What's good folks, Wyld Tha Bard here, and I love the fuck out of music! Music has been my love quite literally ever since I came into this fucked up world (a lot less fucked up with music in the mix). I've always been fascinated with the power of music and how it seemingly possesses this inherent ability to shift consciousness.
Consciousness is essentially defined by the Merriam-Webster peeps as being in a state of awareness, specifically within one's self (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consciousness). We've all listened to music before and felt some type of something right? Granted, we may not alway understand in the moment exactly what we are feeling, but never the less we can acknowledge that there is something that we feel. Music has always had the unique power to sway emotions.
Back in the day, our ancient ancestors (the one's that we love to shit on for being so "primitive") were well aware of the healing potentials that music possessed. Thus, it was common for many Shamans and medicine people in various tribal communities to integrate music in some form with their respective rituals and ceremonies. So a Shaman is simply defined by the peeps again at Merriam-Webster, as being someone who uses "magic" for the purpose of curing the sick, divining the hidden and controlling events (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shaman).
So first of all, what they reference as being "magic" is just consciousness. Shamans over time got this mythical connotation associated with them of being these wizard magical beings, but truth is they are just like regular people, only thing is they can access higher realms of consciousness. These higher states of consciousness can often be revealed to us through psychedelic trips, and also naturally via focused meditation. Shamans traditionally use these higher states to effectively perform their work.
I like to think of music as being the shaman. It's the only thing that I can think of that has this power to take us to such heightened and low states, for that is it's intrinsic beauty in my opinion. There was a tid bit above where I mentioned Shamans as being defined as being able to control events. This really interests me personally because I've literally had conversations with people where they told me stories of intentionally drumming in the desert for rain, until rain came. Stories like these are similar to many of the customs of old, where many medicine people and Shamans would have ceremonies where they would drum with the intention of rain, or drum with the intention of a fuller harvest. A lot of people laugh at this concept, but it all boils down to consciousness and being super aware of what is taking place in that specific moment.
Music and sound has that ability to control how we feel. People love to make the argument that certain music that has violent content and themes, doesn't necessarily influence rises in crime and acts of pure savagery. This is complete bullshit and anyone who says otherwise is just in denial. Even if it is on a deep sub-conscious level (where you are consciously unaware) you are being brainwashed to what ever message that the artist crafted into that music. The only difference between someone who makes a hard core angry record and a bongo playing Shaman, is the fact that one person is not entirely aware of their intention being their music while the other is. Intention breeds the magic. That is something that I personally have stumbled on in the recent months and I currently am in the process of being mindful of each intention that I put into my respective craft. It is hard as shit, and takes focus, but I believe that once the artist has truly become aware of what is behind their music, then they reach a point where they can fully understand their art even more, heightening the overall quality of the content itself.
In simplest terms, it was put to me this way; sound is one of the purest forms of energy. When one drums or makes some type of noise with their voice or another instrument of sorts, the vibrations of that sound carry out and expands onto to other spaces. This is nothing more than the sharing of energy from the creator of that sound to those who can hear the initial sound. So music is just energy, loving pure energy. Some would even say that music is consciousness, meaning that music would equate to that of pure magic. Who knows? All I know is that I love the fuck out of music! And I love people who love music! So the next time someone tries to throw shade at you for singing off key or missing a rhythm or a note, just know that you are a magician in its purest form! And just let the music take you home! So until next post, keep on keeping on and keep on bumping, playing and raging your music!
