Music
I have learned many songs in women’s circles that I have participated in for years and I am not sure of their origin. Many I have learned from CDs and I have listed them here. I have placed an asterisk next to those that I think will be most helpful. They are excellent sources. If you want just one song, many can be downloaded from the internet or Amazon.
CDs
Ani Williams, Magdalene’s Gift, Songs to the Beloved, Sisters of the Dream, Songs of the Jaguar, Children of the Sun, and Wind Spirit
Brooke Medicine Eagle, A Gift of Song and For My People
*Charlie Murphy and Jami Sieber, Canticles of Light
Dawn L. Ferguson, Heartsongs of the Universe
David and Steve Gordon, Misty Forest Morning
Enya, The Memory of Trees
*Flight of the Hawk, Shamanic Songs and Ritual Chants
Florence Lorraine Bayes, In All Her Fullness
*Jennifer Berezan, Praises for the World
*Libana, The Circle is Cast
Lisa Thiel, Vocation of the Graces
Medwyn Goodall, Medicine Woman
*Moving Breath, She Changes: A Collection of Songs from Healing Circles
Nakai, Earth Spirit
Performers at the Women of Wisdom Conference in Seattle, Wisdom of Women Collection, Empowering the Dreams & Spirit of Women
*Reclaiming and Friends, Chants: Ritual Music
Robert Grass & Women on Wings of Song, Ancient Mother
Shawna Carol, Mystic Soul: Songs of Celebration and Goddess Chant: Sacred Pleasures
She Carries Me, Returning
Suggested Songs
Here is a list of songs and ways that you can find them. It is to your advantage to collect the words and make copies of your songs to pass out for your circles and ceremonies. You can look them up on the internet by title or author or by the CD mentioned. You can also look up women’s circle songs, Pagan songs, and nature songs.
For Calling in Spirit
“Listen, Listen, Listen to my Heart Song” (a Paramahansa Yogananda chant)
“Oh, Great Spirit, Earth, Sun, Sky and Sea. You are inside and all around me” (a Native American chant by Adele Getty)
“Oh, Great Spirit I’m Calling on You” (on the Flight of the Hawk CD)
“Spirit Above Me” (words set to traditional music by Mujiba Cabugos)
For Creativity
“Spiraling into the Center” (by Lorna Kohler, on the Flight of the Hawk CD)
“There’s a River of Birds in Migration” (on the Libana CD)
“We All Come from the Goddess” (traditional, on the She Changes CD by Moving Breath)
“We are the Weaver. We are the Web” (traditional, by Starhawk)
For Honoring the Ancestors
“It’s the Blood of the Ancients” (by Ellen Klaver, on the Charlie Murphy CD and on the internet)
“Like the Old Ones Gone Before” (on the She Changes CD)
“Old Ones Hear Us” by Mujiba Cabugos
“We Are the Old Ones” (on the Flight of the Hawk CD)
For Honoring the Earth
“All My People” by Brooke Medicine Eagle
“I Walk Your Sacred Ground” by Brooke Medicine Eagle
“Mother I Feel You” by Diane Martin and Windsong
“Where I Sit Is Holy” by Adele Getty
For Honoring the Goddess
“We All Come from the Goddess” (traditional)
“The River Song” by Diana Hildebrand-Hull
“Blood of the Ancients” by Ellen Klavor
“Honored Maiden Huntress” (traditional, on the She Changes CD)
“Changing Woman” by Adele Getty
“Isis, Astarte, Diana” by Deena Metzger
“She’s Been Waiting” (traditional, by Paula Wallowitz on the She Changes CD)
For Honoring the Mystery
“Oh, Great Spirit, Earth, Sun, Sky and Sea. You are inside and all around me” (a Native American chant by Adele Getty)
“Oh, Great Spirit I’m Calling on You” (on the Flight of the Hawk CD)
“Sweet Surrender” (on the Flight of the Hawk CD)
“There Is a Secret One Inside” (from poem by Kabir, Tr. Robert Bly)
“Where I Sit is Holy” by Adele Getty
For Honoring Trees
“Oh, Cedar Tree” by Joseph Hillaire
For Meditating
“The Light in the Mystery” or “The Song of Remembrance” (on the She Changes CD)
For Honoring the Elements
“Earth Our Body” (traditional, on the She Changes CD)
“The earth, the air, the fire the water, return, return, return, return” (by Starhawk on Chants: Ritual Music CD)
For Healing
“Like the Old Ones” (on the She Changes CD)
“Old Ones Hear Us” by Mujiba Cabugos
“Spirit Above Me” (on the She Changes CD)
Ending Songs
“May the Circle Be Open” (traditional)
“Merry Meet” (traditional)
“We Are a Circle” by Rick Hamouris
For the Holidays
For Winter Solstice
“I Walk Your Sacred Ground” by Brooke Medicine Eagle
“Light is Returning” by Charlie Murphy
“Old Ones Hear Us” by Mujiba Cabugos
For Imbolc
“Sweet Surrender” (on the Flight of the Hawk CD)
“The River Song” by Diana Hilderbrand-Hull
“We all Come from the Goddess” (traditional)
For Spring Equinox
“Mother I Feel You” by Diane Martin and Windsong
“Oh, Great Spirit, Earth, Sun, Sky and Sea. You are inside and all around me” (a Native American chant by Adele Getty)
“Spirit above Me” (on the She Changes CD)
For Beltane
I really like to use the poem “The Charge of the Goddess” (traditional), which can be found online, or on Jennifer Berezan’s CD, She Carries Me, #1: She Who Hears the Cries of the World. This is such an excellent invocation for calling on the Great Mother and I highly recommend it. Or play “Sacred Pleasures” by Shawna Carol on her CD, Goddess Chant.
“The earth, the air, the fire the water, return, return, return, return” (by Starhawk on Chants: Ritual Music CD)
“Where I Sit is Holy” by Adele Getty
“We All Come from the Goddess” (traditional)
For Summer Solstice
“I Walk Your Sacred Ground” by Brooke Medicine Eagle
“Sweet Surrender” (on the Flight of the Hawk CD)
“We are All One with the Infinite Sun Forever and Ever and Ever” (traditional)
For Lammas
“Secret One Inside” (from a poem by Kabir, Tr. Robert Bly)
“The River Song” by Diana Hilderbrand-Hull
“We all Come from the Goddess” (traditional)
For Fall Equinox
“Om Tare Tuttare Soha” (This is a chant from Tibet. You can find it on the internet.)
“The earth, the air, the fire, the water, return, return, return, return” by Starhawk
“We are the Old Ones” (on the Flight of the Hawk CD)
For Samhain
Play a recording of “The Burning Times” by Charlie Murphy. You can download it from the internet. It is worth your time to do this, as it is a song that will serve you well at this time of year when we remember those who have gone before us.
“The Blood of the Ancients” by Ellen Klavor
“Like the Old Ones Gone Before” (on the She Changes CD)
“Old Ones Hear Us” by Mujiba Cabugos