Degree Astrology: An Introduction

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John Sandbach March 28, 2024

The wheel of the zodiac breaks down into twelve signs; within each of those signs, there are thirty degrees. Degree astrology ascribes a verbal picture to each one of those degrees as a means of characterising the hidden essence of the forces that affect us. When we move in harmony with these evolutionary forces, we are more likely to achieve success. 

The verbal pictures are received and interpreted by an individual astrologer; therefore, every set of degree symbols is highly subjective. Some sets feel weak or murky to me, or not quite on the mark. Others are clear, vivid depictions of the energy that each degree carries. 

When I began practicing astrology in the 1960s, there were two available sets of degree symbols that had been channeled in the 19th century: the Sepharial and the Charubel Symbols. To me, neither set is helpful for astrological interpretation. I know of no astrologers who use them. These sets lack charisma; they don’t speak to me. They aren’t vivid, so they don’t spark my imagination, and imagination is essential to the highly subjective work of degree symbol interpretation. 

In the 1920s, a set of degree symbols was channeled by the psychic Elsie Wheeler under the direction of the illustrious astrologer Marc Jones. This set became known as the Sabian Symbols and is the most widely used set to this day. There are several books you can buy which interpret these symbols, the most famous being Dane Rudhyar’s An Astrological Mandala. 

On April 4th, 1984, at 8:04 AM, in Kansas City, Missouri, I channeled a set of degree symbols now known as The Chandra Symbols, with my friend, the astrologer Lisa Leopold. We began by labeling 360 index cards with the numbers one to thirty for each sign, then mixed them up and placed them face down on a table. Lisa would then pick up a card, and I would tell her what I saw; she would write that on the card then select the next. The process had an intense psychedelic momentum, and each image passed through my mind with great vividness. 

Channeling the symbols felt like tuning a radio, and when I found the wavelength where reception was clear, I stayed there, listening to the information that came to me, and repeating it to Lisa. 

One image I saw was a bull stung by a scorpion. This is the image for the 20th degree of Gemini. I had seen a sculpture at the Vatican Museum, depicting this very thing, and felt suspicious that I was simply recalling a memory (as opposed to finding the correct image for this degree). Then I heard a voice that squashed my suspicions: a consortium of spirits had been showing me, for many years, a catalogue of images that I could draw upon, that would eventually become these degree symbols. 

I channeled the Chandra Symbols to achieve new insights into the degrees of the Zodiac. When astrologers compare different symbols from different sets, it can reveal new layers of information to us. The pictures from different sets often amplify, extend, and explain one another. 

An example: The Chandra symbol for the 6th degree of Taurus is “a pink diamond”. When I read this symbol, I think of the hardness and brightness of the diamond as signifying power and potency, and the color pink as a sign of spiritual love. Together, the diamond and its pinkness can mean the power to repel discord and negativity, and to imbue people, or situations, with gentleness and love. 

The Sabian symbol for the 6th degree of Taurus is “a bridge being built across a gorge”. As I see it, the bridge connects land that is kept apart. Love—signified by the pink in the Chandra symbol for this same degree—also has great power to connect. A good bridge needs strength and durability, inherent qualities of the Chandra diamond. 

My reading of the symbols together is that although the building of a bridge may be difficult, by approaching the task with diamond-like strength and willpower, one can accomplish the great work of bringing harmony into the world—with the power of love. This, of course, is not the only possible reading. The verbal pictures found in degree astrology are meant to stimulate an astrologer’s intuition, so their meaning is not necessarily the same in all contexts. “Diamond” and “pink” could be interpreted in many other ways—like images in poetry, they can have a host of different layers of meaning and implication. 

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“I think of the use of degree symbols in reading a chart as astrological poetry.”

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This is the very reason that a group of astrologers oppose degree astrology: for having no limits or clear definitions. Some consider it a kind of astrological free-for-all in which astrologers might read anything and everything into any symbol anyone can come up with. The manner in which some astrologers approach degree astrology can indeed be confusing or misleading, but when degree interpretation is done by an astrologer with clear intuition (ample experience helps), new forces that might otherwise remain hidden within a chart can be brought to light. Degree astrology is an immensely powerful tool; it can be wielded with adeptness and creativity, but it can also be misused. 

