Dark Song

by Feehan, Christine

  The Dark Troubadours began to play another song, this one slow and haunting, a love song, and Elisabeta turned her head up quickly to look at Ferro.

  That is our song. Yours and mine.

  He smiled at her. “Yes, it is our song. I gave them the music and lyrics. Come dance with me.” He took her hand. “If you’ll excuse us, I would very much like to dance with my lifemate.”

  Ferro took Elisabeta into his arms. Her soft, feminine body molded to his. Fit perfectly. Joy was present. Alive in him. Love surrounded him. Lived in him. All because of her . . . Elisabeta.

  APPENDIX 1

  Carpathian Healing Chants

  To rightly understand Carpathian healing chants, background is required in several areas:

  1. The Carpathian view on healing

  2. The Lesser Healing Chant of the Carpathians

  3. The Great Healing Chant of the Carpathians

  4. Carpathian musical aesthetics

  5. Lullaby

  6. Song to Heal the Earth

  7. Carpathian chanting technique

  1. THE CARPATHIAN VIEW ON HEALING

  The Carpathians are a nomadic people whose geographic origins can be traced at least as far as the Southern Ural Mountains (near the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan), on the border between Europe and Asia. (For this reason, modern?day linguists call their language “proto-Uralic,” without knowing that this is the language of the Carpathians.) Unlike most nomadic peoples, the Carpathians did not wander due to the need to find new grazing lands as the seasons and climate shifted, or to search for better trade. Instead, the Carpathians’ movements were driven by a great purpose: to find a land that would have the right earth, a soil with the kind of richness that would greatly enhance their rejuvenative powers.

  Over the centuries, they migrated westward (some six thousand years ago), until they at last found their perfect homeland—their susu—in the Carpathian Mountains, whose long arc cradled the lush plains of the kingdom of Hungary. (The kingdom of Hungary flourished for over a millennium—making Hungarian the dominant language of the Carpathian Basin—until the kingdom’s lands were split among several countries after World War I: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia and modern Hungary.)

  Other peoples from the Southern Urals (who shared the Carpathian language but were not Carpathians) migrated in different directions. Some ended up in Finland, which explains why the modern Hungarian and Finnish languages are among the contemporary descendants of the ancient Carpathian language. Even though they are tied forever to their chosen Carpathian homeland, the Carpathians continue to wander as they search the world for the answers that will enable them to bear and raise their offspring without difficulty.

  Because of their geographic origins, the Carpathian views on healing share much with the larger Eurasian shamanistic tradition. Probably the closest modern representative of that tradition is based in Tuva (and is referred to as “Tuvinian Shamanism”)—see the map on the previous page.

  The Eurasian shamanistic tradition—from the Carpathians to the Siberian shamans—held that illness originated in the human soul, and only later manifested as various physical conditions. Therefore, shamanistic healing, while not neglecting the body, focused on the soul and its healing. The most profound illnesses were understood to be caused by “soul departure,” where all or some part of the sick person’s soul has wandered away from the body (into the nether realms) or has been captured or possessed by an evil spirit, or both.

  The Carpathians belong to this greater Eurasian shamanistic tradition and share its viewpoints. While the Carpathians themselves did not succumb to illness, Carpathian healers understood that the most profound wounds were also accompanied by a similar “soul departure.”

  Upon reaching the diagnosis of “soul departure,” the healer-shaman is then required to make a spiritual journey into the netherworld to recover the soul. The shaman may have to overcome tremendous challenges along the way, particularly fighting the demon or vampire who has possessed his friend’s soul.

  “Soul departure” doesn’t require a person to be unconscious (although that certainly can be the case as well). It was understood that a person could still appear to be conscious, even talk and interact with others, and yet be missing a part of their soul. The experienced healer or shaman would instantly see the problem nonetheless, in subtle signs that others might miss: the person’s attention wandering every now and then, a lessening in their enthusiasm about life, chronic depression, a diminishment in the brightness of their “aura” and the like.

