Melodic Mystery

 

Ritual Music from Reclaiming Tradition

Melodic Mystery - Ritual Music from Reclaiming Tradition

 

Album streams on all sites - quick links above

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Melodic Mystery: Ritual Music from Reclaiming Tradition - released Spring 2023 - was curated and produced by Eileen Hazel and George Franklin/Reclaiming Quarterly.

It’s been several years since Reclaiming released a collection of chants (Campfire Chants in 2016), and the musicians, witches and priestesses of Reclaiming have been busily writing songs!

One of the inspirations for this album were Intention Songs for Spiral Dance rituals that were written collaboratively for our online Spiral Dance rituals in 2020-2022.  The words of these songs were created by the Ritual Planning Charette, in trance on zoom meetings!  Then long-time Chorus members took those intentions and set them to music.  Because we were deep in the pandemic, singers recorded their parts in all sorts of different conditions, and our studio whiz Jack did some deep mixing of those parts.

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Another inspiration was to record or re-work some long-time Reclaiming chants.  These include “Weaver Weaver,” a song written by Starhawk that has been a staple at our Spiral Dances for many years but had never been recorded with all the lyrics before. And you'll hear a fresh take of “Air I Am/Aire Soy,” which has been updated with Spanish lyrics and a folk-blues arrangement (stay tuned for more bilingual chants!).

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We also put out a call to the wider Reclaiming community, and got some new songs written specifically for this collection, as well as several much-loved classics. We received so many tracks that we’re already thinking about a future collection of ritual music [released in 2025 as our Sacred Well compilation]!

 

Seventeen tracks were finished in time and included on Melodic Mystery: Ritual Music from Reclaiming Tradition. Links at top of page.

- George and Eileen -- album curators and producers.
  ReclaimingQuarterly@gmail.com

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MELODIC MYSTERY - WHO

Suzanne Sterling, Beverly M. Frederick, Starhawk, Moonrise. You've heard their chants. Now they stretch it out.

Eileen Hazel, Irene Rojas-Carroll, Heaven Walker, Amy Clarke, Laurie Lovekraft, Turning Earth Singers, Kimba Joy Theurich, Tarin Towers - singers heard for the first (or maybe second) time on a Reclaiming album.

Songs by the Spiral Dance Chorus, which you may have heard many times at Spiral Dance!

 

The album concludes with a special guest appearance by Robert Gass & On Wings of Sound, with a favorite circle-opening song!

The album follows a loose ritual arc, with Intention, Circle Casting, Elemental Invocations, lots of Goddess Invocations, Trance and Magical Workings, and a Circle Opening.

WHAT - TRACKLIST

1. We Cast Our Spell - Spiral Dance Intention 2022

2. Circle Casting Song - Eileen Hazel

3. Air I Am / Aire Soy (Folk Blues Spanish-English version) - Reclaiming feat. Irene Rojas-Carroll

4. Wisdom of the Ancestors - Spiral Dance Intention 2021

5. Praises to Aphrodite - Eileen Hazel

6. Goddess - Amy Clarke

7. Sweet Brigid - Moonrise feat. Robin Dolan, Dillon Castleton, and Deborah Hamouris

8. Hecate Trance Loop - Laurie Lovekraft

9. Lady of the Wild Wood - Heaven Walker

10. Draw Down the Sun - Turning Earth Singers

11. The Homecoming - Reclaiming feat. Kimba Joy Theurich

12. Is, Was, and Shall Be - Beverly M. Frederick

13. Hecate's Song - Tarin Towers

14. Weaving Our Way - Suzanne Sterling

15. Rise with the Fire - Beverly M. Frederick

16. Weaver Weaver - Spiral Dance 2021 Version

17. May the Circle be Open - Robert Gass & On Wings of Sound

WHERE

All streaming sites - here's a couple of quick links: Youtube  Spotify

 

Album (or individual tracks) can be purchased on Bandcamp

WHEN

Beltane 2023 and forever after! 

WHY

Because we want Reclaiming albums to represent all of our music!

HOW

Click here: Youtube  Spotify

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CONTACT

ReclaimingQuarterly@gmail.com

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QUICK LINKS

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Youtube  Spotify  Reclaiming Playlists

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