Mayan Dream Musings

Full moon today!

Tomorrow I will be in the recording studio finishing a few final tweaks on the EMERGENCE album. At that time we will also create MP3 samples of each track of Emergence for my website. This will be a little taste for you of the full creation. Tom will send the MP3 files via internet over to Vern, who will then put them on my website, along with the description, and some artwork. Vern will create a special page just for the new EMERGENCE album.

Look for this new page with musical snippets, description, art to appear on my website sometime next week.

If you go to the home page and the artist page, you will see a new look…..my photo says “welcome” and how great it is to be able to communicate with all of you across the world. This is the photo of myself as wildwoman…shaman…
sacred musician….drummer. There will be also a new description on the artist page….in a few days.

Another new album is rapidly creating. I feel about 9 months pregnant with this music. This is not a part of the Earth trilogy. It is a healing album, and will be available within the month. More about this album in future writings.

Have a beautiful day.

We get two full moons this month! Wow! Two full moons in May has to be a significant sign! Through the music that I am composing, I am understanding the power of moonlight. I always thought that sunlight was the major producer of growth, and of course, I am a sun worshiper. I love the feel of sunshine on my skin, and the way the “goldness” of sunlight pours through tree leaves and onto the grass. However, moonlight governs the growth of new life, and it maintains the tides of life on the planet. It is awesomely beautiful and a most powerful source of all creativity. One whole section of EMERGENCE is a capturing of moonlight into music.

Composing and recording EMERGENCE means that I continue to emerge differently in my own life. My body requires more exercise, and I have felt the need to be outside more than ever before. Vicki from California just sent me my updated birth chart: my cosmology for this part of my lifetime. Here is a direct quote: “You have intensely powerful physical energy-very sensual. This additional alignment is known for great physical vitality or “athletic” talents.” End of quote.

Those of you who know me personally….you know that this not always my perception of myself. (This is a major understatement!) So, old perceptions are leaving, and new ones are coming in.

Right now, the faucets of creativity are wide open for me, and I am composing a lot of music. This requires a strong physical body. You hear me say this often (that creative requires a strong physical body) because I forget it regularly. Energy MUST come into my body, and exercise that is focused on allowing the energy to come into my body is essential. It’s a good thing for me that I love to walk outdoors. Now…..I just have to DO it! Yikes!

Another creative event: I have become super sensitive to the chatter inside my mind. You know what I mean…..those old, outdated mental tracks that I find myself repeating in my head…sometimes not even aware that the tracks are running….I am really aware of these tracks and spend lots of time shifting their power into the power of compassion and my own Soul relationship. EMERGENCE, the album, is changing who I am.

This is the reality of creativity.

What else is happening? Susan is adding the finishing touches to marketing brochures and postcards with her usual gift for beauty. Her soulful artist self manifests as a graphic design artist and major assistance for people like me who want an ensouled mailing. You will be seeing e-mailings and snail mailings from me very soon now.

I visited the artwork for EMERGENCE in Ann’s studio. The artwork for the cover of EMERGENCE is growing and changing and is SO beautiful and powerful. It features the goddess of the Earth….She who holds all things in her loving embrace, and emerges all new growth. She pours forth the waters of compassion. She is the black cave of potential. Her body is the Earth.
I love the way Ann has set this painting in Lake Atitlan (FYI: check out the free download of Atitlan Fire music on the homepage of this website) and is using Mayan imagery of the Guatemalan maiden walking the fields as the goddess who sows the seed. Ann has also captured the essence of the wisdom tree, the hawk and the wolf in this painting. It’s almost finished and will be up soon on my website.

Have a beautiful day! Love to all.

I’m a little late today getting my EMERGENCE update on the blog. It seems that spending several days with 90 teenagers is somewhat tiring. How could this be!! Tiring though it was, it was so invigorating to be with the energy and confidence of these teens. Nothing is impossible to a teen!