  2. THE LESSER HEALING CHANT OF THE CARPATHIANS

  Kepä Sarna Pus (The Lesser Healing Chant) is used for wounds that are merely physical in nature. The Carpathian healer leaves his body and enters the wounded Carpathian’s body to heal great mortal wounds from the inside out using pure energy. He proclaims, “I offer freely my life for your life,” as he gives his blood to the injured Carpathian. Because the Carpathians are of the earth and bound to the soil, they are healed by the soil of their homeland. Their saliva is also often used for its rejuvenative powers.

  It is also very common for the Carpathian chants (both the Lesser and the Great) to be accompanied by the use of healing herbs, aromas from Carpathian candles and crystals. The crystals (when combined with the Carpathians’ empathic, psychic connection to the entire universe) are used to gather positive energy from their surroundings, which is then used to accelerate the healing. Caves are sometimes used as the setting for the healing.

  The Lesser Healing Chant was used by Vikirnoff Von Shrieder and Colby Jansen to heal Rafael De La Cruz, whose heart had been ripped out by a vampire, as described in Dark Secret.

  Kepä Sarna Pus (The Lesser Healing Chant)

  The same chant is used for all physical wounds. “Sívadaba” (into your heart) would be changed to refer to whatever part of the body is wounded.

  Kuńasz, nélkül sívdobbanás, nélkül fesztelen löyly.

  You lie as if asleep, without beat of heart, without airy breath.

  Ot élidamet andam szabadon élidadért.

  I offer freely my life for your life.

  O jelä sielam j-rem ot ainamet és soŋe ot élidadet.

  My spirit of light forgets my body and enters your body.

  O jelä sielam pukta kinn minden szelemeket belső.

  My spirit of light sends all the dark spirits within fleeing without.

  Pajńak o susu hanyet és o nyelv nyálamet sívadaba.

  I press the earth of our homeland and the spit of my tongue into your heart.

  Vii, o verim soŋe o verid andam.

  At last, I give you my blood for your blood.

  To hear this chant, visit christinefeehan.com/members.

  3. THE GREAT HEALING CHANT OF THE CARPATHIANS

  The most well-known—and most dramatic—of the Carpathian healing chants is En Sarna Pus (The Great Healing Chant). This chant is reserved for recovering the wounded or unconscious Carpathian’s soul.

  Typically a group of men would form a circle around the sick Carpathian (to “encircle him with our care and compassion”) and begin the chant. The shaman or healer or leader is the prime actor in this healing ceremony. It is he who will actually make the spiritual journey into the netherworld, aided by his clanspeople. Their purpose is to ecstatically dance, sing, drum and chant, all the while visualizing (through the words of the chant) the journey itself—every step of it, over and over again—to the point where the shaman, in trance, leaves his body and makes that very journey. (Indeed, the word ecstasy is from the Latin ex statis, which literally means “out of the body.”)

  One advantage that the Carpathian healer has over many other shamans is his telepathic link to his lost brother. Most shamans must wander in the dark of the nether realms in search of their lost brother. But the Carpathian healer directly “hears” in his mind the voice of his lost brother calling to him, and can thus “zero in on” his soul like a homing beacon. For this reason, Carpathian he
aling tends to have a higher success rate than most other traditions of this sort.

  Something of the geography of the “other world” is useful for us to examine in order to fully understand the words of the Great Carpathian Healing Chant. A reference is made to the “Great Tree” (in Carpathian: En Puwe). Many ancient traditions, including the Carpathian tradition, understood the worlds—the heaven worlds, our world and the nether realms—to be “hung” upon a great pole, or axis, or tree. Here on earth, we are positioned halfway up this tree, on one of its branches. Hence, many ancient texts referred to the material world as “middle earth”: midway between heaven and hell. Climbing the tree would lead one to the heaven worlds. Descending the tree to its roots would lead to the nether realms. The shaman was necessarily a master of movement up and down the Great Tree, sometimes moving unaided and sometimes assisted by (or even mounted upon the back of) an animal spirit guide. In various traditions, this Great Tree was known variously as the axis mundi (the “axis of the worlds”), Yggdrasil (in Norse mythology), Mount Meru (the sacred world mountain of Tibetan tradition), etc. The Christian cosmos, with its heaven, purgatory/earth and hell, is also worth comparing. It is even given a similar topography in Dante’s Divine Comedy: Dante is led on a journey first to hell, at the center of the earth; then upward to Mount Purgatory, which sits on the earth’s surface directly opposite Jerusalem; then farther upward first to Eden, the earthly paradise, at the summit of Mount Purgatory; and then upward at last to Heaven.

