Europe

 Ireland

May Day has been celebrated in Ireland since pagan times as the feast of Beltane and in latter times as Mary's day, bonfires are lit to mark the coming of summer and to banish the long nights of winter.

 United Kingdom

Roodmas was an explicitly Christian Mass celebrated in England at midnight on May 1, presumably to diminish the popularity of traditional Walpurgis Night celebrations.

England

Morris dancing on May Day in Oxford, England 2004.

Traditional English May Day rites and celebrations include Morris dancing, crowning a May Queen and celebrations involving a Maypole. Much of this tradition derive from the pagan Anglo-Saxon customs held during "Þrimilci-mōnaþ"^[3] (the Old English name for the month of May meaning Month of Three Milkings).

May Day has been a traditional day of festivities throughout the centuries. With Christianity came agricultural feasts such as Plough Sunday (the first Sunday in January), Rogationtide, Harvest Festival and May Day. It is most associated with towns and villages celebrating springtime fertility and revelry with village fetes and community gatherings. Since May 1st is the Feast of St Philip & St James, they became the patron saints of workers. Seeding has been completed by this date and it was convenient to give farm labourers a day off. Perhaps the most significant of the traditions is the Maypole, around which traditional dancers circle with ribbons.

Water responds to words it makes beautiful crystals for beautiful words and ugly crystals for ugly words...

When asked "What is your secret for longevity?" Ms Kazue Kato (an activist of womens's liberation and a politician in Japan) said "I have ten experiences a day that touch my heart.  That is my secret of longevity".  She lived to be 104 years old...

"I thought this was wonderful.  I can understand what she meant very well.  By having experiences that touch our heart, we can resonate with good "hado" which in turn will correct any disturbances in our body's intrinsic "hado".

In the morning, I get up and go out to see the sun.  My heart is touched by the beauty of the bright sun, and I feel grateful that I am alive.  I feel like worshiping the sun.  Looking at the garden, I find beautiful morning-glory flowers that also touch my heart.

In this manner, if I can start my day with experiences that touch my heart, the day will turn out to be great.

If I were to describe the experience of being touched in exaggerated terms, it is to have an exchange of our vital forces.  We resonate with each other.  I receive the vibration of the sun and also from the morning glory flowers.  In return, I send my vibration to the sun and the morning glory flowers.  When we can exchange wonderful vibrations, we can say that we are "sharing our lives".......

We must pay respect to water, feel love and gratitude and receive vibrations with a positive attitude.

Then, water changes, you change and I change.  Because both you and I are water.

from the book "The True Power of Water" -  Healing and discovering ourselves (HADO) - Masaru Emoto

Wonderful scenery and medicine animals....

The emotion of real love is Light, and if we think of the suffering in the world with compassion, as we imagine Christ thought of it, we can send forth a great Light which will find a resting place in the heart of the weary and the sad and the sick, and will in time create a new life, a new body.

The Civilization of Su

Let me tell you the meaning of su (pronounced "soo" as in soothe) before going into further explanation of the title. As you see, it means "a dot in a circle." If it were just that it might seem to have no specific significance, but I must tell you nothing has a more mystic, profound and great significance than the form of su. Let me first explain the meaning of the circle. All things in the universe are created in this form. The sun, the moon and the earth are round in shape. The spirit of a human being, when it moves from one place to another, is in the shape of a round ball. Divine spirits also move in circular forms. Though a divine spirit and a human spirit are the same in shape, the one is composed of bright light and the other has an opaque body that is yellowish or whitish in color with little luster. As you know, this world is created in the shape of a globe. A globe without a center would be just an empty shell, like a human body without a soul. It is only when a soul enters the body that it becomes a conscious being and is able to be active. A dot in a circle - su - symbolizes the completion of a creation. The finishing touch an artist gives to his creation is called in Japanese, "putting the soul in." This means the same thing. In this sense, the age which is now passing has been one that was without this dot, or soul, so to speak. I once called the Old Age one of external civilization, for this emptiness of the inside is manifested in all phases of the old civilization. Symptomatic treatments for diseases are good examples of the external civilization.....

for more on this go to http://www.johreifoundation.org - click on essays by Mokichi Okada half way down the page on the right hand side

Mokichi Okada was a Japanese man who lived from 1882-1955. Okada was a poet, artist, mystic, visionary, businessman, husband, father, and spiritual teacher.