We were chaperoning these young people to Stratford, Ontario for the Shakespeare and other plays/musicals for which Stratford is renowned. Until I visited Stratford, I really didn’t have an appreciation for Shakespeare at all. However, the artistic director and actors at Stratford changed my perception with their extraordinary and unique interpretations. Their acting was intense and totally focused. The artistic direction and the costumes/staging was creative. Obviously everyone involved with the plays/musicals that we saw loved their work, and loved the people who would see the performances. I felt transported by the acting, and I felt very cared for.

What did the powerful performance of King Lear have to do with my own purpose as a musician?

The actors, writers, artists, musicians; all are changing the world for the better by giving of themselves totally to create the VERY BEST possible writing, art, music. That would be a worthy goal for me to hold up for myself.

Now today I was back in the recording studio for a little while, and then into the office for some creative marketing preparation. How can I give the very best service to everyone whose lives I touch?

Kim Waldschmidt took awesome photos of me for the various items that require my presence: brochures, album covers, websites, etc. We went to the local Botanical Gardens and into their rainforest section. Kim has a gift for photographs that really reflect the passion of the artist. She was able to get me past the personality and my hesitance around a camera. Kim would say “Talk about your new album EMERGENCE”. Of course, this took me into the place that I wanted my photos to reflect. Thank you, Kim! So….look for her work to begin appearing really soon on lots of things connected with me.

It’s been a beautiful day. Love to all.

Nature sings to me this morning. I have someone’s Soul/Deepbody playing on my computer and this music includes the sounds of cicada, crickets…outside all of the birds are singing. The sunlight is just beginning to emerge through the trees.

The album EMERGENCE has given me a much richer appreciation for all of the Earth. I find that my senses are awakened in a different way…everything is more colorful, and sounds are more stirring.

Yesterday I spent most of my day in the recording studio composing Soul/Deepbody music for a beautiful Soul in California. As with all of the Soul/Deepbody albums, this music demanded of me that I expand and really release into the unknown. That journey into the Music Universe is sometimes frightening because I don’t an idea of what will be created. However, it is also very nurturing and very FUN! I’m so grateful that I get to create and create and create and create.

Today the Emergence album will ride the coattails of finishing the Soul/Deepbody music album, and taking care of the many details that are part of self-employment in a small business.

To close today….I will be taking a blog break because I am going to Stratford, Ontario for a Shakespeare Festival and will be back to blog on Tuesday after the holiday weekend.

Have a refreshing and revitalizing holiday.

Yesterday was spent in the creative process of developing colorful and soulful printed materials that tell people who have been in relationship with me over these last 18 years….I appreciate you! It was also about creating resources to tell people about the new album Emergence that have vitality, passion, and that will touch people’s lives in a loving way of service.

I am learning something about e-marketing. Yes….it is free because everything goes over the internet. The question is always: Does anyone read anything they receive in their e-mail that looks like an advertisement?
We are all SO deluged with constant advertisements of one kind or another.

Is there still a time and place for “snail mail” mailings? It’s the same question…does anyone want another piece of mail? Will it even be opened?
There is an ecological question….more paper used that eventually ends up in the trash. And, of course regular mail is also getting really expensive.

If an e-mailing, or a regular mailing, is produced with love, and is beautiful to see and touch, will it become a gift to the one who receives it….instead of junk mail? Can a marketing mailing also be a sharing of an ensouled story….one person sharing with another person?

Any answers to these questions??

On another subject altogether…..

Many of you who are reading this Musing have Soul/Deepbody music albums that I have composed for you. This has been my privilege and joy! What is the difference between creating Soul/Deepbody music albums, and creating an album like The Beloved, The Journey of Joy, or the new album EMERGENCE?

Soul/Deepbody music is reflecting the individual energy and individual life purpose whereas an Album is a collective energy. For example, EMERGENCE describes the collective energy of life emerging and growing. I move into a different space when I create a collective album, than when I create Soul/Deepbody music. It takes a lot longer to create a collective album and a different process.

