2012: Ascension Harmonics [Import]

Goldman has produced yet another of his wonderful CDs. His work ranges from simple chants to complex layers of various instruments and vocal techniques. He also helped produce Lama Tashi's excellent Deep Voice chanting CD, "Tibetan Master Chants."

This CD is the best I have used for meditation and energy work. It is the public release of work that he has used personally and on a limited basis with others for some time. It consists of layers of chanting, vocal overtones, Tibetan bowls and bells, in an harmonious blend that is smooth, soothing, and steady. It runs without a break for 111 minutes and 10 seconds according to the case, but the CD readout says 71 minutes (and that is what I have found on playing it).

This is an amazing piece of music (?). I immediately felt a powerful effect, and it has radically energized my energy and dream work in just a few days. The effects seem to deepen and strengthen with time and use, and just this morning I spent a wonderful 3 hours in altered states doing some intense energy work, part of the time with it turned up very loud on the stereo.

There are lots of hokey and half-baked meditation CDs out there. This, however, is the real thing. It is powerful and can have profound effects on your energy field and meditation work. Use it with care and conscious intent.

Fantastic work, Jonathan.

i had high hopes for this album, as its' namesake by
Richard Shulman, "Ascension Harmonics," was such a fantastic
entheogenic experience of the Christic & Ascension energies.
this is something different. rather than crystalline
ladders to heaven or the like, we find ourselves in a kind of
dimensional vortex similar to the work of David Hykes and the
Harmonic Choir, but more shamanistic and trance-oriented.
the liner notes tell us that it was recorded quite some
time ago and was used in workshop scenarioes, where it
received some acclamation. even Goldman admits he doesn't
know exactly what it does but that it acts as a kind of
extradimensional portal for journeying.
the first time i listened, i wasn't analyzing or trypping,
but simply being quite blown away by the vocal work. there is
no synthesis on this album, so you start going crazy trying
to figure out how certain effects could be done vocally.
secondly, the multitracking is so dense it is nigh on
impossible to focus on any one vocal track. this is all
framed by an excellent set of Tibetan bowls, which are
either rubbed or faded-in so one doesn't hear the mallet
strikes.
2012: Ascension Harmonics is a 71-minute long form piece
that is basically a mellifluous drone that is continually
morphing with a metallic lustre that produces coronal
shining effects courtesy of the bowls and bells. while
listening the second time, i realized that the overall vibe
of this recording reminded me of a planetary vibe such
as i am familiar with in my NASA/Voyager recordings of
the outer planets and the Primordial Tones by Joachim
Ernst-Berendt.
after some fussing with equipment and recordings,
i estimated that the fundamental pitch was between a
C sharp and a D, but closer to the D. Goldman has made
several recordings at C sharp for the base chakra tone.
i felt though, that the sound was more complex,
reminding me of Berendt's Saturn/Mercury recording which
is near C sharp.
wearing the headphones with the sound up and my
closed eyes facing venetian blinds illuminated by
sunlight from outside, i noticed that this album has a
constant fluttering which shifts and flows, suggesting
a complex interference pattern created by the lack of
a clean dominant wave. indeed, i could not relax back
into a simple wave state as one does with brainwave
music. Instead, i was in a state of constant flux and
kaleidoscopic dream machine visuals. although the
fundamental was around C sharp, the fifth near G sharp
seemed to be mostly involved in the visionary aspect,
as if the throat chakra and third eye were intermixing
and creating a journeyspace between on the 5th plane.
fascinating stuff, very pleasurable and i could
see it as good backsound for massage, ritual and
group lightwork.
i'm giving this three stars because i would give
Jonathan's ESSENTIAL albums the five star ratings and
his BEST (after "essential," of course,) the four star
rating. compared to these other albums, Ascension
Harmonics doesn't know what it wants to be in terms of
where the listener goes in their mind, so it is rather
like zooming around in a UFO which has indecipherable
controls. on the other hand, this is an album where
Jonathan is working very intuitively and experimentally,
which is awesome to hear. 3 stars means it is a good if
not great album. in that it is nonspecific, it has wide
uses as backsound.

Anything by Jonathan Goldman is a pretty safe bet that it will be a 5 star minimum in my book. Jonathan is a master at sound healing vibrational music and has continually proved himself with such CDs as "The Lost Chord", "Holy Harmony", and many others. This is not what most people call music. It is the vibrational music that is often played during alternative healing modalities such as Reiki, Acupuncture, Meditation, and the like.

This CD is long sustained notes. It sounds similar to a continual hummmmm. It is one CD, 1 track, totaling 1:11:10 minutes or a little over one hour. As a combination of overtone chanting, Tibetan bowls and bells, it is perfect for meditation. The primary sounds are the sacred mantras of "Om", "Ah", and "Hu" and sacred vowel sounds. Jonathan states that these sounds, when joined together, seem to be able to activate the heart center and upper charkas, which may help the listener to experience higher consciousness and transformation. (I am playing it now and can definitely feel it in my heart, throat, third eye and crown charka. Actually, my whole head is buzzing.) It is believed that the T. bowls and bells emit sounds which are able to change our brainwave activity, to do healing work and to alter our state of consciousness. During the recording, Jonathan states that he has invoked the energies of the Angel of Sacred Sound (Shamael), and the Hindu and Tibetan Goddess of Science and Sound (Sarawati) as well as other beings of Light and Love through Sound. This music was created with the intent to use it to travel to other realms of consciousness.

A 12-page booklet is included, stating that this piece was originally created for the Harmonic Convergence and kept in Jonathan's private collection for many years and he was later guided to release it into the hands of the public, to hopefully help with the ongoing spiritual shift and transformation that many believe is occurring between now and the year 2012. The book goes into additional detail, of course.

I can tell you that this CD "feels" very good to me. Everyone has different needs and intentions, so I cannot say how it will or will not affect you. I do believe it has the potential to affect you in a positive manner. I also believe you can use it in your "sleep" mode to affect your subconscious mind.

By the way, the time of the CD is 1:11:10. (Many believe that several variations of 11:11 represent the coming of the new age/2012/ascension/etc. And many people are reporting seeing variations of 11:11 quite frequently.)

Now, if you do NOT believe that music can affect you, try checking out how you feel after you listen to different types of music, each for about an hour. Don't forget to try some music that evokes passionate feelings in you.

Do not play this music in the car or you may go to "the other side" sooner than was planned for you.

Namaste'

Update: July 2009--I am going to a conference at the Edgar Cayce Center in Virginia Beach, VA in mid September. Jonathan Goldman is doing "The Power of Sacred Music and Sound" along with several others in this field. I am looking forward to this conference and should have more to say on the subject matter soon.

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