1. Welcome To...

2. Library & Imaginarium

3. Metaphorical Key

4. Program Guide

Playlists & Images

Archived Essays

Archived Playlists&Images

5. Re-Vision Radio

Leonard Cohen page

Eliza Gilkyson page

6. Musekal Philosophy

Renaissance Music Magic

7. School of the Night

Our Dark Lady

Invisible Landscape

Hermes-Mercury

8. Troubadours & Beloved

Impossible Love

9. Philoso Quest-Romance

10. Contact Host

Post-program Communique

Re-Vision Radio's

TOWER OF SONG














Archived Playlists & Images




This subpage is supplemental to the "Archived Essays" subpage, containing the playlists and thematic images for the archived essays. To return to the "Archived Essays" subpage, click here.














The Gypsy Scholar announces his New Year Essay-with-Soundtrack series:


The New Year & Rebirth in Archaic Myth & Ritual
2012





Babylonian New Year ritual (with Ishtar)
In archaic or ancient myth and ritual, the celebration of the New Year meant REBIRTH--for some gods, for nature, for the tribe or society, and for human beings.  It still does for traditional societies--and it still can be for modern ones. The concept of "rebirth" is an archetypal motif that applies to various levels of meaning--a common metaphor or literal event in myth and religion, in the "hero’s journey" in mythology, poetry, and romance, and even in the process of human creativity. The New Year ritual is probably one of the oldest of rituals, and it seems to be universal. For our ancient ancestors living in agricultural societies, the "rebirth" of the sun after the Winter Solstice brought in the New Year, which was annually celebrated through elaborate ceremonies. Even today, at this time in the cycle of nature, our contemporary New Year's celebrations still contain, however secularized and profaned, vestiges of the perennial need of humankind to suspend the flow of time and regenerate the mythic "time of beginnings" (in illo tempore ab origine); in other words, to make all things new--"to be born again." (See images of Rebirth below.)

Image: 
The Greenman
The GS has traced the transformations of the mythic Green Man through the seasons, from the Spring Equinox to the Winter Solstice (As discussed in the last program, at the Winter Solstice he manifests as the two rival aspects of the Oak King and Holly King. See thematic images for "Winter Solstice/Christmas" program, 12/26/11.) The Green Man symbol or icon has many different faces and variations in many cultures around the world. In Celtic lore, the Green Man is related to the archaic Horned God. The Green Man is often related to natural vegetative deities springing up in different cultures throughout the ages, but historically it has primarily been interpreted as a symbol of rebirth, or renaissance, representing the cycle of growth being reborn anew each spring.

Man only repeats the act of the Creation; his religious calendar commemorates, in the space of a year, all the cosmogonic phases which took place ab origine [from the origin]. In fact, the sacred year ceaselessly repeats the Creation; man is contemporary with the cosmogony and with the anthropogony because ritual projects him into the mythical epoch of the beginning—of the illud tempus, or  ‘those days.’”

… this reproduction [in ritual] made him contemporary with the mythical moment of the beginning of the world and he felt the need of returning to that moment as often as possible in order to annul profane time and its burden of memory and guilt; in other words, to regenerate herself or him¬self and the fallen world. . . . . The creation of the world, which took place, in illud tempore, at the beginning of the year, is thus reactualized each year. The hierogamy [the cosmic union of heaven and earth, male and female] is a concrete realization of the “rebirth” of the world and man.
                                                              –Mircea Eliade (historian of religion and phenomenologist of the sacred)


The  New Year is the oldest of all holidays. The New Year was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago.  Around 2000 BCE, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (actually the first visible crescent) after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring). The festival observed the annual rebirth of the god of fertility, who was known as Tammuz in Babylon, the embodiment of rebirth in nature and son/consort of the goddess Ishtar. Their sacred marriage (hierogamy or hieros gamos) symbolized the cosmic union of heaven and earth, male and female, as a concrete realization of the “rebirth” of the world and man. The Early Egyptians also used a baby as a symbol of rebirth. 



Image: 
Image: 
A brief definition of the major terms pertaining to the archaic world-view.

Cosmological has to do with the universe, its structure.
Cosmogony
is a mythic model of the origin and evolution of the universe.

Ontological pertains to that which is real, that which exists.
Ontology
is a mythic model of the nature and relations of being.

Anthropogony is the model of the origin and development of man.
Eschatology (lit. "study of the last") is a part of theology and philosophy concerned with what are believed to be the final events in history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity; "the end of the world."
Eschatological relates to or deals with the ultimate destiny of mankind and the world.
Eschato-cosmological refers to the cosmology of the end of time
Hierophany
(from the Greek roots hieros, meaning “sacred” and phainein, meaning “to reveal” or “to bring to light,” as in our word epiphany) means a manifestation or breakthrough of the sacred into the world.  In the hierophanies recorded in archaic and ancient myth, the sacred appears in the form of ideal models, or “archetypes” i.e., the actions of gods, heroes, ancestors, etc.

