SONIC ESSENCES sleeve notes
support for Ukraine
100% of the proceeds from sales of Sonic Essences will go to direct humanitarian relief for the people of Ukraine via People in Need, a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization that’s been working on the ground in Ukraine since 2014.
about
Sonic essences are audio blends of whispered mantras, flower essences, music, sounds from the natural world, and divinatory guidance. These tracks provide shiny, otherworldly spaces for you to slip into for meditation, manifestation, dreaming, creativity, bodywork sessions, yoga, and more. Sonic essences concentrate the energies that go into making them, and every time they’re played, they send those energies out into the world. They’re like aural prayer flags.
Several years ago, after I started creating my own flower essences, I intuited that if I consumed an essence before creating a music track, my body, voice, and consciousness could infuse the energy of that essence into the music. This would allow me to create a track that delivered the essence sonically, making it stronger and more easily shareable. I decided to embed essences in field recordings of mantras, singing, and other sounds, and I named the resulting audio tracks “sonic essences.” Since then, I’ve created sonic essences privately for my patrons and people who’ve commissioned originals, I’ve performed them live, and I’ve integrated them into my daily meditation and movement practices. They’re powerful and beneficial for a variety of purposes.
Everything is energy, and energy is vibrational. Sound vibrations evoke changes in energy fields and physical media; geometric forms and other shapes emerge in response to sound waves. Researchers and visual artists have shown how this looks through cymatics, the study of vibrational wave phenomena. Some of the Sonic Essences tracks feature artworks with shapes made by me singing tones into a cymatics generator.
When you create sound waves for specific purposes, as sonic essences are designed to do, you can evoke specific physical and energetic changes in your life, just as different sound waves evoke different images on cymatics plates.
Sound creates form. Play with it and see.
You can play sonic essences during meditation, manifestation, and ritual work. You can listen to them as you daydream, stargaze, bathe, or prepare for sleep. Some folks say sonic essences are good background ambience for creative work like writing, knitting, and painting. You can play them as prayers, as vehicles for exploring consciousness, or as rooms for listening. The only activities I wouldn’t partner sonic essences with are driving vehicles and operating machinery, as they may put you into a light trance state.
This album includes a Sonic Essences booklet as a PDF download with notes about everything that went into creating each track (mantras, flower essences, and field recordings), an FAQ, plus images from the making process.
Because sonic essences feature field recordings of mantras and other sounds, I’ve been describing this album to friends as “meditation meets musique concrète.”
tracks
Remover of Obstacles
Divine Love
Success
Protection
Celestial Physician
Compassion
Parachute
Prosperity
works cited
Ashley-Farrand, Thomas. Healing Mantras: Using Sound Affirmations for Personal Power, Creativity, and Healing. New York: Ballantine, 1999.
Easwaran, Eknath. The Mantram Handbook. Berkeley, CA: Nilgiri Press, 1998.
Jenny, Hans. Cymatics: A Study of Wave Phenomena and Vibration. Newmarket, NH: Macromedia Publishing, 2001.
Lynch, David. Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity. Narrated by David Lynch. New York: Penguin Audio, 2006. Audiobook.
thanks to
my patrons—for fueling Sonic Essences with your love, first listens, and generosity, and for making this album possible—I’m deeply grateful for every one of you
Andrew Weathers—for your exquisite ears and mastering (nailing it on the first round, wow!)
Karla Capacetti—for teaching me how to make flower essences and for your magical presence
Alyson Plante—for your artistic assistance, generosity, and love—so many cheers and hugs are coming your way!
