Change or Be Changed

July 31, 2016 by Leave a Comment

“Times always change. They really do.
And you have to always be ready for something
that’s coming along and you never expected it.”[ref]Bob Dylan, MusiCares speech, February 2015. Here’s the complete speech[/ref]Bob Dylan

We’re definitely living in interesting times – with lots of changes just around the corner. I find myself wondering if this change will be forced upon us by some calamity like an earthquake, more droughts, terrorism, a political coup, or some other environmental disaster.

And although I know that change is inevitable, it’s the not knowing part that causes me the most anxiety. My old habit of simply going back to sleep – by watching TV, partying with friends, shopping, or any number of distractions – no longer eases the feeling of dread about what might lie ahead.

Many of us are looking back to the 1960’s for clues as to what’s happening now. While those times were full of innovation – there was also the war, social unrest, and plenty of tragedies. And, yet it felt like we were on the verge of some revolutionary change. But, then came 1969 and the beginning of the great let down – and the realization that we hadn’t made all the needed transformations. And, soon followed that feeling of falling back to sleep.

And now, even though it feels like similar times, the stakes seem so much higher.  What’s needed is some perspective, perhaps a vision – and a shaman can provide that vision. The shaman knows a lot about change. He has transformed himself – and died to his old ways many, many times. And, when the very survival of the tribe is at stake, it’s the shaman who journeys into the spirit world and brings back the necessary vision to light the way.

The good news is that we all have the ability to make these journeys and access that wisdom.  And, working with a shaman or a shamanic practitioner can provide the much needed guidance and inspiration. With this wisdom we can change our ways of thinking and perceiving and hold onto that vision. And, with that power we can all dream a new world into being.  Each of us has a part to play.

So, where do you begin? If you’re already on this path – that’s great. If you’re new to it – these organizations listed below offer information and guidance – and are a great place to start. Welcome to the journey.

The Foundation for Shamanic Studies http://www.shamanism.org/
Based on the pioneering work of anthropologist Michael Harner – they offer books, articles, and training programs in shamanism and shamanic healing.

The Four Winds Society http://thefourwinds.com/
Founded by Alberto Villoldo Ph.D., a medical anthropologist and psychologist – they offer classes and in-depth training programs in luminous healing and energy medicine.

The School for The Shamanic Arts http://www.schoolfortheshamanicarts.com/
Founded by the Reverend Esther Miriam Jenkins, this school offers a variety of classes that explore shamanic and energetic traditions.

 

Filed Under: Bob Dylan, Shamanism

What Makes A Great Rock and Roll Star?

November 24, 2015 by 2 Comments
Patti Smith performing at the Orpheum Theatre 2015

Patti Smith – Orpheum Theatre – 2015

While there are lots of opinions on what makes a great rock and roll star – my documentary, The Shamans of Rock & Roll, puts forward the proposition that there’s a magical potency to great rock and rollers – with fans who seem to almost worship them  – because they are, in fact, the shamans for their tribe.

We look at the early lives and music of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, and John Lennon from a shamanic perspective.  And, while the shaman archetype is by no means limited to just these four artists – nor is it limited to just men – I’ve been called out more than once for not including a woman among the four artists that are highlighted.

While I can appreciate that people have differing opinions on which artists they consider worthy of analysis – I consider comments suggesting that my documentary will be viewed as anti-woman or that I’m intentionally excluding women to be shortsighted.  After all, I’m a woman; I have an anthropologist as an adviser who’s a woman; and she’ll be interviewed along with other musical artists that are women.

Bottom line, I’ve chosen to focus on these 4 guys because they had the biggest impact on my life. As a teenager growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania, they inspired me and informed my worldview in a way that other artists have not. That’s not to say that I didn’t love and appreciate lots of other singers and rock & roll artists. But, for me, these guys rose above the fray.

And, it seems that I’m not alone in my experience.

During a recent conversation about her new book, M Train, Patti Smith offered insight into how she sees herself as an artist. She said that she doesn’t consider herself to be a great singer or a musician – she considers herself to be a writer who performs rock & roll. And when she performs, she “grabs for the performer that informs the work” that she’s doing. Adding,

I just modeled myself after the ones I related to . . . and let’s face it, our greatest rock stars have been men . . . I’m sorry, but I haven’t seen a girl yet as great as Jimi Hendrix.

She admitted that it’s a tricky thing to talk about. And, that although she loves women,

When I was young . . . when I thought of rock & roll stars . . . coming up through the 60’s and early 70’s, I gravitated toward our male performers . . . Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and Bob Dylan.

Patti went on to say that as an artist, from an early age, she “staked the right to not have to be fettered by gender.” She knows who she is. And, she doesn’t like the idea of being labeled a “female artist.” Do people say that Picasso was a white, male artist? Artists shouldn’t have to be identified by their sexuality, their race, or their gender.

I hear you, Patti – and, I couldn’t agree more.