His vision was to create a world of peace, health, and prosperity for us all - a paradise on earth.

Mokichi Okada practiced and taught the process of sharing universal energy for the benefit of all and the understanding that we all can increase our health and happiness by bringing beauty into our lives and eating naturally grown foods. One can say that he had a deep connection to divine energy and his teachings are based on that source of inspiration as well as his very own life's experiences.

In his lifetime, Okada built and inspired the creation of magnificent art museums, filled with inspirational art pieces that he collected. He believed that all art of a higher inspiration or vibration were to be shared with everyone and not just cloistered within the collections of the privileged few. He designed exquisite gardens and structures that he envisioned as prototypes of an ideal community.

Johrei was introduced to America in 1953, and Johrei Fellowship centers exist throughout the United States. Okada's inspired writings are practical, simple teachings of common sense that offer guidance in order to achieve health, spiritual upliftment and happiness. Many of Okada's books are translated into English, Portuguese and Spanish, and can be purchased at Johrei Fellowship centers here in the United States.

http://www.johreifoundation.org/ 

Everything has its intrinsic vibration..... 

"Our mind and body are affected by this depending on what intrinsic vibrtion we resonate with.  In human relations, we often say that we are or are not on the same wavelength with someone.  This is also related to vibration and resonance.

In a workplace, you may come across a situation like this:  An employee thinks "I know my boss is a nice person, but we are not on the same wavelength.  I find it difficult to deal with him".  By the same token, the boss may be feeling, "He is working hard, but I don't like what he does".

The boss and the employee are clearly on different wavelengths.  No matter how hard they force themselves to work together, their efforts may be wasted.  However, if they turn their efforts to tuning into each other's hado - thinking things from the other's perspective - they will be able to understand each other.

A typical example of hado at work in human relations is that of a man and a woman who meet and fall in love.  When they meet, their hados coincide and a resonance occurs.  As long as their hado is not affected by external factors their relationship will last long.  On the other hand, if the hado of one person is disturbed, their speech, behaviour, habits and so on, which were once acceptable, may sddenly become intolerable to the other person and the relationship may come to an end.

That is why hado at the level of subatomic particles affects us."

text - Masaru Emoto from "The True Power of Water" HADO or Healing and Discovering Ourselves

note:  It is coming more and more into the light that whenever we tune into or meet anothers "hado" that we always need to come back to self, to who we are intrinsically.  Our inner home is our sanctuary and place of being.  When we venture out ie "social networking" or indeed any other relationship that we need to come back to self, to what is important to us and our life.  We need to be "at one" with ourselves to be "healthy".

Blessings
Tai

Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate compassion, mercy.

Address 1981

True compassion is universal in scope.  It is accompanied by a feeling of responsibility.

"The True Expression of Nonviolence Is Compassion"

Compassion compels us to reach out to all living beings, including our so-called enemies, those people who upset or hurt us.  Irrespective of what they do to you, if you remember that all beings like you are only trying to be happy, you will find it much easier to develop compassion toward them.

Drum therapy is an ancient approach that uses rhythm to promote healing and self-expression. From the shamans of Mongolia to the Minianka healers of West Africa, therapeutic rhythm techniques have been used for thousands of years to create and maintain physical, mental, and spiritual health.

Current research is now verifying the therapeutic effects of ancient rhythm techniques. Recent research reviews indicate that drumming accelerates physical healing, boosts the immune system and produces feelings of well-being, a release of emotional trauma, and reintegration of self.

Other studies have demonstrated the calming, focusing, and healing effects of drumming on Alzheimer's patients, autistic children, emotionally disturbed teens, recovering addicts, trauma patients, and prison and homeless populations. Study results demonstrate that drumming is a valuable treatment for stress, fatigue, anxiety, hypertension, asthma, chronic pain, arthritis, mental illness, migraines, cancer, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, stroke, paralysis, emotional disorders, and a wide range of physical disabilities.