I have great respect for an organized, logical approach to astrology. I have spent many years learning this approach to chart analysis and use it still when I read for people. It’s a more masculine approach, while Degree astrology feels more feminine to me; together, the two have the power to potently enrich and inform each other. 

I think of the use of degree symbols in reading a chart as astrological poetry. I have found that when individuals are told of the degree symbols in their chart, they are touched in inexplicable ways. Often, they feel a deep relationship to the images, and over time these images can work on them therapeutically, bringing a clearer understanding of who they are. 

Years after channeling the Chandra Symbols, I channeled three other sets of degree symbols. When we look through a telescope at the degrees, we see that each one is filled with billions of galaxies, and that each one of these galaxies is filled with many millions of stars. With each set of symbols channeled, I am reminded that we have not even begun to scratch the surface of what is here: both in the sky and in ourselves.

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John Sandbach is an astrology and Tarot researcher who has been working professionally in these fields for more than 50 years. He is the visionary behind the Chandra Symbols of the 360 degrees of the zodiac system, and he offers private astrology and Tarot readings online. The author of several books, including The Circular Temple and Astrology, Alchemy, and the Tarot, he lives in Kansas City, Missouri.

Nicole Shanahan

Film

Maeshowe, Sound, and Viking Runes (Artefact II)

WUNDERKAMMER #2

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Artefact No: 2
Location: Maeshow, Orkney Islands, Scotland
Age: 5,000 years 

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Ben Timberlake March 27, 2024

Maeshowe is a Neolithic chambered burial complex on the Orkney Islands, an archipelago to the north of Scotland that is a floating world of midnight suns and brutal, dark winters. The tomb overlooks the Lochs of Harry and Stenness. On the narrow spit of land that separates the two lochs is The Ring of Brodgar, an ancient stone circle. It is nothing to look at from the outside - bored sheep munching salty grass on a small mound — but inside is one of the finest prehistoric monuments in the world. 

The tomb’s structure is cruciform: a long passageway some 15m long, a central chamber, with  three side-chambers. The main passageway is orientated to the southwest. Building began on the  site around 2800BC. It is a work of monumental perfection: each wall of the long passageway is  formed of single slabs up to three tons in weight; each corner of the main chamber has four vast  standing stones; and the floors, walls and ceilings of the side-chambers are made from single  stones. Smaller, long, thin slabs make up the rest of the masonry. They are fitted with unfussy but  masterful precision in the local sandstone. It is even more impressive when you realize that these  stones were cut and shaped thousands of years before the invention of metal tools. It is estimated  to have taken 100,000 hours of labor to construct.  

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The interior chamber of Maeshowe, illuminated by the sun of the Winter Solstice.

Maeshowe sits within one of the richest prehistoric landscapes in Europe. The four principal sites  are two stone circles - the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness - Maeshowe and the  perfectly preserved Neolithic village of Skara Brae. These sites are within a further constellation of  a dozen Neolithic and Bronze Age mounds, and other solitary standing stones.  

Aligned within this landscape like a vast sundial, Maeshowe is sighted so as to tell the time just once a year, at midwinter. For a couple of weeks at either side of the winter solstice the sun sets to the southwest and the rays of the run enter down the long passage and illuminate the wall at  the back of the end chamber. And this midwinter sun, at the zenith of its year, sets perfectly above the Barnhouse Stone some 700m away. The spectacle can be viewed live online every year.

Maeshowe and its sister sites are open to the public and well worth a visit. Because of their  remote location they get a fraction of the visitor numbers similar sites receive. There is something  deeply penitential about a visit there. The long passage is only a meter and a half tall and  archaeologists believe it was designed this way to force people to bow and submit as they walked  towards the center of the complex. 

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The Barnhouse Stone, on the left, aligns perfectly with the entrance to Maeshow, the mound on the right, so that on the day of midwinter, the sun sets above the stone and into the entrance to Maestowe.

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“The frequency for Maeshowe was a drum being beaten at 2hz creating an infrasonic frequency that, although  inaudible to us, could be felt as a physical or psychological sensations such as dizziness, raised heartbeat, and flying sensations. And that’s before we factor in the drugs.”

