APPENDIX C
Chants and Songs

The Fire Song

Words and music by Starhawk

We can rise with the fire of freedom
Truth is a fire that burns our chains
And we can stop the fire of destruction
Healing is a fire running through our veins

I wrote this chant especially for a blockade at the Livermore Weapons Laboratories, which took place on February 2, 1982. The second of February is the Celtic holiday sacred to Brigid, Goddess of smithcraft, poetry, and healing.

 

The Return

Native American

The earth, the water, the fire, the air,
Return, return, return, return
.

One version of this song is sung by Michael Tierra on a tape of chants called The Giveaway.

 

The Flow and the Ebb

Words and music by Shekinah Mountainwater

We are the flow, we are the ebb,
We are the weavers, we are the web
.

I learned this chant in the women’s jail at the Diablo Blockade. As we were ending our ritual on the Equinox in a moment of sweet silence, the guards told us we had to go back into the main room. Someone quietly began chanting this, stood up, took the hand of the woman next to her, and led a snake dance into the room where the other women were. We circled the room and everyone in it, making the perfect end to the ritual. I thank Shekinah Mountainwater for sharing this chant.

 

She Changes Everything She Touches

Words and Music by Starhawk

She changes everything she touches and
Everything she touches, changes

Change is    Touch is

Touch is    Change is

We are changers

Everything we touch can change

Change us    Touch us

Touch us    Change us

Verses are not sung in order, but simultaneously by different people, as they occur to each person.

 

Goddess Chant

Words by Deena Metzger and music by Caitlin Mullin

Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate

Demeter, Kali, Inanna

Sung by Charlie Murphy in the song “The Burning Times” recorded in 1981 on the album Catch The Fire.

All music transcribed by Newbury Music Library and Publishers.