Spectrum Interview
An Interview with Jonathan Goldman
Interviewed by Rick Martin
Part One
Rick Martin: There may be some confusion in the minds of our readers about the subject of sound healing. I’ve been asked, “What do you do?” Do you just sit there and listen? Do you have to focus on something specific? Do you have to meditate? Do you have to close your eyes? How does it work? How do you use this? What are the “technical steps” that the person experiencing sound healing must be aware of?
Jonathan Goldman: I think before we begin to explore the arena of “What I do”, it’s first necessary to have an understanding of “What sound does”, i.e., the basic principles of using sound as a healing and frequency shifting modality.
The basic principle of sound healing begins with the understanding that everything in the universe is in a state of vibration, from the chair you may be sitting in to the pages of this newspaper. The ancients understood this and now, of course, scientists are validating this. Everything is in a state of vibration, from electrons moving around the nucleus of an atom, to planets moving around stars in distant galaxies. And if it’s in a state of vibration, it’s creating sound. Now, this vibrational essence of the universe includes of course, the parts of the human body. Every organ, bone, tissue, etc. is in a state of vibration and therefore putting out a frequency. When we are in a state of health, we call this “sound” health. Everything is vibrating at its natural healthy “resonant” frequency. But what happens if some part of the body begins to vibrate at another frequency. It begins to vibrate out of harmony with the body, out of balance with itself. This is what we call “disease”.
Sound, incidentally, is a waveform. One way of measuring this waveform is how many vibrations, or waves, the sound is creating per second. This is called its frequency. Very low sounds travel very slowly. Very high sounds travel quickly. The lowest note on a piano is about 40 cycles per second (also called hertz). The highest note on a piano is about 4000 cycles per second. Now, we hear from about 16 hz. to around 16,000 hz. (more when you’re younger). I would like you and your readers to contemplate that sound, however, is much more than what falls within the audible spectrum.
Dolphins, for example, can receive and project information (actually being able to project holographic thoughtforms on their sonics) at around 180,000 hz. This is more than 10 times the level that we human can even hear. However, while we might not perceive these dolphin frequencies as sound, I’m sure our friends in the ocean certainly do. So, it’s really important to think of all vibrations as being sound—not merely those that fall within the audible bandwidth of human’s hearing.
Getting back to the idea of healing with sound—think of the body as this incredible orchestra that is playing this wonderful “Symphony of the Self”. When we are in a state of “Sound Health”, all our sonics are working together in perfect harmony and we are this wonderful orchestra creating an overall harmonic of health. But what happens if the 2nd violin player looses their sheet music. Pretty soon the string section sounds off. Soon after, the entire orchestra will begin to sound poorly. This is a metaphor for what we call disease.
I come from a family of doctors—my grandfather, father and brother all MD’s. And I have the greatest respect for allopathic medicine for treatment of certain conditions. However, traditional medicine at this point in its development, has the approach when dealing with the string player of our orchestra who has lost the sheet music, of either giving this player enough drugs so they simply pass out, or cutting their head off with a broadsword, so they no longer play the wrong notes. Now, while this certainly alleviates the problem, you do have a bit of a void created by the absence of the missing violin player. What if you could somehow give this player back their music? What if you could somehow project the correct resonant frequencies to that part of the body, which was vibrating out of harmony, out of tune? This would conceptually create a curative response. This is one of the basic principles of using sound for healing.
Now, I’ve been in this field for over 20 years, and I spent about 10 of those years chasing after the “magic frequencies”—the ones that seem to promote healing or create transformational experiences. And it’s interesting—when I spent those first 10 years collecting frequencies, I noticed something very unusual. There would be people claiming extraordinary effects and successes from the frequencies they were using. And personally, I believed their research and reports. But what was most unusual is that none of the frequencies matched. You’d have different scientists and researchers using different frequencies and some of them would be healing the same imbalance. With different sounds. It all became very confusing to me.
How, I wondered, could it be possible that different frequencies would heal the same ailments?
The same thing would be true with mantra chanting—where one guru would have his disciples chant a particular mantra for say the “crown” chakra and another guru have his disciples chant the same mantra for the “heart” chakra. And the devotees would have the resonance and effect in that chakra. What was going on? Same sounds affecting different areas? Different sounds affecting the same area? It didn’t make sense.
Then in meditation about 10 year ago, I received the guidance that there was another aspect of the phenomenon of sound healing and it was this: intent. Intent is the energy behind the sound. As my friend Steven Halpern says “Sound is a carrier wave of consciousness” and the intent is the consciousness of energy of the sound.
So, I created a formula, which I still think is one of the more important things I’ve brought down to the planet. It was first described in my book, HEALING SOUNDS. The formula is this: FREQUENCY + INTENT = HEALING. This means that the energy behind the sound being created is as important as the actual sound.
In other words, you could make one sound and put in two different intentions and you would have two different effects. Or you could have two different sounds with a very similar intention and you might be a very similar effect. Now, I have observed this over and over again since that time and I think it’s really quite important. Particularly with regard to music and with the use of the human voice. Intent or Intention or Intentionality—what ever you want to call it, seems to really be making itself known in the subtle energy medicine field, where they are practically demonstrating the importance of intent.
It’s my belief that this formula FREQUENCY + INTENT = HEALING, is at this point in our development, a formula, with all parts being of equal importance. I say this, because I believe as we continue our acceleration of consciousness and evolution into what may be called higher dimensionalities, the importance of INTENT will grow and grow, while the importance of the actual frequency will become less and less important. From, say a 5th dimensional viewpoint, we may find that INTENT is 80 or 90 percent and FREQUENCY is 10 or 20 percent. As some mystics have said: “All is consciousness”. And therefore, INTENT is a major aspect of consciousness. So the more we evolve, the more our consciousness interacting with the sound will be the determining factor for the effects of the sound.
However, for those of us still operating on a 3rd dimensional consciousness, (and in truth, almost everyone I know still has resonance there), it’s really important to pay attention to the frequency of the sound. To begin to understand the “psycho-acoustic” effects of the sound—that is the effect of sound upon the mind/body.