  In the shamanistic tradition, it was understood that the small always reflects the large; the personal always reflects the cosmic. A movement in the greater dimensions of the cosmos also coincides with an internal movement. For example, the axis mundi of the cosmos corresponds with the spinal column of the individual. Journeys up and down the axis mundi often coincided with the movements of natural and spiritual energies (sometimes called kundalini or shakti) in the spinal column of the shaman or mystic.

  En Sarna Pus (The Great Healing Chant)

  In this chant, ekä (“brother”) would be replaced by “sister,” “ father,” “mother,” depending on the person to be healed.

  Ot ekäm ainajanak hany, jama.

  My brother’s body is a lump of earth, close to death.

  Me, ot ekäm kuntajanak, pirädak ekäm, gond és irgalom türe.

  We, the clan of my brother, encircle him with our care and compassion.

  O pus wäkenkek, ot omaśarnank, és ot pus fünk, álnak ekäm ainajanak, pitänak ekäm ainajanak elävä.

  Our healing energies, ancient words of magic and healing herbs bless my brother’s body, keep it alive.

  Ot ekäm sielanak pälä. Ot omboće päläja juta alatt o jüti, kinta, és szelemek lamtijaknak.

  But my brother’s soul is only half. His other half wanders in the netherworld.

  Ot en mekem ŋamaŋ: kulkedak otti ot ekäm omboće päläjanak.

  My great deed is this: I travel to find my brother’s other half.

  Rekatüre, saradak, tappadak, odam, kaŋa o numa waram, és avaa owe o lewl mahoz.

  We dance, we chant, we dream ecstatically, to call my spirit bird, and to open the door to the other world.

  Ntak o numa waram, és mozdulak; jomadak.

  I mount my spirit bird and we begin to move; we are under way.

  Piwtädak ot En Puwe tyvinak, ećidak alatt o jüti, kinta, és szelemek lamtijaknak.

  Following the trunk of the Great Tree, we fall into the netherworld.

  Fázak, fázak nó o śaro.

  It is cold, very cold.

  Juttadak ot ekäm o akarataban, o sívaban és o sielaban.

  My brother and I are linked in mind, heart and soul.

  Ot ekäm sielanak kaŋa engem.

  My brother’s soul calls to me.

  Kuledak és piwtädak ot ekäm.

  I hear and follow his track.

  Saγedak és tuledak ot ekäm kulyanak.

  I encounter the demon who is devouring my brother’s soul.

  Nenäm ćoro, o kuly torodak.

  In anger, I fight the demon.

  O kuly pél engem.

  He is afraid of me.

  Lejkkadak o kaŋka salamaval.

  I strike his throat with a lightning bolt.

  Molodak ot ainaja komakamal.

  I break his body with my bare hands.

  Toja és molanâ.

  He is bent over, and falls apart.

  Hän ćaδa.

  He runs away.

  Manedak ot ekäm sielanak.

  I rescue my brother’s soul.

  Alədak ot ekam sielanak o komamban.

  I lift my brother’s soul in the hollow of my hand.

  Alədam ot ekam numa waramra.

  I lift him onto my spirit bird.

  Piwtädak ot En Puwe tyvijanak és saγedak jälleen ot elävä ainak majaknak.

  Following up the Great Tree, we return to the land of the living.

  Ot ekäm elä jälleen.

  My brother lives again.

  Ot ekäm weńća jälleen.

  He is complete again.

  To hear this chant, visit christinefeehan.com/members/.