Telluric refers to terrestrial; pertaining to earth.
Archetype, as used in this essay, is simply a synonym for “exemplary model” or “paradigm,” because archetypes are models for institutions, norms, and various categories of behavior believed to have been “revealed” at the beginning of time, regarded as having a superhuman and “transcendental” origin.)  By manifesting itself as ideal models, the sacred gives the world value, direction, and purpose.

Latin terms
ab origine = from the origin.
in illo tempore, ab origine = the time of the beginning; the "great time" before history; mythic, transcendent time; "once upon a time."
illud tempus = a mythical time before time; (lit. "those days").
incipit vita nova = beginning of new life; rejuvenation of life itself.
fons et origio = the source and origin; primary cause.



Playlist
1/2/12


SONGS

Happy Christmas (War Is Over)    John Lennon    Lennon Legend: The Very Best Of John Lennon
Imagine (no religion too)    John Lennon    Tower of Song
12 Days of X-Mas (feat. Blue Harmony)       Mystery Avenue    Blazing Christmas
White Is In The Winter Night    Enya    And Winter Came...
Astral Weeks/I Believe I've Transcended    Van Morrison    Astral Weeks: Live At The Hollywood Bowl
New Year    The Go Find    Stars On The Wall
Happy New Year    Nat King Cole    The Christmas Song
What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?    Rufus Wainwright    Stockings By The Fire
The Wassail Song / All Through The Night    Thile, Meyer, Yo-Yo Ma    Songs Of Joy & Peace
Auld Lang Syne    Mairi Campbell And Dave Francis    Sex And The City
Here's a Health to the Company    The Chieftains    Chieftains Celebration
Bringing In A Brand New Year    BB King    A Christmas Celebration Of Hope
What Child Is This? (Greensleeves)    Sarah McLachlan    Wintersong
Start All Over Again    Van Morrison    Enlightenment
See Me Through (Before, Before)    Van Morrison    Hymns To The Silence
Take Me Back (When, When)    Van Morrison    Hymns To The Silence
Auld Lang Syne    Dougie MacLean    Tribute
The Beauty Of The Days Gone By    Van Morrison    Down The Road

BACKGROUND MUSIC from:

George Winston and Windham Hill Artists
David Arkenstone
Yo-Yo Ma
Paul Winter
Philip Aaberg
Tim Story
Brian Dunning
Øystein Sevåg
William Coulter
  



 
"The New Year & Rebirth in Archaic Myth & Ritual, Part 2:

The Lunar Mythology of Regeneration
1/9/12

Because the first full moon of the year (the "Wolf Moon" in Cancer) coincides with the program (11:32 pm, PST), the GS will be waxing mythological about the significance of archaic "lunar mythology" and regeneration/rebirth for the New Year.  The Essay-with-Soundtrack deals with how the moon and its phases has determined, since time immemorial, archaic rituals of rebirth. Ahh-wooooooo!

 

Moon in Cancer (Jan. 9, 2012)
Wolf Moon (Jan. 9, 2012)
Full Moon in Winter Circle (Jan. 9, 2012)
Playlist
1/9/12

SONGS
Full Moon    Santana    Spirits Dancing In The Flesh
The Year Is Born Anew    Jaiya    Firedance: Songs for Winter Solstice
Got To Go Back    Van Morrison    No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
Intro: "Let's Renew Ourselves Now..."    Leonard Cohen    Leonard Cohen Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970
Start All Over Again    Dave Koz (ft. Dana Glover)    Hello Tomorrow
Here Comes The Moon    George Harrison    Best Of Dark Horse 1976-1989
Moon Song    Norah Jones    Feels Like Home [Deluxe Edition]
Drawing Down the Moon    Gaia Consort    Evolve
Moon Cradle    Loreena McKennitt    Parallel Dreams
Moon, Turn the Tides     Jimi Hendrix     Electric Ladyland            
Feather Moon    Vienna Teng    Warm Strangers
Full Moon Big Circle    Tina Lear    Full Moon Big Circle
Moon She Rises    Gaia Consort    Evolve
I Become The Moon    Eliza Gilkyson    Through The Looking Glass
Before The Deluge    Jackson Browne    The Very Best of Jackson Browne

"The New Year & Rebirth in Archaic Myth & Ritual, Part 3:
Myth & the Phenomenon of Rebirth in Archaic Ritual"
1/16/12

