Aquarius Moon

(Mantra, field recordings, electronic frequencies, singing bowls, gong, shruti box, conch trumpet)

Aqua­rius Moon is a sonic ritual deve­lo­ped spe­ci­fi­cally to be per­for­med during the hours of the total lunar eclip­se in Aqua­rius from 14:30 to 16:13 on July 27, 2018. It was per­for­med and recor­ded during a clo­sed ses­sion at the Vano­So­no­ro Stu­dios in Mexi­co City. A full eclip­se repre­sents the energy of a com­ple­te cycle. In only a few hours, a lunar eclip­se trans­mits the momen­tum of an enti­re lunar month, which crea­tes a very com­plex yet power­ful envi­ron­ment to set inten­tions and cataly­ze trans­for­ma­tion. Sin­ce the­re was no live audien­ce pre­sent at the per­for­man­ce, I deci­ded to use the oppor­tu­nity to har­ness the moment of eclip­se to fuel a per­so­nal cord cut­ting and mani­fes­ta­tion ritual. The struc­tu­re of this ritual mirrors the for­mat of a tarot spread in the sen­se that it works with sec­tions repre­sen­ting the past, pre­sent and futu­re. Man­tra, field recor­dings, elec­tro­nic fre­quen­cies and sacred ins­tru­ments like gong and conch ser­ved to loca­te and direct the ritual, to cut from unde­si­red pat­terns of the past and mani­fest a desired out­co­me for the future.

The Practice

My sonic rituals are most often pre­sen­ted in the con­text of sound art and per­for­man­ce, although my pri­mary prac­ti­ce is ener­ge­tic chan­ne­ling. I deve­lop rituals that use elec­tro­nic fre­quen­cies, man­tra, crys­tals, and cus­tom-made, elec­tro­acous­tic ins­tru­ments to crea­te sacred spa­ce and immer­si­ve envi­ron­ments for trans­for­ma­tion. Sin­ce the­se are rituals, they are hyper site-spe­ci­fic as each per­for­man­ce is tai­lo­red not only for the loca­tion and cul­tu­ral con­text but are often inten­ded only to be per­for­med on one spe­ci­fic date and celes­tial con­fi­gu­ra­tion. I use sounds that corres­pond to the elec­tro­mag­ne­tic fre­quen­cies gene­ra­ted by our bodies, the earth and the gra­vi­ta­tio­nal fields of other celes­tial bodies in our galaxy. The­se sounds often come from tra­di­tio­nal sacred tech­no­lo­gies like sin­ging bowls or conch horns. When neces­sary for the for­mat of the ritual, I also design and build cus­tom, elec­tro-acous­tic, sacred ins­tru­ments. In this way, I approach tech­no­logy in the broa­dest sen­se of the word and ear­nestly inves­ti­ga­te any vehi­cle to con­nect to the divine.

www.jessicarosen.com