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As much as Maeshowe is a place of the dead, it is also a temple to sound. Dr Aaron Watson, an  honorary fellow from Exeter University, spent a number of years researching the effects of sound  at different prehistoric sites. He found that specific pitches of vocal chants and different types of drumming could produce strange, amplified sound effects known as ‘standing waves’. These are very distinct areas of high and low intensity which seem to bear no relation to the source of the  sound. In the case of Maeshowe, a drummer in the central chamber could be muted to those  standing nearby but the sound would be vastly magnified in the side chambers. The acoustics are  so powerful that the Neolithic builders must have known what they were doing when they built the structure. A recessed niche in one of the tunnel walls allowed a large stone to be dragged into the passageway blocking the passage and amplifying the sound.  

Even more impressively was the possibility that Maeshowe displayed elements of the Helmholtz  Effect - a phenomenon of air resonance in a cavity - but on a much larger scale. The frequency for Maeshowe was a drum being beaten at 2hz creating an infrasonic frequency that, although  inaudible to us, could be felt as a physical or psychological sensations such as dizziness, raised heartbeat, and flying sensations. And that’s before we factor in the drugs. These European  prehistoric societies made ample use of regular magic mushrooms and the red-and-white spotted  Fly Agaric. To the Neolithic visitors the acoustics effects of Maeshowe alone must have been  powerful but to combined with hallucinations it must have been one of the most profound and life changing experiences of their lives. 

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Viking runes carved into the walls of Maeshowe.

The tomb was rediscovered in 1861. I write ‘rediscovered’ because when the Victorian antiquarians began to clear soil and debris from the inner chambers, they came across evidence that they were not the first ones there since prehistoric times: the walls were adorned with Viking runes.  

We have a very good idea who these Vikings were thanks to the Orkneyinga Saga, a medieval  narrative history document woven through and embellished with myths. There appear to be two  sets of culprits. Firstly, in 1151, a group of Viking Crusaders led by Earl Rognvald on their way to the Holy Land. Then, a couple years later - Christmas 1153 to be precise - a band of Viking  looters on a raid led by Earl Harald.  

The Norse traditionally held such ancient places with dread and it is not known what drove them to risk their mortal souls and enter the mound: a terrible storm is mentioned, but it may have been the legends of treasure too. The saga records that two of the Earl Rognvald’s men went mad with fear of the mythical Hogboon, from Old Norse hiagbui, or mound-dweller. 

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There are some 30 runes in Maeshowe, the largest collection outside Scandinavia. Here is a  sample:  

Crusaders broke into Maeshowe. Lif the earl's cook carved these runes. To the north-west is a great treasure hidden. It was long ago that a great treasure was hidden here. Happy is he that might find that great treasure.  

Ofram, the son of Sigurd carved these runes.  

Haermund Hardaxe carved these runes.  

Thatir the weary Viking came here.  

Ingigerth is the most beautiful of all women (carved beside a picture of a slavering dog). 

Thorni fucked. Helgi carved.  

All too often historians and archaeologists concern themselves with official inscriptions left by kings and emperors and other fevered egos but I don’t think that anything quite says ‘Look on my works ye mighty and despair’ than a Viking warrior getting laid and then recording it on the rock of ages with his axe.

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Ben Timberlake is an archaeologist who works in Iraq and Syria. His writing has appeared in Esquire, the Financial Times and the Economist. He is the author of 'High Risk: A True Story of the SAS, Drugs and other Bad Behaviour'.

Iggy Pop Playlist

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Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor. Since forming The Stooges in 1967, Iggy’s career has spanned decades and genres. Having paved the way for ‘70’s punk and ‘90’s grunge, he is often considered “The Godfather of Punk.”

All Good Things

The Three of Wands (Tarot Triptych)

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Name: The Three of Wands
Number: 3
Astrology: Fire, the Sun in Aries
Qabalah: Binah of Yod י

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Chris Gabriel March 6, 2024

The Three of Wands is a fiery card, but being a low number, it is still close to its divine source. It is a card of daily activity. When this card comes up in a reading, one thinks of the daily routine, of positive actions that one can undertake.

In Thoth, we are given a very simple image of three flowery wands. Two of them cross the central wand, and flames emanate from the center. Atop is the Sun, and beneath is Aries, the astrological placement of this card, and the second decan of Aries.