When I was in college (way back then!) we learned to identify composers particular styles by listening to their music. Mozart could be identified by his use of musical motifs unique to him, and by his way of arranging melody, harmony, rhythm and orchestral sound. Beethoven is totally different than Mozart. The same is true for any music that is composed by me. You will identify me by certain musical motifs, certain rhythms, use of instrument, etc.
It is awesome to know that I have my own unique style and identity that has been given to me….even as I continue to grow and change musically.

Sometimes people encourage me to take parts of all of the Soul/Deepbody music that I have created (16 albums now) and create one big CD. I can’t do that. The energy behind each album of Soul/Deepbody music is unique to the individual person.

Every time I create, I create from SOURCE and it is always music unique to that energy, time and space.

Today, I get to create another Soul/Deepbody music album. Awesome!

Have a beautiful, wonderful day!

I’m sitting here listening to Emergence and looking at the beauty of our planet. Emergence celebrates this beauty and I’m thankful every day that this music is in my life.

What happened yesterday on the adventure?? I spent the morning writing a marketing mailing which celebrates “1…13…18″. What is that, you ask? In June it will have been one year since I became totally self-employed at my music studio. That is worth a celebration! It has been 13 years since the retail license was issued for Mayan Dream Productions, and 18 years since the distribution of my first album, Mayan Dream. This celebration is a big thank you to all of you who have been a part of this journey. The marketing mailing will be my THANK YOU to you.

Lots of very cool ideas continue to stream forward from UNSEEN WORLD to me to really bring Emergence out into the world with a BANG! They are a surprise, but watch every day as they are implemented. No sitting still on my “behind” with this album!

I visited Ann Beeching, the artist for Emergence, for our daily meditation. The album artwork will have a powerful presence, and every day evolves. Beautiful.

Ilene Satala is an international visionary artist and my friend. She created the artwork for The Beloved, The Journey of Joy and Mayan Dream/Dancers of the Flame. Yesterday she sent me an e-mail which totally uplifted me. An excerpt from her e-mail about the album Emergence: “I and Conrad sat down together and listened to the entire album. My response was that I kept feeling the words Beauty over and over again. I feel this is just so lovely and deep and really takes you somewhere very deep inside and travels you back to your doorstep. I would call it profound.” End of quote. (Conrad and Ilene always have my music before anyone else. …just in case you wondered why they had it and you don’t).
Thank you Ilene for your awesome support on a journey and adventure into the “unknown” which is not always a comfortable place.

I signed up for MySpace last night and can’t wait to see where that leads me.
As soon as I have video, it will go up on MySpace and also on U-Tube. That will be soon!

Speaking of video, my new CD will have an additional feature. You can now add a video of the artist speaking the story of the CD. That will be on Emergence.

One more thing: Shrink wrap and CD cases are not “Earth-friendly”. The new CD will be packaged so that it does not contribute to an earthfill somewhere.
We are going “green” on all new and reordered products.

Have a beautiful day on your own adventure. Beverly.

Today is the first of daily logs to share with you the process of bringing the new album Emergence into the world.

Over the weekend I watched Ann Beeching create the artwork for the cover in a quickly emerging process. The artwork is not finished yet, but it must want to be out in the world because it is moving fast. We are meditating with the new music and this new artwork together every day. Wait till you see it!! The artwork is being created on a 30 x 40 canvas, which then must be photographed in order to assume the form of a CD cover. The original painting will hang in my studio.

As I was out and around…actually helping out the Diocese (my old job) with a project….many new pieces of information streamed through concerning this Emergence album. You will see these unfold through the next month.

My right arm is moving and changing as a result of the Emergence music. So, over the weekend I got to explore what it is like to be a left-handed person. This is all part of process. Always for me, releasing an album will change my physical body, which has to become new to fit a new creative process.

Watch for new adventures tomorrow because I have lots of plans today!

