The Devil, the Fairy Queen & Enlightenment

One of the things that popped into my head as I was thinking about the blues was the story of Robert Johnson. One of the most enigmatic figures in blues, they say that he grew up wanting to play and that he was pretty good.

But then one day he disappeared. Legend has it that he went down to the crossroads near Dockery Plantation in Mississippi at midnight. When he returned, suddenly he was able to play leaps and bounds above anything he ever did before. His legacy includes songs that are part of the core of the blues tradition and have been rerecorded by many different singers and musicans since then. He claimed he traded his soul to the Devil in return for his great musical ability. Did he really do that? Or was he just pulling everybody's leg?

A similar legend surrounds one of the greatest harpists and composers of Ireland, Turlough O'Carolan. He became blind as a result of a childhood bout of smallpox and spent most of his adult life traveling and playing music and gaining great fame for his music. They say that both weddings and funerals would be delayed until he could arrive to play.

Then one day, Carolan disappeared for a while and when he returned, he presented a new music he called planxties, which had a different rhythm from the familiar jigs, reels and lullabies, and he said that he learned this from the Fairy Queen during a visit to the underworld. More than 220 tunes that survive to this day were composed by him. He wrote lyrics for a number of them, but most musicians downplay the importance of these and focus on the melodies. Did he really get his gifts from the Queen of the fairies? Or was he also pulling everyone's leg?

What more powerful third mysterious musical character could be added to this trio of mysteries than Beethoven? He composed some of the greatest of his works after he was completely deaf. Beethoven also possessed great skills recognized at an early age and studied with many teachers, including Haydn. Yet he did not attribute his compositional skills to anyone else. He simply kept doing what he was inspired to do, Beethoven's struggles with illness and deafness could also be described as journeys to the underworld, which also informed his music. Who knows how much those incredible soaring melodies that we all know can be attributed to the difficulties he suffered and how much these affected his thinking, as well as inspiration from his lovers and muses such as the poet Schiller, his visions, the ideals of enlightenment and in turn, the creation of his work?

Did the Devil, the Fairy Queen or the Enlightenment have any hand in what these three great musicians created? Or were their creations simply so powerful that no one would believe that these were simply the products of three hard working, talented individuals? Did Johnson and Carolan know this and simply play it off, while Beethoven proudly claimed his place as the creator of his work?

What do these three great musical mysteries say about our ability to surpass all limitations and rise to greatness? What do these stories tell us about our ability to connect with spirit in any form in order to tap into even greater reservoirs of strength, beauty and creativity?

A Taste for the Blues

Lately, I have had a taste for the blues. I still love violin music at this time of year, and some piano music as well, but I notice that more and more, I reach for blues to slip into the CD player to flow with the rhythms of my life. There is something irresistable about the beat and the bouncy nature of the groove. When times are tough, blues can help you bottom out and then bounce back up. Blues understands this time we are living in.

The blues always did. The blues gave birth to jazz, rock, rap, and popular music. The blues is earthy, lusty music that expresses its zest for life. Blues originated with field hands using music to help them find the strength to do the backbreaking work of manual labor on plantations, farms, and later, in factories. Blues could inspire people to get up and dance after a hard day's work.

Of course, the music was so entrancing that it would draw people into its spell and get them up dancing even if they never were field hands or manual laborers. Like magical chants and mantras, most of it is not very complicated. The first instrument that I was able to pick up and play by ear was blues harp (harmonica), and many a night gone by, I jammed with guitarists and singers who sang the blues.

Blues is very rootsy music. In recent years, a few recordings have been made where blues musicians got together with traditional African folk musicians and made magic with the sounds of the place where the musical roots began, together with what they evolved into. Blues can cast a spell that is like straight whiskey. It hits you hard and changes your whole perspective, right quick, and it doesn't take a lot to do the trick.

I grew up in Chicago where there was always a vibrant blues scene and I got to hear many of the legends play in bars for the price of a little cover charge and a few drinks. And by closing time, they had to kick people out because they didn't want to leave.

There came a time in my life when I was not listening to much of the blues, but they never really disappeared. Like there is no such thing for me as picking up the harmonica and not playing a blues riff.

