Almost Daily One-up, 03/22/13

Here’s a leap of courage for you – forgive someone or something you’ve never considered forgiving. And let them know.

Casting notes. The keycenter of G# ascending indicates energy moving upward from the Throat to Heart chakras: being understood. The scalepoint of la indicates a time of acceptance or forgiveness. The Octave of Brass indicates strength in the realm of movement: bold moves.

Musical notes. In the context of an ascending G# major scale, an F in octaves sounds in brass, strong and sweet. Not too shrill, though – I’m hearing trombones.

Almost Daily One-up, Vernal Equinox 2013

There is great inspiration to be found in listening to others. We can only truly listen, however, to the degree that we are truly relaxed: each of our subtle tensions marks a place that cannot absorb, cannot be impressed. Take a moment for yourself: quiet the breathing, then follow its natural rhythm; when thoughts arise, gently return the attention to the breath; then quietly sense the body one part at a time – face, neck, limbs, and so on – and as you find tensions, simply release them. The quieter we are, the more we hear.

Casting notes. The keycenter of C# ascending indicates energy moving from the Root to the Sacral Chakra: groundedness/survival/fight or flight evolving upward into creative response. The scalepoint of ra descending coupled with the Listening card indicates deep listening as a source of vitality.

Musical notes. In the context of an ascending C# major scale, a D sounds: a dissonance that wants to fall downward a half-step and back in tune.

Almost Daily One-up, 03/19/13

Remember the big picture, and encourage others to do the same: it will get you through the small stuff. 

Casting notes. The transformation that is taking place in a larger sense, the sheer friction of it, is generating a lot of raw energy – energy you can use. The keycenter of F# ascending indicates energy moving upward from the Heart to the Throat Chakra, and the need for sincerity; the scalepoint of ra indicates the appearance of a power source; and the Tritone of Voices indicates a deep-level or large-scale transformation underway.

Musical notes. In the context of an ascending F# scale, a C with an F# below it is sung. Essentially, a feedback loop is created: the scalepoint is a tritone above the keycenter; the harmony sounding downward from the scalepoint is the same tritone, leading back to the keycenter, which rises again to the scalepoint and so on. 

Chakras and the Muzoracle

One strata of metaphor that can be accessed in Muzoracle castings that I haven’t yet explored publicly is that of keycenters and their relationship to chakras. (Chakras are energy centers that correspond to points in the body – an excellent introduction to chakras can be found on Wikipedia if you’re unfamiliar with them.)

There are several practices that link the seven pitches of a C major scale to the seven major chakras. I was intrigued by this when initially developing the Muzoracle: being gives rise to process as harmonics give rise to major scales, and a link between body, energy, and scale seemed rife with possibilities. But I was bothered by the seeming arbitrariness of using the C scale: why C? How do I know what key someone’s body, or the world at large, is in? Maybe it’s in F, or Db, or at multiples of 127 Hz; maybe it changes day by day, or moment to moment.

My curiosity around this subject led to a bunch of research and experimentation. Over time I’ve developed a system of chakra-based metaphors that’s really juicy – I use it all the time. And it’s high time I articulate and share it – so, here goes.

The Question at Hand. First, what key is the world in, or are we in, or is a specific situation in? Does it matter? Must we associate the do of what’s at hand with a particular pitch? And if yes, gee we’d like to, why not just use C? We are, after all, dealing with myth and metaphor here: if the world is telling the story that C is do, that’s a lot of juice. But is it enough?

Well, it’s a lot. But when it comes to metaphor, I want more: more cross-references, more synchronicity = more power, more juice. In my research I found two areas worth mining: Schumann Resonances and pitch resonance within the body. Each has led to some interesting ideas and practices: the former to approximating a world do, the latter to finding a connection between a Muzoracle casting and a querent’s body.

Schumann Resonances. Schumann Resonances were first documented by Nikola Tesla in 1899. A German physicist named Winfried Schumann studied them extensively and began trying to measure them in the 1950s, and got his name attached to them (although accurate measurements weren’t possible until the 60s –  and Tesla’s numbers were right from the start.) Anyway, following is a brief introduction.

