Mayan Dream Musings

Everyone who read the last blog heard my story about why I am suddenly leaving for Guatemala and Honduras.

Now I have a few more stories about the power of listening. I had been feeling very strongly that we needed to replace our furnace. This was not a “oh well” decision. Furnaces are expensive! However, something was just yelling at me to get a new furnace.

So….we did indeed purchase a furnace from one of the best and most knowledgeable places in this area. They removed the old furnace and found…….black mold growing in our walls. The original furnace had been installed without the proper insulation and the conditions of damp and dark and warm were perfect for the nasty black form of mold. This is indeed serious business….and explains the really bad headaches in the morning for me. Our furnace people have taken a lot of continuing education in how to get rid of mold (what are the chances!). We had to have the ducts cleaned, and a fungicide and a bacteria killer pumped through the system twice. We had to have dry wall removed in a special way that would not spread mold spores. We have had a special mold killing unit running in our house for two days. So, a job that was supposed to take two days, is now taking seven days, but we will no longer have that nasty, really dangerous black tendrily fungus growing in our house.

Without replacing the furnace….we never would have known until the fungus had invaded much of our house. Yikes!

Thus the power of listening! I feel that something much larger than us is taking care of us. I just have to listen and act.

Then….I needed to record an album for this upcoming trip to Guatemala/Honduras. Listening again. Keep in mind, I just found out that I was going on the trip on Wednesday. So, time was kind of an interesting deal here. I called Tom at Tempel Recording, and he had a little time for me, but not much. We recorded for three hours on Thursday evening, and then he said: “You can have all the time you need tomorrow because everyone else has canceled.” We spent a total of eight hours recording the music that I am taking to Guatemala/Honduras.

Why did the cancellations happen? I don’t really know but it was wonderful timing for me.

The new music is called “Living The Possible” and it is WAY different that what I have done. Almost no regular instruments….just energy sound and a huge amount of vitality. It is introducing a new style to my composing. I KNOW that the third album in the Earth trilogy will be composed when I get back.
And…..who knows what other music…????!!!

We bought a new suitcase for me today…..new shoes for walking….some gifts for the children in Copan. Now I can pack.

Talk to you tomorrow. Love you all.

Today’s Musing is about the real world of my Soul/Deepbody SELF.

For months I have posted the intent on my website (the artist/contact page) that I will be traveling to Guatemala in October. Lately it’s been “niggling” at me and I was wondering if I shouldn’t change that writing because I have no tickets or a space on any trip to Guatemala or Honduras for October. Something kept saying “Don’t change that”.

Yesterday morning a deep inner silence had descended on me. I went to breakfast with Ann…the inner silence very present….and something she said about the October trip prompted an inner voice to say “There is an opening on that trip”.

I went home from that breakfast and into meditation. The inner silence was like a blanket outside of me covering me, and inside of me profoundly supporting. It was very clear that I could be on the October trip to Guatemala/Honduras if I said yes to the level of change that would occur through my travels.

WHOOSH! I called Mona who makes all of the travel arrangements, and an airline seat for the trip from Fort Wayne to Guatemala had opened up that had not been there previously. Also, we had enough frequent flyer miles to get a free ticket….and the economy ticket was available. So I asked her to hold the ticket.

Then I had to take care of a family commitment. My sister Jean and I were driving my parents to Canada for a family reunion that would conflict with the trip to Guatemala. I called Jean and asked if she would be okay to make the drive without me helping. No problem! Also….I had to know that my parents would be in the arms of the same deep silence that was moving me, and that they would be okay without me. After all, I have the power of attorney for their finances and their health decisions if something should happen to both of them that makes it impossible for them to decide for themselves. It seems that SOUL is taking good care of them. They are excited about me having the opportunity to travel.

Then I e-mailed Conrad and asked “Is there a space on the trip?” Yes and he welcomed me onto the trip at the last minute.

Then I had to call Walter at school and ask: “Are you okay with this?” He was thrilled for me….and of course he has just himself returned from Honduras in August. We will have SO MUCH to share when I return home.

So…now the journey to Lake Atitlan and then to Copan is a reality. Tonight I go into the recording studio to record a Soul/Deepbody album that is specifically for this trip. This new music will support me to the level of change that is possible through my journeys. It is also available to anyone else who wants to share the energy of this music.

WHOOSH! Never again will I be able to use the excuse that something cannot happen because of money, or time, or family commitments, or anothing else…if it is within the SOUL/DEEPBODY DESIRE. The world of the SOUL/DEEPBODY is REAL…..not imagination.

