Cindy Thomson's Blog, page 17

The Irish Storyteller: The Clever Daughter

I love a good Irish storyteller. Have you listened? I think you’ll enjoy this!

Sean Nos–Old Style Singing

Several years ago I got to know Mike O’Laughlin from the Irish Roots Cafe. Mike publishes Irish genealogy books and resources, and he’s a wealth of information. His podcasts are always interesting as well.

But lately Mike’s taken up a hobby, Sean-nós, or old style Irish singing. I love that style, especially done in English so I can understand the words (although the melodies are lovely) because the songs tell stories, and you know…I’m all about stories!

Have a listen and tell me what you think!

The Longing of the Celtic Soul

From my book, Celtic Wisdom:

All souls, not only the Celtic soul, are restless. The Irish monks became wanderers precisely because of this longing to find their hearts’ desire. Originally an eighth-century Irish prayer, they hymn Be Thou My Vision beautifully expresses the Celtic soul’s longing for God:

Inch Abbey, County Down. Photo by Cindy Thomson

Scroll to the bottom to hear Roma Downey’s version.

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee, Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle-shield, sword for my fight,
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.
Thou my soul’s shelter, Thou my high tower.
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heav’ns Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.

TRANSLATED BY MARY E. BYRNE, VERSED BY ELEANOR H. HULL (1912) 

A Prayer for Grace

from the Carmina Gadelica

I AM bending my knee

In the eye of the Father who created me,

In the eye of the Son who died for me,

In the eye of the Spirit who cleansed me,     

In love and desire.

High Cross at Monasterboice. Photo by Cindy Thomson

Pour down upon us from heaven

The rich blessing of Thy forgiveness;

Thou who art uppermost in the City,     

Be Thou patient with us.

Irish Sky. Photo by Cindy Thomson

Grant to us, Thou Saviour of Glory,

The fear of God, the love of God,

and His affection,

And the will of God to do on earth at all times

As angels and saints do in heaven;

Each day and night give us Thy peace.     

Each day and night give us Thy peace.

As the Season Changes

It’s now the dark half of the year. Time to light some candles, brew a cup of tea, and snuggle up in front of the fire.

I shall miss the beautiful fall colors. While the trees were putting on a spectacular show I remarked to my husband that we had to enjoy them now, and remember what they looked like because this would soon pass. Like when our children were babies.

But the dark half of the year has its own virtue. It’s a time of rest and reflection. A time to plan for the warmer months. A time to enjoy the closeness that drives us inside together.

I included the last bit of this poem in my book, Celtic Wisdom, but because of space restrictions I was not able to use the entire poem. Here is the whole thing:

My tidings for you: the stag bells,
Winter snows, summer is gone.
Wind high and cold, low the sun,
Short his course, sea running high.

Deep-red the bracken, its shape all gone–
The wild-goose has raised his wonted cry.
Cold has caught the wings of birds;
Season of ice–these are my tidings.

FROM ‘SUMMER IS GONE’, TRANSLATED BY KUNO MEYER

What are your feelings about the changing of seasons? What do you look forward to?

Music Review: Winterfold

I like listening to instrumental music while I write, and I’ve found Jeff Johnson and Brian Dunning’s work to be among the best–gentle, inspiring, and decidedly Celtic.

I posted an interview with Jeff Johnson earlier. Back when the interview first ran he asked if I’d like to review his latest CD. Of course I said, “Yes, please!”

Winterfold is the perfect combination of gentle spirit-lifting music and rhythmic toe-tapping pieces. Johnson is accompanied as he is on many of his CDs by Irish musician Brian Dunning, but this time they’ve also featured Wendy Goodwin on violin. A few other musicians join in as well, and the result is a nice long CD you can play this winter without the usual holiday tunes. Not that I don’t love Christmas music, but sometimes you want something new and fresh, and this is it.

The CD was inspired in part by the writings of George Mackay Brown, a Scottish poet.

One of my favorite tracks is called Watching Clouds. It made me feel like I was back here, watching these clouds at Rosses Point, County Sligo, Ireland.