My intent might be to calm you down, but if I come up to you and shout in your ear, the odds are that on a purely physiological basis, the loud shout will cause you to react in a negative and possibly even violent manner. The sound would cause the fight or flight release in your body—your heart beat, respiration and brainwaves would speed up, your nervous system would tense up. You’d definitely pull away from the sound, and probably push me away at the same time. Now, because of the psycho-acoustic effect of the situation, this is a natural response to loud sounds—the fight or flight response. And I think that in most cases, regardless of my intent, you would have the same reaction. So it’s very important for us to become aware of the psycho-acoustic effects of a sound, as well as the intentions that we want to put on the sound.
I believe there are probably saints and other extraordinary beings on this planet who can probably belch or make any sound and create any response that they want. But I think for most of us, until we can levitate, walk through walls, that sort of thing, it’s important to pay attention to the frequency—to the actual sound being created. I believe that we’re going to find the aspect of intent to be of great significance as our consciousness continues to expand and evolve.
I remember several years ago, a friend of mine who is a well know medical doctor did an experiment with a well known scientific researcher. Putting it simply, the doctor put his hands over petri dishes with bacteria in it. Over one dish he projected the thought “grow”. Over the second dish he projected the thought “stay the same” and over the third dish he thought “shrink”. And that’s exactly what occurred. Now, the frequency, which was the energy from his hands, whether you want to call it Reiki or therapeutic touch or whatever, was basically the same. It was his intent that differed. And he was able with his intent to affect the outcome of the experiment.
I think this is just one example of the power of our thoughts—our consciousness. And we are going to see more and more people becoming aware of this. How we basically co-create reality. It’s an exciting concept and one which may change the very way that we interface with the world.
With all this said, I would like to suggest that the importance of frequency in terms of influence and effect on 3rd dimensional reality can not be overstated. It is extremely important. We live on the physical plane and this plane is certainly influenced by specific resonant frequencies. There’s no doubt about that.
Many years ago, this wonderful Swiss doctor named Dr. Hans Jenny did these experiments, which he called “Cymatics” which is Greek for waveform (since sound travels as a wave). He took plastics, pastes, liquids, etc. and put them on a metal plate that he resonated with sound. These different substances would vibrate with the sound and create the most extraordinary shapes. Sometimes these inorganic substances would look like underwater lifeforms, or some microscopic organism. It’s quite extraordinary and makes you understand about the power of “The Word” that the ancients always talk about—that original creative sound. Now, Jenny found that even slight variances in the frequencies that he was using would create differences in the shapes and forms and these substances. The actual frequencies are very important.
The more precise and exact these frequencies are, the more precise and exact their effect will be. The statement about every organ, bone, tissue, etc. being in a state of resonance is correct. And the idea of disease being an out of tunement of these parts is also correct. The question remains about how to find the exact resonance of an out of tune part of the body.
Another question is whether this part of the body is resonating to one frequency or a series of frequencies. I know some scientists who are working with a composite of three different frequencies to effect a certain part of the body, or to effect an imbalance. I know of another scientist who utilizes five different frequencies to create this same effect.
What’s very interesting about these composite frequencies, is that they are not very musical at all. In fact, when you listen to them, they’re kind of harsh sounding and really unpleasant. That is because they are frequencies meant to be encoded into the body and not necessarily listened to with our ears. There’s a big difference.
So this idea of using resonant frequencies for healing is very real and very true. And from a truly 3rd dimensional approach, these frequencies must be really exact. And if you think of the extraordinary bandwidth of just the audible frequencies, you’ll see how difficult this could be. I know of one doctor, who was working with sound to reduce pain and he claimed to have found the right frequency that would do this. But it had to be accurate to a 1/10th of a cycle per second in order to work. That’s pretty precise. And it came about through trial and error, which is certainly one way of determining frequency response. There are other ways too—you can use pendulums, kinesiology, psycho-tronic devices, scientific devices, pure observation or what not. You can use yourself or someone else as a guinea pig and then keep trying with different frequencies until you come up with the one that works for the situation you’re dealing with. And of course, you hope then, that your resonance matches everyone else so you can effectively use what you’ve discovered on someone else.
So you can see, it’s very complicated. I had at one time hoped that everyone who was doing this type of work would effectively pool their information. You find the frequencies of Dr. X and then you compare them with those of Dr. Y and Dr. Z and maybe you won’t have to reinvent the wheel and you’ve got something that really works. But I don’t think that will happen. At least, not right now.
Rick Martin: Why not?
Jonathan Goldman: I remember about 15 years ago when I was at a MusicMedicine Conference and I met a doctor from another country who was working on this chair that projected sound into the body. I think he was using it for treatment of arthritis or something. I knew a lot about sound at that point and I knew a lot about other people’s work with frequencies as well. I asked him what frequencies he was using and he became very silent. “I can not tell you” he replied. “There is too much money in it for the person who discovers the correct frequency”. I imagine that attitude is pretty prevalent in certain of the communities that are working with sound and trying to discover the “magical frequency”. The effects of greed are pretty interesting, but I’ll discuss that later. I’ll also discuss some aspects of the potential healing that can be created through sound later. But for right now, I’d just like to say that from my perspective, extraordinary healing can result from sounds that are not particularly precise if the person using the sound is able to operate from a higher dimensional level. The more one is able to encode intention onto the sound, the more effective I think the sound will be. Particularly if you are anywhere in the ballpark near where the natural resonance of what is needed is occurring.
Spirit gives us a lot of grace, especially when you’re working with sacred sound. But most people, particularly scientists who are researching frequencies don’t know this, and won’t accept it. It goes outside their realm of belief. So it doesn’t occur. And they’re still searching for the “magical frequency” and maybe, just maybe they wouldn’t have to look so hard, if they could try to view things from a higher level of consciousness.
Rick Martin: Would you discuss the role of music and harmonics in stress reduction?