So now it is time for some blues again. I got the feeling for it. Not exclusively. It rotates between music, but more and more as I work toward my goals, when I get up in the morning and wonder what day it is, but I just need to get started putting one foot in front of the other, some blues or some jazz will bring dream energy into focus. It is earthy and helps me keep grounded and centered. Blues is about feeling, and strong feelings have the power to move people.

The blues groove feels real good right now. Feel that beat? That's the pulse of life. That's the sound of people stirring up energy to do what they have to do and what they want to do. Oh yes, what songs we have about what we feel and what we do. And oh, yes, can you ever dance to it. Know what I'm talking about?

Water Stones

Whenever I hold a water stone in my hand, there is not only a sensation, but an instant reminder than come to mind. Water stones are simply those that have been worn smooth by the flow of water. If you were to ask a person, what is the stronger material, stone or water, many might say stone, but over time, water will wear down stone, but stone will not wear down water.

How many times have we found ourselves holding a firm position only to find that somewhere down the road we need to soften it?

How many times have we worried about something only to find out that if we had not worried about it, it would have turned out fine anyway?

Have you ever noticed how many meditation recordings include the sound of moving water, either stream or wave sounds?

It is the soothing sound of change that comes in invisible, but inevitable currents. Like the water finding its way between rocks, the tiniest opening can eventually become a torrent, the tiniest grains of sand and pebbles that are swept between rocks wear the edges of bigger rocks smooth.

Perhaps this is the underlying source of peace in the water sound. We know that change is inevitable and that going with the flow will make us mellower.

Water can carry us over rough rocks so that we can reach our destination.

Stones smoothed by water can make excellent healing stones and also divination tools. For me, found objects are just as welcome a tool, and just as effective, as tumbled gemstones.

Notice how the element of water works in our lives. In tarot, the water suit is usually called cups, caldrons, or chalices. It is about emotions and emotional connections. Most people immediately make the connection with love and romance, but it also rules friendship, acquaintances, associates and other connections that have an emotional heartfelt quality to them.

Notice how all of our emotions express in water. Blood, sweat, tears, taste, orgasms. The water flowing between us smoothes our rough edges and shapes us in ways that allows us to fit together better, whether we are looking at just two of us or a bunch of us as the many stones in a riverbed. Letting the water flow lets us all fit together better, and takes some of the edge off as we allow the energy to move us.

Look Ahead, Then Rest Before What's Next

After wrapping up another outdoor festival today, I am looking forward to the next two festival gigs being indoor events. Once again the weather was a factor, as the cold, lightning and rain caused the festival to shut down on the middle, and longest day, which everyone who bought a booth also regarded as their potentially most profitable day. The break on Saturday gave us a little time to rest. After half a day of being in a tent with not enough warm clothes in the damp and cold, an afternoon of chicken soup and kicking back with a movie felt fine. Fortunately, Sunday picked up and turned out to be a good day.

By the time Sunday evening came, it was a good time to simply clean up and put things away, take a soothing shower and settle in with a good book.

In the morning, I will go back to the day job, but before I do, I give myself a little time to check my emails to confirm appointments for the coming week, going over some bills I need to pay, plan for the talk I am going to give at next week's fair, and then just relax a bit. Tomorrow, I will send emails to people I met today. I have an overview for the week and see how all the things I do will contribute to my larger goal of doing this work of reading and healing full time, and being able to quit my day job when the reading and healing business is built up to a more consistent level than it is now.

So this evening there is simply a pause in the rush of activity. There is movement beneath the surface. I will be going over my presentation for next Saturday all week in my mind. I will be connecting with as many people as possible before then.

But tonight, just for a while, just for a breather, there is soothing piano music playing, I am enjoying a taste of whiskey, and reading a good book. Soon I will go to sleep. A little pause is good. We all need it. There is much to be done tomorrow. Rest is what feels good right now.

Each week, do you take a look at your week ahead? Do you give yourself a little time to mull over the important things that need to be done, and then let go of them and simply be quiet for a while?

Quiet Fires

On a cold winter night, there is great comfort in having a fireplace going in the living room. If you do not have a fireplace, candles can create the same aura on a smaller scale.

