It hardly seems possible but we are entering week 5 of our second semester. I have spent my weekend reviewing articles and writing papers on on ritual studies and on the old Gallican rite of Gaul before the eighth century. These are indeed seeminly diverse topics but I am in an MA program in Ritual Chant and Song and ritual and chant are inextricably linked. Learning about ritual is as integral to this course as the chant aspect. This semester we have once class on ritual readings of academics in the field that study culture and define ritual;ethonographers, archeaologists, philosophers, psychologits, and those from other disciplines, all engaged with various aspects of the study of cultures and their ritual actions. It is very interesting. We also have one class where visitors to the program share their own religious traditions and the chant as it relates to the liturgy. Next week we will have a visitor from the Dublin Jewish community, Melanie Brown,who will be teaching about the Jewish service and the ritual chant.
A third class entitled Ritual Lab is devoted to creating ritual. We are all required to create two rituals this semester that include and aspect of chant and we will facilitate these rituals with our classmates during the semester. I have decided that my first ritual will be ecumenical in its approach and it will focus on world peace. I have downloaded from the PeaceAbbey.org. a pdf that has the peace prayers of 12 major religious traditions. The Peace Abbey is in Sherborn, MA. It is one of my favorite places. The work that Lewis Randa and others are doing to promote peace is important. And so have I decided to try to extend his work a bit by creating my own ritual in hopes of heightening awareness and to promoting peace,using the peace prayers,and some orginal chant and poetry as part of my ritual. I will begin the ritual with an opportunity to focus on personal peace. That is where peace begins, within and with each of us. And then we will focus on the world using these special seed prayers for peace provided by the Peace Abbey. I have included the link. http://www.peaceabbey.org/abbey/peace_seeds_prayers.pdf
I will end my ritual with an original meditation and peace chant,one that visualizes harmony in the world. It was written after 9/11. With all the unrest in the Middle East and elsewhere, it seems appropriate to also share this meditation with you. There is great power in collective prayer, meditation, and intention. I hope as you read it that it also brings you a sense of internal peace. See below. Shalom, shanti, peace be with you.
Sending you love from Glocca Morra
Harmony
A Meditation for Peace
Visualize harmony ~ visualize it everywhere.
See a softening of the earth’s atmosphere,
how it floats and gently falls to earth,
embracing all inhabitants
with a luminescent light that quivers and shimmers
like moonlight on the water.
See the entire earth and all that inhabit it,
breathing easily and gently as One.
It’s a quiet, easy, loving breath.
Just keep on breathing.
Now see the trees in the forests,
the grasses of the meadows, the mountains,
deserts, and all the creatures.
All species are singing a new song.
They are singing it together.
There is a new order.
One of gentleness, effortless ease.
You can feel it.
It is everywhere you turn.
It is harmony.
Everywhere and in everything there is a new order,
a settling of the dust.
Life has become quiet.
Life has become profoundly meaningful.
Everything is lighter.
Everything is easier than it has ever been before.
It is easier to breathe.
It is easier to smile.
It is easier to move.
It is easier to love.
There is a restored simplicity.
There is a restored gentleness.
There is a new world order.
It is harmony.
Visualize this and keep on visualizing this,
until it is so.
By Marsha Eger
Voice of My Soul: Wisdom from the Stillness
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