The Tradition of SongKeepers Around the World
In lore, they go by many names: the SongKeepers, Song Catchers, Songline carriers. They were considered the Memory Keepers of the Earth. From many different traditions, it is the SongKeepers who help hold the frequency of the planet by means of chanting and song. Through their voices, the Earth is held in resonant vibration with the perfection of life.
SongKeepers vocalize ceaselessly in devotion, praise, and alignment with Source. They may know how to find sacred places, make it rain, bring a good crop, or restore someone to health. This all occurs through the power of song. Historically, these practices have been documented, reaching the Western World through the lens of modern understanding, which views music as an art form or entertainment. This allows the magic of song to be hidden in plain sight.
Ceremony and Song
SongKeepers are song ceremonialists. They hold sacred space and they facilitating transformation through vocal vibration. Many SongKeepers were taught the ancient mysteries, entrusted with sacred and cultural songs of their people, and learned to work closely with the natural world. Many indigenous cultures or schools of mysticism had songs or chants they would use which had been handed down from generation to generation. These songs honoring aspects of life, place, rites of passage, times of year, or other markers. In some cases, written songs were handed down from mouth to ear. In other cases, the transmission was given directly from Spirit to the chosen aspirant.
Understanding the Art of Alchemy
SongKeepers are those who understand the art of alchemy through sound and vibration. They can utilize this wisdom to stabilize higher consciousness, cause the land to flourish, heal the afflicted, liberate the collective, and manifest new realities. Their songs remind us of who we are.
Everything is vibration. Every rock and tree and creature is vibration–in addition to every condition of the mind, body, and environment. Singing is vibration. When we resonate sound, it vibrates our bones, which has the capacity to alter the expression of our DNA.
Any condition in your body, mind, or environment with which you are struggling or challenged exists along a vibrational bandwidth. These bandwidths contain thoughts, feelings, health conditions, relationship patterns, and more.
The good news is, if you are facing challenges, you can alter your experience by shifting your vibration. Illness or despair cannot exist in the steady state of high vibrational frequencies. Hence, the songs aren’t just nice melodies or meant for entertainment. They contain so much more.
The Energy Exchange with the Earth
Human beings are designed as part of a Whole. There is an energy exchange that occurs between humans and earth, between humans and the unseen. We experience one side of it every day: through the food we eat, water we drink, our shelter, our resources, our breath, our life. All are given to us by Mother Earth and by this vast unseen world. Quantum Physics shows us that everything is vibration; nothing is solid or fixed. In addition, discoveries suggest that our eyes are only able to perceive 1% of the visible light spectrum. We live in a world within which we are receiving, being nourished and sustained whether we know it or not.
We are put a part within this whole. In order to maintain balance, reciprocal actions are needed to complete the feedback loop. There is a giving that humans must provide the earth and the unseen. Humans are tasked with appreciating, offering, and protecting the land, the spirits, animals, and resources. Without this complete feedback loop, our world is out of balance. The Earth needs us to appreciate, honor and sing to her. She is a living being. The Earth feels our support and love, just like any person. Think about what happens to people if they are not cared for or if they are ignored and neglected. Are they healthy and thriving? Just like us, the earth flourishes when she is appreciated.
In the past, the balance of the ecosystem and the homeostasis of the land were intact. Songs were taught which contained this healthy vibration of place, of harmony, balance and oneness. They were sung to nourish the land and the people who sang them. People were inextricably linked to one another and to their environment, recognizing the connection of all life. At this time in our history, connection has been lost to traditions, to earth honoring practices, to ourselves. Yet, the songs that contain the vibrational strength of the earth and the memory of who we are – are still present and being sung for those who can hear them.
SongKeepers Around the World
SongKeepers come from many different cultures from around the world…
“The Aboriginal people of Australia believe that the land is alive and that to keep it alive, they must sing to it” (from the novel “White Spirit” by James and Lance Morcan). In addition, through the singing of songs, the Aborigines navigate the landscape. The use of songs to find their way is known as songlines or dreaming tracks. These songlines are the journey of creation. They depict the origin of the universe and a time when the Ancestral Spirits created life and resided over the land.
These songs contain the vibrational reality of nature as well as the heritage of their cosmology – hence enlivening the singer with the world of the dreaming and further enlivening the dream. The songs would lead the Aborigines to the “spirit of place” that they were singing. And the songs would reinforce the identity of that reality, in the fullness of its aliveness.
For Indigenous people of North America, music and life were intertwined with nature. Singing was used as a means of communication with the ancestors and the spirits of the land. Whirling Cloud Soman from the Ute peoples stated, “Songs come from creation itself.” And “Songs come from the earth. We are merely vessels through which it can flow and come forth and give joy and give culture” (from the article, “Music and the Land: The American Indian Tradition”).
Music is a means of receiving from Life, remembering our origins and communing with the magic of Great Spirit that pervades all things.
Singing then becomes a conversation of giving, receiving, and thanksgiving.
The role of a human being, then, is to be a conduit of creation itself.
Mantra As Self-Generated Sound Healing
Mantra is chanted in religious traditions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism. Mantras can be found in ancient languages; these are also known as seed, or “cause” languages. These refer to languages in which the spoken words depict reality, compared to English, which is a phonetic, or “sound it out” language. In these mantric languages, each syllable activates the energy meridians of the body through the placement of the tongue against the roof of the mouth and the movement of the navel with the breath.
Mantra practices are self-generated sound healing, which shift the brain wave state of the meditator and align the practitioner with the reality of the words spoken. These practices work to whatever end a person seeks, including: love, money, success, or even enlightenment. At higher levels of practice, monks, nuns, yogis, and sages chant as part of an individual or group practice to influence the future of our world toward its highest possibility, bring heaven on earth and for the liberation of all beings from suffering.