Drumming reduces tension, anxiety, and stress

Drumming induces deep relaxation, lowers blood pressure, and reduces stress. Stress, according to current medical research, contributes to nearly all disease and is a primary cause of such life-threatening illnesses as heart attacks, strokes, and immune system breakdowns. A recent study found that a program of group drumming helped reduce stress and employee turnover in the long-term care industry and might help other high-stress occupations as well.¹

Drumming helps control chronic pain

Chronic pain has a progressively draining effect on the quality of life. Researchers suggest that drumming serves as a distraction from pain and grief. Moreover, drumming promotes the production of endorphins and endogenous opiates, the bodies own morphine-like painkillers, and can thereby help in the control of pain.²

Drumming boosts the immune system

A recent medical research study indicates that drumming circles boost the immune system. Led by renowned cancer expert Barry Bittman, MD, the study demonstrates that group drumming actually increases cancer-killing cells, which help the body combat cancer as well as other viruses, including AIDS. According to Dr. Bittman, "Group drumming tunes our biology, orchestrates our immunity, and enables healing to begin."³

Drumming produces deeper self-awareness by inducing synchronous brain activity

Research has demonstrated that the physical transmission of rhythmic energy to the brain synchronizes the two cerebral hemispheres. When the logical left hemisphere and the intuitive right hemisphere begin to pulsate in harmony, the inner guidance of intuitive knowing can then flow unimpeded into conscious awareness. The ability to access unconscious information through symbols and imagery facilitates psychological integration and a reintegration of self.

Drumming also synchronizes the frontal and lower areas of the brain, integrating nonverbal information from lower brain structures into the frontal cortex, producing "feelings of insight, understanding, integration, certainty, conviction, and truth, which surpass ordinary understandings and tend to persist long after the experience, often providing foundational insights for religious and cultural traditions." ⁴

Drumming accesses the entire brain

The reason rhythm is such a powerful tool is that it permeates the entire brain. Vision for example is in one part of the brain, speech another, but drumming accesses the whole brain. The sound of drumming generates dynamic neuronal connections in all parts of the brain even where there is significant damage or impairment such as in Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). According to Michael Thaut, director of Colorado State University's Center for Biomedical Research in Music, "Rhythmic cues can help retrain the brain after a stroke or other neurological impairment, as with Parkinson's patients..." The more connections that can be made within the brain, the more integrated our experiences become.


for more see http://healing.about.com

wonderful night time images, of sky, sunset, landscapes.....

This country of yours has a great mission to perform, for it is destined to give a lead in bringing peace and also in staving off many of the disasters that threaten so many countries," answered the guide. "But it will have to remember that before there can be peace in your world there will have to be a spirit of self-sacrifice and service. Unless those who see with the eyes of discernment are prepared to make concessions, are prepared to give that which is not necessary for their own happiness and well-being but would enable other countries to find solutions to their problems - unless a lead is given in that direction, your country will fail in its mission."

"Some countries have too much; some have too little. You are rich in many things and where other countries are poor in those same things you could arrange a means of exchange that would enable problems to be solved without the shedding determination based upon obstinacy to say, ‘What we have we hold.' Unless you are prepared to give, you cannot receive."

"Are you thinking of colonies?" Austen interposed.

"Yes, everything," he said. "The land, the sea, the air - those do not belong to countries; they belong to the Great Spirit of all life. His spirit is expressed in His children, and they should receive, as part of their natural heritage, all that is necessary for their well-being, their development, their unfoldment and their experience on earth, so that when they lay down their burdens when death comes they are ready to die, equipped, prepared for the greater life in the world of spirit."

http://www.angelfire.com/ok/SilverBirch/creation.html
in this piece of writing Britain was spoken of, but this could possibly be world wide....especially thinking of our "developed" countries

On Venus you can probably see the back of your head. It's the flattest planet in the inner Solar System, and for some unknown reason, it turns the opposite way to practically all the other planets. It is almost an identical twin to Earth in mass and size, and yet it is the hottest of all of the planets - it's even hotter than Mercury which is closer to the Sun. On Venus, a "day" is longer than a "year". And we know the surface of Venus better than the surface of our own planet, Earth

Venus is the brightest of all the "stars" in the sky. It's named after the goddess of love. It's always covered with thick cloud, so we can't see its surface. That could be why more spacecraft (about 20) have visited Venus than any other planet.

Even though Earth and Venus are almost the same size, Venus has much more atmosphere or gas. The pressure at ground level is nearly 100 times the pressure at sea level on Earth. The atmosphere is about 97% carbon dioxide and about 3% nitrogen. In fact there's roughly as much nitrogen on Earth (where it makes up 80% of our atmosphere) as there is on Venus.