Jonathan Goldman: This brings us to the topic of psycho-acoustic—the effects of sound and music upon the body and the brain. It also brings us to another topic, which is the uniqueness of the individual. Both of these topics interface with the concept of music and harmonics for stress reduction.
I’d first like to create a very simple delineation between sound and music. This is just a definition I’m using and not necessarily how other people define them. I like to think of sound as being basically single tones (with their associated harmonics), that don’t really change much with the elements that are defined as musical—that is rhythm, harmony, melody, etc. For example, a chant that is on one note, perhaps a long extended “Om” would be considered a sound. But if you add the other elements like rhythm, harmony or melody, and your “Om” changed pitch so it became a melody—a song—well then it would become music.
I’ve came up with this delineation simply because with many of the recordings that I’ve created, I define them as sounds so that people won’t listen to them with the expectation of walking away humming a melody. My recording “DOLPHIN DREAMS” is a good example of this. It was initially created for the birth experience. “DOLPHIN DREAMS” consists of ocean sounds, heart beat, choral voices and dolphins sounds all layered and textured together. I call it a “sonic environment” because it creates a field of sound attempting to emulate the energy inherent in a dolphin assisted water birth. It’s beautiful to listen to and sooths practically every person who listens to it. But I would not necessarily call it music. “DOLPHIN DREAMS” has become one of the more popular recordings for the birthing process as well as for use with newborns, infants and children. It is also used extensively for the reduction of stress and is one of the most relaxing recordings I know of.
Interestingly enough, recently two college professors wrote a college textbook on listening and included a chapter on “DOLPHIN DREAMS”. Because the way the sonics are constructed, it really stimulates the ear and brain with many different sounds and is quite a listening experience. But the authors of this textbook suggest to the reader that the recording does not fit into the category of music as people normally perceive of music. I agree.
This would be why listening to fast music might at first seem soothing to someone who is stressed. Because the music is matching their nervous system. Listening to slow music might at first make them feel even more stressed. Because there’s such a contradiction in terms of vibrational rates. I think that gradually going from fast to slow music would be the ideal key in this type of situation.
I need to say at this point, that it’s my belief that we are all unique, vibratory beings and that what works sonically for one person may not work for another. We all know that not everyone likes the same sort of music. In the same way, not everyone responds to the same type of music the same way. I guess if we did, it would be a very boring world. In terms of using music for stress reduction and relaxation, it’s important for us to honor our personal responses to music. Just because someone says that listening to Mozart or Bach is the best for this or that situation, does not mean it’s true for you. We need to be able to create a kind of “sonic Rx” for ourselves and realize what types of music we like to use for certain situations. And then begin to use that music for those situations.
Maybe listening to a sad love song is the thing that can bring you out of a mild depression. Or maybe it’s listening to Gershwin or the Beatles or Beethoven. Whatever. We need to begin paying attention to how different pieces of music affect us on a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level. And then begin using different music to help put us in balance.
Now, I don’t really know why different music seems to affect us so differently. There are so many possible variables in regard to this and once again, I think it brings us to the question of our uniqueness and individual response to various things. I think sometimes it’s experiential (where were we when we heard a certain song?), sometimes it’s taste (what music do you really like? What do you dislike?) and there are probably dozens of different variants in terms of this. Sometimes it’s educational (if you never heard Balinese music, you might find it very discordant the first time. After a while, it might grow on you). Sometimes it’s another factor. But it’s important to understand our resonance with different music and utilize this in our daily lives.
For example, if you want to find music that is going to stimulate you, perhaps to enhance an exercise program—well you’re going to want to use something that’s up beat and pretty fast. Listening to slow music would actually be contrary to the response your nervous system wants. Such slow music would probably cause you to be less effective in whatever chore or exercise you were doing. However, if you wanted to rest and perhaps enhance sleep, then slow music would be a good choice. Trying to sleep while fast music is influencing your nervous system and body would be difficult. But once again, there are so many parameters involving the influences and effects of music that you really need to understand specifically how particular pieces of music effect you.
I’d like to turn back to a topic I briefly discussed a little while ago—brain waves. In particular, I would like to talk about this in regard to an idea that is primary to many of the visionaries of modern times—that our vibrational rates are accelerating. I agree with this concept, and in fact, my book SHIFTING FREQUENCIES deals with ways in which sound, light, sacred geometry and other vibrational modalities may be utilized to deal with these frequency changes. SHIFTING FREQUENCIES focuses upon some fairly esoteric subjects, from the use of harmonics as a tool for multi-dimensional activation to crystal singing—how to resonate and project sonic energy through quartz crystals. It has important information that many people have found extremely useful for assisting their evolutionary development.
It’s been suggested that our vibrational rates are speeding up and that indeed, time itself is speeding up. I think this is true. Most of us have experienced the phenomenon of getting up in the morning, having a cup of tea, making a few phone calls or whatever and suddenly realizing it’s time for bed. Time definitely seems to be compressing and as this happens, we become more and more stressed out by our inability to accomplish the things we normally have been able to do.
A short while ago, I mentioned “Delta” brainwaves. These are from .5 to 4 hz. When I first began researching brainwaves, Delta brainwaves were described as being found in comatose patients. People who were unconscious. But within the last decade, this has changed.
I had a friend, a medical doctor, who was a pioneer in the field of mapping brain wave activity. He began testing healers, psychics, channels, and shaman and found that many of them were registering brain waves of 1 cycle per second and were able to talk and communicate while they did their work. If they were working on a client, it turns out that the brain waves of the client would also be resonating at about l cycle per second. It was very interesting.
What was even more interesting was that this doctor found brain wave activity of 128 cycles per second that was occuring at that spot on the cranium that we call the “crown chakra”. Now, these were brain waves that had never been measured before. My friend passed away before he was able to make this information known to many of his colleagues, but it was fascinating. It seemed to indicate that in order to register these high frequency rates; an individual had to be at a very slow rate of brain wave activity.
