A word for Ascension Day

Amnesty in the midst of captivity

Mercifully, I haven’t been doing a whole lot of sermonizing lately. So I trust that this little video is a grace.

In this video I think I come close to sharing about how we cannot bring in what has been exiled, (Sophia, beauty, Life itself), with a stone heart. We must undergo the alchemy of being made flesh if we are to become ones who tend to the Creative Urge to become… if we are to posture ourselves for the exquisite mouth of God to take over the hells and fears we habitually espouse.

After listening to this little talk, on this day, I invite you to listen to my version of Tennyson’s poem Ring Out, Wild Bells (from his requiem In Memoriam).

It is fitting to revisit this New Year energy on Ascension Day.

What is the posture we hold … what do we want to ring in when the Spirit comes to revive us?

Also a gentle word!  If my Steampunk costumes and plague doctor mask, cause you to judge, cringe, or think I’m just a silly girl, just turn the light down on your computer or device, or close your eyes, and let the song serve you. It’s more than ok if you don’t get it, and it’s also more than ok that I express myself creatively. Try not to hold me in prison, and I will try not to hold you in prison. Try not to let anything rob you of the opportunity for transfiguration. Not only is life too short, but our time for healing roots, for tending to lineages (and their new wine skins) is narrowing, so may we grant each other grace so we can work together!

And be forewarned!!! Much of my upcoming folk opera visuals will be invoking the spirit of Alphonse Mucha, entirely on purpose. This is part of my journey of forgiveness.

Remember, in the song I wrote for Thecla, I sing:

“I’ll cut off my hair if I have to, but I’d rather be just as I am, out in the streets, dancing like David, my name is Thecla, or did you forget”.

In Thecla’s story, at the end, she sings:

“and I cut off my hair ‘cause I had to… be out in the streets, dancing like David, my name is Thecla or did you forget”.

Thecla cuts off her hair to gain admittance to the ragtag mystic circus preaching in the Greco-Roman public square. In my story, I am symbolically growing my hair out on behalf of all the Theclas. To step out… to live half in the square, the cathedrals, the font, and half in the hut, the forest, the cauldron… part wild woman of the faeries, sounding her mother lovebird calls into the marketplace, and part teacher, yes, standing in authority, who has fallen so deeply in love, she must break with custom to be baptized. Thecla was baptized into mystical union, not into bitterness, and I will follow her, with this word amnesty sweet on my lips. May we be set free from captivity. And may Paul catch a glimpse of the Christ in the woods, not just on the well-worn road… flesh and bone, and oak-like, encircling all hostility… and compassionately transforming it into unimaginable revival.

PS-I want to mention a bit of a change that is coming. See… I have listeners of my music who tell me “Alana, I could listen to you sing the phone book”, who are dearly not interested in the spiritual talks, or deeper dive that I do with essays, video etc. And more are coming, as I begin to release the folk opera which extends beyond the Christian mystical community, and dialogues with other communities (in the spirit of confession, reconciliation, and a heartfelt interest.)

So out of enormous respect for them, and also out of a deep desire to have a place where I can be deep in this way with others who desire to be deep in this way, I am turning this Substack space into a subscription area only. And anyone else who just wants to know about the music, videos, upcoming concerts, and other educational components, will still receive separate emails about those types of things.

The Muses and the Mediatrix, (formerly known as Sunday Song and Rumination), will continue here on Substack, for people who want to do a deeper dive with the music… and with me.

Two talks/essays, or a song and accompanying “liner note” will be offered here every month, along with a new experiment (inspired by Nick Cave’s Red Hand Files): send me a question, and I will respond to at least one each month.

This change will occur over the next month or so.