Ice River

Ananga's Notes On Ice River

Ice River was the first HypnoDream ever to be recorded with music. It was December 2001 when Silvia called me up and told me that she had made a recording of her speaking some of her HypnoDream scripts and was uploading an MP3 of Ice River as a winter Solstice gift to the recipients of the SFI newsletter.

She asked me if there was any possibility that Pia could record some music to go with it but, though open to the idea, Pia was not going to be in a recording studio until three months later.

I had not done much with music myself for some time, apart from playing my flute for a few projects here and there when asked. But when I downloaded the Ice River MP3 and listened to it something about it really grabbed my attention and I thought “I’ll have a go and see if I can do something with this myself…”

At that time, I had only very basic home recording facilities available to me and listening to Ice River on my headphones as I write this now, almost two years later, and having just completed the recording of Heart Healing on studio equipment carefully chosen and purchased specifically for the recording of the latest and future HypnoDreams projects, I am amazed by the sound of Ice River.

It is something I look back on as a project born of a blend of inspiration and determination. It was the sound engineer’s equivalent of towing a caravan with a motorbike! Yet still it stands proud and holds it’s own among the growing family of HypnoDreams. I will always have a special regard and affection for Ice River, yes, partly because it was the first born, but also because of its unique feel and sounds.

At the time of recording the music I was greatly inspired by the Thomas Newman score for the film American Beauty, the theme running through the track of echoed chime notes is a bow of my head in the direction of Mr Newman. That then would be my conscious planning and musicianship for the track – as for where the rest of the sounds and music came from – I have no idea! It just happened – truly it did.

Once the outline of the track was finished I took it to Pia to for her professional opinion, she gave it a big thumbs up and so I mastered a CD and sent it off to Silvia… HypnoDreams 1 had begun J

Equipment used – let it be recorded here for history! A SoundBlaster PC sound card, old and shoddy midi keyboard, Edirol VSC sound module, Cakewalk Home Studio software, various soundfonts laboriously collected and auditioned specifically for the task.

Silvia's Notes On Ice River

How do we get to travel beyond our own limitations and out and beyond the old barriers and cages of self?

The ice river is a very ancient and also, a very well known way to do just that.

It exists in many different permutations across the widest range of cultures; and it is a truly magical occurrence.

Just as magical are the winter lands.

There is no accident in the fact that Superman's "Fortress of Solitude" can be found at the North Pole, the palace of the Ice Queen and Father Christmas's multi-coloured magical workshop "where all the toys in the world are made".

This is deep magic, very old, very powerful.

On this journey we do nothing but to scout these lands "beyond" and become more familiar with them, re-claim them as our own and begin to make a first connection to the magic which resides here and which truly, "cannot be found in any other place, in any other way".

Many people spend a lifetime "looking for their magic" and this journey will show an aspect of this magic which is perfectly ours, perfectly our own and perfectly reachable - if we make the effort and seek it out with volition, get to know it and when the time is right, re-awaken it from its frozen sleep.

On a personal note, it was Ice River directly which taught me how to use my "night eyes" - to see the patterns of the energy world with a set of other senses than the physical eyes. What it might do for each individual of course, I cannot know - but I do know that I would like each person to at least travel there once and just make that first contact, so their own "north poles" are once again, a part of their world in awareness at least.

Ice River 

Let’s transport ourselves for a moment

to a different place, a different time

of where the autumn turns to winter

scapes, a gentle merging as the sun

is low on the horizon and the air

tastes sharp and clear.

We would stand

in warming furs, well covered

snug within

and we would see ahead

a river white and wide

straight river, out into

the far perspective where

the banks have merged

before the low horizon

meets the single point

in distance.

And we would step upon

our starting point,

a frozen lake

so deeply frozen,

thickest glass

of white and blue

so solid now

beneath our feet

and as our feet

would quite without

our mind’s command

would now begin

to move and slide

and skate in

rhythmic pulses

left to right

and as our bodies

bend into the movement

and our arms begin

to reach as well

thus we begin

our journey

forward

upward

on the river white

and raise our eyes

to where the point

of far perspective lies

and we begin to travel

Faster, faster still and lighter,

each forward pulse

increases the momentum

each forward pulse

adds speed and now we

seem to fly towards

the point of far perspective

where the land must

meet the sky and all is

one, and silent white,

pulse travelling

pulse carrying

pulse flying

as the point expands

and seems a light

and seems to grow

in brightness and

you know

the doorway

lies before you

as you keep your eyes

towards the gate of far perspective

as you approach

and it grows more defined

and clearer

in your vision

soft white

and pulsing with a beat

that is the same

that pulses in your body

that brings you closer

closer with each beating

of your heart

it grows

the doorway grows

and now it fills your vision

here it is,

here you are

here you have arrived

at the gate of far perspective

and another pulse or two or three

bring you into the white

and white is right and all there is

and for a moment there is

nothing but the movement

on continuing and phasing

slowing from the impetus

relaxing down and slowing more

until you passed the gate

and you become aware and see:

The winter world  before you

and the river still

and frozen still it is for

you to travel glass and icy smooth

and yet it is a river and it turns

and loops through winter lands.

Slowly and without the slightest effort

you begin to glide the Winter River

and you see along the banks on either side

fantastic landscapes, crisp and white

the sky so radiant blue above

and all is winter still and reverend.

Gently you glide by

and you perceive

enchanted castles,

frozen wells

and there’s a knowing

that there’s sleeping things,

snug and safe

in timeless slumber

deep beneath

the sweeps and crests

of ancient ice

that lies a beautiful

frozen ocean

stretching far

and further still.

Gently you glide by

and you perceive

ice mountains,

sparkling glass

fantastic sculptures

that are beautiful

and they are here

as they could be

not anywhere

but here

Gently you glide on

and know that this

is now a world

that others never seek

to seek, nor seek to

travel.

And as you travel,

and observe,

and as you travel

and you marvel at the beauty

and the clarity

the timelessness

and perfect beauty of the white

your world grows larger

and a part that has been

long denied

has taken and is taking now

its rightful place

and you can know

as darkness falls

and Northern Lights play

in the sky

beneath your closing arc

that there is magic here

that there is much

you never thought to seek

that you might think

of coming here again

to seek and find

to learn and love

to stand before

the vastness and the beauty

and you might find

the kind of treasure here

that simply cant be known

in any other way.

Glide by

Beneath the banding lights

of dancing jade and purple,

celestial blue and greens

in hues you’ve never known

you glide on by to find

the gate of far perspective

for your journey here

was one of recognition

and of admiration

and of re-connection

to a something

that you might have thought

you had forgotten

and yet that lives

and sleeps and breathes

forever in a beauty

that cannot be found

in any other place.

Beneath the diamond stars

in stillness you return

and close the distance gently

as the gate grows from the point

of far perspective

widening on your approach

and with a tiny sense

of regret at leaving once again so soon

and with a small decision

to return when time is here and time is right

you move towards the growing gate of white

that takes you back and through into

your time of mind, and back and through

into

your time of here and now, a gentle dissolution

of the magic and a gentle drifting back to self

in thought, in mind, in

physicality

as your awareness of the here-and-now

comes back in gentle waves,

in gentle waves of feelings and sensations

here and now and bright aware

retaining and remembering.