The atmosphere is so thick, that according to some scientists, it would bend the light in a complete circle. So no matter where you looked, you would always see the back of your head - if the atmosphere were clear enough to see any distance at all.

On Earth, the clouds have just about finished by 15 km above sea level. On average, about 50% of the surface of the Earth is covered by cloud at any given time. But on Venus, the clouds cover 100% of the planet all of the time. The clouds begin at 50 km above the surface, and then continue for another 25 km above that. The clouds are made of droplets of sulphuric acid, which are about 50 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair. Venus takes 225 earth-days to make a complete loop around the Sun. We don't yet know why, but Venus rotates in an opposite direction to all the other planets in the Solar System (except Uranus). In fact, it rotates very slowly, and a Venus Day lasts 243 Earth Days. So on Venus a day is longer than a year.

Every 584 days, Venus and Earth come to their point of closest approach. And every time this happens, Venus shows Earth the same face. Is there some force that makes Venus align itself with the Earth rather than the Sun, or is this just a coincidence?

http://www.abc.net.au/science/space/planets/venus.htm

Another article at http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0510/p25s02-stss.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also the second nearest planet to the Earth and will probably be the first planet visited by humans. It has an orbital period equal to 687 earth days and a rotational period equal to 24hrs 37mins and 22.6 seconds. Therefore there are 668 Martian days in a Martian Year. Mars has a very eccentric orbit that can vary from 249 million km to 207 million km. As a result, it also experiences seasons.

When it is nearest to Earth - 59 million km away - Mars can be seen in great detail with even with small telescopes. The polar ice caps are visible; the southern ice cap can extend down to 50° latitude or become quite small depending on the season. There are many bright areas on the red planet e.g. 'Hellas' that are in fact deep basins on the planet's surface. There are also dark areas on the planet's surface e.g. 'Sirtis Major' (in the shape of a large 'V') that were once thought to be seas, but when the atmospheric pressure was discovered to be too low for liquid water, the dark areas were then thought to be old sea beds filled with vegetation. However all this was disproved after the first fly-by mission by Mariner 4 in 1965. And currently, two NASA rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are roaming the Martian surface.

The highest known surface point on Mars is a huge volcano known as 'Olympus Mons'. It stretches 24km high above the lava plains around it and it has a base measuring 600km. Mars has an average surface temperature of about -23°C. Its atmospheric content includes 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen and 1.6% argon. Mars is not as dense or as large as Earth and has an escape velocity of 5km/sec, only enough to sustain a thin, transparent atmosphere. However, some clouds can be seen and from time to time the occasional dust storm can completely cover the Martian surface. The storms occur when wind speed increases to 50-100 meters per second as dust from the surface is lifted up and bounces along the ground, colliding with other dust particles and forcing a cataclysmic reaction that could encompass the entire Martian globe. The technical name for this is 'saltation'.
http://www.astronomytoday.com/astronomy/mars.html
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/mars.htm
http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/mars/interesting-facts-about-planet-mars/

The webpage for this event http://www.globalpeacemeditationprayerday.org/  gives you more
information and also a  time converter so that you can tune
in with the "Symphony of Prayers", a huge ceremony taking
place at Mount Fuji on that day. At Mount Fuji
representatives of various religions will pray together for
humanity, world peace and for each form of life on our
planet. 

JINRUI SOKU KAMI NARI - HUMANITY IS A DIVINE BEING

I am one with the Universe.  I receive infinite life and energy from the Source of the Universe and send it throughout the earth to humanity..

The body of humanity is infinite light itself - divinity itself.

The spirit of humanity is infinite light itself - divinity itself

Humanity is always receiving infinite energy from the universal source but the universal energy is obstructed (at times) by the disharmony of human beings mistaken ideas

I cut through the disharmony and break it into little pieces

I calm the struggling movement of humanity's mistaken ideas and gather them together and release them to heaven to be purified

Each human being is reborn as infinite light itself, infinite love itself, infinite oneness itself, with no opposition, no boundaries, no barriers

I embrace and uplift everything in nature and creation to heaven while receiving infinite energy from the universe and send all gratitude to the source of the universal law


Seven is the sign of truth, great harmony and complete perfection.

www.byakko.org  for more info and video of the Divinity IN

The practice of chanting or toning mantras heals and balances all the chakras.  Vowel sounds are universally pure because the mouth is open when they are made;  consonants close the vowels, bringing them to earth.  The mantras below are traditional variations of consonants around the sound "A" (ahh), culminating in "M" (mmm), a humming sound.  Each chakra also corresponds to a note in a simple musical scale:  try picking this out using a keyboard or a recorder to get a pitch.