When I began meditating on the significance of this, it came to me that in order to encode higher frequencies of light and love into our brain, body and associated energy fields, it was necessary to slow down our vibrational rate. In other words, we had to be in a deep state of calm and relaxation in order to effectively shift our frequencies.
This makes sense. If you are operating in a state of beta, it’s very difficult to be calm and relaxed. The nervous system is operating at a fast rate and our consciousness seems to be locked into the here and now. When you’re in beta, it’s hard to meditate. It’s hard to experience expanded consciousness. We’re too focused on the physical plane and with doing some activity which makes it very difficult for frequency shifting.
When one has slowed down the nervous system and is in a deep state of calm, I believe that what happens would be the equivalent of going off a diving board and springing upward. That 128 hz. that my medical friend was able to measure is actually a harmonic, or geometric multiple of 1 hertz. By slowing down the brain, we are actually able to raise our frequency rate. It seems to be a paradox—that in order to speed up our vibrational rate, we must first slow down—but I believe it is true.
This initial slowing down of our vibrational rate—in particular, the frequencies of our brain and nervous system—is not easy to do. In fact, it’s very difficult. But I know that when I’m in a calm and relaxed state, it is often much easier to deal with many different stimuli simultaneously occurring, from the phone ringing and answering email and someone talking to me all at the same time than when I am nervous and stressed out. However, being able to be in a calm and relaxed state while all this activity is occurring is a challenge.
Rick Martin: Can sound help us achieve this relaxed state?
Jonathan Goldman: Most certainly. Sound and of course, breathing. Slow, deep breathing helps reduce heart rate and brain wave activity. I find that by sounding a single note or a mantra such as “Om”, it automatically creates a state of calm and relaxation. One of the reasons for this of course is that breath is the basis of creating sound. So that if one begins sounding a tone or a mantra for a while, you are automatically slowing your respiration. You are also doing a number of other things to yourself, including helping release endorphins and other neuro chemicals that may be very beneficial and healing.
This sounding of a single tone or note is called “toning”. More and more people are becoming aware of the importance of this activity. You can simply use toning to help relieve stress in yourself. You can also use it to help resonate and align an imbalanced part of your body or energy field.
I teach a very powerful exercise called “Vowels As Mantras”, which was initially described in HEALING SOUNDS and is also available on the accompanying instructional cassette. In this exercise, we utilize the vowel sounds in a particular order in conjunction with pitch, to resonate the “chakras”. Normally, in a workshop, we do this for about a half hour or more and it is both a powerful healing experience and a powerful transformational experience.
Towards the end of the exercise, after we’ve resonated all 7 of the main chakras, we remain silent for about 5 or 10 minutes. This silence is crucially important in allowing a person to receive an experience that is of the greatest benefit for their spirit and soul. During this time, those in the workshop will frequently have extraordinary communications with guides, angels or other divine beings.
I believe one of the reasons this occurs is that we have slowed down our nervous system and balanced our energy fields and can shift our frequencies because of this. We are in this deep state of receptivity and thus can allow higher octaves of light and love to encode themselves upon ourselves.
Frequent meditators will tell me that the experience usually surpasses any that they have had before. This may have to do with the fact that we are using sound in conjunction with breath and visualization and it is simply more powerful and transformational. The sound will resonate the chakras as well as the nervous system and the brain. It is a physical based phenomenon that because of the harmonic inherent in sound, also resonates etherically as well.
Most of us find it difficult to devote a half an hour a day to a sonic practice. It should be mandatory, but it’s not. So, I also teach my students how to tone the chakras with vowel sounds for a minute or five minutes and achieve some beneficial results. Even a minute or so of sounding will help shift our consciousness and allow us to access states of calm and relaxation. It may not have the profound effects of a half hour of toning, but it’s still quite good.
Rick Martin: You’ve mentioned harmonics a number of times—can you tell us what harmonics are?
Jonathan Goldman: Whenever a sound is created, that sound is really a complex composite of frequencies called harmonics. These harmonics, which are geometric multiples of a given fundamental, are actually present all the time in different sounds. We are simply unaware of them. With harmonics, the first overtone (harmonics and overtones can be used interchangeably) vibrates at twice the frequency of the fundamental tone. The next overtone vibrates three times as fast as the fundamental. The next overtones vibrates four times as fast and so on.
Just as you can take a prism, hold it up to sunlight and refract the different colors of the rainbow—well, harmonics are really the color of sound. They actually create the timbre or tone color of an instrument or our voices. And we can learn to refract some of these colors of sound ourselves, simply by learning to use our voice in a particular manner.
I first came across this nearly 20 years ago when I heard the sacred chanting of Tibetan Monks and the Hoomi or throat singing of Mongolia and Tuva. It was extraordinary and out of this world. These people can sing two or three notes at the same time. Shortly after I heard these sounds, I studied with some teachers who were able to teach me some techniques for creating these vocal harmonics. Now, of course, I have written HEALING SOUNDS: THE POWER OF HARMONICS, and teach these techniques to students myself. There is, in fact, a reemergence of interest in vocal harmonics. I think that’s fabulous.
I must say, for those already familiar with Tibetan “Deep Voice” or Hoomi throat singing, that what I teach is different. People can indeed create two or more notes at the same time. But it doesn’t require some of the training and potential strain that accompanies the Tibetan or Hoomi voice. And my teaching of vocal harmonics also works with the therapeutic and transformational use of these sounds. It’s not just a party game or something to impress someone, but a deeply powerful frequency shifting tool.
Rick Martin: But you’ve been taught how to do the Tibetan and Hoomi Voice?
Jonathan Goldman: Actually, with the Tibetan “Deep Voice”, I received this voice in “dreamtime”. In 1986, it was my honor to record the Gyume Tibetan Monks in a modern recording studio. It was a wonderful event. I took the tape of the recording home and listened to it in my crystal meditation room. When I woke up the next morning, I had the Tibetan “Deep Voice”—I could create their extraordinary multi-phonic sound. It was quite amazing. It’s said to take the Monks up to 10 years to receive this voice. What happened to me is an example of what I call “harmonic transmission”—receiving information or a transformative experience through sound.
