Takes Gold

Honolulu

Another in the family of chants fueled by the game of "singing about things we never sing about in the fire circle". I decided that the most insanely unlikely topic possible for a fire circle chant would be "banking" (!?!). This song is probably the most challenging chant I have written to date, and at the same time I think it may well have turned out to be the most clever. I was still having LOTS of fun singing the Burn the Lead chant, with all its alchemical metaphors. The original idea for the song started out at as a "third" part for that chant (and the first line still works well for that). But, in the end, the chant became a delightful statement on the value of investing oneself in a practice of some sort....

LYRICS:

it takes gold to make gold
persistence is the payment toward the premium
i invest myself in the currency of commitment
deposit and compound my interest every day
profit is gained by avoiding self inflation
appreciating assets and balancing my reserves

1...2...3...4...

C.Dk.kCkD.D.C..

Burn the Lead

Honolulu

Still on the trail of topics we never sing about in the circle... here's a scotoma (blind spot): there were no songs about Alchemy!?!  This seemed incredible to me.  It's one thing to understand there being no songs about Atheism... but Alchemy is so deeply woven into the fabric of the expression of fire circle that I love.  If you have ever studied Alchemy, you know that the layers of intricacy are endless - so what a challenge to try to bring the essence of the process of refinement into a chant! "Burn the Lead" hints at the stages in a seven phase description of the Alchemical process.  I gleefully chomped at the bit until the Winter Solstice Gathering finally arrived and I could spring it on Spinner and Magnus, two of my favorite playmates and collaborators in the Alchemical Fire Circle.  This song is dedicated to the two of them in appreciation for the many riches they bring to my life, and to the lives of others.

On a related note, when I went hunting for an Alchemical image to include here, the one I liked the most turned out to be a work by Gaelyn Larrick, another friend in the Family of Fire! 

LYRICS:

burn the lead into fine ash
dissolve it in hidden waters
wind separates the chaff - what remains;
union in the fruitful earth

where the peacock tail reveals the subtle
awaiting within the gross
the elixir is distilled, obtaining
the illumination of the Sun
so I've begun to

principles of alchemy
planetary mythology
salt sulfur mercury
bring the gold on home in me

1...2...3...4...
C..kC..k.kD.C...