Rosses Point, County Sligo. Photo by Cindy Thomson

But it’s hard to pick a favorite because all the tracks are inspiring. I hope you’ll check out Winterfold!
You can listen to Watching Clouds and purchase the CD here.

FTC disclosure: Jeff Johnson and Ark Music provided me with a promotional copy of Winterfold for the purpose of a review. I was not otherwise compensated or required to write a positive review. This review is nothing but my own honest opinion.

An Interview with Musician Jeff Johnson

This is an interview I did back in 2012. I thought it deserved new life, so I’m presenting it here again.

Photo provided by Jeff Johnson

Today I’m blessed to be bringing you my interview with musician Jeff Johnson, who has a remarkable Celtic voice. I have been a fan for a long time. If you’re not familiar with his music, this will help explain why I find it so inspiring. (With the talented Brian Dunning.)

Hello, Jeff! You’ve been called a musician’s musician, someone who writes and performs a variety of music. How would you describe your musical style?

I’ve always been a bit of a minimalist whether I’m doing my solo, conceptual projects, collaborating with Irish flutist, Brian Dunning or working with Phil Keaggy on the new release. The older I get, the more I’m interested in all that is subtle and the space between things. I suppose that reflects my attitude about things in general these days – there’s nothing more that I like to do than to just be still and listen. That’s pretty significant since I’ve always been quite driven and goal oriented.Technically, I’m still interested in melody, composition and texture of sound. Yet I find that I’m more influenced by the song of bird than a song from a CD.

How has Ireland, its music and people and culture, affected your music?

Photo provided by Jeff Johnson

Well, I’ve collaborated with an Irishman (Brian Dunning) for many years now so that’s one major influence! Yet, Brian and I have never viewed ourselves as ‘traditional music’ players – our music is very contemporary in composition and production. Yet, in much of the music from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Brittany and Galicia, there is a rich tradition of melody, whether it be a jig or a lament and that has influenced me strongly.
I’ve also been influenced by the Christian traditions from these regions. I find the many Celtic traditional prayers from Patrick, Columba, etc. share a similiarity with the Psalms by David in the Bible. There’s an earthy, organic quality to this spirituality that appeals to me very much.

How did you get connected with Irish flutist Brian Dunning?

I grew up and began my career in Portland, Oregon where Brian lived and was based with the group, Nightnoise. In 1989, I hired Brian to play on a children’s project that I was producing, The Tale of Three Trees. (Cindy’s note: this was based on the book by Angela Hunt.) It wasn’t long after that a project was presented to me that married music with the first book of the Stephen Lawhead trilogy, The Song of Albion. I approached Brian about collaborating with me on this since the story had a very Celtic slant to it. Little could I have imagined that that would be the beginning of a rich, musical collaboration between myself, Brian and Steve, as well as a great friendship that we all share with each other.

You’ve written music inspired by books written about Ireland’s past. What is it about Ireland’s history that inspires you?

I do love much of the literature that has come out of Ireland, but it’s been more about the Lawhead stories that have inspired the albums that Brian and I have created. And personally, my favorite one is Byzantium, even though I think that what Brian and I did for “King Raven” was pretty cool, too! I love the scope and range of Steve’s storytelling and I’ve found it quite inspiring to create music to go along with the stories.

I love those too, and Byzantium is also my favorite!Tell us about your newest release.

“WaterSky” continues the rich collaboration between myself and guitarist, Phil Keaggy. PK and I were always fans of each other but we finally had a chance to spend some time together at a conference center in Texas called Laity Lodge in early 2009.

Photo provided by Jeff Johnson

 
We began sending music back and forth to one another just to see what might happen. It all just seemed to “work” and that music eventually became Frio Suite. The new one was recorded the same way with PK and myself sending tracks back and forth and then me producing and mixing the final compositions. We were never in the same room recording on either of these CDs!