The Sun in Aries is a joyous placement, as it is the first in the zodiac. It is the bright beginning of a new astrological year. It is a daily cycle, and the bright morning of a new day. The title of “Virtue” puts one to mind of Benjamin Franklin’s morningly question of “What good shall I do this day?” This is the card of Daily Virtue.

In Rider, we are given the image of Franklin’s question. A man holding a wand, beside two wands. He looks upon the rising Sun. He is preparing himself for the day. He has a brilliant view, overlooking a bay, the ships within it, and the mountains. He can foresee the actions he must undertake.

In Marseille, as it is not an esoteric deck, but one that was used to gamble and play, we are given no esoteric imagery, simply three wands. It is the same formation as Thoth, but without distinct coloring. Here we must utilize the Qabalah to decipher the message.

Being a three, it belongs to the Sephirothic sphere of Binah, or Understanding. Being Wands, or Fire, it is of Yod, the King, and the first letter of the Tetragrammaton. Thus it is “the Understanding of the King”.

And just what is that understanding?

Let us look to poetry, and the I Ching. In Ezra Pound’s Cantos, he famously wrote “Day by day make it new”, which is an ideogrammic translation of the Chinese characters featured in the poem.

新日日新

New Sun Sun New

Sun doubles as “Day” , a deeply poetic character!

In Richard Wilhelm’s I Ching we find Tching’s wisdom mirrored perfectly in the commentary on Hexagram 26. “Only through such daily self-renewal can a man continue at the height of his powers.”

It makes sense as Tching, first emperor of the Shang dynasty, and “Tang the Perfect” was thought to have written much of the I Ching’s text. His wisdom is the very nature of the Three of Wands, daily virtue, daily self renewal.

“Day by day make it new.”

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Chris Gabriel is a twenty four year old wizard and poet who runs the YouTube channel MemeAnalysis.

CHANNEL, SOCIAL, CARDS

Questlove Playlist

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Questlove has been the drummer and co-frontman for the original all-live, all-the-time Grammy Award-winning hip-hop group The Roots since 1987. Questlove is also a music history professor, a best-selling author and the Academy Award-winning director of the 2021 documentary Summer of Soul.

Film

Grappling

Pietro Cavallini, The Last Judgement, 1300

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Ale Nodarse March 5, 2024

How can we picture the unrepresentable?

In the fourteenth-century, Nicephorus Callistus staged a similar question in different terms. Speaking before a painting of the Archangel Michael, he wondered: “How is it that matter can drag the spirit down and encompass the immaterial by means of  colors?”¹

Artists had been grappling with the question for quite some time. And — whether that “immaterial” is first or final love, sudden violence or unexpected salvation, birth, death, or the single night of the year when the cereus flower blossoms; or, whether, as for Callistus, it really is an angel — many of us, artists and viewers, continue to grapple.

Pietro Cavallini’s Last Judgment, completed in 1300 and preserved in Rome’s Basilica di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere — where it stretches across an expanse of wall opposite the nave and where it may still be seen today — raises the question of the unrepresentable in pictorial form. One of the first artists for whom it is possible to provide a bibliography, Cavallini was known for his skill in fresco (a form of wall painting) and mosaic.² He was born, lived, worked, and died in Rome (excluding a decade of patronage in Naples), and he lived a remarkably long life, from (c.) 1240 to 1340, his nearly one hundred years a small miracle at the time.³

Cavallini garnered textual praise as early as the fifteenth century, within the Commentaries of the Florentine sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti: “[He] was more learned than all the other masters,” Ghiberti writes.⁴ Ghiberti singled out Cavallini’s Last Judgment for admiration, suggesting that the artist painted its entirety with his own hand. Nearly all evidence of this claim, however, had evaporated in a series of changes made to the church in the sixteenth century. Renovations began in 1527—when the monastery adjoining the church was occupied by an enclosed order of Benedictine nuns—and continued through the interventions of various cardinals.⁵ The placement of choir-stalls against the basilica’s western wall concealed and, by a miraculous twist of fate, preserved Cavallini’s masterpiece. In 1900, the stalls were removed and the Last Judgement emerged, as if from underground.⁶

Twelve apostles appear holding various attributes. Upon their perspectival bench—the primary architectural element—the apostles look to Christ in his almond-shaped frame. The Virgin Mary and John the Baptist amplify the apostle's gazes, reflected by the row of angels. Below this upper register, Judgement unfolds, with angels as redeemers and executioners. Their bodies vary greatly, with near-human postures assuming greater energy and violence towards the most damned members of the scene.

