Hi All –
Thanks for stopping by. You probably got here via the Movement of Sound blog, since I contribute there fairly regularly. Thing is, WordPress will only let me log in there from this account, and not my current blog which is embedded in my website. Not sure why. Some cryptic tech reason no doubt. It seemed easiest to write a quick note here and say if you’d like to learn more about me please visit me at my current site http://www.sharonknight.net/blog/.
Thanks, and nice to meet you!
I just read on my friend Thorn’s blog that Pax has decreed June Pagan Values Blogging month. While my blogs generally have to do with my goings-on as a musician, I also happen to be a Pagan, and am pleased to participate in this discussion.
One of the values in the Pagan worldview that has won my enduring commitment to the path is the reverence for each other’s indwelling Divinity. Pagans have the willingness and ability to see the Godself that shines through each individual, regardless of how clearly – or not – it may be shining through at any given moment.
I feel this leads to a great deal of respect and tolerance for our fellow beings, something which is greatly needed on this war-torn planet of ours. To recognize another’s innate Divinity affirms that being’s sovereignty over his/her own life. If we can live from the basic premise that each being, as an expression of Divinity, has the right to govern their own live, we can eliminate all sorts of problems that arise from striving to police people according to a specific set of beliefs that “everyone” must adopt.
We can begin to listen to each other. We can begin to hear what is important to a person whose beliefs may differ drastically from our own. We can stop reacting and perhaps begin to find solutions that honor everyone’s concerns. We can amplify that which is beautiful, inspired, creative in each other, and see that which is less favorable as merely a shadow that temporarily obscures the brilliance within. When everyone is Divine, everyone matters. Everyone is the Chosen One. This is something that Pagans honor pretty consistently, I find.
There are those who speak against this degree of tolerance – where will it end, they wonder? If we allow same-sex marriage, surely sex with beasts and children will be next! I find that honoring the inherent sovereignty in all beings creates it’s own boundaries quite naturally, and shows these fears for what they are – empty. One who is truly honoring hir own sovereignty will experience it as quite distasteful to trample on another’s. When enacting our own Will impinges on another’s freedom, we must stop, and rethink our tactics. Of course there will always be sticky “grey areas”, but if we can start the dialog from a place of honoring each other, we are ahead of the game. Honoring the divinity/sovereignty in each other is a practice requiring ongoing commitment and self-exploration in order to gracefully navigate the more volatile conundrums of human existence. I have found much of this commitment and self-exploration among my fellow Pagans.
Every man and every woman is a star.
Well, with the majority of shows behind us, and a quick trip home for two awesome concerts, a festival, and some much needed kisses, I at last have time to settle down and write a blog.
So here I sit, in a café looking out at a rambling old cemetery, on a beautiful sunny Portland afternoon, with green everywhere, and I am again struck by how grateful I am to get to do this.
My second album with Thorn, Songs for the Strengthening Sun, is doing well right out of the gate, and it is time now to turn my attentions to finishing the Pandemonaeon album Winter and I have been promising for so long!
So I spend my days hiking, exploring, and writing songs. And in fact, therein lies a challenge! To write a song that you will actually want to sing many times over, that you will want to have associated with you for the rest of your life, is no small feat!
It causes one to consider what things really matter in life, and is very much a magickal act in my eyes. It puts one in a state of self-reflection first, and then creation second. It hones Will, focus, and craft.
Some things that matter to me are – divine inspiration, becoming as the Gods, being masters of our own destiny, contributing to the beauty in the world, striving always to become greater than we are, meeting life with passion and fierceness and zest, drinking as deeply of the font of life as we can. Finding the epic arc of our own lives, becoming a great hero or heroine in a life that matters.
These are the things I think about – and strive to represent in meter and rhyme – when I write, and as such they give me occasion to muse on my own life and how skillfully I am crafting an epic life.
This is something I wish for each and every one of us, and encourage us all not to give up, though we may feel disheartened or far from a life with meaning. But it is the quest, not the end, that shapes meaningful destiny, and I encourage and cheer each of you – and myself – on, to take even a few small steps every day toward reflecting on that which feels most important to you and how you may best participate in bringing that further into fruition. We all deserve epic lives. In fact, I believe it is ours for the claiming!
