Between an equinox and an eclipse, April is showering. Spring rain, like a lover’s buttery sweat, whispers aliveness. It allures tiny curious buds to take shapes of their own. My eyes have been waiting the whole winter, to receive the colors and forms of all possibilities. The sound of wind and rain against my window lulls me still, into deeper and deeper layers of silence. Like something underground is breathing in, coaxing moisture into droplets into its gaping maw. I seek that exhale. I seek that bloom just around the corner. Yet I let myself be lulled.
A mourning dove couple has been visiting us, perched on our living room window sill. We’d heard their calls for many a year, a clarion hoot cutting through the sounds of city life. A lingering shout from the beautiful void of nature, pulling me into its mystery. I am transported to times and places far away and far inside.
Transported to a place between an equinox and an eclipse, where April is showering. Somewhere limbic and liminal, sealed in the space between, where the beat of the season has claimed my eardrum as its own instrument. Moisture in the air envelopes all sound, rendering a spirit of inquiry.
I have lost nothing in winter, yet early spring conjures a sense of mourning. Endless brittle branches are letting go of their bareness. I have been attuning to subtler sounds of spring, awaiting the quiet symphony of petals bursting open and returning back to earth, simultaneously, fragmenting time – between an equinox and an eclipse.
Our Brooklyn Events
April 4th and April 18th — our now bi-weekly acoustic sound meditation at Yogis and Yoginis in Park Slope.
April 17th — Adrian’s monthly Wednesday holotropic-style breathwork experience at CEA in Williamsburg.
April 25th — monthly acoustic sound meditation at Brooklyn Flow in Park Slope.
Oracular Practice
The traditional image associated with this hexagram is a person caught between a mountain and abyss. The obstruction here appears to be material, but in reality is the internal obstruction of judgement, locking us into this binary view of the landscape. The first step in removing the obstruction is to suspend disbelief that the way is unsurpassable, and to seek the solution outside of polarized thinking.
Some Links
🐸 Sounds of North American Frogs from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Frogs listen to the land and learn. We learn the land from listening to them.
🌈 The Scale and the Spectrum an interesting piece on color-music in the west.
🌊 Obokuri-Eeumi We recently rewatched the anime Samurai Champloo and discovered this beautiful song from the Amami Islands. If you haven’t watched this series, watch it.
🔵 Meditation by Jordan Belson A short animated film from the early 70s. A wonderful exploration between sound and image.
Some Listenings
🪶 Death of a Brave Son performed by The National Duduk Ensemble of Armenia. Over the years, my relationship with this song has transformed, and in this moment it speaks to me of longing and hope, courage and forgiveness, and land and landscape.
🫧 Ulaan by Mongolian jazz singer Enji, playful and cool, intimate and open. I enjoyed the company of her voice.
🙏 Inori by Japanese vocalist Hatis Noit. The ocean sound was sampled from Fukushima. A prayer to the strength of life and land. I was deeply moved when I encountered this song in her concert.
Some Laughs
We’ve been making memes, here is one of our favorites, sound on!
Some Words
Does a heart in motion ask for contemplation
Or consideration
Does wisdom whispered lie in words
Or in the wind from birds
Does a rockface’s illumination speak of reflection
Or the sun’s direction
Does a firm hand speak of reprimand
Or love planned
Does vibration simply ask for translation
Or experience’s formation