I did take a lesson in order to learn the Tuvan Hoomi style, but personally found it rather taxing on the vocal chords. I can do this style, but only do so for demonstration purposes. I decided that this was not going to be a technique that I would share when I teach because of the potential dangers inherent in it. I don’t want anyone straining their voice due to something I’ve taught. So, the vocal harmonic techniques I share are quite safe and simple—many of them are based upon working with vowel sounds—and almost everyone who studies with me is able to hear and then create vocal harmonics.
These harmonics can be utilized for many extraordinary things. You can use them, along with their associated vowels, to resonate the chakras. You can also use them to resonate different portions of the brain. Through learning to first hear and then create vocal harmonics, you can also improve the quality of your own voice as well as enhance your ability to hear. This makes sense. With the regard to the five sense, it’s almost as though we’re wearing sonic ear plugs and then through working with harmonics, we remove these earplugs and truly experience a higher aspect of the sound spectrum. One of our senses becomes expanded and because of this, our consciousness as well is expanded.
I’ve even helped rediscover a very ancient technique which I call “overtoning”, in which you project a siren like vocal sound to someone else. At a particular point in the siren, a specific harmonic will occur which is the “healing” sound needed to put in balance something that’s out of alignment in the other person. It’s quite powerful and quite extraordinary.
What’s very interesting in regard to the Tibetan “Deep Voice”, which I do utilize for sacred chanting, is that frequently in a workshop someone will receive the voice simply by being around me. It will be nothing I have actually taught. And it’s not always a man who receives this voice. Sometimes it will be a woman. I remember once when a little old lady came to the second day of the workshop. “Jonathan”, she said. I look at her and smiled. Then she opened her mouth and out came the Tibetan Voice. It was amazing. In the Tibetan belief system, the “Deep Voice” is a gift from the Divine. I can believe it.
The more I am involved with the use of sound and music as therapeutic and transformational tools—the more experiences I have with the extraordinary abilities of sounds to create shifts and changes—the less and less I am able to put these experiences, these frequencies shifts, into a container that fits into any scientific mold. It’s quite amazing.
I started out very left brained, I think as a result of the medical practitioners in my family lineage. I was very much into collecting frequencies and creating systems. In fact, back in 1988, I wrote a book called AWAKENING THE LOST CHORD for Ballantine. It was essentially nothing more than an encyclopedia of sound healing, with chapter devoted to everything from harmonics and mantras and frequencies to sonic shamanism. Quite an overview of the field. And I must admit that twelve years later, there’s not that much new in the field. Oh, people have made advances in areas, whether it’s the use of sound to resonate specific portions of the body or the use of frequencies to increase plant growth. But, these are only minor advances—at least to my knowledge. The basic work and research, I guess, was already in progress, though of course, many of the people doing this work don’t know this. So when they come upon an idea or a discovery, they think it’s brand new.
Probably, of course, much of this work has been going on for eons and we’re just reawakening to some of the knowledge and ideas that the ancients worked with. But anyway, I really did my homework a while ago in terms of researching the effects of sound and music, in terms of what other people had done.
Part Two
Jonathan Goldman: No. At the time, my editor told me to act like it was the only book I’d ever write. And never having written a book before, I thought, “okay” and proceeded from that premise. I delivered to the publisher a manuscript that was something like 250,000 words. They had asked for 75,000 words. And to make a long story short, it was too much for anyone to deal with. that particular manuscript is unpublished, though much of the information was published in HEALING SOUNDS: THE POWER OF HARMONICS. I don’t think of it as a futile experience, though. It really gave me quite an education into sacred sound and sound healing. I know about a lot of things in regard to the subject.
But what I want to get back to is this idea that at first I was really looking for the “magical frequency”. And I think lots of people are still looking for this now. You know, the frequency or frequencies that will do this or that. Change lead into gold. That sort of thing. And I’m not saying they don’t exist. They probably do, but I’m not that interested anymore. Because I think that there is something else at work and this something else defies explanation by traditional science or medicine. It appears to be magic. And unlike Isaac Asimov, or whomever it was who made that statement about the magic of today being the science of tomorrow, I’m not that sure that some of the things I’ve experienced and encountered can be put within the confines of any sort of system or science. At least with our current understanding of what science is.
I mean, I have my explanations about resonance and entrainment and what not, but I think there’s more than meets the eye, the ear or the mind involved when you start working with sacred sound.
Rick Martin: What sorts of experiences are you talking about?
Jonathan Goldman: The one that comes to mind immediately is the one in the ancient Mayan site of Palenque, where I created light through sound. I’ve written about this in HEALING SOUNDS and in SHIFTING FREQUENCIES. It continues to be quite an amazing phenomenon. I was in a darkened room with a number of other people and the guide said “Make sound here” and pointed over a doorway. And I made sound and the room light up and everyone saw it.
The experience was actually so mind boggling at the time that I more or less dismissed it until I got back to the states and began working on HEALING SOUNDS: THE POWER OF HARMONICS. And I began to try to research the experience and come up with different explanations. One of my explanations, incidentally, had to do with the sound triggering the brain to produce melatonin. And interestingly enough, a scientist read HEALING SOUNDS, was intrigued by my conjecture about this and actually proved that melatonin is produced by certain harmonically related sounds. So, there’s some scientific validation there. But I think more was happening than that.
Later on, I seem to have inadvertently rediscovered a chakra which I call the “Angel” Chakra that’s located inbetween the third eye and crown, right at the fontanel area (the soft spot in a baby’s head). I devote a chapter to this in SHIFTING FREQUENCIES. The “Angel” Chakra is a source of light encoding in the human and it can be opened and activated by the same sound I used down in Palenque. What’s interesting is that this sound can be phonetically written as “nuurrrr”, which is an Eastern word meaning, “Light”. I find this fascinating. So, here you have a sort of mystical or esoteric explanation for the experience, but it’s still not enough. Because I think there was and is still an additional ingredient in this whole phenomenon that I call magic or the sacred or the divine.
