The Shamanism of Performance Art

Archangel Michael has asked me to document my recent learnings in performance art.

These new lessons came to me as a result of an artistic journey. Last month I had been steadily working to prepare myself for an audition for the MFA Vocal Performance program at the California Institute of the Arts. Because I don't believe in expending precious energy on "back-up plans", it was the only school to which I applied. Consequently, there was a fair amount of pressure riding beneath this twenty minute audition.

So as in any important undertaking I face in life, I turned the situation over to heaven for support. I gave all direction to Archangel Sandalphon (angel of music) and asked that he appoint plenty of heavenly mentors, masters, and guides to me in every detail of this undertaking. Thanks to Sandalphon, a great assembly of powerful beings surrounded me and watched over every part of my preparation.

I began taking weekly voice lessons with an acclaimed deceased singer in heaven whose name I have been asked not to divulge. This teacher was the most effective teacher I've had to date, for an earthly teacher may only describe with words what to strive for in the bodily instrument, whereas my heavenly mentor was able to simply point to specific places in my mind and body that needed adjusting and fine-tuning.

I also began writing fervently. I had to prepare an artist's statement for my application explaining my highest goals and visions as a performer. The Angels and a few ascended masters worked very closely with me in deeply grounding, analyzing, and expressing all that I passionately believe and aim towards in my art. The result of this writing was to spur a radically deepened mental approach to my presence as a performer.

This is some of what I wrote:

As a performer, I am a shaman. I seek to pioneer the wilds of human consciousness; to weave transformation in our constantly evolving awareness as a means of accessing the soul. We are all points in the great fractal-mind. We are the universe made aware of itself, experiencing the ever spiraling evolution of creation from as many eyes as possible. Art is a medium in cosmic creation, for it is a shaper and a medicine of mind.

Music is one of the most potent synergists of consciousness, for no other thing so closely mimics the properties of consciousness. As a singer I work within the deep intuitive realm of sound’s motion and vibration. Vibration, that most pure and basic element of which all things are made, is the substance of transcendence. Singing is thereby my spiritual practice. It is an empty and pure mental space for moving beyond the self to channel the energy of higher consciousness. The vibrations of music flood and penetrate our very bones and brainwaves. It unifies all minds, bodies and souls gathered to share in it. To perform is thus to mediate in a sacred rite; a shared experience of ecstatic oneness. Shamanism is my mode of performing because performing is my mode of channeling.

My aim as a singer is to explore singing’s most high and radical potential for transformation and healing. I wish to research the metaphysical science of music and how tones might weave a beauty that more than entertains and informs, but rebirths awareness. I believe that a thorough exploration of vocal technique beyond the traditional classical standard are required in such a pursuit. Thus I am moved to include nonwestern as well as experimental twenty fist century musical genre in my repertoire. I also aim to both conceptualize and perform in emerging new modes of opera, music theatre and music ensembles that integrate several forms of art in leading edge thought-movements.

A high focus of my artistry lies in collaboration. In collaboration I aim to share in a movement of art and culture away from the aims of consumerism towards a renaissance of the spirit. Because art is and has always been the informant of substance and meaning in culture, it holds considerable power in facilitating a shift in cultural values. In a time of such long unparalleled change as now, as the old consumer-ridden paradigm already begins to tremble beneath its own weight, it is more important than ever for art to play its part in shaping a rebirth for our civilization.

It is in the creation of experiential integral art events that I seek to explore these possibilities. I aim to facilitate in gatherings of live painting, sculpting, music, theatrics and dance united under common sacred archetypes such as “The Journey of the Wounded Healer”. Artists here may combine their efforts under the concept of a shamanic channeling of transcendence. Emphasis may be placed on experimenting with the use of space and timing to achieve a sense of interconnectedness, leaving little separation between “artist” and “audience”. These events, when held outdoors, shall work to radically collide mind with nature, placing special emphasis on a very specific, conscious use of technology so as to create a space to explore the hyper-real constructs of civilization in juxtaposition with the raw energy of nature. The event is a living being; a web of energy connecting all present. The result shall aim towards something rare and exceptional: a community as opposed to a product. I believe these efforts may evolve as a study in re-birthing rituals of the soul, as first steps in healing a consumption-wounded post-modern culture...

These were ideas I had been absorbing and allowing to marinate in my energy field over the past several years. The idea of performance art weaving light through a unifying web of energy is something I had dreamed of and studied in my experiences deeply. During the summer of 2007 I was in the audience of a String Cheese Incident show. I was dancing and had generally abandoned my sanity for the golden opportunity to embrace my inner savage in a wilderness of spellbound mad people... when I slowly felt myself awakening to a new level of awareness. Gradually I was sensing a beautiful net of light hovering above the crowd. Every single person was attached to this web by a string of light. Their focus was a ball of light that hovered at varying heights on the string in relation to the web. I danced all of my energy *into* the web, feeling myself sprawl out endlessly. This is amazing! I felt shivers of ecstasy run up my spine. The web was getting stronger. It seemed like more and more people were dialing up into it as the music intensified and the dancing grew more heated. The web grew more intricate in its perfect geometric patterning. Suddenly I gasped with the shock of an epiphany. The music was the substance that filled and linked us with this web. On an energetic level we were ALL responding to this unity through music. Not a soul remained untouched or unchanged by it. By God, the possibility that lies here! This music, a living and breathing entity, channels itself through each being with such a power towards higher consciousness. Imagine if the musicians and audience were conscious of this and specifically tried to aim their experience towards this shift!

