In a previous post, I discussed how tactile awareness could be used for non-anthropomorphic pathworking. This time we're going to explore how sound and vibrations can be used for a similar purpose. Similar to touch, our hearing can actually help us connect with spirits, entities, and life in general in a non-anthropomorphic manner, if we train ourselves to use it for that purpose. In general, we use our hearing to help us with communication and not surprisingly part of what goes with communication is an expectation about how communication will happen. Humans use words, so we tend to expect communication to occur via words, even though that may not be the preferred communication of what we're connecting with. How often have you done a ritual working to a spirit and found yourself having a conversation with the spirit? Chances are you used words and expected words in return and perhaps the spirit accommodated you because of that expectation. How might it have communicated if words hadn't been the expectation?
We live in a world of sound. Even when we think we are in silence, we generally are still experiencing sound of some type in the world around us. Not all of that sound is used for the purpose of communication, but sound can tell us a lot about the environment around us (and within) and what might be in the same vicinity as us. If you have a pet in your life, you also know that pets can communicate with you via sound, and tat you'll interpret that sound accordingly. For example, I know the difference between the hungry meow when my cats want food and the meow when my cats want attention. There's a difference in tone and how the meow sounds. Communication is happening, but not via words, but through sound itself and my interpretation of what that sound means.
In part of the work I did with the microbial life in my body, I used sound as a way to connect with that microbial life. For example, I used the sounds of hunger and digestion to connect with the bacteria in my stomach. What I did is meditated and carefully focused my hearing on listening to the internal sounds of my body. So I'd meditate when I felt hunger and used the hunger sounds of the stomach to connect with the bacteria and then did the same with the noise of digestion after I ate. Hunger and digestion are two different sounds, so it gave me a chance to connect with the bacteria in each stage. The sounds weren't necessarily made by the bacteria, but it seemed to me that the sound was part of the experience and I used it as a way to connect.
When I do work with spirits around me or with some other type of life, I do my best to just open myself up to the sounds conveyed to me. If words are used I'll accept them, but I don't expect them because I realize there may be another way to communicate. Recently I did a working with the Chasmalim, which is the angelic order of Chesed. The way they chose to communicate with me involved changing sound frequencies in combination with light. My receptiveness to this communication helped me understand how they work and what they do in their roles of mediating the energy of Chesed.
As you can probably tell this kind of work doesn't happen with just sound or touch or sight. Usually its a combination of the senses, which is understandable because that's how we experience the world in general. What this kind of work teaches us is that the experience of non-anthropomorphic work will occur across multiple senses and we should necessarily open ourselves to using more than one sense if needed in order to have an experience with a spirit, entity, etc that we are seeking to connect with.
********
I was interviewed on Pagan Musings Podcast about the difference between BNPs and leaders in the Pagan community.
Book Review: Fandom, Identities, and Communities in a mediated world edited by Jonathan Gray, Cornel Sandvoss, and C. Lee Harrington
This is a collection of essays on pop culture studies, circa 2006, so some of the content is a bit dated, but all of it is interesting to read. However, one thing which stands out to me about this book is that many of the essays never really focused on identity in relationship to pop culture. I mention that only because I'd hoped to see more focus on that topic, and of course its in the title of the book. However what I did like about the book is that a number of essays focused on non-traditional fandom, with a focus on classical music, sports, and news fans, among other types, which made for some thought provoking reading. If you're interested in pop culture studies, or like me if you want to see what you can apply conceptually to practice based approaches to life, this book may provide some useful insights.