Rick Martin: How so?
Jonathan Goldman: Well, if it was just purely a matter of physical plane resonance, then you should be able to have everyone make this sound “nuuurrrr” and experience the activation of the “Angel” Chakra. And that’s not the case. And while I have people do a visualization to enhance the sound, in which they see the sound going up through the head, resonating the pituitary/pineal area and create an opening in the “new” chakra, then anyone who made the sound with the visualization should be able to create this activation. And that’s also not the case. Because it seems as though there is an initiatory activation that’s going on during this experience. And it has to do with someone who is able to do this activation being a conduit for the sound to assist people in opening this chakra. That doesn’t make any sense—at least from a third dimensional viewpoint. It’s another example of harmonic transmission. And it really defies explanation.
The more I teach and experience and share my work/play with sound, the less and less I understand. In fact, it seems like I’ve been downloading information from my left brain for quite a while now. I was once a walking encyclopedia on sound healing, but I’m not that interested anymore. I just don’t have much use for a lot of information because what I was trying to do a while ago was put everything into systems—into boxes—and sacred sound does not seem to want to be placed in boxes. I believe this is because systems and boxes are self-limiting and we’re at the point in our evolution where we don’t need to be limited by anything.
I have a friend who spent years, as I did, collecting information and doing research about sound. But unlike me, instead of simply collecting the different systems, he put them all together and created a grand unified field of sound healing. This sound resonates this chakra with this color and this smell. That sort of thing. And while I find it useful for the neophyte who is just starting out and needs a system to work with, I find it quite limiting.
I remember I asked him once, “Why have you done this?” And his reply was that he wanted to leave something for his young son when he grows up. And my reply was, “Yes, but what if by the time he grows up, he won’t need this system?”
Of course, I guess part of me is a system buster. I think that my formula “FREQUENCY + INTENT = HEALING” creates enough parameters for us without getting more specific. I have another formula, incidentally, which is closely related to this. It’s VOCALIZATION + VISUALIZATION = MANIFESTATION. It’s basically the same thing, except that it refers a bit more to chanting and self created vocal sounds. It means that the sounds you make coupled with the visualization that you are making create an end result for the sound. So, for example, if you’re chanting a mantra for compassion like the Tibetan “Om Mani Padme Hum” and you visualize the Buddha of Compassion and try to embody compassion, then you’ll probably end of manifesting the experience of this energy.
I thought I was very clever when I came up with this other formula. I thought I had really found something. I think it occurred after I had read a book about the creation myth in the “Old Testament” and it said something like when “The Lord Said ‘Let there be Light’”, he put the intention or the visualized energy of light onto the sound and thus brought it forth. And this formula, VOCALIZATION + VISUALIZATION = MANIFESTATION came to me. Then, after I got done patting myself on the back for my “discovery”, I realized that this knowledge was a basic foundation of the spiritual and magical traditions on the planet. It was nothing new. But I do think it was important to be able to create a catchy little formula in terms of helping educate people about working with sacred sound.
Before I forget, I want to talk about compassion for a moment. Because it’s a very important part of my work and I think it’s quite important in terms of our evolution as a species.
I believe compassion is a key to enlightenment and evolution. In fact, it may be the key. I’m sure it is the key to our continued survival on this planet. You know, some time ago, I was reading an interview with George Lucas about the “Phantom Menace” and he was talking about various mythological aspects of the film. He started talking about compassion and he said that the counterpart to this was greed.
When I read this, I thought, “You know, on one level, this is true.” Because when you get into greed, you are quite selfish and unkind and you really don’t care about anything but yourself. And my goodness—most of the trauma this planet is currently in is because of greed—people raping the planet and polluting the environment and not really caring what the repercussions of their actions might be. It’s not like the Native American concept of 7 Generations, where one is conscious of what one’s actions are like for the next 7 generations. And it may have to do with just being in the Beta State too much of the time so that you don’t access higher levels of consciousness and begin to care. Or it may simply be based upon a fear consciousness and a belief in there not being enough so you get into greed.
What strikes me so often during our experiences in workshops with chanting the “Om Mani Padme Hum” and other sacred sounds so that we can embody compassion, is that very frequently, the first person that we need to be compassionate to is ourselves. Most of us have to forgive ourselves for so many things. Most of us don’t really like ourselves. And hey—if you don’t like yourself, how can you like anyone else? And how can you do anything for anyone else if that is the case? This, of course, includes healing.
So if you can be compassion with your own self, then you can begin to be compassionate and kind to others. And suddenly when this occurs, you begin to experience the oneness that exists between all conscious beings. And you begin to have what could be termed spiritual experiences—I don’t really know what to call them—but you begin to have experiences in which the fear that created the boundaries and borders between ourselves and other human beings are broken down. And suddenly the person next to you is just a mirror of you and a mirror of the divine. And you would not think of doing anything to them that was not of the utmost kindness and respect.
It’s a little like getting hit with the “Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself” Commandment. And it’s immense because once that happens, things change. Your relationship to self changes. Your relationship to other people changes. Your life changes and you change the lives of those around you. And this is accomplished all through embodying compassion.
With the embodiment of compassion, one could not imagine doing any of the heinous activities that frequently go on on this planet. Because most of those activities are based upon fear. You don’t go to war with your true brother or sister. You don’t take their food. You don’t do this or that. It’s not in your scheme of thinking.
I think compassion is at the basis of all healing. And I think compassion is at the basis of all true higher consciousness. I remember reading once where the Dalai Lama was asked if he had one message he could broadcast to the world, what would it be, and he said “Be kind to each other”. It was that simple and that direct. And to me, it’s that powerful, because kindness is also at the base of compassion. And it’s in the words of Jesus and the 10 Commandments and all these different spiritual texts. “Be kind to each other”. Just think what that would mean?