Playlist
1/16/12

SONGS
Transcendance    Santana    Moonflower
A Dream    Common (feat. Will.I.Am)    Freedom Writers
A New Life    Pet Shop Boys    Alternative
Start All Over Again    Keith Frank & The Soileau Zydeco Band    Undisputed
Start It All Over Again    Battlefied Band    Happy Daze
Brand New Day    Van Morrison    Moondance
Rebirth    Angra    Rebirth
Morning Has Broken (w/Diana Krall And Art Garfunkel)    The Chieftains    The Wide World Over
A New Kind Of Man    Van Morrison    A Sense Of Wonder
Astral Weeks    Glen Hansard    KLRU and ACL TV/PBS, 2010

BACKGROUND MUSIC
Death and Rebirth     Various Artists    Midnight Son (Soundtrack)
Death and Rebirth     Mario Salvucci, Errichetta Underground    The Dark Side of the Sun (Original Soundtrack)
The Origin: the Point of Return    Vindensång    Terminus: Rebirth in Eight Parts...
Epilogue: At Winter's End / to Infinity    Vindensång    Terminus: Rebirth in Eight Parts...
From Death to Rebirth    Terminus    Division of Time




"The New Year & Rebirth in Archaic Myth & Ritual, Part 4-6:
The Shamanic Journey to the North Pole Star & The Golden-Age Arctic Homeland"
1/23/12

Image: 
Image: 
For explanation with illustrations of Precession, click here:http://www.crystalinks.com/precession.html
For Narmer Plate details, click here:http://www.crystalinks.com/narmer.html

Image: 
Image: 
Oh my fair North Star
I have held to you dearly
I have asked you to steer me
Til one cloud scattered night
I got lost in my travels
I met Leo the Lion
Met a king and met a giant, with their errant knight. . . .
And the many stars that guide us
We have some of them inside us

Playlist
1/23/12

SONGS
Auld Lang Syne    Eddi Reader    Celtic Greatest
Dragons    Anne Lister    Spreading Rings
North    Afro Celt Sound System    Volume 3: Further In Time
Visions Of Paradise    The Moody Blues    In Search Of The Lost Chord
Northern Lights    Bruce Cockburn    Dancing In The Dragon's Jaws
North    Paul Mounsey    NahooToo
North Part 2    Afro Celt Sound System    Volume 3: Further In Time
Northern Sky (Pt. 1)    Marino    After Forever's Gone
Follow The Drinking Gourd    Roger McGuinn & Nedra Talley Ross     22 Timeless Tracks From The Folk Den Project
Freedom For My People    U2    Rattle And Hum
The Last Note of Freedom (Days of Thunder Soundtrack)    Whitesnake    Rarities
North Star    U2    Turin, Italy


BACKGROUND MUSIC
Northstar    Mind Over Matter    Indian Meditation
Northern Sky (Pt. 2)    Marino    After Forever's Gone
Northern Sky (Pt. 3)    Marino    After Forever's Gone
Visions From Ancient Times    Narsilion    Arcadia
Northern Lights    William Ackerman    The Essential Winter's Solstice
Northern Lights    Michael Stribling    Out of the Darkness, Into the Light
Northern Lights    Tangerine Dream    Live In Brighton, March 25th 1986
The Northern Lights    David Arkenstone    Citizen of Time
Under Northern Lights    Keiko Matsui    The Very Best of Keiko Matsui



Playlist
1/30/12

 

SONGS
The Darkness    Leonard Cohen    Other Songs Of Leonard Cohen - Vol 1
North    Paul Mounsey    NahooToo
Astral Weeks    Van Morrison    Astral Weeks
The North Star Grassman And The Ravens    Sandy Denny    The North Star Grassman And The Ravens
New Beginning    Tracy Chapman    New Beginning
Got To Go Back    Van Morrison    No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
Time    Incredible String Band    ⑧U ('70)
North Star    Elton John    Rare B-Side 2001
Astra    Annbjørg Lien    Baba Yaga
Higher Than The World    Van Morrison    Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart

BACKGROUND MUSIC

Vangelis, Kitaro, Keiko Matsui, Marino, Afro Celt Sound System, Mind Over Matter


Playlist
2/6/12

SONGS

Going Home    Leonard Cohen    Old Ideas
North Star    U2    Turin, Italy
Northern Lights    Tangerine Dream    Live In Brighton, March 25th 1986
Star Cycle    Jeff Beck    There And Back
Straightaway To Orion    Kitaro    Asia
The Voyage    The Moody Blues    On The Threshold Of A Dream
Higher And Higher    The Moody Blues    To Our Children's Children's Children
Tower of Song_    Leonard Cohen    I'm Your Man
Mercy of the Fallen    Dar Williams    The Beauty of the Rain


BACKGROUND MUSIC

Vangelis, Kitaro, Keiko Matsui, Marino, Afro Celt Sound System, Mind Over Matter




























click to return to "Archived Essays" subpage