Expect lots of new music to come. These journeys are always inspirational to new music, and this time to new performance and new teaching also.

Talk to you all again soon.

The adventure continues. The second musical piece in the series of free downloads in the Earth Essence music is up on my website: Wolf…Knower of the Unseen.

Each of these pieces….around five minutes in length…take about 1-1/2 hours to compose. For the wolf piece, we began by searching the wolf sound. Thanks to a company called Sonomics, we can purchase sounds which contain copyright permission to use. All of you probably don’t know that when I create an album, if I want to include nature sounds, we either have to record our own sounds (ocean, waterfall, thunder, rain, birds, etc) or find someone who has this service. It is illegal to google wolves and then steal someone’s wolf sound, or elephant sound…the list goes on. The Wolf comes from Sonomics. For other albums or pieces of music we have used Walter’s recording of Mexican thunder and rain, Tom’s recordings of birds, water, rain, cicadas, frogs, brooks, wind. However, there are no wolves in Fort Wayne and the surrounding area (unfortunately)! So, thank you Sonomics.

I began by playing the awesome gong, which led directly into the first wolf call. Then I laid down the drum track. The drum for the Wolf piece was one of the large congas in Tom’s studio and I drummed the running of the wolves over the white snowy plains with the white light of the full moon within and around the wolf. We spent a little time editing for “rogue” drum beats, then onward to the next track of the Kurzweil wood flute. The melody flowed over the drum beat….sounding the qualities of intuition, knowing, travel between worlds. Then the primordial sea track anchored drums, wolves, flute into the body of the Earth. I call this sound the primordial sea sound, but it was originally recorded as Cathedral Voice. Interesting! This sound plays as long, stretched-out fields of sound. Finally, I placed the other wolf calls, and other sounds of the unknown world of the Wolf. A little more editing occurred as the wood flute melody of the unseen was honed to its final shape.

Mastering is the finishing process of allowing a piece of music to be its highest and finest potential. Layers are tweaked for volume relative to each other, and sounds may be tweaked for more warmth, or more breath, or whatever the unknown world asks. Little bits of noise which don’t belong with the recording are taken out if they occur somewhere in the recorded nature sounds. Some of this is done at the time of initial recording, and some at the end.

Finally, all is saved, and then transferred to MP3 files and then sent via e-mail to Vern who places then on the website so that you can download them.

This music joins the first piece, “Birds of the Morning”, as my gift to you for your own adventurous journey.

Watch for “Hawk: Soaring High” to come on October 2, “Dusk” to appear on October 18, and “Spider Woman” to appear on November 2.

As you collect these pieces, thank our Mother Earth and let’s all do our part in her healing.

Talk to you again soon.

Friday is a good day for a sense of humor to prevail. No one ever calls or e-mails or orders on a Friday. Everyone must already be on the weekend.
Good idea!

So…..what can we have fun with? How about the trials of attempting to put photos up on a myspace account that repeatedly says that my photos are not
in the right format….even though it asks for jpeg and my photos are IN JPEG.
How about the wonders of trying to read and make sense out of a book on podcasting and videocasting and garage band. Yikes! How about looking at all of the technology in ipods and video ipods and wondering how I would ever be able to learn and use all that is possible.

So maybe instead of frying my brain today with this stuff…I drum for a while, and play the Kurzweil for a while, and go walking, and have coffee with a friend, ship a few orders, listen to some wonderful lectures, and stop at the Bookstore to pick up a book on Myspace…..and before I know it, it will be 5:00PM and time for dinner plans to evolve.

To all….have a great weekend.

We have the first beautiful Autumn day here in Indiana. The air feels different. It is crisp and cool and very clean. There is a breeze rustling the leaves….the birds are starting to gather to begin their migration. It’s so very beautiful!

Pacal is the cocketiel who chooses to live with us. He is thirteen years old and still in the prime of bird life. Right now he is sitting on my shoulder and occasionally biting my head to let me know that I am moving around too much for his comfort. Cocketiels are like cats….they don’t belong to us, they choose us as companions. He is named after Pacal, one of the greatest Mayan kings and shamans who lived in Palenque during the fullness of the Mayan civilization. The companion who is sitting on my shoulder reminds me of my Mayan connections. He reminds me on my own wild nature. He reminds me of the great unknown universe that is around me and that supports and inspires me.
Pacal as bird is sitting on my shoulder, and Pacal as shaman is also probably in the room in some form.

Talk to you again soon.