Some years ago in meditation, I heard a voice say “The way to the Crown is through the Heart!” and I believe this is true. I think that in terms of the chakras, while all chakras are, to some degree, resonating and active, different people have different chakras that are truly activated. These are the chakras from which they draw their energy and abilities. So that someone who is a sex symbol, for example, might have a highly activated second chakra. Most politicians would work from the third chakra. Healers might work from the heart chakra. Musicians might work from the throat chakra (though this is also a second chakra response—I think it depends upon the level of consciousness that is being projected on the sound). Scientists and visionaries frequently work from the third eye, or sixth chakra.
Now, from my understanding, it’s quite possible to be working from both the third chakra and the sixth chakra as the primary chakras that one is drawing from. And this would result in someone who is basically involved with using the mind for power and control. I believe this type of thing went on a lot in what we call Atlantis, and I think this resulted in its destruction.
I’m always reminded of the scientist character in “Jurassic Park” who is horrified at the experimentation going on and says something like: “You people are so interested in trying to find out if you can do something that you don’t bother to ask if you should do something.” And I think that’s quite true in terms of our advances in technology.
I have a new book out called THE LOST CHORD. It’s an adventure novel about sacred sound. It’s set in Boulder, Colorado and it involves a rock musician whose friend discovers a series of frequencies that creates interdimensional portals. This sound is also highly addictive. This “Lost Chord” promptly gets stolen by a mad man messiah who lives in the mountains and wants to use it to take over the world. The hero of the story has to go through initiation into sound and spirit in order to rescue his friends and get back the Lost Chord. It’s a fun, fast read and there’s a lot of information and knowledge about sound found in this pop novel.
One of the major themes in THE LOST CHORD is this schism between the spiritual and the technological. As Shade, the protagonist finds out, the “Lost Chord” has actually been in existence for ages. But its knowledge and use has been found with deeply spiritual beings who know enough not to abuse it. The fact that it has been synthesized into a series of frequencies makes it accessible by everyone, and therefore subject to abuse.
I like to believe that as one works more and more with sacred sound, the powers and abilities of the sound are revealed. But as you progress in this work, it’s imperative for your heart to be open and to be a primary focus of energy. Otherwise, the full power and energy of the sound will not be revealed. Once again, the way to the Crown, which is true spiritual and divine consciousness, is through the Heart, which is the embodiment of compassion and love. I don’t believe it’s through the 3rd Eye alone, unless of course, the Heart is opened as well.
I know many people with highly activated 3rd Eyes—these people work in the realm of the psychic and have some powerful abilities—telepathy, etc. But they become very limited, after a while. Because they don’t understand that it’s through the heart that the truly Divine and miraculous happens.
From my perspective, multi-dimensional consciousness can only occur through an open heart. Maybe I’m wrong. But I think once your heart is opened and you are resonating from love and compassion and not fear or greed, extraordinary things can occur. I know everyone says that mathematics is the universal language. But I’m not sure. I believe that with multi-dimensional consciousness, 1 + 1 = 3. Really. This is a different type of mathematics and most people who are operating from the 3rd Eye simply can’t get this. Because it doesn’t make sense on a logical level. But it well may be true.
I must add, however, that just having an opened heart may not be enough. I think it’s important to embody the element of wisdom as well. Perhaps it’s really a combination of these two qualities that is the true key to enlightenment.
Now, why have I been going on and on about the importance of compassion and the heart and all this stuff about intention and visualization and what not? Well, the answer has to do with frequency. Or rather frequencies. Because right now, at this particular point in time and space that we call 2000, the search for the “magical frequency” is really in vogue. And while, I think it’s important to continue the search and research, I think it’s also important to understand that use of pure frequency will ultimately become self-limiting and we need to realize this.
I have no doubt that in the near future, there will be astounding inroads made in terms of science. We’ll come up with the correct frequencies to eradicate specific illnesses and diseases. Some of the devices that we’ll see in the not too distant future are like the “Tri-Corder” from Star Trek. You’ll have this small handheld object that someone will hold near a person and using sound, it’ll give a read out of any imbalances. Then with a few turns of a knob or button, this device will send out the frequencies necessary to create balance. That is astonishing and wonderful and a great advancement for humankind and medicine. And I really don’t think it’s too far away.
But, I think that in terms of healing and frequency shifting, we need to take back our own power and abilities to do it ourselves and not rely on machines. Yes, sometimes the assistance of others is useful in the process. But really, it’s through ourselves that all true healing occurs–through empowering ourselves as the ultimate healer.
On a level, what is the difference between having headache and taking a pill someone gives you for it and having a headache and listening to a frequency that someone gives you? It’s still basically very similar, which is having a dependence on someone else to heal you.
As I just said, I think sometimes we need assistance. Sometimes we need someone else to help “jump start” our engines, so to speak. But really, what I think is necessary is for us to start taking responsibility and control of ourselves. Because I think if we do that, we’ll stop being victims and start being co-creators of this reality. And I like to believe that one of the easiest, simplest and most effective ways of doing this is by working with our own sound. Our own frequencies, so to speak. Since it’s my belief that we are all unique vibratory beings, our own voice can really be specific in terms of the frequencies we use for ourselves. And who better to encode intentionality than ourselves? We can get very good at projecting our own frequencies and intent through using our voice. It’s cost effective. The user’s manual is simple to use. And it doesn’t require electricity or batteries.
Now, I realize that all of this is part of a planetary education process, which is one of the reasons why I and many others are teaching toning and harmonics and mantras and all the other various aspects of sound. I also realize that the use of frequencies through CD’s, instruments and what not, are also highly effective for healing. I’m all for this. I simply don’t want us to forget the other element—the sacred and spiritual element of sound, which is really what it’s all about. As the development of sound as a frequency shifting tool continues, we’ll have all sort of miraculous things occurring. However, knowing the current nature of human development, which is frequently to go to the lowest common denominator of a subject, we’ll also have those who will not be operating from the heart with their understanding of frequencies and will undoubtedly use it for power and control. Nothing new. And that’s all right. But we need to understand that whatever is created in this manner is nothing in comparison to what can be accomplished through using the heart and the mind together.