The sun’s radiation ionizes part of the earth’s atmosphere, forming a conductive plasma layer, the ionosphere. The ionosphere is positively charged relative to the earth’s surface, which is negatively charged. Between them is a cavity of nonconductive air continuously abuzz with ultra-low and extremely low frequency waves, waves excited into being by the 2000 or so lightening storms occurring planet-wide at any given moment.

Acoustically speaking, life on Earth arises and exists within a room, a room whose boundaries are Earth’s surface and the ionosphere; and that room has measurable resonant frequencies like any other room. Due to lightening strikes, that room is always singing, like a wine glass forever flicked by the finger of fate. To say those frequencies have an influence is an understatement: all of life on Earth, all of nature – including us and our thoughts and feelings – arises from within them.

The fundamental frequency of Schumann Resonances – do of the scale – averages at 7.83 HZ, far below the range of our hearing. But if, by doubling, we jack it up a few octaves so we can hear it, we find… a C! Actually, a very flat C, closer to a B, but a C nonetheless.

Chakras in castings. Satisfied with the C/Root Chakra connection, I began incorporating it into castings. I associate the keycenter of a casting – as determined by the roll of the Musician’s Die – with it’s corresponding chakra; I consider the overall casting as taking place primarily within or chiefly in reference to that chakra. Castings in the key of C relate primarily to Root Chakra issues, in D to Sacral Chakra issues, E to the Solar Plexus Chakra issues, and so on. I call this correspondence of chakras and keycenters the “C/Root Chakra Standard” (illustrated below.)

Chromatic keycenters – the “black keys” that fall between the notes of the C major scale and their associated chakras – refer to energy moving up or down from one chakra to another. Whether that energy is moving up or down is determined by the direction of the casting, by which way the Musician’s Die is pointing when it lands. If an F#/Gb is rolled pointing upward, for example, the casting is in F# ascending, moving upward from the Heart to the the Throat Chakra. If the same note lands pointing downward, the casting is in Gb descending, moving downward from the Heart to the Solar Plexus Chakra.

As far as the diatonic notes of the C/Root Chakra standard are concerned – C, D, E, F, G, A, B – whether or not they land in ascending or descending position is irrelevant to which chakra they relate to. Exceptions to this are E and F: if you look at the C major scale on the piano, you will see that there is no black key between those notes. The upshot is this: when E is descending, it simply references the Solar Plexus Chakra; when it's ascending, it references energy rising from the Solar Plexus to the Heart. When F is descending, it simply references the Heart Chakra; when it is descending, it references energy moving downward from the Heart to the Solar Plexus. These two diatonic moving points – E ascending and F descending – are particularly significant: they represent a shift between the self concerns of the lower three notes and the concern for others found in the top four notes.

The incorporation of imagery associated with the seven major chakras adds a rich and very personal layer of metaphor to castings. The chromatic notes – the black keys on the piano, since we’re in the key of C – look specifically at energy moving from one chakra to another, which, as far as I know, is unique to this system.

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What key be me? Mythopoetically speaking, the fact of Schumann Resonances add considerable weight to the notion of C as world do; and the do of the world is the do in all of us, of course – it’s not like we exist outside of the world. But harmonics are sounds within sounds, and every harmonic is a do in itself: we exist in relation to the world as well as being part of it.

I have developed a simple method for discovering a do within the body – I call it keycentering. First, I have the querent sing a nice, big, relaxed, open “ah.” (People who have had vocal training probably already know how to do this; the untrained might need a little help with learning how to relax the throat and jaw and support a note from the diaphragm.) Then I have them glide in pitch slowly and repeatedly from the bottom of their range to their top, while placing their fingertips (and/or mine, if they’re comfortable with that) on their breastbone. It is very easy to find the frequency that resonates there - it’s extra buzzy on the fingertips. I have them hold that note, and then, using a electronic tuner (or a piano) I see just what that frequency is. Interestingly, this frequency varies not only from person to person, but at different times for the same person.

The breastbone is smack in the middle of the 4th chakra, the heart chakra: fa. From there I calculate downward to do. If the breastbone resonates at G, for example, the do of the querent’s body, their momentary keycenter, is D: G is fa in the key of D. 