Certain aspects of the image are to be expected. Comparative analysis points to several Roman precedents with the same archetypal arrangement: six apostles seated on either side of an enthroned Christ, surrounded by angels, the Virgin, and John the Baptist. Other elements derive from more remote sources. The apostolic attributes have been equated to French sculptural precedents, while the downward posturing of Christ’s hands and the careful separation of the scene’s participants speak of Byzantium.⁷ (I picture nuns sitting in front of the angels on mahogany chairs.)

Few tourists know of the fresco today, and visitation remains sparse. On the day of my visit, a young, black-haired woman enters the choir. An elevator’s ding promises the arrival of this only other guest. We look for several minutes, staring silently at our mutual subject. Could Cavallini have anticipated this kind of communion?

I return often to this Almandine Christ, to Cavallini’s Angels. Standing level to figures raised above human scale remains uncanny. The most recent renovation of the space has left an open void of a meter or so between the viewer’s ground and the visionary’s wall. Signs warn one not to step too closely and red ropes provide a peremptory border. This distance seems fitting – the angels too “other,” too ethereal to approach. It is their wings which offer themselves again and again and which continue to catch me, in their shimmering gradation of tones. 

In the choir, you can hear them: birds. But Cavallini’s wings do not belong to them. The wings of these painted angels glisten and elude. Their fields of color radiate. Beginning with the brilliant tufts of the upper white wing, each color—red, blue, and yellow—differs in value with every descendent feather. The tendency is to count: moving down, feather by feather, color by color, in equal steps. Nine: the number of distinct tones gracing the upper wings. Nine: the number of cosmic divisions and the number, according to medieval thought, of the angelic orders. In the thirteenth-century, the philosopher and theologian Robert Grosseteste formulated a color axis based on the manipulation of hue: degrees of brightness beginning in darkness and reaching the intensification of a “burning glass.”⁸ Fittingly, within Cavallini’s Judgement, the greatest intensity—the greatest measurable brightness—emerges from the wings of the Seraphim, the “burning ones.” Their color, in all its exactitude, claims celestial status.

Staring forth, Cavallini’s angels seem indifferent to nature itself, an abstraction. Their alien wings divulge no source beyond the material, the pigments, from which they now emerge. Theirs is a dissimulating suggestion, an image moving away from earthly referents, from birds on this side of sky, to those which lift, gradually, to other heights.

*

Callistus didn’t answer his own question, at least not directly. But he did feel something as he grappled with his painting. “This is [a work] of ardent love,” he writes, “and it kindles the heart.”⁹ Grappling was, and still is, an act of love. 

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¹Cyril A. Mango. The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312-1453: Sources and Documents

²Paul Hetherington, Pietro Cavallini: A Study in the Art of Late Medieval Rome

³On his time in Naples, see Cathleen Fleck, “The Rise of the Court Artist: Cavallini and Giotto in Fourteenth-Century Naples,” Art History 31 no. 4 (September 2008): 460-483. While dates remain imprecise, several art historians have advanced a birth date in the late 1240s, and suggest—from textual evidence—that Cavallini lived for nearly a century, well into the 1330s. 

⁴Lorenzo Ghiberti, I commentari (The Commentaries)

⁵Cardinals Sfondrato and Acquaviva, in 1599 and 1725, respectively.

⁶Hetherington’s analysis (note 2) provides extensive details of the restoration phases.

⁷Ibid.

⁸Hannah E. Smithson, et al. “A Color Coordinate System from a 13th Century Account of Rainbows,” Journal of the Optical Society of America.

⁹Mango, 231.

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Alejandro (Ale) Nodarse Jammal is an artist and art historian. They are a Ph.D. Candidate in History of Art & Architecture at Harvard University and are completing an MFA at Oxford’s Ruskin School of Art. They think often about art — its history and its practice — in relationship to observation, memory, language, and ethics.

