summer solstice ceremony

Summer Solstice Ceremony by Hiddenplacemusic on Mixcloud

in every culture on the planet, the summer and winter solstices have marked an important turning point and were cause for celebration, prayer and ritual. it's unfortunate that our modern western civilization has divorced us from such ceremonies and rites of passage. i hope this mix of tribal-inspired ambient music inspires you to breathe deeply and reconnect with the intrinsic rhythms of nature as we enter another cycle in the great turning wheel of time.

tracklist:
1. Andrew Lahiff - Into Willow Canyon
from Cosmic Archaeology

2. Shane Morris - The Earth Speaks
from Equinox

3. Steve Brand - Circular Scriptures
from Circular Scriptures

4. Max Corbacho - The Resonant Memory of Earth
from The Resonant Memory of Earth

5. Steve Roach - begins looking skyward
from Early Man

6. Mystified with Robin Storey - Short Meditation
from Music For Transit

7. Frore - Axis Mundi (edit)

8. Steve Roach , Michael Stearns , Ron Sunsinger - Passage Four" & "The Center"
from Kiva

9. Steve Roach - A Circular Ceremony
from Dreamtime Return

artwork by Smoke Jaguar

Abre Ojos - Chakras

Melbourne artist Abre Ojos has created a fascinating series of ambient music video meditations based on the 7 chakras, or energy centers of the human body. in stark contrast to the sugary angelic "new agey" music usually associated with chakra meditation music, the music in these videos is deep and dark, almost ominous. the sometimes harsh and mechanical soundscapes might be at first off-putting for those who are not fans of dark ambient music, but the long reverberant drones make for a very interesting deep meditation experience. accompanying the music are slowly-evolving kaleidoscopic mandala-like animations which greatly enhance the hypnotic, meditative atmosphere.
the first of the videos, "Root" is embedded below. five more can be streamed or downloaded from his vimeo page and the seventh is available only on the Chakras dvd (which includes lossless flac downloads)


Root from abre ojos on Vimeo.