The Song Beneath the Song

Greetings all,

Welcome to summer's country. It came on rather suddenly, The cicadas burst forth from the soil and just like, that the sound of the summer wind was in the air. Normally I associate this with the late summer, but we seem to be at ground zero for this particular brood.

Every season has its sounds, its own ambient song. The winter has its winds and the quiet of snow. Spring has its bird song, fall has the rustling of the fallen leaves. This year apparently is one of the 17 year brood in this area. It's funny considering cicadas have played a part in my writing for over 20 years and now this year with my first book of stories out they have come. I invented silver cicadas in Tales of Mistfall, the only source of the magical metal, iridescium, also called rainbow-silver. A strange synchronicity, I couldn't have timed it better. For those that think I did it on purpose, I'm not that patient of a planner.

 Many people have complained about the noise and being dive bombed by swarms of insects. I have relished the emergence. On an aesthetic level I'm fascinated by insect forms, but the frequency of their song has also been comforting to me. Several times in the past week, I've sat on my deck after a tai chi or chi kung practice and meditated using their song to take me deeper. I've been using binaural beats and hemisync albums to meditate for years, but it is good to remember that we can use nature and its sounds to calm our minds. In fact, hearing different groups of cicadas at varying distances created something akin to a binaural effect. 

While I may not be a great planner, I am good at recognizing opportunity. One of my best friends recently bought recording equipment that we've been playing around with as we launch into creating a podcast (I know, I don't have enough projects). I wanted to get a sample of the cicada sound, so last week we headed out to a more secluded spot where the sounds of mowers and traffic wouldn't compete with the cicadas. We edited out the noise and we had a beautiful ambient track, summer preserved in audio format. Not content with that, I dropped a binaural tone at the theta frequency at a lower volume to bolster the meditative effect. I am extraordinarily proud of it and put it up for my patreon supporters to enjoy. 

You might think well that's the end of that then, wrap up this post, but wait there's more. I also happened to mention my experience of the cicadas to one of my teachers and she suggested I take a shamanic journey to them.  So I did, and I used my own ambient track to do it. I thanked them for their song and asked why I felt so connected with it, while others can't stand it. They told me that I heard 'the song beneath the song'. When I asked for an explanation they said my mind couldn't conceive it, but my soul understood it. The song is larger than the mind apparently, but they did share that the sound and frequency of their song was about renewal and acted as energetic reset for our bodies. Make of that what you will. Perhaps in the future these sounds and their frequencies will be studied for the physiological effects they have on us and the environment. 

Why am I sharing this?  Well for one, it is cool. I got to partner with nature and my friend to create something magical. What could be better than that? It's been a dark time lately, but I have connected with loved ones deeply, and nature has lended a helping hand to heal my despair. I believe that all of us have something that calls to us in nature. Maybe for you it is birdsong, or the song of wind chimes, the roll of distant thunder, the crashing of waves, gentle rain, or the babbling of a brook. There is an element of nature that brings you back to yourself and restores you. I challenge you to go out there and find it, because right now we need you whole and healed for the task ahead. 

Peace and Blessings,

Thomas Mooneagle

 

Together

 

Greetings all,

Summer is just around the corner and for me that means travel and workshops. This summer I'm really excited to teach Quantum Wizardry. It's basically how I do all the magical things, and now you can too.

As I observe society, (okay if I'm being honest as I mercilessly judge it) I've noticed a pattern. The story of  progress has always seem to come about by people in power using coercion of varying levels to make everyone else do the work to make things happen. Yes accomplishing something of value often requires sacrifice. Every piece of food on your plate had to pass through many hands to reach you. It takes the collective effort of thousands to feed us at each and every meal. It's downright impressive. The thing is we throw out close to 40% of our food in my country. Why is there so much waste? Well we like the story of hard work, and pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. If you don't measure up to the societal standard of productivity, we'd rather throw food in the trash to rot, rather than let you have it. 

The sad thing is that as technology and economic systems change, more and more people can't quite make ends meet. The tragedy of it all is that this is by design. This is an outgrowth of thousands of years of history where rulers focused on strategies of coercion. Often times there were whips and chains involved, and not in that fun sexy way either. Once absolute monarchies faded from prominence, economic means were brought to bear to force the population to do the bidding of the people with the most resources: build this thing or starve, break your body in a factory or starve, work 2 jobs to barely afford to not starve....

I would like to point out that not every society went down this route. However due to colonialism most of those societies were either exterminated or folded into the current power structure. Work became a divine mandate. What really sucks is that the work tends to be the hardest and most unpleasant also happens to be the least economically rewarding. During the pandemic a lot of these minimum wage workers were renamed 'essential workers' of course we didn't vote to improve their wages. We just gave lip service to their sacrifice. 

