Sound and Light

Sound in various combinations of frequencies allowed to permeate our bodies can move energy in our Being.

Sound is energy in one particular form, vibrating at different frequencies to create distinct tones. Here in the west, we are accustomed to A undulating at a wavelength of 440 per second. The most notable aspect is that it is a wave that repeats in time. Between distinct notes, there are millions of microtones whose oscillation veers from the traditional Western tuning.

A 440 = 440 oscillations per second = 440 oscillations/second = 440/sec = 440 Hz

1 hertz is one wave per second and is named after a physicist who discovered this wavelength in sound.

We have millions of these oscillations throughout our environment that we experience but take for granted.

Our listening is quite limited when it comes to hearing all the frequencies that exist. We only need to look at what whales, dolphins or even dogs can hear over and above what we can hear.

The higher the frequency, the less audible it is for the human ear.

This brings us to the notion of amplitude which determines how loud the frequency is.  We can have tones at certain pitches created by their repeating wavelength in different amplitudes, for example, a low C and a high C.

This creates our world of sound and light.

Light works in exactly the same way, creating color and its intensity.

Sound and light can penetrate us and bathe our cells in their frequency. We can thus sense the effects they have on our body, our emotions, our mind and our Being. If we were to do an experiment of listening to the same three tones each day, we would become familiar with their character and would be able to distinguish them from each other. We would begin to see the distinct effect they have on us.

Some people, like me, experience synesthesia in which sound is experienced as light or color.

We begin to know them like friends and, in my case, as a sound healer, like tools.

There are many schools of thought regarding frequency and chakras.

Some believe that certain exact frequencies correspond to a particular chakra. There are sound healers who are purists about this and stand by this correlation.

I ask you to experiment with sound and find out for yourself where the sound is resonating and how you are affected.  This requires lots of observation and the finesse of aural skills.

As I play the crystal tones alchemy bowls on a regular basis and gather evidence from client experience as well as my own, I am convinced that it is the combination of frequencies that creates the dramatic effects of releasing an energetic block within someone’s system.

That system includes their physical body, their emotional body, their intellectual body, their various layers of etheric bodies, astral bodies, and their Kesdjan Body (named from the Gurdjieff system) which is formed if they have developed the skill of “collecting energy” to create that body.

We know that sound can blast through rock and can levitate stones. It is purported that the Egyptians and the Assyrians used sound to levitate 60-ton granite blocks to create the King’s chamber as well as other temples. Think of high tones breaking glass. Think of your Sonicare toothbrush breaking up plaque.

There are many experiments that have been done at the Swiss University called ETH Zurich in which they are not only levitating with audible sound but also moving objects.

Sound can break things. You only need to flick a glass to see what frequency it is made of and then use that tone in a higher amplitude to crack it. When sound moves things, it is due to the combination of frequencies used. These combinations are known as intervals or the distance between two notes.

In my experience, it is the interval that creates the interesting things in music. We even experience melody as a series of intervals, but when those intervals are played simultaneously we get harmonies that affect everything in us.

We also get a combination of overtones that also affect us.

Music is a series of dissonances and resolutions of those dissonances. This is where I began my experimentation with moving energy within a living thing. I am working with plants, animals and humans.

Perhaps many of you have come away from a sound bath not feeling very good. I know that my first sound bath was an utterly disturbing event in which I was sick for the next 48 hours. I became uneasy in the middle of the bath and it was too much.

I have come to understand that if someone uses too much dissonance without harmonic resolution, it becomes disturbing to the system.

When someone does not have a notion of this dissonance or how many binaural beats they are creating, it is rather disastrous. If they are not accustomed to listening for overtone series, they are playing with fire.

In sound healing, there must be both binaural beats, something which occurs when two frequencies combined create resultant frequencies from the clash of their harmonics or more subtly their overtones.  Piano tuners listen for beats and get rid of them when tuning three strings together for a piano note.

The skillful use of binaural beats makes the difference between a knowledgeable sound healer and a hack.

In my upcoming series on sound and light, I will be discussing how binaural beats work with entrainment to change brain waves as well as other extraordinary results of sound. I will be writing about how entrainment influences the forces of creation and stagnation within us. I will also be writing on the more esoteric subject of Music and its relation to the Divine Logos itself.

You can book a sacred sound shamanic journey with me in my Seattle studio here.

Have a great week.

Love,

Molly