Collaboration Occurred thanks to Choralnet.org

Thanks to posting a request to collaborate for a short collage-film in progress, I was contacted by the multi-talented Cathy McEvoy, https://cathymcevoy.com/

Via our correspondence I was introduced to her lovely composition, An Coinneal (Irish for “candle”).

I live in the United States and Cathy lives in Ireland, so I am really bowled over that due to the geographically all-encompassing Choralnet we were able to come together and bring this work to fruition.

About the video:

“Becoming Prayers”

I have written words based on my daily prayers to accompany this short collage-film, something I was not really expecting to do & don’t particularly feel that safe about, but creative openness demands risk. I think of this work (and myself), as spiritual but not necessarily religious and the images contained in this project are based on breathing while in the standard yoga lotus position. There are over two hundred images fading/melding in to one another & as a meditative exercise I actually feel the film can be just as peacefully powerful if viewed with the sound muted. Considering my voice, some might prefer it that way! I started the images from this series before Covid but they really coalesced quite quickly during lockdown. It was as if they wanted to be out there, promoting healing for others, and it is my hope they do just that.

May Our Saying these Words be like Prayers

Namaste
Namaste

(Hold us lotus, hold us, float us
Hold us lotus, hold us, float us

Ethereal

Angel show us this place to go to
when there is too much hate in the world.

Hold us lotus, hold us, float us
Hold us lotus, hold us, float us

Angel, let doves come
& glowing butterflies swirl

Hold us lotus, hold us, float us
Hold us lotus, hold us, float us…) becoming softer background chorus throughout

Good day Ganesha & happy infinity to you.
We hope & pray you are well,
with your ability to removed obstacles undiminished
& continuing to bring you great happiness and bliss.
May this energy be forever replenished
by an abundance of love & gratitude
for all the souls you have helped remove obstacles for
& continue to.
May this energy be like a quietly rising,
buoying effervescent geyser
of champagne-ticklishness
feeding and being fed by secret underground brooks,
brooks leading to pools, nearly still, but quietly rippling,
reflecting, balanced on beauteous harmony.
May the same secret underground brooks
feeding & being fed by these pools
also continue feeding & being fed by the surrounding shores
of verdant, fertile, forever oxygenating green.
May this be your Manna, your Nirvana, your Ambrosia, your home-base,
so we may look to you to feel you looking back upon us
helping us to look back upon you, ourselves & one another
& say sometimes singularly, sometimes in a joyous chorus of unison,
the simply profound words, chant, mantra, concept, phrase:
Namsaste, Ganesha, Namaste.

Angels
Angels

May we all meet up with the most intelligent compassionate angels
to help us with our angels helping us
to stand on our own two feet
in good & healthy & happy ways.

World enough & time

May we all know world & enough & time
to count our daily blessings both big & small,
for even from the smallest blessing
great grace may abound
& the impetus be found
for us to carry on another day
& another night.

Yes, may we pray for ourselves & one another
in regards to our own inevitable mortality
& the mortality of all our beloveds.
Please help us through our grief & our mourning,
stage after stage
the loss & the anger
the anguish, agony & the angst,
the misery & the suffering,
the denial & the bargaining,
(stage after stage…)

Please help us to reach deep down
& bring forth the strongest aspects of our love,
the strength, the grace, the kindness, the patience,
the tenderness, the gentleness, the empathy, the compassion,
the thoughtfulness, the perception, the understanding,
the sensitivity & the insight
so that the one who is going
feels wrapped up & swaddled, cradled by absolute loving energy
as if held aloft
& go without fear, go without pain,
go entirely trusting insuch endless, all-encompassing,
unconditional loving energy
& so that the one who is left on these shores
can build a bridge of faith & belief
from the knowledge of such love
to know that are souls
are yet inextricably connected
& somehow finding the means to communicate
whether there is an afterworld or not.

May we all know deep peace,
breathe it up from the roots of the Earth,
the secret underground grottos & streams,
the root-rich fertility of minerals & nutrients
breathe it up into our own bloodstreams, bones, marrow,
tissues, organs, tendons, neurons, neurological systems,
lungs & cilia, cells, atoms, ions, & protons,
the energy from which all is composed & returns.

May this deep peace help us feel for
all the other countries & continents & bodies of water
in & of this Earth, this Universe,
the moon, the sun, the stars, the planets, the heavens,
life in & on land, all land,
in & on water, all water,
in & on air, all air,
the locked drops arising
for we are all like coppery salmon swimming
through silver & white froth.

May we pray for our extended family of humanity
& all other species & forms of life
whomever & wherever they may be,
gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual,
poly-sexual, transsexual, transgender & intersex,
all aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces & nephews,
grandparents & grandchildren, mothers & fathers,
sisters & brothers, husbands& wives,
all lovers, friends & acquaintances, so many strangers
& so many we may deem as being the enemy
& those who might deem us as being the enemy
because of & despite of our similarities & differences
whoever, whatever, & wherever they may be—–
racial, religious, sexual, ethnic, geographic,
social, national, international, weaponry & natural resources,
the needs, the fears, the wants, the greed, the real & the perceived.

May we pray for all our passed on beloved & ancestors
somewhere in our hearts, our souls, our systems,
whether we even knew or liked one another or not
& those where the love was palpable
if not articulated.

May we meet again in absolute bliss, happiness,
lightness, energy & love.

May our saying these words be like prayers
beyond all negativity & toxicity,
prayers beyond suicide, depression & self-hate,
prayers beyond rage & loathing & anger & disgust,
prayers beyond cruelty & viciousness, contempt & scorn,
jealousy, envy & spite
prayers beyond indifference, complacency & apathy,
bitterness & cynicism,
prejudice, pestilence, impoverishment, & violence,
natural & man-made disasters,
genocide & wars.

May our singing these words be faith for hope & kindness,
mercy & tenderness, gentleness, humility & patience & thoughtfulness,
empathy & compassion,
& passion without madness,
prayers for true open-hearted sincerity for the sake
of true unadulterated goodness, mercy & charity
prayers for energy, ebullience & radiance,
harmony & health,
prayers for peace, love, hope, faith , grace & ruth,
prayers for peace, love, hope, faith, grace & ruth.