But, may I say, it’s not that we don’t like being with each other and, Phil and I have performed a few things together recently and there are some plans to maybe put together a tour of this music. There’s a tremendous musical trust that we share and that has carried over into the process of the actual creation of this music. I can’t begin to describe how much fun it’s been!

Incredible that you and Phil were able to create a CD like that. It reminds me of how I co-authored a book. Everyone reading this absolutely should not miss this video where you can hear Jeff and Phil talk about the creative process. When they speak about the landscape, I’m reminded of the Celtic concept of a thin place. What’s next?

Brian has been writing some new music and I intend to jump in when I’m ready to. I also lead contemplative worship (Selah) at many churches and conferences and that keeps me quite busy. Right now, I’m savoring the completion of WaterSky, though!

That sounds wonderful. Thanks so much for visiting with us, Jeff! Many blessings on your musical journeys!

Jeff has a newer CD out with Phil Keaggy titled Cappadocia. Find all his music here.

Thoughts on Halloween

Not my favorite holiday, but I don’t have anything against trick-or-treat fun. It’s fun for the kids, and some adults are still kids at heart. No one I know is out to promote evil on this day. Those who do, do it on any day of the year, I would imagine. So I’m not up for a rant on the evil nature of Halloween.

Halloween or All Hallows Eve comes from the old English word holy, so there’s that.

But I do think some Christians latch on to what could be described as a spiritual downside of the celebration. And that has led to some misunderstandings. I believe you have to try to understand the ancient people who held the beliefs some Christians are opposing today surrounding Halloween.

Yes, the holiday comes from pagan beliefs. So do many other traditions we don’t seem to object to on other holidays such as Christmas and Easter. The fact is paganism predated Christianity, and the pagans had no knowledge of Christ, although I don’t believe that is entirely true. They were attuned to nature because their lives depended on understanding and respecting (or fearing) the natural world. God can be found in nature, which is something we tend to forget as we spend our days and nights inside of buildings. The word pagan does not mean “evil Satan worshippers.” I just want to make sure we’re clear about that. The word means “country people.”

For more about of the Celtic roots of Halloween, click here.

There is true evil in the world, and I do believe we are fighting a spiritual battle. I do believe we should dwell on things that are “true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” ~Philippians 4:8. So in my view I try to do that and not spend time telling people Halloween is evil. The Celts believed that on that night the veil between the worlds was very thin. The veil between heaven and earth was thin, so I’ll dwell on that and try to see God, especially on Halloween.

These views are my own. I won’t be debating them. But, tell me, do you see God here?

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Easy, right?

Sometimes it’s harder, but God created all of us, so look hard.

Desires

Desires  

MAY I speak each day according to Thy justice,

Each day may I show Thy chastening, O God;

May I speak each day according to Thy wisdom,

St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland, Armagh. Photo: Cindy Thomson

Each day and night may I be at peace with Thee.

Each day may I count the causes of Thy mercy,

May I each day give heed to Thy laws;

Each day may I compose to Thee a song,

May I harp each day Thy praise, O God.

May I each day give love to Thee, Jesu,

Photo: Cindy Thomson

Each night may I do the same;

Each day and night, dark and light,

May I laud Thy goodness to me, O God.

Carmina Gadelica, Volume 1, by Alexander Carmicheal, [1900], at sacred-texts.com

Ballintoy, County Antrim. Photo: Cindy Thomson

Grief is One Room in a House

Grief for her is a room in the house of her mind.

No windows.

One door.

Not a scary space or a place she avoids.

In fact, she often seeks its confines.

When emotions rise like a building thundercloud, she is drawn to that room.

Opening the door and stepping inside, she feels embraced.

Quietly she shuts the door behind her, knowing that she is only visiting.

The stay might be long or short, but not permanent.

She sits, cradling memories in her lap like a well-read book.

Long ago tears had cleansed her soul, leaving a space that cannot be filled.

And yet, that space is encircled with love so that the hollowness is bearable, stitched into her life like a scar that no longer throbs.

Refreshed, she rises again, sets down the book of remembrances, and gently closes the door behind her as she thanks the room for its healing.