Here we are again in the early hours of the morning. This is such a special time of clarity and beauty. One of life’s mysteries, I suspect.

Yesterday the album “Emergence” was finished. This album was a quick birth. On April 25th I went into the recording studio thinking that I was going to create my own Soul/Deepbody music. Well…..Within 24 hours of that recording session it was obvious to me that instead I was recording the new album which is the second in the trilogy celebrating Mother Earth. (Heart of Sky/Heart of Earth is the first in the trilogy). Only three weeks later the album is recorded and mastered. It’s also longer than any of my albums: 54 minutes.

I am SO grateful to all of the people who have commissioned me to create Soul/Deepbody music for them. Thanks to all of these Soul/Deepbody albums, my own ability to move through the portal into the Music Universe has deepened, and my musical skills have broadened. Who would have thought (certainly not me!) that I would become a drummer! My ability to play the keyboard effortlessly has returned and playing is easier than ever. The flutes and various percussion instruments have all called to me. Many Soul/Deepbody albums contain wind, thunder, rain, ocean, and all sorts of animals…and I delight in creating with all of these nature sounds. Creating an album every week for a different person….and within an afternoon’s time frame….has required me to grow and change, so each person’s music is unique and truly reflects that individual life journey.

So now we have the new album “Emergence”. I really LOVE this music. It gives me joy. It supports me hugely. What a blessing it is in my life.

What is this new music?
Track one is called Rainbow Shower. The light dance of drum and crystal keyboard celebrate the vitality of color on the Earth. Color pours from the fertile body of the Mother through her life forms in a lively, jewel-toned movement.

Track two is Beauty Song. Exuberant birdsong was recorded by Tom Tempel at his lake home in Northern Indiana, and these joyful creatures of flight sing this music into its form. Ducks, geese, and the smaller birds…the emergence of strings, flute, piano and oboe. Beauty in sound. SOUND wave as carrier of the breath of compassion.

Track three: She Who Walks the Fields. Wind racing through the tops of leafy trees in Northern Indiana carries the breath of the Sacred SHE who brings forth life. In many indigenous cultures the maiden walks the fields in Spring, evoking fertility to the lands. She walks in the footsteps of the SACRED WOMAN who is the bearer of life. Erotic music with piano, flute and drum.

Track four: New Sprout. Thunder cracks open the sky and the rains pour down. With an enormous release of energy, a new sprout breaks from the seed and finds its way through the ground in search of the light. The ancient Maya understood that all new beginnings are “new sprouts” that demand a growth through the ground and a seeking of the light. Thus, the shaman dance with the power of drum and thunder and ankle bells and powerful strings.

Track five: Moon Power. New Sprout lifts its head to the moonlight, soaking in its spiritual essence. Moon…grabbing the sunlight and transforming it into the pure essence of SHE whose arms embrace the earth. Moon is described through what I call the “primordal sea” sound…sort of a wide, supportive string/voice-like sound, through harp, and through flute.

Track six: Nature Spirits. Nature Spirits dance and laugh as they assist the beauty of new life emerging and growing into the fullness of potential. This is a fun piece….light flat drums, and the small Jimbe drum, dancing piano notes with dancing flute and oboe notes.

Track seven: Awakened. When I first opened up to the music from the Mayan lands in 1987, a melody was given to me of Awakening. This ancient melody sings with the hawks and the wolves as the shaman woman dances her journey into the unknown and back onto the Earth. Imagine the dark night…the black unknown space that is Aditi…the cave…and the full moon pouring down its creative essence. The hawks are in flight, crying to the moon, flying free. A sacred woman dances as shaman…bringing forth the unseen into the seen world…the wolves howl their moon song.

Track eight: Emergence. All of creation is fully emerged and embraced in the loving arms of Mother Earth. I particularly love this last piece with its deep peace of slow strings and loving piano motifs. It is so incredibly supportive.

I can’t wait to share this music with you. It will be available soon for all who want the first copies. My goal is June 1rst.

