mysticism

Hunting My Dress

farhana — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Attention wiccans and hippies—Jesca Hoop’s Hunting My Dress (with Bonus EP) is your new theme music. Ethereal and bluesy, this nine-track album and folksy five song EP are a call to light incense, join a drum circle and bake your own bread.

Hunting My Dress is Hoop’s second full-length album. Her musical career commenced in 2003 when Tom Waits (she had worked as a nanny for his children) endorsed her work. This high-profile support led to an EP Silverscreen Demos in 2004 and later the 2007 critically-acclaimed album Kismet. Another EP, Kismet Acoustic followed in 2008.

From the pagan-sounding chorus of “Whispering Light” to the hushed madrigal vibe of the title track on Hunting My Dress, Hoop shows an interest in the album as a cohesive art form. Instead of staying in the realm of random plays on an iPod, Hoop’s songs speak to each other with a surreal lyricism, creating an otherworldly narrative of medieval kingdoms, long-distance lovers, childhood trees, and old-school stereos.

There’s more mysticism in Hoop’s lyrics than an Anne Rice novel: “Under the spell of full November moon/ light on the broom/ frost in my room/ in through a window came a ghost I knew.”

Musical influences abound in her work—many of the songs on Hunting My Dress are reminiscent of other artists. “Angel Mom” recalls the vocals of Kate Bush—plaintive and mournful. Hoop’s matter-of-fact guitar and vocals on “Bed Across the Sea” evoke Ani DiFranco. Lusty and percussion-driven, “Four Dreams” recollects Jane’s Addiction's Ritual de lo Habitual. Yet these diverse influences create an indefinite persona—if Hoop can be all of these artists, then who is she outside of them? Another example of this artistic ambiguity is the brogue that appears in a few songs. Hoop is an American living in England—so (like Madonna before her) she has clearly picked up an accent.

Is she British or not British? Is she Kate Bush or Jane’s Addiction? It’s not that Hoop can’t be both or all of the above. But at some point, an artist has to move away from her influences to determine her identity. Hoop tries on different musical styles in Hunting My Dress and they all fit perfectly. However, her creative forces—the lyrical narratives, mysticism and expansive sense of musical experimentation—will be obscured if she continues to only echo other artists.

An untitled Bonus EP is included with Hunting My Dress. Three Kismet songs, a B-side from the UK version of Hunting My Dress, and collaboration with Blake Mills makes up the compilation.

First-time listeners experience a less mystic Hoop on this EP, and fans who know her music can re-visit the directness of her earlier pop-folk style. The roots of Hoop’s experimentation can be heard in “Enemy,” an indie-ballad in the key of Liz Phair, but the EP revels in guitar and vocals. Stand-outs are the buoyant love song “My Boo” and the alternative rock duet “Wintersong.”

Hunting My Dress and the Bonus EP show different sides of Jesca Hoop. Folk singer and pagan chorus, she is unafraid of exploring musical styles. As Hoop develops as an artist, it will be fascinating to see which style becomes her own.

Written by: Andrea Dulanto, February 21st 2011

Red Bracelet

admin — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 11:07:00 +0000

By Luckxurys

Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, Luckxurys was started by designer Tali Rosen out of a personal frustration: she was unable to find a traditionally turquoise hamsa, palm-shaped amulet used in jewelery that is thought to protect a person from the evil eye. The tradition of using a hamsa (the Arabic word for the number five, hence the symbolism of a hand) to ward off evil began in the Middle East as a practice of Islam, and is now a part of Jewish mysticism. After searching unsuccessfully for her prized stone, Rosen decided to simply make one herself. When she received positive feedback from others, she followed her desire to make "fashion that welcomes good energies," and incorporated her own good energies into a proper self-run jewelry business.

Using self-styled hand knitting, hand sculpturing, and silvercrafting techniques that Rosen gained through more than a decade of study, Luckxurys sells creative pieces (mostly bracelets and necklaces) that are stylistically unique. The Red Bracelet uses a simple wax wire knit string, handmade lucky charms, made from a mixture of calcium and polymer clay, and an easy loop clasp to fasten the string after you wrap it around your wrist a few times. The meaning of the color is taken from the Kabbalah. Red symbolizes danger, passion, and love, which makes it the strongest protector against evil. However, other colors are available.

Innovation in jewelry is difficult to come by these days, yet Luckxurys managed to develop something contemporary using an ancient concept. Made to be durable, the Red Bracelet can be worn daily without removal, which might not be such a bad thing for those plagued with bad ju-ju.

Written by: Mandy Van Deven, January 9th 2010

The Little Book on Meaning: Why We Crave It, How We Create It

admin — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:44:00 +0000

By Laura Berman Fortgang

Penguin

The Little Book on Meaning is truly a salve of a book; it is a positive and inspiring message for anyone with questions about life—and that’s pretty much everyone, right? Laura Berman Fortgang, “personal coach” and author of several motivational books, addresses the human need for meaning in our existence and the struggle to discern what that meaning might be. Interwoven with the text are Fortgang’s own experiences as a mother, an interfaith minister, and simply, a person.

Fortgang tackles life’s meaning in five sections. “Mystery” explores the unknown, sacred aspects of life, and how we “live in the question marks.” Section two, “Minister,” discusses the relationships between humans and their inherent meaning, which Berman Fortgang says “always comes back to love.” “Magnificence” covers the feeling of awe in everyday life, of looking deeper and seeing the world with an eye for beauty. In “Mind,” Berman Fortgang talks about the power of our minds for both positive and negative, and retraining them to help us achieve a more meaningful life. The final section, “Mystic,” is about walking “the line of worldly sanity and mysticism,” of opening oneself to enlightenment and experiences with a higher power. Fortgang posits that the future of belief is a Modern Mysticism—an accessible path for everyone to a connection with the something larger than ourselves. Sounds pretty “woo-woo,” as Fortgang would put it, but she makes you believe it’s true, or at least acknowledge that it could be.