Merlin Sheldrake

test

Film

Nonviolent Communication - An Introduction

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Wayland Myers March 5, 2024

Of the millions of species that have come, gone, and are alive today, why are we the ones that  are the most successful, capable, and dominant? It's a question that may or may not ever find its  answer but one track of our evolutionary development is  quite different from any other species. 

Throughout our history, the traits, mutations, inclinations, and cultural practices that improved our abilities to get along and helped sustain group cohesion have been retained, improved, and passed onto future generations - over, and over, and over. Our species has become successful at living in groups of ever-increasing size, complexity, and composition, and we are enjoying the tremendous benefits this makes possible. We are not alone in these skills nor in their benefits, just ask the ants, bees, and termites. 

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Alfabeto in sogno (1683), Giuseppe Maria Mitelli

So, if the human tree has been growing and evolving for a very long time, and over those millennia,  our abilities to get along have passed along and improved, then why are we experiencing such serious divides today? My thoughts are that although our bodies might be done evolving the neurological and sensory capacities needed to help us coexist with each other, the evolution of the emotional, intellectual, and sociological wisdom and skills still has a ways to go. The practice and approach to interpersonal communication known as Nonviolent Communication is offered here as a contribution to that tract of our evolution. 

In the 1960s and 70s, Marshall Rosenberg, a psychologist,  developed a communication  methodology called Nonviolent Communication (NVC). NVC is a set of concepts and  recommendations designed to help us think, speak, and listen in ways that awaken compassion within  ourselves and between us. It is concerned with increasing mutual understanding and respect for differences, and inspiring people to cooperate for the betterment of each. Its goal is to leave us feeling whole and connected, and to ensure our motivations for helping ourselves and each other are not borne of fear, obligation, or guilt, but because helping has become the most fulfilling activity we can imagine.  From experience, it can be truly life changing. 

Marshall dedicated his life to traveling the world, helping countless individuals and groups resolve  conflicts, and teaching NVC to tens of thousands of people. His gentle, profoundly insightful, and  healing soul is missed by many. 

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“Its goal is to leave us feeling whole and connected, and to ensure our motivations for helping ourselves and each other are not borne of fear, obligation, or guilt, but because helping has become the most fulfilling activity we can imagine.”

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Intimacy

There is an old saying that intimacy means “into me see.” I think it describes precisely how  humans go about creating a sense of connection with each other. It's been well documented, and it is clear from experience, that the most powerful thing we can do to create bonds with others is to reveal something we feel vulnerable about. To tell people how we truly feel about someone, something we're embarrassed about, what we dearly desire, the dreams we hope to fulfill, or the ones we criticize ourselves for having is how we can become closer to others. This is exactly what Nonviolent Communication  tries to accomplish. 

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Nonviolent Communication goes about this by helping us maintain the focus of our conversation on  life-enhancing issues. It grounds us specifically in people's well-being and how to improve it, rather  than the evaluative issues of right, wrong, who's to blame, or what people should do. Its concepts  and recommendations help us remember the important points and critical tasks that can inspire  compassion, connection, and generosity in our relationships, and it helps us regain these when they  are temporarily lost. 

One of the most beautiful things about NVC is that its successful use doesn't require that both  people use it. I've used it successfully with many people who know nothing of NVC. Working to  avoid thinking and speaking in ways that can create trouble also helps me minimize being triggered  when the other person engages in them, and together, that makes a huge difference. 

Here is NVC’s first recommendation.

The Practice of Nonviolent Communication 

Try to avoid using forms of expression that generate pain in the listener, as this decreases the  likelihood of a constructive and mutually beneficial connection being made. Two categories of  behaviors are well-known to have this effect. 

The first is the moralistic appraising of another’s behavior, feelings, values, ideas, or choices as  right/wrong, good/bad, reasonable/unreasonable, or fair/unfair and then sharing our appraisal  with them! Moralistic judgments are not only liable to generate emotional pain but also serve  as invitations to engage in stressful, often dead-ended debates. 

The second category of connection-inhibiting behavior is when we try to get people to do what we  want by asking for it in ways that deny them a choice; for example, telling them what they should or  are supposed to do, that we have a right to it, or trying to manipulate them via threats or guilt trips. 

