Top 20 Magickal Ways to Use Music – Part 2

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In the first installment of this short series, I talked about ten magickal ways to use music — from raising energy to divination and everything in between. I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I got carried away and promised you another ten.

Well… I’m here to finally fulfill that promise. I have to say it’s been a lot of fun thinking about all of this. It’s kept me up at night quite frequently, but was fun nonetheless.

So what else can we do with music? Let me tell you about it…

Cleansing and Banishing

Similarly to how you can use sound to charge things (which we discussed in Part 1), you can also use it to cleanse or banish. It all comes down to how you choose to manipulate or control the flow of energy around you.

For sake of illustration, think of how water moves. Water can fill a space (charging). Water can clean a space (cleansing). Or water can push another liquid out of a space (banishing). If you focus your intention, sound and music can do exactly the same thing on an energetic level.

The ringing of bells has been a tried and true method of banishing, warding against, or casting out “evil spirits” by several different cultures for hundreds of years. Bells have been hung from doorways or even tied to clothing for this purpose.

The next time you feel some “funk” in a room, try making a cacophony of noise. Ring bells, bang pots and pans, or just yell. See how it feels afterwards!

Chakra Alignments

Boy, I sure do love it when my chakras are aligned. That pesky solar plexus keeps closing up on me. Anybody else have that issue?

There’s tons of ways to align your chakras, including using Reiki or other forms of energetic healing to unclog the flow, but my absolute favorite way is to use sound.

A set of singing bowls running through the frequencies is truly excellent for this. It works best in person, but recordings will do the trick, too, like this YouTube video. You can also use tuning forks, but for extra fun, you can chant, vibrate, or intone the particular sound that is associated with each chakra.

Shamanic Journeys

A shamanic journey is a little bit different from just your standard meditation, which is something we talked about in Part 1. Without going into all of the details, let’s just say it is more involved.

Although there are many possible ways to achieve this, something that is frequently associated with this type of practice is the constant beating of a drum.

Either way, repetitive rhythms, drum beats, and droning sounds can be quite hypnotic. Grab a drum and try it out!

Connecting to the Seasons

As the seasons change, so does our music! Don’t believe me? Well then answer this question: What type of music is playing in retail stores, starting around November 1? Hint: It might be songs claiming it’s a particularly (or even the most) wonderful time of year, referencing a fat man in a red suit, or telling the story of a brave reindeer.

These are some really obvious correspondences, but:

• Walking in a Winter Wonderland – Winter
• What a Wonderful World – Spring
• Boys of Summer – Summer
• Autumn Leaves – Fall

Things don’t have to be that obvious, though. Even if you don’t realize it, you probably have a personal set of seasonal songs — things that you’re more likely to listen to at different times of the year. Our music selection is cyclical, just like the changing of the seasons. If you can identify and utilize this information, you might just find that you connect to the Wheel of the Year on a deeper level.

Listen to Jason Mankey talk about this in Season 1, Episode 3.

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Binaural Beats

There’s a lot to unpack when it comes to binaural beats, but let me give you the quick highlights.

• Two slightly different frequencies are played
• Each frequency must be isolated from the other (meaning: use headphones)
• Your brain splits the difference and creates a new frequency

Want to know how this works and why? I wrote quite extensively about it. I also made a video about it.

Lots of magick requires the practitioner to drop into a low alpha brainwave state. In theory, you can use binaural beats to enhance just about any of those operations; however, in practice it will require quite a bit of experimentation to find exactly what works for you.

And you can also listen to Oracle talk about it in Season 1, Episode 4.

Connecting to Animals

Who hasn’t heard a story about taming a wild beast through music? It’s all over mythology. Orpheus, for example, played music so beautifully that it enchanted the animals around him. And obviously, for a bit of “modern myth,” I can’t resist mentioning the scene in Harry Potter where “Fluffy” is lulled to sleep by music so that people can slip past a trap door.

Music can help us connect to other living creatures. After all, it’s a universal language, right?

You don’t always have to think of it on a purely musical level, however. Try just thinking about it as sound. I don’t know about you, but when I hear animals making certain noises toward me, I’m often inclined to make those noises back. I talk to cats, dogs, birds, and even squirrels this way, but I might just be a cooky dude. Who knows? What I can tell you, however, is that it’s pretty magickal when you successfully communicate things to animals.

And for even more fun, check out Alexian’s story of taming a two-ton bull by singing to it in Season 2, Episode 5.

Harmonization

In many magickal practices, especially Wicca, we talk a lot about things like “balance” and “harmony.” Could there possibly be any better way to achieve harmony with nature than by… well, by actually harmonizing with nature?

Pythagoras is often credited with the idea of the “music of the spheres.” He believed that every celestial body resonated at a unique frequency. According to legends, he would look up at the night sky and could actually hear the “music.”

As far out as that sounds, he wasn’t wrong. Scientifically speaking, all of the planets do have their own frequency — it’s just so low that it’s imperceptible. Everything does resonate. And if something resonates, that means you can harmonize with it.

One thing I’ve learned from the world of audio production is that most things have a fundamental frequency — and if you listen closely enough, you can pick it out. The sound of wind blowing through trees, the rolling of the ocean waves, and even things like the vibration of your car engine or the hum of your AC fan spinning…. they’re all playing notes. Next time you have a moment, stop and listen to the music around you. Sing along with it. Try to harmonize with it!

Invocation through Song

Want to add some flair to your next ritual? Try singing an invocation for deity rather than just speaking the words. It’s a very powerful way to connect to spirit.

My song, IO Pan, is an example of this. When I play it, I can really feel Pan’s energy coming in. But it doesn’t have to be a formal song that you’ve written all the parts to… you could just take any existing piece, like one of the Orphic Hymns for example, and sing the words in a free-form tune.

You can also sing to call in the quarters! I mean, technically you can sing the entire circle if you want.

You can hear Christiana Gaudet talking about how our voice is a direct connection to spirit in Season 1, Episode 2.

The Frequency of the Universe

At some point within the past 200 years, a bunch of musicians got together and decided that the note A4 was going to be precisely equal to 440 Hz. Up until then, pitch and tuning was largely a relative thing… which was exceedingly difficult for pianists. I mean, can you imagine re-tuning about 80 strings between gigs?

It’s good to agree on a standardized pitch, but some people say that 432 Hz is better because it’s the frequency of the universe. These claims are often based on analyses of cosmic background radiation or a bunch of other stuff that I can’t personally substantiate — so I won’t even try. What I can cite, however, is that there are scientific studies that have shown that listening to 432 Hz music has an increased likelihood of lowering heart rate. Decreased stress levels are certainly magickal to me!

It’s a big enough phenomenon that you can get even find specially-made instruments that are fixed to 432 Hz tuning, like these tongue drums for instance. They’re purported to be excellent tools for meditation.

Conclusions

Just like part 1, the items in this list were presented in no particular order. What I’ve ultimately concluded is that answering the question of “what are the best ways to use music in magick” is a lot like trying to answer “what is the best way to play music?” There’s infinite options.

Have you used any of these methods? Did I miss any big ones? If so, tell me in the comments. I’d love to hear about it!