Sacred Sounds: Magic and Healing Through Words and Music(second edition)

The use of sound as a connection to the Divine, and as a source of creativity and healing, is hardly a new concept. Songs, sacred drama, the use of magical voice during ritual - all these things incorporate sacred sound to some degree. However, until now, there has not been an accessible text which focuses solely on these techniques.

The text is generally an introductory one. In the first half of the text, Andrews looks at basic musical information, including how the human ear and mind responds to sound on a physical and a mystical level. Different musical keys inspire various responses in the Western psyche (i.e. the key of C major is a "heroic" key with emotional overtones of courage, stability, and confidence). Deliberate manipulation of musical keys in a storytelling or healing environment can elicit desired responses. Andrews acquaints the reader with the basic use of tonal vibration, the use of vowels, the power of the word, the correspondences between musical notes and chakras, colours, and astrological signs. The second half of the book looks at the history and training of bard-types from several different cultures. While the facts are interesting, it is a superficial examination with little detail.

Overall Andrews looks at use of sound as a purifier, the construction and use of prayer-poems, the importance of myth and the transmission of myth, the art of magical storytelling, and like topics. While all this knowledge may be found spread out amongst a well-stocked occult library, to have it assembled in a single volume is handy for the reader who has expressed an interest in the use of sound as a healing tool or a tool of self-development. The exercises provided serve as a decent introduction to the use of music as a focus within ritual, as opposed to merely a background accompaniment.

(c) A. Murphy-Hiscock. Originally published in Wyntergreene, Ostara (March) 2003.