07/30/2023
The Witches Song: Music of the Otherworld.
While many people dream of hearing fairy music, and it signalling a stepping through the veil to the Otherworld, perhaps it is worth considering the high strangeness and consequences of such thinking before venturing out to a fairy site on an auspicious evening hoping for such an outcome.
In Ireland, for example, we have accounts of very specific warnings regarding the potency of fairy music, and playing it to others without permission.
The consequences of doing so can be madness and even death.
This account from Glannagilliagh, Co. Kerry is a good example.
" That music which you hear" said the fairy "belongs to another world and any human being who dares to imitate it will pay the penalty."
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4742112/4736993/4935615
There is another danger in hearing fairy music and that is because it signals their parade and movement from one mound or home to another.
Tradition tells us that if a person visits a fairy site on one of the quarter turnings (solstices and equinoxes) or cross-quarter days they may become doomed to dance with the fairy horde for all of eternity.
Sometimes a person may escape having spent what they believed to be a night or two with the fairies only to discover whole centuries have passed and all of their loved ones are dead and gone.
"There is a large pot of gold underneath a large bush in the castle it is guarded by a wild black cat with one eye in the centre of his forehead. Fairy lights were often seen at midnight in the castle and sweet fairy music and marching heard on November and May right when the good people changed."
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4453230/4357494/4453770
Within all cultures, music has the power to transcend the ordinary world if the right combination of notes and sound are followed.
In ancient Greece mourners called Goetes would howl and chant next to the dead in order to secure safe passage to the heavenly realms.
Although the term 'Goetes' is sometimes said to mean 'sorcerer' or 'magician' its original translation was to 'moan' or 'howl'.
It was believed that these shamanistic-type 'songs' somehow attached to or carried the soul of the dead person and helped to navigate its way past the obstacles and dangers of the underworld.
Similarly, the magic songs of South American medicine people have the power to open portals into the spirit world and bring forth ancestors, otherworldly beings, and parts of a persons soul which may have been lost or taken by evil spirits.
These melodies are collectively known as icaros, although this is a catch-all term and does not reflect the diversity and function of each type of medicine-song.
In the context of healing, this music seems to act as a bridge, allowing specific vibratory patterns to move from one place to another, altering both consciousness and physicality.
On the other hand, we also have accounts of melodies having an adverse effect on humans.
So how do these songs and melodies work?
Do they assist in masking our everyday senses and open a doorway to less-perceived realities, or might they act like some kind of hypnotic tool, allowing otherworldly beings to manipulate our consciousness?
Some researchers posit that we are unable to hear the full scale of fairy music and beneath the eerie melodies lie depths of tones which have the ability to control time and open portals to the Otherworld. Maybe this is why fairies are so protective of these musical patterns?
After all, in many world myths and stories we have accounts of a magical rhyme or song opening cave entrances hiding treasures and a tune on a pipe causing a carpet to fly or transport the rider to hidden kingdoms.
The instruments of fairy music are a much sought after treasure in folklore and occult traditions.
Some say the music of fairy can even bring back the dead.
"There is very little of this Druids ring to be seen now only a round circle of stones. It was later called the Fairy Ring, as tradition says that the spirits of those dead and gone braved haunted the place, and fairy music was heard there at night."
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4769992/4764709/5013452
Many cultures use instruments to call back the ancestral dead. Again, the vibration creates a frequency which allows passage from the Otherworld to this one. Bullroarers, for example, have been used as far back as the Palaeolithic and are still used in rituals and initiation ceremonies.
They are used to ward off evil spirits, as well as for creating the sonic opening to ceremonies.
Within Himalayan shamanism, an instrument named the 'Dhyangro' is used for journeying and traversing the world of spirit. There are also similarities to other shamanic drums such as the rnga and the Tibetan lag-na.
Within Tibetan shamanism, the primordial wild forest spirit shaman, Banjhanki, is often depicted carrying a dhyangro drum.
In the Ulchi tradition, the two types of shamanic drum are the umtahu, which is egg-shaped, and a round-shaped drum, which is usually slightly smaller.
Each type will be constructed with four straps, which represent both the roads that the shaman may take, as well as the four directions.
There is much deeper symbolism contained in the drum and I would recommend the book, Spirits from the Edge of the World: Classical Shamanism in Ulchi Society by J. Van Ysslestyne, for more on this.
The concept of a sacred sound, then, is fundamental in many ancient texts and traditions, with creation myths and accounts in particular. In these cases the world or entire universe is said to have been born from a word, song, or vibration.
With such potency attached to musical rhythm, maybe we shouldn't be so surprised that Otherworldly beings are often very protective of who hears these sounds and the occasions when they are listened to.
(C.) David Halpin.
Image: Kylie Moon.
