Music for Atheopagan Ritual Use
The music below was recommended by members of the Atheopagan Facebook group for use in Atheopagan rituals. Particularly in solitary rituals (when, obviously, having live accompaniment isn’t possible), the addition of a musical “soundtrack” can be tremendously powerful. Also listed are some sources for chants which can be used in group rituals—singing is one of the most powerful ways to bring people together and build the sense of energy in a ritual!
This list will grow as new music is suggested.
Adiemus (Karl Jenkins): The Journey
Anonymous4: Many disks of this a cappella women’s medieval music ensemble could work well for ritual; I prefer 11,000 Virgins: Chants for the Feast of St. Ursula by Hildegard von Bingen
Bare Necessities: Take a Dance. This ensemble plays traditional tunes for English country dancing. This album is lovely for High Spring or May Day celebrations; very light and springy.
Bone Poets Orchestra: Atheist Anthems
Chandra, Sheila: A Bonecronedrone and The Zen Kiss. Very trance-y.
Cossu, Scott with Eugene Friesen: Reunion. Light, quiet-morning piano with cello, good for reflection and introspective work.
Coyle, T. Thorn and Knight, Sharon: Songs for the Strengthening Sun and Songs for the Waning Year (both available at Bandcamp)
Dead Can Dance: many, many tracks; the two albums best suited are The Serpent’s Egg and In the Realm of a Dying Sun
Darwin Song Project: “You May Stand Mute” “Mother of Mystery” and “Clock of the World”.
Delerium: Karma. Dance-y, trance-y. The track “Euphoria (Ecstacy)” is particularly good.
Daemonia Nymphe: Plays authentic instruments and sing hymns from ancient Greece.
Gabriel, Peter: Passion (soundtrack to “The Last Temptation of Christ”)–hands down Mark’s favorite for solitary ritual.
Figueras, Montserrat and La Capella Reial de Catalunya: El Cant de la Sybil-la. 15th and 16th century “Songs of the Sybil”. Powerful ritual music.
Libana: Fire Within. Not all tracks, but several are great for ritual.
Mayer, Peter: Naturalistic hymns, “Blue Boat Home”, “Holy Now” and “Church of the Earth” (and “God is a River” for Pantheists)
McBride, Abbi Spinner: Fire of Creation and Family of Fire. These are great chants, many of them without reference to divinity or “spirit”.
McCutcheon, John: Step by Step
Pook, Joselyn: Masked Ball (from the soundtrack to “Eyes Wide Shut”)
Portishead: Dummy. Dark, dreamy.
Reclaiming Collective: Some (not all) of the chants on Let It Begin Now: Music from the Spiral Dance (there are alternative Atheopagan lyrics to “This Ae Neet” in the Atheopagan Hymnal)
Roach, Steve: On This Planet, Minimal
Roach, Steve and Vir Unis: Blood Machine
Roth, Gabrielle and the Mirrors: all of her disks, which are themed on different ritual “flavors”
Sacred Treasures: Choral Masterworks from Russia. Russian Orthodox choral works by Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and others. Magnificent.
Shibaten: haunting Digeridoo music.
Sovosó: Track “Dirt” on album Then and Now.
Vas: Sunyata and Offerings (highly meditative).
Winston, George: The Seasons Cycle. These four albums—Autumn, December, Winter into Spring, and Summer—are all lovely accompaniments for ritual work.
There are many places online that Pagan chants can be found, and many of them are fine for Atheopagan ritual. Here is a fine example.
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Hi, Mark–
One song I can suggest right away is an old hymn that is totally secular.
Only Remembered
Up and away like the dew of the morning,
Soaring from earth to its heavenly home,
Thus would I leave from this world and its toiling:
Only remembered for what I have done.
cho: Only remembered, Only remembered,
Only remembered for what we have done;
Only remembered, Only remembered,
Only remembered for what we have done.
Shall we be missed when others succeed us,
Reaping the fields we in spring time have sown?
Nay, for the sower shall pass from his labor,
Only remembered for what he has done.
Only the truth that in life we have spoken
Only the seeds that on Earth we have sown,
These shall pass onward while we are forgotten,
Only remembered for what we have done.
There appear to be some variations of it, but this seems to be the most common version.
Also, some of the songs from the Darwin Song Project may be useful:
“You May Stand Mute” “Mother of Mystery” and “Clock of the World”
A Youtube search for these items will prove fruitful.
Also, “Bristlecone Pine” which is another non theistic yet spiritual song.
Muso
Thank you! These are great. I’ll look for the tune for the hymn.
I love Peter Mayer’s music for naturalistic hymns, “Blue Boat Home”, “Holy Now” and “Church of the Earth” (and “God is a River” for the Pantheists out there). [http://www.petermayer.com/music]
Thorn Coyle and Sharon Knight have a great 2-disc chant cycle for the Wheel of the Year: Songs for the Strengthening Sun [http://sharonknight.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-the-strengthening-sun] and Songs for the Waning Year [http://sharonknight.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-the-waning-year].
There’s some great popular music for the Wheel of the Year too. Some that we use in our family are “Ooh Child” by The Five Stairsteps (Winter Thermistice/Imbolc) and “Here comes the Sun” by The Beatles (Spring Equinox), “Sunny” by Marvin Gaye (Summer Solstice), and “Ghost Riders In The Sky” by Johnny Cash and “The Wolf” by Fever Ray (Autumn Equitherm/Samhain). Star Foster did a great series of Wheel of the Year music on Patheos a few years ago, which included lots of popular music.
The UU has two hymnals that include some Pagany hymns: Singing the Living Tradition [http://www.amazon.com/Singing-Tradition-Unitarian-Universalist-Association/dp/1558962603/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1ZJF4MKZ1QGC3H7A7XT7]
and Singling the Living Journey [http://www.amazon.com/Singing-Journey-Supplement-Living-Tradition/dp/1558964991/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=03PEK9BGJBDA14VV1EK7]. Some of my favorites are “Winter Solstice Chant”, “Rising Green”, and of course “Blue Boat Home”.
For my personal use, I like haunting, otherworldly music. Some of my favorites are Daemonia Nymphe (plays authentic instruments and sing hymns from ancient Greece) [http://www.daemonianymphe.com/home/] and Shibaten (plays the Digeridoo) [http://www.shibatenspirits.com/Home.html] (who I discovered at my first Pagan Spirit Gathering).
Thanks for all of these great suggestions! I’ll start working my way through them immediately.
“You May Stand Mute” from the Darwin Song Project (check out on YouTube). Actually, anything from DSP. Or anything by Chris Wood.
Hi Mark – thank you for this site and all the work you put into it.
Music: How about David Fanshawe?
African Sanctus is here:
https://youtu.be/tvgR9ODFGHI
Trish
Thank you, Trish!