Tone each mantra once in sequence, and feel the difference between the sounds.  For the root chakra, sound LAM (musical note C);  for the sacral, VAM (note D);  for the solar plexus, RAM (note E);  for the heart, YAM (noteF):  for the throat, HAM (note G);  for the third eye, OM (note A);  and for the crown chakra, sound AUM (note B).

To begin with, write a list of the mantras to help you get the sequence correct.  If you find that toning a scale is difficult, choose a note that is comfortable for you and keep the same pitch for all the mantras.

Chakra Therapy by Jennie Harding - exercises and inspirations for well-being

World Peace Card Meditation
Thursday, May 21, 7:30pm
(based on local time in your time zone)

You are invited to take part in the fifth World Peace Card Meditation. Please mark your calendar and forward this email to all your friends.

Thanks for Your Help!

Because so many of you forwarded this email to your friends, there have been over 80,000 downloads of the World Peace Cards. This is a tremendous increase in the number of people using the cards. So far the total number of World Peace Card sets downloaded, received from our free offer and from our magazine has been over 95,000! I hope you have been using your peace cards as their use brings blessings to the world as well as to you.

A fifth World Peace Card group meditation has been scheduled for Thursday, May 21 at 7:30pm. This is local time in your time zone. This method has been chosen because of the special effect it produces. As people meditate in each successive time zone the energy builds like a wave which gets stronger and stronger as it circles the planet. Because of the higher dimensional nature of consciousness, the energy of peace will be transmitted for a full 24 hours and continue long after this.

Reports from those who took part in the previous meditations indicate many had powerful spiritual experiences. As they united with those taking part in the meditation a feeling of peace developed within that stayed with each for a long time. Some saw beautiful golden light surrounding the planet and others felt that a web of fear was dissipating and being replaced with trust in others and for our future.

All those who have received the cards are being asked to meditate on world peace at this time. By taking part in this group meditation, you’ll be joining thousands of people who will be using the cards to bring peace to the world. By joining together, the affect we have will be greatly multiplied. This powerful experience and will help shift the vibration of our wonderful planet into a higher state of consciousness. As you use the cards to meditate on world peace, you will be a beacon through which peace will spread around the planet which will have a positive uplifting effect on all people.

Please set aside this time to meditate with the cards. The suggested meditation period is 15 minutes, but of course you can meditate longer if you’d like to. The technique I’d like you to use is based on allowing yourself to be a beacon of peace. The World Peace Cards hold the vibration of the World Peace Grids which have been placed at spiritually significant locations and are relay stations for higher consciousness. By simply opening to their energy, you’ll become a channel for their love and peace which will flow through you to all the people on Earth. To do this, hold the cards in your hands or place them in front of you. Then simply meditate on peace.

We are entering a new era. Our entire planet including all the people and living things are moving into a place where it will be much easier to solve our problems and to create peace, prosperity and happiness for everyone. The World Peace Card meditation will quicken this process, making it easier for people to experience this new quality of higher consciousness and will provide great benefit for all people. Since this benefit will be flowing through you out to everyone on the planet, you'll be blessed by this experience as well.

Many have received the cards in the mail or in the Reiki News Magazine while others have downloaded them from our web site. If you would like additional copies of the cards, please download them using this link and print as many copies as you can use. Please feel free to give them to your friends. Also, forward this email to anyone you feel would like to take part in the meditation.

World Peace Card Download

Additional World Peace Cards
http://www.reiki.org/WPCM.html

Note: This is a larger file and it may take several
minutes for it to open, so please be patient.

When printing the cards from this file, print page 2 first, then place this page in your printer and print the image of the peace grids on the back.

Thank you for taking part in this group meditation.

