My friend Geela Rayzel Raphael gifted me with my first outing to a recording studio, Sal Centola’s Angel Studio. Here is what Geela Rayzel, Sal, and I co-created. Geela Rayzel is singing back-up vocals, and Sal is the producer, engineer, arranger, and composer of the music, based on my chant. The words are from a poem by Deena Metzger, which I discovered in Joanna Macy’s chapter on Despair Work in her beautiful book World as Lover, World as Self. This recording is dedicated to my friend Anael Atara, who celebrates her 70th birthday this month, with deep appreciation for the light and love she shines into the world.

I offer this chant as a prayer for our courage—for each and every human being, including those with political and financial influence— to act from a spirit of love and nurture.

Thank you to Deena Metzger for her permission to share this recording of her words here on my blog. I encourage you to visit Deena’s website. She is a poet, novelist, storyteller, teacher, healer, and medicine woman, and I look forward to learning more about her work. Deena shared with me that in 1984 she collaborated with singer-songwriter Charlie Murphy and musician Jami Sieber (whom I am proud to support through Patreon) to create a chant based on her poem. Their recording, Time to Love (Album: Canticles of Light), can be heard here.