 

Source:

“An Evening with Patti Smith. M Train. Reading and conversation with Jonathan Lethem.”  Hosted by The Library Foundation of Los Angeles at The Orpheum Theatre.  November 16, 2015.  http://lfla.org/event/an-evening-with-patti-smith-2/

Filed Under: Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Women who rock

Dylan’s Epic Shaman Songs

February 16, 2015 by 2 Comments

Although much of the rock and roll in the early 1960’s focused on adolescent themes with relatively simple lyrics and melodies – Bob Dylan changed all that.  He blew the doors wide open by writing rock and roll songs that included epic[ref]An epic (from the Ancient Greek adjective epikos, from epos “word, story, poem”) is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_poetry[/ref] themes.

Dylan Epic Songs

Like a true shaman, Dylan’s epic songwriting was inspired by his mystical experiences in the dreamtime.  It changed the way people listened to music.  Dylan did “more than anybody else. . . to develop in a mass audience the kind of receptiveness to things imaginative and nontrivial.”[ref]Michael Gray, Song & Dance Man/The Art of Bob Dylan, (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1972), 144.[/ref]

Here was rock music, part of the pop world, yet with it Bob Dylan was pumping out something of infinitely more dimensions than any one else had ever thought of in pop before.[ref]Ibid.[/ref]

Shamans’ songs are first-hand accounts of their ecstatic experiences. And, scholars theorize that ecstatic euphoria constitutes one of the universal sources of lyric and epic poetry.

The shaman’s adventures in the other world, the ordeals that he undergoes in his ecstatic descents below and ascents to the sky, suggest the adventures of the figures in popular tales and the heroes of epic literature. Probably a large number of epic ‘subjects’ or motifs. . .of epic literature, are. . .of ecstatic origin. . .in the sense that they were borrowed from the narratives of shamans describing their journeys and adventures in the superhuman worlds.[ref]Micea Eliade, Shaman­ism: Archaic Tech­niques of Ecstasy, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1964), 510.[/ref]

In Martin Scorsese’s film “No Direction Home,” Bob Neuwirth, friend and associate of Dylan, explains how during the early 60’s in the Village a key question always asked about any performer was “does he have anything to say?”[ref]Martin Scorsese, No Direction Home, 2005.[/ref]  That was all that mattered.  And, Bob Dylan offered his vision as to what was really going on.  He changed the way people listened to music – with his audience becoming part of a magical initiation that had the potential to transform anyone who was listening.

Filed Under: Bob Dylan Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

You Might Say I’m A Dreamer. . .

January 11, 2015 by 1 Comment

Anthropologists suggest that a significant factor determining whether or not a person becomes a shaman is that from an early age they are dreamers who have out-of-the-ordinary perceptions.  Their dreams connect them with the spirit world – which, ultimately, is the source of their power.

Like a shaman candidate, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, and John Lennon were dreamers who saw the world differently than most people.

Cave drawings on Sicily - Learn about John Lennon's Connection to Shamanism in the new John Lennon Movie - Shaman's of Rock and Roll

Cave drawings in Sicily

As a child growing up in Minnesota, Dylan recalled staring at the snow and having “amazing hallucinogenic experiences doing nothing but looking out your window.”[ref]Howard Sounes, Down the Highway. The Life of Bob Dylan, (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 17.[/ref] Later, in a “Rolling Stone” interview he commented that “I live in my dreams. I don’t really live in the actual world.” [ref]Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stone Interview, January 26, 1978.[/ref]

Jimi Hendrix was also a shy, dreamy kid – who spoke with a stammer. He claimed to see colors, not notes in his head as he played his guitar.[ref]Charles Cross, Room Full of Mirrors. A Biography of Jimi Hendrix, (New York: Hyperion, 2005), 133.[/ref]  “I used to dream in Technicolor that 1966 was the year that something would happen to me.”[ref]Ibid., 118.[/ref]  And, in 1966, Jimi went to London and everything changed.

John Lennon said that “psychedelic vision is reality to me and always was. Even as a child. When I looked at myself in the mirror . . . I used to, literally, trance out . . . seeing these hallucinatory images of my face changing, becoming cosmic and complete.”[ref]David Sheff, All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko One, (New York: Playboy Enterprises, Inc, St. Martins Press, 1981), 158.[/ref]

And, in his song ‘When I Live My Dream’ David Bowie declares that: “It’s a broken heart that dreams.” He acknowledges that he’s a “dreaming kind of guy.” And, he promises: “Nothing in my dream can hurt you.”[ref]From the album The World of David Bowie released in 1970.[/ref] This is just one of Bowie’s many songs about dreams.

These artists were definitely in touch with the dreamtime. It was a source of their creativity and it gave them the power to transform their lives.  And, for those who were listening . . . it showed us a way of connecting with realities far beyond our normal experience . . . opening us to the possibility of connecting with the source of our power.

Filed Under: Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,