The fact that they are still built into homes as ornaments rather than a real source of heat and light, like the gas models with the fake logs, are an echo of the ancient memories we have of the primal importance of fire in our lives. This image and feeling is embedded in us. Some people refer to this kind of resonance as genetic memory. From the time of our caveman ancestors to the present moment, sitting by the fire is something we have done until we no longer think about it, we just do. If I fire is burning, we gather around it.

Fire was the first great discovery of mankind. Once we knew how to start a fire whenever we wanted one, we were safe from freezing to death. Imagine the first people who discovered that fire would keep wild animals at bay. Imagine the delight of the first people who discovered the taste of food warmed over a fire. Imagine the first people who experienced the soothing pleasure of a warm bath. Imagine the the first people who discovered that putting plant leaves in boiled water sipping their first cups of tea. Imagine the first people hypnotized by the flames speaking visions.

Fire was magic to those people. Fire is still magic to us. Here's to the joy of winter evenings in front of the fire.

Lighting a Fire

Fire is vision. We need light to see, not just what is right in front of us, but the long range, what is in our future. What we passionately desire, what we dream, what we want to do differently.

Fire is creativity. The flames dance, our vision expands and we think of new ways to do things, or at least different ways to do things. When our creative energy is moving, so is all of our other energy. Creativity causes us to move, to dare to be different, to get up and find a better way, to find a more exciting way.


A person who has no creativity needs more fire in their life. They need the fire of inspiration, the fire of lifting spirits, dancing bodies, lightened moods, laughter, loving. Fire, creativity, imagination. These are the components of aphrodisiacs.

A person who has more creativity is a better lover. Passion gives rise to enthusiasm, and enthusiasm gives rise to creativity, and creativity gives rise to the senses, and the senses open the way for courage. Courage to speak our desires, courage for the other to open to those desires, courage to act on those desires. Courage to cast aside the dull shells of routine and immerse ourselves in those bright colors and the juciness they bring when heat brings sweat and the warmth between us becomes liquid. Unleashing this fire, this creativity, this bold action, this love, this passion, can begin with simple questions, as does all creativity. What if? Will you? Now? How does it feel? Again?

We Dance to the Fire

Perhaps it was the fire that first made people dance. Perhaps they were celebrating the purifying of their space when they threw all their bones into it, creating the first bonefire, or bonfire. Perhaps they danced in celebration of the clearing away of the old and the making way for the new.

Fire is still a way to purify our space. We can burn those things we are done with. We can burn those things that are unclean. Wounds can be cauterized with a knife blade heated in fire. Old dressings can be burned in the fire.

Old photos, old letters. old papers that we do not want to keep can be burned in the fire. We dance as they burn, faster, as the flames leap higher, slower as they die down. Once the old photos and papers turn into ashes, what was on them only lives in our memory. When the fire of our spirit dies and energy leaves us, the fire of memory passes to others.

Fire heats stones for saunas and sweats, opening our pores so that we are cleansed by the release of water through our skin.

Fire boils water for bathing, for cooking food, for making tea. We dance when we heal. We dance when we feast. We dance because we can. We dance to connect our energy with the energy of others. We dance to connect with the energy of spirit.

We gather by the bonfire and the fireplace to tell our stories and sing our songs. In the places where we do not have fireplaces or bonfires, we have candles. Our spirits dance by these candles, with romance and softness mingled with the soft glow of the candles, the gentle fragrance, the light that keeps us close.

It is the softness of the skin and the subtle scent of the person, and the pheromones that dance underneath the aura of oils that heat sends sailing toward us on the air, and these invite us to taste the softness we crave, and dance with our tongues.

Friction from our bodies, persistently rubbing together until spirit fire ignites, set us in motion and we dance with the fire. We dance with the fire for as long as it lasts, and when it comes down to a bed of orange embers, we dance on them and walk to the other side. Then we exhale loudly, then softly, and raise the embers into flames, our breath the fuel for the flames. And when the flames dance upon the earth again, we add more wood, and the smoke and the scent of the burning herbs circle our beings. And we cast off everything until there is only us, our skin, glistening in the glow of the fire.

We have broken the spell of everything that does not matter. There is dancing and fire, and the fire creates water, and the water is us, flowing together. And we dance to the rhythm of the fire within.