In truth, I don’t always pursue keycentering. It relates the querent’s momentary state of being physically to the casting: sometimes that’s useful, sometimes it’s unnecessary. Sometimes I “keycenter” before a casting, and use the querent’s do instead of C to determine the Root Chakra pitch. Other times I’ll keycenter a querent after a casting – relating their personal keycenter to that of the casting can sometimes trigger helpful insights. All in all I find the C/Root Chakra Standard to be the most useful, however, and even if I don’t use it exclusively I always consider it.

Using the keycentering technique is a lot easier if the reader is fluent in all 12 keys, musically speaking. For those with limited musical backgrounds I’ve included the chart below to help you find your way. Cheers!

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Almost Daily One-up, 03/10/13

An unexpected and apparently random turn of events provides an opportunity to speak and be understood. Now’s your chance – speak up and be heard.

Casting Notes. The keycenter of G# Ascending indicates energy moving upward from the Throat to Third Eye Chakra, from communication into insight. The scalepoint of te descending indicates a moment of opportunity. The a capriccio card indicates unpredictability.

Musical Notes. In the context of a G# ascending major scale, an F# sounds, unexpectedly and apparently without reason. 

Almost Daily One-up, 03/04/13

Something extraordinary is happening today: people are actually listening to you. So: skip the lip flapping, the caffeinated rambling, the whining, the nervous chatter. Ground. Breathe. Be a good listener yourself, and give your audience – as in audient – something worth hearing.

Casting notes. The keycenter of C Ascending references the root chakra and the need for grounding, for an in-the-body, relaxed stability. The scalepoint of se descending indicates a point of inception, of things beginning or already begun. The Listening card refers to active listening, to a real giving of attention.

Musical notes. In the context of an ascending C major scale, an F# appears – and everyone stops to listen.

Loving the Machine: More Riffing on "Re"

The scalepoint of re or le ascending – mechanicality – can be baffling at times, especially when the card or cards above it indicate something beneficial. “Mechanicality” refers to being on auto-pilot, to acting unconsciously, to being at the mercy of unconscious mechanisms within or around us: isn’t that inherently unfavorable? In the upward trajectory that begins with intent, isn’t mechanicality, our waking sleep, the foil? The degree to which we are self-aware correlates directly to our ability to realize intent: how can auto-pilot be good?

Unconscious mechanisms start out as conscious, or semi-conscious, responses. A child who is berated for asserting themselves, as a simplistic example, may grow into an adult who is either timid or overly assertive; and they probably won’t know it and if they do they won’t know why; and this behavior may consistently undermine their efforts. Their initial response was not a bad thing – it was a survival tactic that became a belief that became a behavior. Along the way, dozens of experiences and observations are used to bolster that belief, and new beliefs and behaviors are unconsciously adopted based on the first... what we end up with, of course, is an adult who believes and behaves in ways they consider their own, but are not. In an ascending scale, in an intentional process, this is what re is: we jump out of the gate all gung-ho with our intention at do, and the first thing we run into is what we’ve unknowingly become. 

Now we can really get lost here – we can simply ignore re and power through with our intention – and watch it not materialize. Re often shows up as a getting-stuck point, a place where we keep trying and it keeps not working. But we have an opportunity at re, an opportunity to see: acknowledging this glimpse afforded us, we can undertake the next scalepoint, mi, the point of conscious effort, with something new in our pocket. By that time, of course, the glowing intention we set at do has taken on a new flavor; that’s what  fa, so, la, and ti are about, the depth and breadth of our intent that we couldn’t yet see at do. 

But back to our initial question: what happens when there’s beneficial cards over re? Well, not all unconscious mechanisms are bad – sometimes survival tactics actually help us survive. Say our child, for example, puts their hand on a hot stove – forming an unconscious response around that experience is probably a good thing. Spending one’s whole life unconsciously avoiding bare-handed encounters with the blistering hot? Nothing wrong with that – sometimes our beliefs serve us well. They still need to be seen, of course – that’s why they’re hanging out at re. But sometimes the view is nice. Recently, a Unison of Brass showed up in a casting over re: an unconscious tendency toward collaboration, toward working well with others. It’s good to see that – maybe sometimes you need to work alone. But it’s a wonderful thing to have.

We – or I, anyway – tend to be pretty unforgiving when it comes to unconscious behaviors. “Wake up, fool!” It’s important to note that this harshness is itself an unconscious behavior, a judgment. We need to be nice to the machine – we are here, after all. That which is unconscious is as sacred as the rest. Aho.