It’s been a long week. The massacre in Orlando, coupled with some sad news in my family, has left me feeling bruised and aching. I’ve been a good Unitarian Universalist. I’ve written to my congressman, who accepts donations from the NRA and has voted against sensible gun control measures time and time again. I will vote against him, and others of his ilk again at the next election. I have discussed with my children what has happened in Florida, and why there are no simple, flip-a-switch solutions to these recurrent tragedies. I have encouraged them to be the good in the world and to look to all the others who act likewise. I have kept abreast of the latest news and statistics so I can be an informed citizen. Still, I am bruised and aching.
Pagans have a wonderful set of tools and practices to help soothe the soul and settle the distraught mind. Chanting, spell casting, tarot card reading, shared ritual, and private ritual are just a few of the activities we can use to re-align ourselves after we have been knocked out of our accustomed orbits by painful life events.
But sometimes we are so tender and defeated that activity is difficult, if not impossible. Such times call for more passive methods of healing. Meditation is probably the easiest and best form of this type of medicine. When we just sit and allow ourselves to hurt and cry and feel, and feel, and feel, without fighting or judging our emotions, eventually they have their say and are often gradually replaced by a sense of calm and peace.
I also find music to be a great source of comfort and healing. We are an extremely musical family. It is rare that someone isn’t singing, whistling, playing one of the over two dozen instruments in our house, enjoying a record, or streaming Internet radio or an online music service. Music can hold us in its arms and cradle us. It can lift us up and take us to other places. It can remind us of distant memories. It can shock and inspire us. It can heal us.
Fortunately, we live in an age where it is easy to find music of every type imaginable in the comfort of our homes, cars, and offices. And there are many resources available for songs that embrace Pagan themes and celebrations. Below are a few Internet services that I enjoy, along with my thoughts on each. Feel free to share the musical resources you enjoy in the comments section, or let me know if you have more up-to-date information on any of this technology. And may we all find peace and healing as we work our way through the ongoing trials of life.
- YouTube (www.youtube.com) – I’m sure you’re all familiar with this website. A simple search for “Pagan music” offers an abundance of videos and playlists, and listening to any one of them and then investigating the related videos listed to the right will lead you down the proverbial rabbit hole of online music videos in a fun and interesting way. The beauty of YouTube is that any Pagan can upload their own music, so there are a lot of unique offerings here.
- Pandora (www.pandora.com) – Pandora is a free music streaming service that can be played with any Internet browser or through their free app on any mobile device. You can pay a fee if you don’t want your music listening experience interrupted by advertising. Through complex algorithms, you are able to create “channels” that play the style of music you like (usually based on an artist’s name or musical genre) and then you can further refine their playback to suit your tastes by giving songs a thumbs up or a thumbs down as they play. A couple of channels I enjoy through this service are Celtic Radio, Belly Dance Radio, Goddess Power Radio, as well as a few meditation channels. You don’t get to select specific songs, but I find that my channels match my tastes.
- Rhapsody (www.rhapsody.com) – This is a subscription music service, and over the years has become my go-to source for online music. They have a massive collection of albums and artists, and many Pagan musicians are available here. It’s easy to create playlists made up of the specific songs you like, and an entire family can share the account. Rhapsody also has a series of “radio” stations, including choices such as Healing Winds Radio, New Age Radio, and Celtic Radio. You can stream music from a browser or use their app for mobile devices or listen to downloaded files in an offline mode. Unfortunately, Rhapsody is losing market space in the Internet music world and fewer and fewer hardware devices dedicated to playing music support this service.
- Spotify (www.spotify.com) – Because a couple of the music streaming devices in our home no longer support Rhapsody (see above), my husband has been gently telling me we need to transition our dozens of playlists to Spotify, which offers both a free and a paid subscription with different features. It’s been a rough transition for me, especially since Spotify doesn’t allow family members to share a single account, but I’m getting there and you can share individual playlists. You can use their desktop application or their browser site, or their mobile app. Spotify doesn’t have nearly the selection of radio stations that Rhapsody offers, but they do have one of the biggest music catalogs of any of music service, so you are almost guaranteed to find what you’re looking for in the form of an album or single. Their other strength is their tie-in with social media which allows you to find and use playlists that other users all over the world have assembled, as well as to easily share your own favorite playlists.
- All Play Radio – All Play Radio is a free app you can download to your phone to control certain playback devices (we have a Hitachi speaker in our sun room – I told you we were a musical family). The beauty of this service is that it streams music from radio stations from all around the world. You can search by continent/country, language, or genre. I find it fun to listen to new (to me) and interesting sounds from all over the planet. It’s also a handy way to improve my French and Japanese skills.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In