Michelle Cassandra Johnson—for recording your amazing bees from the Sting and Isis hives and for your friendship, magic, and love
Chuck Cunningham—for your keen eye, your wry wit, and your generous gift that keeps on giving
Jeff T. Byrd, Giovanna Giaco, and Mohammad Asadi—for sharing your inspiring field recordings and photographs for remixing via the creative commons
Kim Dupre—for holding space for this project and for your friendship and encouragement
Thomas Ashley-Farrand, Eknath Easwaran, Hans Jenny, and David Lynch—for your teachings and support on the meditative, mantric, sonic, and creative paths
Dhanvantre, Durga, Ganesha, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Brahma-rishi Vishwamitra, Brahma-rishi Vasistha, Paramahansa Yogananda, Sri Sri Yukteswar, Mother Meera, and all my spiritual teachers and guides—for your divine grace, guidance, and support
Brent Winter—for loving my weirdness, for editing my texts, and for your immensely generous support and wide-open heart—you inspire me to be a better human every single day
Elder Malidoma Patrice Somé (1956-2021)—for your presence, your teachings, and the tremendous changes you shepherded me through as I “jumped into the hands of Spirit” to follow this musical path—your life was a blazing-bright gift to Earth, and I will always be grateful for you
credits
released April 1, 2022
PRODUCTION—Produced, recorded, and mixed by Angela Winter; mastered by Andrew Weathers, andrewweathers.com
PUBLISHING—Written and published by Angela Winter (ASCAP)
PERFORMANCES—Field recordings, vocals, and synths by Angela Winter. Additional field recordings on Prosperity: honeybees of the Sting and Isis hives by Michelle Cassandra Johnson in Winston-Salem, NC; hummingbirds feeding by Jeff T. Byrd in Orcas Island, WA, freesound.org; coins falling by Giovanna Giaco in Sao Paulo, Brazil, freesound.org
DESIGN—Sunflower (album cover) grown and photographed by Angela Winter; blue field and yellow flower photograph (on-disc print, back jacket of the CD) by Mohammad Asadi, @mohammadix on Unsplash; CD jacket design by Angela Winter; CD merch image design by Alyson Plante, Plante Creative Studio, Richmond, VA; track notes, photos, and Sonic Essences booklet design by Angela Winter
PHOTOGRAPHY—Photograph of Angela Winter on this page by Chuck Cunningham, No Context Zine, @nocontextzine, Mebane, NC; digital art by Alyson Plante, Plante Creative Studio, Richmond, VA; all other photos by Angela Winter
SONIC ESSENCES BOOKLET—Download PDF here. Includes notes about everything that went into creating each track (mantras, flower essences, and field recordings), an FAQ, plus images from the making process.
Send flower seeds and mandalas to: Winter Creative Studio, 304 W. Weaver St. Suite 230, Carrboro, NC 27510, USA
dedicated to Elder Malidoma Patrice Somé (1956-2021)
©℗ 2022 Angela Winter, All Rights Reserved
faq
What’s a mantra, and how does it work?
A mantra is:
a short, spoken phrase
designed to generate powerful sound waves
for a specific purpose.
Mantra expert, author, and teacher Thomas Ashley-Farrand writes that a “mantra is a tool for healing problems that we all face in life.”
Here’s what filmmaker, artist, and longtime meditator David Lynch has to say about mantras: “You don’t meditate on the meaning of it, but it’s a very specific sound-vibration-thought” (from “The First Dive,” Catching the Big Fish).
Anyone—regardless of their religion, spiritual practice, and/or scientific bent—can use mantras.
The phrases in mantras come from different traditions and places around the world; however, as sounds they are universal. Most mantras that I include in my sonic essences are in Sanskrit, the sacred language of Hinduism, from the Indian subcontinent.
Everything is energy, and energy is vibrational. Sound vibrations evoke changes in energy fields and physical media; geometric forms and other patterns emerge in response to sound waves. Researchers and visual artists have shown how this process looks through cymatics, the study of vibrational wave phenomena. Some of the Sonic Essences tracks feature artworks depicting shapes made by me singing tones into a cymatics generator.
When you create sound waves for specific purposes, as mantras and sonic essences are designed to do, you can evoke specific physical and energetic changes in your life, just as different sound waves evoke different images on cymatics plates.