The joyful thing about reading the work of an interfaith minister is its inclusivity. Fortgang mentions various religions and belief systems throughout the text, everything from atheism to Sufism, with equal respect and openness. And she is not just open-minded about religion, which is really the genius of the book’s appeal. Fortgang’s sincerity and genuine feeling shine through all five sections brightly, and lend it an intriguing depth not that will keep you thinking long past bedtime.

Written by: Jennifer Wedemeier, June 21st 2009

The Winter Sun: Notes on a Vocation

admin — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:46:00 +0000

By Fanny Howe

Graywolf Press

Fanny Howe’s ostensible concern in The Winter Sun: Notes on a Vocation is the origin and nature of her writing life. Poet, novelist, and essayist of distinction, Howe also engages her familiar themes of mysticism, art making, and social justice, as well as her familiar backdrops of Boston and Ireland, with her signature catholicity.

In the two anchoring essays of the collection, which is Howe’s second work of lyrical nonfiction, she explores the origins of her work through bits of straight autobiography (childhood and adolescence in “Branches,” adolescence and adulthood in “Person, Place, Time”) interwoven with meditations on the works and (often famous) friendships that have influenced her. These two lengthy essays are refreshingly offset by several brief pieces, including the terse, brilliant “America,” a meditation on social injustice and spirituality (two pages); the glitteringly weird “The Land of Dreams,” a meditation on Jesus (one-and-a-half pages); and the gorgeous “Evocation,” a tiny slice of memoir made more sensuous by its subtle, tannic bite (four pages).

A mid-length essay, "Waters Wide," brings us from narrative of Howe's history into her present tense and recent past, moving with an easy clarity through meditations on the natures of time and language, writing as work as prayer, and qualities of transreligeous experience. There is an intimacy in this piece that is often lacking in "Branches" and "Person, Place, Time" which have their strengths in reading as cultural and political histories as well as personal ones.

Throughout The Winter Sun, Howe employs a prose form that has drawn accurate comparisons to collage. While these essays are rich in content, readers new to Howe may find her idiom taxing in the collection’s two longest pieces, where her narrative can become so broadly associative as to suggest evasion. Fortunately, neophytes to Howe have her extensive canon from which to draw if __The Winter Sun_ proves a mixed first meeting, while veteran converts will likely find it a fluid addition to her body of work.

Written by: Kaja Katamay, May 20th 2009

Living in the Face of Death

admin — Sun, 03 May 2009 10:42:00 +0000

By Glenn H. Mullin

Snow Lion Publications

This profound collection of Tibetan Buddhist writing on the subject of death and transcendence is a gorgeous initiation into the thoughts shared by those that follow this religion/set of beliefs. Mullin chose a variety of writings that approach the inevitable by former Dalai Lamas, yogis, mystics and spiritual teachers. As a whole the collected works are easily digestible and clear in their impact. There is only one sure thing in this life, why not prepare for it while there is time by becoming comfortable with one’s own impermanence?

The preface, written by the late Elizabeth Kubler-Ross (who wrote On Death and Dying), greatly praises Mullin’s collection; the writings bridge a gap between Eastern and Western thought on the subject of death. Western culture views death mostly as a taboo subject when it comes to everyday life. However, the American obsession with homicidal television shows and movies that typically glorify outlandishly dramatic death might be a coping mechanism to lessen the tragedy of matter.

In Buddhist thought, there is a continual birth and death of the mind from one moment to the next. Daily, the body and mind go through the process of dying. When falling asleep, dream state is the in between state or Bardo, and then the body enters rebirth, or the waking state. This essential thought strikes me as being an amazing step in understanding the process of death.

Meditating upon the subject of death daily awakens the practitioner to the importance of every moment spent, as Geshe Ngawang Dargye suggests. When one embraces this thought, it is easy to dwell in the current moment and live accordingly to a morally accountable existence.

Through the book, Mullin shares details of the Gye-re Lama’s death. Many spiritual leaders in Tibetan religion have made their final teachings—that of their witnessed deaths—to be of great significance to their disciples.

Mullin also shares with readers many prayers and mystic approaches to realizing the signs of death, and subtle meditations to hopefully prolong the life that is at stake. Longevity methods are to be applied once one has been made aware of the signs of death. When this has been done, and death is still pending, it is suggested by Tibetan Buddhism to begin the act of transference of consciousness.

The collection contains a guideline to the prayers and meditations that should be said in honor of the dead. Within this information lies the process with which the body should be dealt with according to Tibetan Buddhism.

Mullin's work as a whole is a graceful attempt to address the issues that are often shunned in our culture. While death is not an easy topic to address, it is one that should not be avoided.

I’ll share one thought that proved most valuable as I read the collection. Mullin included a sermon from the thirteenth Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Tubten Gyatso “Death and the Bodhisattva Trainings.” From that he shared a poignant reflection that we all could take heed.

“Procrastination leads to further procrastination, and in the end death strikes and leaves us empty handed. Alternatively, if we grab the opportunity while we have the chance, the essence of a meaningful life can become ours.”

Written by: A. Mariel Westermeyer, May 3rd 2009