Sincerely,
William Lee Rand
The International Center for Reiki Training

http://www.reikiserver.org/PeaceGrids.pdf

this link gives access to large pictures of the peace cards

And now the fourth Grandfather spoke, he of the place where you are always facing (the south), whence comes the power to grow. "Younger brother," he said, "with the powers of the four quarters you shall walk, a relative. Behold, the living center of a nation I shall give you, and with it many you shall save." And I saw that he was holding in his hand a bright red stick that was alive, and as I looked it sprouted at the top and sent forth branches, and on the branches many leaves came out and murmured and in the leaves the birds began to sing. And then for just a little while I thought I saw beneath it in the shade the circled villages of people and every living thing with roots or legs or wings, and all were happy. "It shall stand in the center of the nation's circle," said the Grandfather, "a cane to walk with and a people's heart; and by your powers you shall make it blossom."

Then when he had been still a little while to hear the birds sing, he spoke again: "Behold the earth!" So I looked down and saw it lying yonder like a hoop of peoples. and in the center bloomed the holy stick that was a tree, and where it stood there crossed two roads, a red one and a black. "From where the giant lives (the north) to where you always face (the south) the red road goes, the road of good," the Grandfather said, "and on it shall your nation walk. The black road goes from where the thunder beings live (the west) to where the sun continually shines (the east), a fearful road, a road of troubles and of war. On this also you shall walk, and from it you shall have the power to destroy a people's foes. In four ascents you shall walk the earth with Power."
http://www.welcomehome.org/rainbow/prophecy/BlackElk.html

One Instant is eternity;

eternity is the now.

When you see through this one instant,
you see through the one who sees

Wu Men

The throat chakra lies in the base of the neck area in the dip where the collar bones meet.  The Sanskrit name for this chakra is vishuddha, which means "purification" - in this case specifically relating to the power of sound.  Throat chakra energy is intimately concerned with the voice - with speaking, chanting and singing.  The more the throat chakra is in balance, the purer our communication can be with each other.  The mouth and throat are also where the breath enters the body on its way to inflate the lungs, and using the breath with the voice creates some of the most beautiful sounds a human being can make.  The next time you hear an opera singer, think about this relationship - breath, voice, sound, song, harmony.  The voice is a miraculous aspect of humanity, allowing communication and creativity.  The throat chakra can give energy to the voice.

The colour of the throat chakra is blue, which is a change of vibration into a much cooler tone, compared with the warm tones of the lower chakras.  Colours such as blue or purple are at the higher end of the colour spectrum and have a more subtle and soothing effect than the energizing reds, oranges and yellows at the lower end.  The particular shade that links to the throat chakra is deep sapphire.  In medieval times, glassmakers would pay vast sums for ground up lapis lazuli, a rare blue precious stone, to mix as a pigment for stained glass.  The great Chartres Cathedral in France contains the famous Rose Window, which is full of sapphire blue glass, especially visible in the dim light of the interior.  Illuminators of manuscripts in the medieval period also used ground lapis lazuli as a paint pigment to show the blue skies of heaven and the colour of the Virgin's robe.

The element of the throat chakra is ether.  We have travelled from earth at the root chakra, through water at the sacral, fire at the solar plexus and air at the heart.  Ether is the first level beyond the physical body.  The energy of sound reverberates into this level and helps to purify the energetic "blueprint" of the body.  This is why toning and chanting sacred sounds is such an effective way to heal, balance and support this chakra.

text from chakra therapy by Jennie Harding

The video is a tone for both the throat and 3rd eye chakras - the change happens at around 4.41 mins

An instrument, rather than your voice, gives you another way to produce sounds that sing in harmony with your soul...Be guided by your instincts and intuitions in the type of instrument you select, following the strands of your personality as well as your proficiency.

In many cultures, musical instruments are treasured as the "voices" by which nature can be imitated and charmed, pacified and roused.  Instruments are the "mouthpieces" through which the gods can speak and sing.  Music making, however imperfect, is a therapeutic activity, and a source of deep satisfaction and fun.

There are no short-cuts to the mastery of a musical instrument.  The essential ingredients are time, instruction, and the habit of practice.  But undertaking such a musical apprenticeship is an investment that will bring rewards for a lifetime.  Once you acquire a reasonable standard of technical skill, you have the opportunity of gaining admission to a band or orchestra, which is a carries a great potential for rich musical experiences and friendships based on a shared enthusiasm.

Om Eim Saraswatiyei Swaha

pronounced  - "OM  I'M  SAH-RAH-SWAH-TEE-YEI  SWAH-HA"

"om and salutations to the feminine Saraswati principle"


In any creative endeavor, this mantra invokes energy for making the project fruitful and successful...

from the book Healing Mantras by Thomas Ashley-Farrand