Sadly, we encounter these forms of speech and methods of behavioral coercion often, and equally  sadly, we use them ourselves. How could we not because these methods are what we have been taught and are the norms in many cultures. NVC provides us with an alternative way to achieve even better  results. 

In the next installment, I’ll detail the concepts and recommendations that constitute the practice of  Nonviolent Communication.

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Wayland Myers, Ph.D. is a psychologist who writes books and articles on Nonviolent Communication and other applications of compassion. He was introduced to the Nonviolent Communication process in 1986 by its creator Dr. Marshall Rosenberg, and has since used it extensively in his personal and professional lives with profound and deeply valued results.

Jack Clement - All I Want To Do In Life (Out of Print)

Matt Sweeney March 18, 2024

Jack Clement was a chief architect of both Rock and Roll and Country music and made genre-defining records with Johnny Cash, John Prine, Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Pride, and Townes Van Zandt. For some reason, he allowed his perfect lone 70’s solo album to out of print and this has yet to be rectified.

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Matt Sweeney is a record producer and the host of the popular music series “Guitar Moves”. He is a member of The Hard Quartet (debut album out Fall of 2024). Rick reached out to Matt Sweeney in 2005 after hearing his “Superwolf” album, and invited him to play on albums by Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Adele and many others. Follow Matt Sweeney via Instagram.

The First Six Books of The Elements of Euclid

Hannah Peel Playlist

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Mercury Prize, Ivor Novello and Emmy-nominated, RTS and Music Producers Guild winning composer, with a flow of solo albums and collaborative releases, Hannah Peel joins the dots between science, nature and the creative arts, through her explorative approach to electronic, classical and traditional music.

Film

The Poetic Diary of Ramuntcho Matta (Excerpt I)

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Ramuntcho Matta March 14, 2024

Here I stand. I am invited to do a tribute to my friend Lou Reed. He was a great influence on my desires for a higher life. He helped me understand what music is. That a record is a room full of doors. I met Lou Reed when I was 12 years old, and from that moment, he became a brother of soul. A presence. It's not easy to put into words, that thing beyond a thing.

The song that I sing here is the first collaboration I made with Brion Gysin. Brion wrote the lyrics and I called chords as they came to me.

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I
I want somebody
somebody special

somebody special to live with
somebody special to look after me

I am looking for somebody
somebody special
and if that somebody special looks after me ?

I got the hands and the heart to give with
I am not all that hard
hard to live with

who can this somebody 
somebody special
possibly be ? 

maybe 
this somebody
somebody special
can only be
me
me
me

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I was 15 when I met Brion and a disaster. After three days in a new school, the principal called me into his office:

“I understand that your preference is to be on the street and you’re right, you can learn a lot of precious things out there, but my function here is to educate you. I will offer you a deal: if you come to poetry and philosophy lessons and you help a friend a mine, a dying old man, by cooking for him, helping him to clean himself and just being there, then I won’t tell your parents that you’re not going to school and every year I will put you on the next level”. That old man was Brion Gysin.

It is better to have a body than not, but worst of all is to not be prepared for the loss of it. We started by studying the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Egyptian Book of Breathing. It took Brion ten years to die so we had time to study this and other things. He had spent 23 years of his life in Morocco, initiating himself to the keys of invisibility, and to the keys of time. 

I was 16 when we made that song. Brion had been writing songs since the 1940s but he never had the courage to sing them. So I wrote the music to try and put him on the track he had feared. 

Music is, for me, one of the keys, but the key to what door?

The song starts with an "I" and ends with “me, me, me". Is there one I and three mes? Sometimes we need a substitute personality to handle confusions and another me can come in, and then another one, and a third and so on. But when we have too many, how can we get rid of them?

You have to ride on
And fly in

Every morning I do a little drawing and I put some lyrics on them, like a song. Drawing is music, it is vibrations and frequencies, colors and feelings. Words arrive and then something else entirely joins them.

I 
I want something
something special

something special to live with
something special to look after me

What is ‘me’ is a good question. How is ‘me’ is a better one. How do I become a better me is better yet.

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Ramuntcho Matta is a producer, sound designer and visual artist.

Dr. Jack Kruse and Bill Gifford