need and filling me with grace.
Somewhere Out There (2000)
This ballad poured out of me one day in contemplating our journey on Earth. I never sang it with groups as I did the chants. The first person who heard it was James, my partner in this musical adventure. He thought Judy Collins would love to sing it.
The chants have a simple musical format honoring their group chanting style. I hope that the inspiration of the music and lyrics will move you to sing along with your own pure, raw, love-filled voice.
Visit my website for more information, including all the lyrics, and to order Chants for the Journey Home, available for downloading in MP3 format. I will soon have an audio sampler of the songs. I just couldn’t wait longer to get them out to you. It is an Epiphany, after all. 