Alright then – off to figure out how to say something like that in meter and rhyme!
We are having a grand time on tour – I really must do this with far more regularity than I yet have. I love the feel of the road, seeing new sights, meeting new people. We have done three shows so far, the first one in a charming church with great acoustics in a beautiful Portland neighborhood. The second show was in Seattle in a cosy healing arts center, and the third a house concert on a gorgeous peice of property in the hills near Mt. Ranier. Our audiences have all been so appreciative and very supportive. I am pleased to say we are making good money, which I find very heartening as I hope to continue this work indefinitely. There is truly nothing I love more than making music for people and I am deeply honored and grateful that I am allowed to do so and am receiving a level of support that makes this viable.
We’ve got 3 more shows, Tuesday night May 5th at Bier One, and then friday May 8th in Tacoma, then in Ashland on June 1st – check my website for details http://www.sharonknight.net/live.html if you are local and can join us.
I will write more soon and post some pics in a few days – I’ll have some down time on Thursday, but got a few moments in an internet cafe today and wanted to share my gratitude.
OH! And amidst all the tour excitement I forgot to mention – Songs of the Strengthening Sun is available for purchase – listen and buy herehttp://cdbaby.com/cd/sharonk5
More details soon when I have more leisure time in a cafe…xoxoxox Sharon
Hey friends – for those who read my blog or visit me on Facebook, here are our tour dates. It’d be great to see you if anyone can make it! xoxo Sharon
Friday May 1st
Concert
Wilshire United Methodist Church & Native American Fellowship
3917 NE Shaver,
Portland, OR 97212
8 – 10pm doors 7:30
$12, $10 in advance
For advance tix contact Sharon@trancejamrecords.com
www.cascadiaflutecircle.org
Saturday, May 2nd
Concert and Workshop
Bodysong Healing & Arts Center
943 No. 89th St.
Seattle WA 98103
Concert 8-10PM
Workshop 2 – 5PM
Cost: Concert $12 – $15 sliding scale
Workshop: $35 pre-reg required
both: $40
For pre-reg, contact – sharon@trancejamrecords.com
for
Workshop: Muse Craft – deepening magickal practice through music
Workshop description http://www.sharonknight.net?workshops.html
http://www.bodysongcommunity.com/upcomingevents.html
http://www.bodysongcommunity.com
Sunday May 3rd
House Concert at SidheHaven
Ranier WA
4-6PM
RSVP required, address and directions given upon receipt of RSVP
RSVP to Sharon@trancejamrecords.com or Sherry@SidheHaven 360-446-6166 or 253-381-3078
Tuesday May 5th
Meet and Greet
Ancient Light
10285 Highway 101
Seal Rock, OR 97365
12-2pm
http://www.ancientlight.info
Tuesday May 5th
Concert
Bier One
424 SW Coast HWY
Newport Deco District
Newport, OR 97365
6 – 8pm
No “hard” cover
$5 – $15 suggested donation
http://www.bier-one.com
Weds May 6th
Workshop
Musecraft:Deepening magickal practice through music
Ancient Light Books
10285 Highway 101
Seal Rock, OR 97376
$15 – $25 sliding scale
1 – 3pm
http://www.ancientlight.info
Workshop description http://www.sharonknight.net/workshops.html
Friday May 8th
Concert – hosted by Crescent Moon Gifts
FreightHouse Square
440 E. 25th Street
Tacoma, WA
8-10pm doors at 7:30
$10 in advance, $15 at door
Advance ticket buyers are entered in a raffle to win Cds
Info/tix at www.CrescentMoonGifts.com
June 1st
Concert – hosted by Rowan Tree Coven
Jackson Wellsprings
2253 Hwy 99 N. Ashland OR
6 – 8 PM
$10 in advance only – on sale now at the Rowan Tree Store
Contact Aylah for tix at 541-488-5361
http://rowantreecoven.org/
http://www.jacksonwellsprings.com/
Hey all –
I was recently interviewed by Extreme Music. The question we were to address is “What is the spiritual significance of music?” I’ve posted my response, below.
Enjoy!
Q: What is the spiritual significance of music?
A: I believe music occupies the same part of the brain and psyche as religion and spirituality. Both speak to the same yearnings, the same desire to expand consciousness and the same certainty that there is more to life than meets the eye. We yearn to evolve into our full potential, and both music and spirituality help us to expand into these places.