  4. CARPATHIAN MUSICAL AESTHETICS

  In the sung Carpathian pieces (such as the “Lullaby” and the “Song to Heal the Earth”), you’ll hear elements that are shared by many of the musical traditions in the Uralic geographical region, some of which still exist—from Eastern European (Bulgarian, Romanian, Hungarian, Croatian) to Romany (“gypsy”). These elements include:

  • the rapid alternation between major and minor modalities, including a sudden switch (called a “Picardy third”) from minor to major to end a piece or section (as at the end of the “Lullaby”)

  • the use of close (tight) harmonies

  • the use of ritardi (slowing down the pace) and crescendi (swelling in volume) for brief periods

  • the use of glissandi (slides) in the singing tradition

  • the use of trills in the singing tradition (as in the final invocation of the “Song to Heal the Earth”)—similar to Celtic, a singing tradition more familiar to many of us

  • the use of parallel fifths (as in the final invocation of the “Song to Heal the Earth”)

  • controlled use of dissonance

  • “call-and-response” chanting (typical of many of the world’s chanting traditions)

  • extending the length of a musical line (by adding a couple of bars) to heighten dramatic effect

  • and many more

  “Lullaby” and “Song to Heal the Earth” illustrate two rather different forms of Carpathian music (a quiet, intimate piece and an energetic ensemble piece)—but whatever the form, Carpathian music is full of feeling.

  5. LULLABY

  This song is sung by a woman while a child is still in the womb or when the threat of a miscarriage is apparent. The baby can hear the song while inside the mother, and the mother can connect with the child telepathically as well. The lullaby is meant to reassure the child, to encourage the baby to hold on, to stay—to reassure the child that he or she will be protected by love even from inside until birth. The last line literally means that the mother’s love will protect her child until the child is born (“rise”).

  Musically, the Carpathian “Lullaby” is in three-quarter time (“waltz time”), as are a significant portion of the world’s various traditional lullabies (perhaps the most famous of which is Brahms’ Lullaby). The arrangement for solo voice is the original context: a mother singing to her child, unaccompanied. The arrangement for chorus and violin ensemble illustrates how musical even the simplest Carpathian pieces often are, and how easily they lend themselves to contemporary instrumental or orchestral arrangements. (A wide range of contemporary composers, including Dvor˘ák and Smetana, have taken advantage of a similar discovery, working other traditional Eastern European music into their symphonic poems.)

  Odam-Sarna Kondak (Lullaby)

  Tumtesz o wäke ku pitasz belső.


  Feel the strength you hold inside.

  Hiszasz sívadet. Én olenam gæidnod.

  Trust your heart. I’ll be your guide.

  Sas csecsemõm; kuńasz.

  Hush, my baby; close your eyes.

  Rauho joŋe ted.

  Peace will come to you.

  Tumtesz o sívdobbanás ku olen lamt3ad belső.

  Feel the rhythm deep inside.

  Gond-kumpadek ku kim te.

  Waves of love that cover you.

  Pesänak te, asti o jüti, kidüsz.

  Protect, until the night you rise.

  To hear this song, visit christinefeehan.com/members/.

  6. SONG TO HEAL THE EARTH

  This is the earth-healing song that is used by the Carpathian women to heal soil filled with various toxins. The women take a position on four sides and call to the universe to draw on the healing energy with love and respect. The soil of the earth is their resting place, the place where they rejuvenate, and they must make it safe not only for themselves but for their unborn children, as well as their men and living children. This is a beautiful ritual performed by the women together, raising their voices in harmony and calling on the earth’s minerals and healing properties to come forth and help them save their children. They literally dance and sing to heal the earth in a ceremony as old as their species. The dance and notes of the song are adjusted according to the toxins felt through the healers’ bare feet. The feet are placed in a certain pattern and the hands gracefully weave a healing spell while the dance is performed. They must be especially careful when the soil is prepared for babies. This is a ceremony of love and healing.

  Musically, the ritual is divided into several sections:

  • First verse: A “call-and-response” section, where the chant leader sings the “call” solo, and then some or all of the women sing the “response” in the close harmony style typical of the Carpathian musical tradition. The repeated response—Ai, Emä Maγe—is an invocation of the source of power for the healing ritual: “Oh, Mother Nature.”