Over the last months I have been placing ads in one of the major magazines which goes to retail stores who sell my kind of music. Today I received my copy of the magazine for the Holiday Issue…..a big deal as you can imagine. Stores usually begin to stock up for Christmas around this time of year, and my ad is going to be right there….looking at them! I have placed ads with this magazine four times throughout the last year…..one of my pathways to the larger world.

This magazine is a beautiful, artistic magazine. The colors are vibrant and the ads for music, art, different items are artwork in themselves.

So today I saw my ad in the holiday edition. It featured The Journey of Joy artwork which is really a soul painting that Ilene created for me. So, in the ad, I am looking out at all of the people who have this magazine in their hands and who would love my music. Ilene’s artwork fits into the holiday season with its energy of light, with it’s beautiful, deep hues of greens and blues and as the bearer of the energy of JOY.

This magazine is where musicians who are truly “out in the world” advertise. These musicians, including me, are passionate about our purpose. We really care. It feels very good to be able to advertise through such a rich resource with so many other people.

My ad is located right in the middle of an energy vortex of musical reviews. I wasn’t reviewed, but I was right there. That’s an energy to feed and rejoice.
In the Spring issue, EMERGENCE will be a new item, and I will ask for it to be reviewed. This is a free service of the magazine…given at their discretion…not mine. So my own intent is really important.

As a self-published musician who is moving into her second year as a fully self-employed person, this resource is powerful. I touch many, many people and stores who I will never meet. What a wonderful privilege!

Don’t forget to download your new free music on this website. Talk to you again soon.

Tuesday after a long holiday weekend….we celebrated a birthday, and rested a lot, and just enjoyed the unusually beautiful weather of sun and about 78 degrees. Now on Tuesday, I can begin the creative process again with a rested body and calm mind. Last week I did a lot of intense inner work to allow myself to grow to become the new person who performs and teaches EMERGENCE.
As I said in the Wisdom Musings, the inner work is way more important than the outer work…although without the outer work, none of you would know that I was a performer and composer. The outer stuff emerges at the direction of my inner spiritual world.

The Earth Essence Music is up on the website for your free download. I love being able to offer gifts of music, and so this website of mine is a treasure. Without Vern to constantly update the Mayan Dream website for me, it could not be this treasure. Vern has a more than full time position and yet he takes time to listen to my e-mails, and allow me to create through my website by quickly and efficiently following up with new ideas. His work is always quality work!

As I was finishing the album cover for the EMERGENCE album, I began the process of thanking people for the various aspects of the album. However, I realized that I could not list everyone…..so many people have supported me by their e-mails, and notes, and meditations…or by asking me “how is it going today”. Many people have been mentors for the various aspects of creating this next album. Of course, some have worked very hard with me for months: Tom, Walter, Conrad, Ann, Susan, Vern. So many people have walked the extra mile to help me be successful.

I am TOTALLY grateful to all of you. The announcement of the availability of the EMERGENCE CD should be out in the mail within the next week. How cool is that!!

Today I will have a new photo taken by Kim of Kimzwerks so that the photo on the CD cover is the most recent. Susan is working on the last aspect of the graphic design….changing the font of the title EMERGENCE in response to feedback that the font I chose was not readable enough by everyone. (See….I do listen!). Ann is taking the painting which is the artwork for the cover to the person who will provide the best quality digital photo….we want the color of the artwork on the CD to be absolutely the finest. Then, on Thursday Tom Tempel and I will meet to send out the entire package to Discmakers: The master CD, the CD of the digital photo of the artwork, the CD of the graphic design work, the CD of the photo of me, my letter which ties it all together with the required forms filled out, and a check for the amount of duplicating 1000 CDs. Then Discmakers will design the CD cover and disc to include everything that I sent, and send me back a proof. Upon my approval, they will go to press with all of the printed material. Meanwhile the music will be duplicated. Everything is put together in a CD case by Discmakers, shrinkwrapped, and then I will receive my many, many boxes of completed EMERGENCE CDs. They should be in my studio/office by September 30 (maybe sooner).

Meanwhile, I am setting up CD signings, press release, brochures, contacting distributors to alert them to a new CD, placing advertisements in magazines, etc. It takes a lot of energy to place a CD in the public marketplace. Vern is preparing to add the EMERGENCE CD to the order page for credit card purchases through the website…I expect that to be up and running in about two weeks. So much to do…..but how exciting!

Tomorrow, I have the privilege and joy of composing and recording Soul/Deepbody music for a dear friend musician. This will be SO MUCH FUN!

I’m enjoying the time today to get a lot things completed that require “sit down” time. I’m enjoying the beautiful hot weather that has come back into Indiana.

Have a wonderful day. I’ll talk again soon.