I am a Pagan magician, so my relationship with spirituality is oriented toward practice and experience rather than belief and doctrine. Developing a magickal worldview entails becoming aware of deeper layers of reality, and learning to interact with them in skillful and conscious ways. Through practice, we begin to experience the mundane world as just the tip of the iceberg, and the deep realms of dream and vision become every bit as real to us.
Music accomplishes this same goal. Music lifts us out of the limits of our mundane world – the four walls of our domiciles, the traffic jam we are trapped in – and opens up vast dimensions in our minds. It creates space
around us, entire worlds yet to be explored. I believe we would go mad without music or spiritual perception. I suspect it would be a lot more difficult to be an atheist without music, for the psyche craves to go to these places, and perhaps we don’t need religion to get there, but we do need a vehicle of some kind. I believe that music gives us more immediate access to these dimensions than anything else. As Beethoven said, “music is a higher revelation than philosophy”.
There are, of course, more shallow versions of both music and spirituality, that do not challenge us to think or expand but exist merely for escape, comfort, or distraction. Mainstream music and religion both have this effect on me and I find no inspiration in either. I am most moved by, and strive to create, music that creates an atmospheric space in the psyche. To open these portals within seems to me the point of both music and spirituality.
As magickal practitioners, we use ritual to attune ourselves to the forces of nature, to awaken these forces within us and learn to wield them. We see these cosmic and natural forces as energy that has coalesced into specific patterns, and music operates much the same way. In magick we see these patterns as energy and in music we hear them as sound. Both create vast dimensions in the psyche. Listening to and learning to play music is every bit as effective as spiritual practice in learning to balance these forces within us and thus participate more consciously in creation.
Therefore, I have come to see music and spirituality as two sides of the same coin.
To learn more about this project visit http://www.xtrememusic.org/new.html
Winter and I will be performing in
Oakland this Saturday with friends Land of the Blind and Fontain’s
MUSE in support of the Sierra Club’s fundraising efforts.
We are glad to help them in their cause, and hope you’ll join us!
Here’s the info:
Saturday April 18th
Wild Women in the Trees
Benefit for the Sierra Club
With Fontain’s MUSE and Land of the Blind
Humanist Hall
390 27th Street, Oakland
7:00 – 10:00 PM
Door Charge: $10-25 sliding scale donation
RSVP: Tracy Shepard (510) 848-0800 x307 tracy@sfbaysc.org
http://sanfranciscobay.sierraclub.org/chapter/chapter_home.htm
WE LOVE YOU!!
Hey beauties –
Just a quick hello today to alert you to a few things –
One is, I will be on tour through the PNW this coming May. Come visit my site to check out the dates and places – www.sharonknight.net/live.html, it’d be grand to see you if you can come out! (I always love meeting the people I know online!)
Also – I have started an Etsy store. In the interest of creating more interesting “merch” than the usual tee-shirts and coffee mugs I figured I would make some clothing in keeping with my romantic gypsy-faery musical themes. I’ve been sewing since I was a kid.
Come check it out if you have time: www.sharonknight.etsy.com.
Much love to you all, and as always, I appreciate your support!
xoxoxox Sharon
I had two thought-provoking cultural experiences this past week. I saw the movie “Religulous” and I went to a Heathen Folk Metal concert.
Religulous was frankly hilarious. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s Bill Maher, poking holes in people’s religious beliefs. It was mostly aimed at hypocrisy and fundamentalism, and was targeted mainly at the dominant religions of our era. However, I have no doubt he would have given my own religious beliefs the same treatment!
Although I know many folks from my religion who would have had ore intelligent answers than I heard in this show! A large part of what made this so funny is the people he interviewed being given enough rope to hang them selves. He had his agenda to be sure. His points on fundamentalism and hypocrisy were made. It got me thinking though – Would this have been offensive to me if it were my own religion? Insofar as my own religion has it’s tendencies toward fundamentalism and hypocrisy, no. Insofar as the “fairy tales” from my own religion seeming true and the ones from Christianity seeming ridiculous…well, still no. And what makes the difference? I don’t need for the myths of my religion to be “True”. That’s not what religion is for me. For me religion is a way that we organize our own brains, in order to perceive a wider array of the energies in the Universe. (i.e religious symbolism is a construct we create in order to develop awareness of the forces of nature we call Gods.) The mythologies are not to be taken literally, but to be understood as representing the flow of cosmic forces. Beyond that, it comes down to personal experience – working with these symbols and myth cycles create an opening in the mind that create some very interesting experiences, that feel deeply satisfying, relevant and right. How I would have liked to have been interviewed by Bill! Or better yet, have him on Thorn’s podcast. It would be interesting indeed to have him talk with some folks who actually have a well-thought-out relationship with religion!