The use of sacred songs extends to Curandero or healer traditions throughout South America. These include the Cofan of Ecuador, the Quechua of Peru, The Yawinawa of Brazil, The Kogi of Columbia, and countless others. The Healer learns a litany of songs to sing in ceremony, for healing, removing bad spirits, attracting wealth, really everything under the Sun. The use of song goes beyond ceremony. Song is a way of life. It is part of their fabric of relating with each other, nature, and the unseen world. The songs are both passed down through the generations, as well as given from the spirit world.
In Siberia, Shaman are the bridge between worlds. Shaman use singing, drumming and music to induce trance states. They work on behalf of individuals and community, addressing issues within the context of the non-visible spectrum of reality, aligning with the rhythms of nature to affect change.
In what can be considered the “Western World”, there exist mystical branches of the mainstream religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Within these traditions, can be found scriptures, invocations, chants, and prayers that when steeped in devotion align us with the causative aspect of Divine Creation, and vibrationally maintain the frequency of peace on earth.
In Ancient Egypt, the hieroglyphs depict the use of sound vibration being used by priests and priestesses in order to open up portals for communication with higher realms. Some research suggests that many of the temples and even the great pyramid were resonant chambers used to transmit sound vibration, activate higher consciousness, supply energy and even maintain the anchoring of interplanetary consciousness on the earth.
Sound, Vibration, and Music are referenced in countless creation myths throughout the world. In the Pueblo Indian creation myths, the spider sung creation into existence. In the Bible, “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God,” suggesting creation was spoken into existence. In Hindu tradition, the sound Om is the primordial sound of creation. In Hebrew, the first letter of the alphabet is Aleph – said to be the sound of the first out breath or exhalation. In Aztec mythology, the God Quetzecoatl blew a conch shell rippling out vibrations that created the first emanations of life.
Sound as Communication
What these traditions have in common is the use of singing and sound as a communication channel between heaven, earth, and humans. This supports balance and right relationship. The singing is living, available and necessary for our highest, as well as that of our world.
We are not individual beings, living separate and apart from one another – lonely and isolated.
We are all part of planetary consciousness.
We are being called at this time, to join the Legions of Beings in the seen and the unseen worlds holding the vibration of the New Earth.
With so many traditions, lost and forgotten, there is a way forward. At this time in history, there is a surge of earth energy, of cosmic consciousness coming through the ethers, emanating from beneath the surface of convention and organized belief. There is a resurgence, a revival of Gnosis. The presence of spirit beyond the veil is speaking loudly, reaching through to shake us from our routine and inviting us into communion.
We are being called out of the sleep of compliance and conformity and back to our hearts, to the heart of the earth, to the heart of creator – to be active participants in the symphony of creation – an orchestration that very much needs us for its living and thriving.
We feel this call for connection and for new ways of being to emerge through the space between us. In order to restore our feeling of connection, we need to cherish each other, take care of the Earth, honor our direct access to spirit. Recognize that we matter. We make a difference.
Even the vibrations that we hold can greatly impact the outcome of someone we’ve never met. The change doesn’t have to be anything grandiose, it can be found in the still, small moments. Sing to the Earth.
Remembering the Songs of our Ancestors
We must remember the songs we’ve forgotten. The songs of our ancestors. The songs of the land. The songs of the future. The songs of the children. The songs of our hearts. The songs of each other. We must begin to restore our relationship with the music of life. As we become lovers of life, life becomes a lover of us.
This is the recipe for SongKeeping
SongKeeping is to hold the vibration of life so solid and strong in melody and harmony, in unison, in breath, in vibration – that the power of goodness, the power of the heavens shake the illusion and falsehood to dust.
You can be a SongKeeper too!
SongKeeping isn’t about being a performer or having the “perfect” voice. It’s about using the voice you have as a conduit of love, as an instrument of peace and devotion, and feeling the world around you respond in kind.
Thank you to all those benevolent beings who hold the vibration of the planet so life can continue.
The journey forward is guided by following the singing in life. Keep walking in the direction of what makes your heart sing. If you sing to the Earth, eventually, the Earth will show you what to do.
If you would like to learn more, join us for The SongKeeper School. This is a six month program of sacred singing, earth honoring and ritual.
Learn more about SongKeeping and the power of music with Reya Manna. https://reyamanna.com/events/innerworlds
The Voices of the SongKeeper School
https://youtu.be/bbKF307ajxc
The Inner Worlds of The SongKeeper School
https://youtu.be/skbaEhE6Ks8
Reya Manna, MSW, MDiv, CPC is a best-selling author, singer, sound healer and visionary working for the transformation of humanity and the planet. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, a Master’s degree of Social Work and a Master of Divinity. She is a Certified Professional Life Coach, Reiki Master, Naam Yoga Teacher, Harmonyum Practitioner, and mom. For over 20 years, she has been immersed in the multidisciplinary spiritual, self-help, and psychological fields – with emphasis on religious studies; native wisdom traditions; transpersonal psychology; yoga and sound healing. Through combining these varying modalities, she has formed a unique approach to working with individuals, families and groups to assist them in finding their voice, accessing their highest potential and doing the greatest good for the world.
In addition, Reya is the founder of The SongKeeper School – a program of sacred singing, earth honoring, and ritual. Reya is also the founder of the program “Sing the World Awake!” – a motivational music, movement and conversational experience to activate children’s highest potential through song and catalyze transformation in our relationship with ourselves, each other and our planet. She is currently located in the Los Angeles, California area.