Many of you know Ann Beeching. Her artwork is the cover of Heart of Sky/Heart of Earth. She is also creating the artwork for Emergence. Isn’t that exciting!

To all of you beings of light….have a beautiful day.

Hello to all! This last Saturday I was doing chores, inside and outside, and visiting friends and family. Late in the afternoon I got a phone call from Jason asking what I was up to, and how my weekend was going, how was the weather in Fort Wayne, etc. (Jason and Leah live in Chicago). We chatted, and then I left for the grocery store. In the bread section, “Hi mom” and Jason and Leah appeared. They had come from Chicago….surprised me totally for Mother’s Day….they had been sitting on my patio when he made the call to find out where I was….and WOW! I was so happy to see them and I’m sure that everyone around had their own day brightened because it was obvious what was happening with all the hugs, laughter and “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you guys did this!” Thank you Jason and Leah for a most incredible loving visit.

For sure, this weekend was filled with the love of family. Mom and dad joined us for brunch on Sunday morning, and my other sons called: Jamie from Indianapolis and Andy from Philadelphia, to connect. We had spent the weekend before Mother’s Day in Indianapolis with Jamie, Susanne and my grandchildren Jordan, Samantha and Claudia. We will be in Philadelphia late in June to see Andy and Lysa, and for Caeli’s (another granddaughter) first birthday. Extended family….love….connections that probably extend in ways that we have no idea exist. I am SO grateful!

SOME MUSINGS ON GROCERY STORE SURPRISES:

I have had so many wonderful surprises happen in the grocery store. Of course there is the Jason and Leah surprise described above..and…Several months ago a healer who had purchased my music called just to tell her story to me in the canned goods aisle. Last month the CEO of Healing Touch called to place an order while I was in the meat section. And finally, someone called to ask for Soul music just two weeks ago while I was in the check out lane.

Isn’t it interesting and wonderful! No separation exists between different aspects of my life.

SOME MUSINGS ON MOTHERS… After the age of 60 the mother role has changed and evolved totally. “Mother” is no longer caregiver, decision-maker, primary person in a married son’s life. It is no longer my mission, responsibility, primary concern to be a mother in the sense of taking care of another person. So, what does Mother’s Day celebrate? For me, it celebrates having wonderful people in my life who have chosen to link this lifetime with mine. My own creative purpose shines forward and weaves with the creative purposes of sons, daughters by marriage, and grandchildren of my lifetime. We share wisdom advice. We share creative stories. We encourage and support one another as the beings of light that we are. For my grandchildren, I am unconditional love of the grandmother.

SOME MUSINGS ON NATURE: This week I spent hours outdoors creating a new space outside of my office windows which is SO beautiful. As I write this, I am looking out on sunshine dappling through trees, with green grass, and flower beds of pink and blue. Birds are everywhere. The rabbits and the squirrels are hanging around, just having a good time. Occasionally the chipmunk runs across.

All of this inspires and supports every aspect of Mayan Dream Productions…from creating new music, to invoicing, to marketing plans, to drumming and playing keyboard…to cleaning the office….to writing this blog….to communicating by phone and e-mail.

With the emergence of the beauty of summer, and my new outdoor space, came the emergence of new Soul/Deepbody music albums for several people, and a new album in the trilogy on the planet Earth. This new album is rightly titled “Emergence”.

SOME MUSINGS ON THE EVOLUTION OF MY MUSIC:

The musician that I am is evolving into new spaces. Every time that I take time for retreat and intense focus on my inner world, my outer music expands and allows for new concepts, and new possibilities. Two weeks ago I took this time away again to deepen my own spiritual connection. As a result, a new album has been recorded and is almost ready which is called “Emergence”. This is the second in the trilogy celebrating the planet earth. (Heart of Sky/Heart of Earth is the first in this trilogy). It’s so exciting and life-giving to see the direct connection between my inner world and my outer world. They are ONE.

To all of you beings of light, these Musings are sent with love.