Speaking of forces of nature – turns out there is Heathen Metal, Viking Metal, Folk Metal and Pagan Metal. Damn! All this time I’ve been wondering why there isn’t more Pagan music out there, when the Pagan movement in general seems to be thriving, and the Europeans are cranking it out with a vengeance! Powerful driving hard rock with medieval and folk instruments, singing about their ancestors. What a feast! Many of them sing in that typically metal toneless growl that I call Satan Voice, which I really don’t like. But some of them, such as Tyr, are much more melodic. Tyr are from the Faroe Islands and declare themselves to be reviving the folk traditions of their pre Christian ancestors. And they do an admirable job. I’ll be writing more about them soon, I am sure, as I delve into this fascinating new cultural development. You can be sure that if I can find a way to bring some of these bands to America I will do so. I’d love to do a Pagan music festival with some of these folks. So much to do, so little time! Why do we not live at least 200 years?
I am back from Pantheacon, and well-rested enough to write about it at this point. I have really come to love this event over the years. It never fails to remind me just how much magick fascinates me. The vast inner landscapes of our minds/souls/psyches, and how they intersect with the unseen worlds, and how blurry this boundary is, if it even exists at all.
In the words of one well-known magician (DuQuette/ben Clifford), “It is all in your head, you just have no idea how big your head is!” This sums up a great mystery for me, in that we don’t really know the nature of the subjective/objective Universe – are the Gods subjective, or objective? Or is the perception that there is a difference one of those illusory tricks of duality that comes from depending too much on our sensory experience?
The beauty of magick is that no mater which side of the subjective/objective spectrum you favor, it still holds its relevance. It seems to me that we humans are the Mind of God, each of us a separate jewel in a unified web, each of us possessing a unique vantage point which is, nonetheless, part of a whole. The more we can identify with the whole, the more subjectivity and objectivity become irrelevant. Of course, at times when we are more identified with our individuality, a subjective experience sure comes in handy!
Thus go the musings of a magickally inspired madwoman, which is usually what I become after spending a long weekend with over 2,000 of my fellow magi!
We performed this year, as an 8-piece version of Pandemonaeon. We must have had over 200 people in the audience, which was lovely. You know – I love our people – we are truly a clan who celebrates the gift of our lives most fully, and this type of worldview makes for a stunningly attired audience! I love looking out into a sea of people in dramatic corsets, medieval gowns in rich jewel-tone velvets, dancers with jangling belts, flowing skirts and dripping with jewelry, peacock feathers and wizard hats and leather pants and black net shirts, pirates and dark faeries and bellydancers and lusty wenches and pirates…ahh, I love you all!
I went to two lectures, one on “low magick” by Lon Milo DuQuette – I agree with his view that dividing magick into “low” and “high” is less than elegant (my words) – and one on the writings and life of William Sharp/Fiona McCloud. I knew that Fiona McCloud was the pen name of William Sharp but I did not know that he considered himself to be writing on behalf of a faery being namesd Fiona McCloud. Very interesting!
I think, as always, my favorite part of the Con was connecting with my people, though. We are all so busy, we don’t have as much occasion to spend time s any of us would like, especially ith those who live far away. So that is always a joy, and it is why we co-hosted a pirate party with Stone City after our show. It was grand, as was drumming for the Stone City benefit, and some VERY sexy dancing that went on with Thorn, Anaar, and Morpheus. Another highlight was a deep reconnecting with my partner, Winter. Much needed, as we can so easily get bogged down with the details of everyday life!
This grows long, but truly, it was a glorious Con for me, and I am so grateful that I am part of a community that truly inspires me!
Blessings to you all!
Music from the Deep Within 