Why am I bringing this up? Well I see our civilization at a crossroads. We could continue down the path of coercion by psychopaths to determine the future, or we could try something different. Some of you may think that society would collapse without people being forced through the miserable gears of late stage capitalism. I mean what's left once we eliminate systems of coercion? The answer I think is learning to build systems of consensus. See the problem isn't productivity. The problem is productivity that doesn't serve people. Right now productivity only serves the profit of wealthy shareholders. Any positive benefits that come out of that are basically side effects, and as the economic game gets more refined those, side effects are being phased out. 

There are hard jobs that need to be done, like harvesting crops, plumbing, construction, shipping, caregiving, and sanitation to name just a few. Our civilization depends on these and many others, but there are a lot of projects that really don't support human life and aspiration. Those things that take up a lot of resources but only serve the ego and pocketbook of very few individuals, but what about the visionaries you say? How can they change the world if they can't force the population to build their new future? I don't know maybe they should try inspiring people instead. 

So what about you? Are you tired of systems that don't serve humanity or the planet? Do you despair in the mindless drudgery you go through just to keep from starving? What if something else was possible? What if all the needs of people could be met? What if it still required sacrifice, but nobody was left behind? Would it be worth it? I think so, how about you?

Peace and Blessings,

Thomas Mooneagle

Media and Minds

 Greetings all,

Happy new year! This post was supposed to be an end of year wrap up sort of thing, but the holidays were a blur and this week I've been busy shoveling snow and staying warm. Lately as I have been reaching out and promoting my book I have also been telling the people closest to me about the stories and media I enjoy.  I was supposed to text a list to a friend of mine, but then I thought why not make it a post and share it with you half dozen people that read this. (I'm kidding it's more like 3 people, blogs are so 2008).

During the pandemic I consumed a ton of media as I wasn't getting out much. I barely left the house except for daily walks with my puppy. (He's 8 now but will forever be a puppy to me). I often will listen to podcasts on my walks when I am not catching up with a friend on the phone, they are also a favorite when I take a long roadtrip to help the time pass. So here is the current list.

1. Levar Burton reads 

This is Reading Rainbow for adults. Levar is one of the best narrators out there, and thanks to him I've discovered many new favorite authors (which I should make a list for too sometime)

2. Tanis

It's weird, creepy, and mixes in real life facts and mysteries. There are currently 5 seasons out and a 6th and final season coming soon. If you like the odd paranormal mystery vibe, this is for you.

3. Rabbits

By the same folks that did Tanis, but a completely different story. Imagine a game where the reality is the playing field. Watch out for the wardens in gray.

4. The Big Loop

A two season podcast also featuring short stories that range from ghost stories to sci-fi, some are very moving and lovely.

5. The Left Right Game

Another bizarre reality twisting story involving parallel worlds (hmmm I'm beginning to see a pattern in my tastes)

6. Welcome to Nightvale

Lovecraftian comedy does a small town public radio program. There are a lot of episodes and the lore keeps going, just remember "Nobody does a slice like Big Rico's pizza....nobody."

7. Family Ghosts

This ranges from funny to tragic to historically revealing the tagline for the show is "The stories are real, the ghosts are metaphorical."

8. Dumb Dumbs & Dragons

Ok, this one assumes you like roleplaying games, ridiculous character concepts, and running gags. Despite the bathroom humor you will come to care for our ragtag team of adventurers and NPCs. Maybe you missed the D&D hype the past few years, but if you wondered about it, then it's not a bad way to learn about the hobby.

9. Give Me Away

This is a sci-fi podcast. Imagine an alien ship crashes in the desert of the Southwest USA and screaming comes out of it. The ship is empty of passengers except for the computers where the consciousness of alien political prisoners have been uploaded into it and are constantly tortured. Their only way out is to download into a human host who has to share their body with them.  This had me riveted, the concept is high and the characters are rich and well portrayed. I can't wait for a 3rd season.

10. Unwell

Another gothic or perhaps slightly Lovecraftian podcast set in the fictional town of Mt. Absalom Ohio. Great characters, don't eat at the diner.

11. Midnight Burger

Last but not least. I have gotten several people hooked on this podcast about a diner that travels in time and space leaving a bit of well natured chaos in their wake. Do not cross Gloria, you don't want to goto war with her. They open at 6.

Well folks I am going to call it there. There are other good things out there, but this is enough to be getting on with for a while. I should note that the numbers don't correspond to a ranking, it's just a list of my favorites. I have laughed and cried with these and that says a lot. We are blessed to be alive in a time where there is so much creativity available to us. Having written my own stories I more fully appreciate all the effort that goes into bringing something to life. I've only recently started dreaming things from my own world of Mistfall. 

Let me know what you think of some of these suggestions and if you have something that you think I'd love let me know.

Peace and Blessings,

Thomas Mooneagle