A half year later I saw Saul Williams performing at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor. He would be the first musician I experienced who was aware of this power in music and did channel it as a ritual in transformation. Again, I became aware of the web of light, but this time, the orbs of each person's focus seemed to mostly be shooting up, up, up into the highest substance of the geometric figures. Beautiful mandalas spurted out from it, raining on the people with sighs of pleasure. Saul often repeated to the audience: This is a ritual! We are all part of it! He urged everyone to dance and to lose themselves in the pounding heartbeat of sound. I could sense hundreds and hundreds of spirits mingling in the audience. So many Angels were present. Towards the end of the show I had drifted to the front of the audience, and transfixed, gazed into Saul's eyes. Suddenly I felt a huge fiery presence all around us. "Kali," breathed a fuming, smokey voice in my head, rich with layers of air and sound. Kali said to me that Saul is like a son to her. And through my eyes I could feel her energy feeding him, adoring him. I left that show absolutely awestruck at the power of the energy channeled there.

I had long since devoted all of my heart to doing this when my time to take the stage arrived. And after having deeply counseled with the Angels on all of the things I have learned about performance, gathering it in my mind and writing it, I knew that a time to soar into the next step had arrived. I would begin metaphysical exploration as a performer now. Sandalphon's counsel of guides suggested that I begin by meditating before each rehearsal and performance. In meditation I absorbed their lessons in energy waves.

They urged me to treat every rehearsal as a performance. Not just in the sense that I try my best and perform with focus and such, but in the sense that I summon and feel all the energy of performing. "Perform to the human energy of the world, not just the empty room," they advised. I realized that in truth, every time a performer takes to her art, it is a real performance with an audience in the sense that the energy we weave through our art always feeds into the earth dimension, affecting everything it touches. Each time I sing, they tell me, it can be like sending out waves of healing into the web of human consciousness. Sing for peace on earth. Sing in praise of the divinity in the human spirit. These are powerful forms of prayer that ripple out touching all. Each song matters.

Also, they advise, become conscious of exactly where you're aiming your performance. For example, every song has a story and is speaking to someone or something specific. A dear friend of mine who listened to me singing once reminded me of this-- to whom is what you're saying directed? Likewise, to what specifically are you directing your performance in the context of the energy web? Locate it. Sense it with your mind. Feed it and feel it change. (Often, I ask Sandalphon's counsel to simply bring the energy of my performance to where it is most needed on Earth.) With spirit as your director, find the energy that wants to take your audience home to god. (And that certainly isn't hard-- such energy as that is abundant in literally everything!) Send your performance into that energy, brighten its light, intensify its vibration, bring the Angels in closer and closer. Closer, until you can reach out and literally touch their soft cheeks with your earthly fingers. Through the art, your audience (whether it be an auditorium filled with people or an empty room) shall at some level come along for the ride. The love of god, that ecstatic joy brimming full with warmth and pleasure undeniable is, after all, highly and deliciously contagious. Your audience will feel it. The Earth will feel it. Heaven will thank you.

Once, after one of my meditations with Sandalphon's counsel, I opened my eyes and saw a shape imprinted in light in front of me. It was a small point, an orb. Through it ran an X of light. What was most apparent about this shape was the four quadrants of space created by the X. "Try singing into this," said one of my guides. "Ok."

I directed my song straight into the center of the orb, piercing it with intense clarity. WOW. It changed the feeling of the entire song. What a leap in focus and artistry! Immediately the orb reacted as if to receive an electric signal from me. It moved, creating a spiral that ran perfectly along the planes of the four quadrants. I found that I could refine the color and frequency of the light in this spiral at a thought. Gradually I became aware that the spiral was creating a tunnel running from my whole body straight into the orb. It was so safe and yet so powerful in there. That simple lesson, though I couldn't explain why or how it works, changed and informed everything about the way I perform now. I use the orb-tunnel every time I sing. The Angels wanted me to tell YOU, so that you could try it out for yourself too! Just visualize it!

Another lesson of Sandalphon's counsel has been that in order to *give* a performance of great and high energy, you must allow yourself to receive great and high energy too. Performers literally *need* to have massive amounts of fun as well as relaxation. And this makes sense when one considers how devoted to partying most musicians and actors are. In the art of belly dance, which I have recently rekindled in my life, it is tradition for a performer to take a sacred bath before she dances for an audience. To me this symbolizes the height of receiving and relaxing. Keep your art high and moving by way of the powerful medium of celebration and self-indulgence.

What works in tandem with this is to surround yourself in a beautiful setting when working in your art as much as you can. Archangel Jophiel puts it this way: you in-spire, or breathe in the atmosphere around you. You become inspired by the substance of your environment. Play with your setting and space to reflect and optimize your ideals in art and you will flourish from within.

There is much more to come on this subject and I shall continue to update you on what I learn as I pioneer shamanic performance. Thank you.