Sound creates form. Play with it and see.
What’s a flower essence, and how does it work?
Flower essences are liquids that carry the energetic imprint of flowers; they’re used to support people in making gentle, energy-based changes.
As with sound waves, the vibrations of specific flowers are thought to evoke changes in the human body and energy field. When you ingest a few drops of a flower essence, you’re inviting the energies of that flower to evoke specific changes in your body and energy field, such as shifting your emotional state.
I use flower essences spiritually, not scientifically. Though there’s some evidence that flower essences may help alleviate anxiety and pain, the science is lacking for other uses and outcomes. Regardless, the placebo effect is well documented, and if flower essences activate that effect in favorable ways, I say: let’s do this!
How do you make your flower essences?
I make flower essences first by meditating and asking for divine guidance. Once I’m clear about the essence I’d like to make, I ask the plant for permission to harvest a blossom. (I believe everything has consciousness in its own way.) If the plant grants permission, I cut a flower and immerse its stem in a small glass jar of spring water. Sometimes I’ll add a gemstone; other times I’ll invite the spirit of an animal, bird, reptile, or insect to join the soaking party. I set the glass jar in the sun for a number of hours that I’ve divined. Occasionally a rainstorm appears during the soaking process, and if that happens, its energy becomes part of the essence, too.
When the essence is finished soaking, I strain the liquid into a clear glass container, preserve it with 80-proof alcohol (usually rum), and dilute it three times—once as a mother essence, a second time as a stock essence, and finally as a dosage tincture. As Karla, the bee priestess and goddess who taught me how to make essences, said: “The goal is to get the energetic essence of the plant, stone, animal, weather into the tiniest dilution so that it can penetrate the tiniest openings/wounds of our hearts and souls. :)”
I’ve made and worked with flower essences for years, and I’ve felt them supporting me in subtle yet powerful ways. Or maybe it’s all in my head. Whatever works! Like life, this is an experiment.
Do you make custom sonic essences?
Yes, I’ve been making custom essences since 2019 for people who’ve commissioned them, and I’m glad to create one for you or for someone you love as a unique, personalized gift. Custom sonic essences delivered by video are also an option. If you’d like one, contact me for details and pricing.
Where can I get the track notes for this album?
Download the Sonic Essences booklet (PDF) here. You’ll get notes about everything that went into creating each track, including the mantras, their pronunciations and meanings, the flower essences and their purposes, and the field recordings. The booklet also includes suggestions for how and when to use each sonic essence.
Are sonic essences a form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)?
No. They’re a form of original art, and they’re intended to be played for creative, meditative, and ritual purposes as well as for relaxation, background ambiance, and as aural prayer flags.
For me, sonic essences are an artistic and energetic experiment. To my knowledge, no one has delivered blends of flower essences, mantras, and vocals in audio form until now. No studies have been done on sonic essences or their efficacy. Please use them at your own discretion, and let your intuition guide you.
I offer sonic essences as an artist, not a CAM practitioner. That said, years ago I trained to work as a polarity therapist—an energy-based healing modality that blends sound, movement, naturopathic principles, and energy work. I maintained a private practice for several years as a Registered Polarity Practitioner, and I taught workshops and classes as a Certified Polarity Educator.
Though I let go of my private practice and teaching certificate long ago to focus on music and writing, I continue to work with the energetic principles I learned. In today’s extremely polarized world, I’m grateful to have studied polarity and energy-based healing. This awareness continues to inform my artistic work.
Where can I hear new sonic essences?
I create a new sonic essence each month for my patrons, who hear these tracks first and receive downloadable audio files for their personal use. Please consider joining these lovely, generous angels at https://www.patreon.com/angelawinter. All my patrons receive all the gifts I offer each month, regardless of level of support, because every contribution matters. They made creating and sharing this album possible. I’m deeply grateful to every one of them.
Sonic Essences is available on Bandcamp
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