I mentioned previously that at this point in our development, Frequency and Intent are both 50% of the formula. As we progress in our evolution and achieve higher realms of consciousness, the frequency becomes less and less important and the intent becomes more and more important. This has to do with opening the heart more and more in order to experience higher dimensionalities. I also said that there are probably saints and holy men throughout the world who can groan or belch or what not—they can make any sound they want—and they can encode on this sound whatever healing frequency they want. And we need to remember the possibility of this. Because otherwise, one will become too dependent on finding the specific frequency and forget that this is only part of the formula. I might add, this focus on merely frequency, will not create the most effective result of the frequency, simply because it is only part of the formula.
So, the use of frequency for healing is true up to a point, and then it becomes not true. It then becomes totally the intention and the frequency merely becomes a carrier wave for whatever the intention is. And it could be any sound.
Currently in traditional medicine and science, I do think it’s very important that the investigation into the uses of different frequencies continues. In fact, it’s vital that this occurs because traditional medicine and science is very 3rd dimension based and we are of course, among other things, 3rd dimensional beings.
Right now traditional medicine is finally acknowledging that music can help relax and reduce stress. That’s actually quite a significant leap in understanding—finally recognizing that music can assist us in helping to relax. And the understanding that stress is a powerful factor in the creation of disease is also now occurring. It’s taking awhile, but science and medicine are getting there. Who knows? In the not too distant future, energy medicine may finally become truly validated and accepted in the traditional medical fields?
Usually, when people ask how sound is being used in medicine, I talk about the use of ultra sound to help pregnant woman, or the use of sound waves to break up kidney stones. Both of these are pretty rudimentary in terms of what sound will finally be accomplishing in the healing process, but it is a start. That vision I had about a Tri-Corder type of device being used for healing isn’t that far away—but it may be some years down the road.
I remember once I was attending a Music Medicine Conference at a major medical center. And during the conference, I was just blown away by how primitive the understanding of most of the people there was toward the uses of sound to heal. And the research and experiments that were going on in regard to this was devastating to me. It was like trying to cut up the worm into smaller and smaller parts in order to find out how it crawled. They were missing the major understandings of certain things. When I had the opportunity to discuss ideas such as intent, most of the scientists and doctors at this conference looked at me like I was from another planet. Because, of course, for the most part, in terms of 3rd dimensional instrumentation and measurement, intent was something that could not be validated. So it was not real.
I was staying at a friend’s place at the time and I remember sitting outside being pretty depressed about the current state of Music Medicine. And I heard a voice say, “If you wanted things to be the way they will be, you would have been born 50 years later. But you were not, because you are to serve as a bridge. Remember that.” And I try to. That was about 10 years ago. So, the future of sound in terms of that Tri-Corder type of device could probably be 40 years in the future.
Who knows how far in the future it will be when people can really shift their vibratory rates through using their own sounds? Oh, there are those who can do it now. But when this becomes common in the general populace? I don’t have a clue when that might occur. But I think it’s important to keep awareness of the possibilities inherent in sound in people’s minds and in their hearts.
About 10 years ago, there was an article in the NY Times Science Section about sound experiments with ultra sound that were happening. And the headlines read, “Sound shaped into dazzling new tool—can make, break or rearrange molecular structure and levitate objects”. I was amazed that this information was running in a newspaper. It involved some research trying to grow crystals in zero gravity. But as a metaphor, it really described the power of sound.
Now, if you can make, break or rearrange molecular structure, there’s virtually nothing that inherently can not be healed or transformed with sound. So the possibilities are endless. We’ll be able to use sound to shatter virus’s that attack us and build up and even regenerate organs that need assistance. I think that there are some individuals who can do this now, but I see this as being common place in the future. I know of people who are working with DNA right now using sound. They’re trying to facilitate our evolution in this manner using sound. And I think they’re pretty successful.
I’ve been worked with tuning forks in an interesting fashion that I’d like to tell you about. As I’ve stated, I’m less interested in working with frequencies than many people are. But I’m quite interested in working with intervals, which are the relationships between frequencies. An octave, for example, is two notes that share the same name and have a frequency relationship in which one of the notes vibrates at twice the frequency of the first. So, it is vibrating at a ratio of 2 to 1.
I mentioned harmonics before and said that these were frequencies that were geometric multiples of a given frequency. With a piano, most of the intervals on a piano are not really harmonically related. They’re not really composed of whole number ratios, like 2 to 1 or 3 to 2. That’s because the tuning of a piano is based upon the square root of two.
Now, I have a good friend, a doctor, who has shown that certain ratios, such as the 3 to 2 ratio, seems to be particularly balancing and therapeutic for the human nervous system. He’s had aluminum tuning forks developed that you strike and then bring near the ears, and these tuning forks really create a very calming response in the individual who experiences them in this way. It also balances the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Incidentally, it doesn’t appear to be the frequency or the keynote of these tuning forks that creates the effect, but rather simply their relationship. So it could be the notes C and G or the notes E and B. Same effect. There are other very wonderful results from these tuning forks, but I’d like to continue on.
Several years ago, due to some interesting experiences that are rather too long to get into, I was guided to having tuning forks cut to the ratio of 8 to 13. I did this as an experiment. I had no idea what they would sound like, because believe me, there are some intervals that sound hideous and really do not interact with the human nervous systems or energy field in a positive manner. I didn’t want to give you the impression that just because intervals are in whole number ratios, they’re beneficial. They’re not. Only certain ratios seem to be beneficial.
I didn’t know what these tuning forks would sound like. But when I did, I immediately felt spiraling and heard angels singing. It was really great. I want to acknowledge that many of my “discoveries” such as the Angel Chakra were really quite slow in unveiling their true essence to me. With the Angel Chakra, I had been doing activation of this area with sound for several years before I finally realized what was going on. With regard to the 8 to 13 ratio and the tuning forks, I simply was intrigued that the sound was so beautiful and effected me so deeply. I really did not have a clue that they might be truly transformative.
I began first by having some more 8:13 tuning forks made to see how other people would respond. Everyone who utilized them seemed to have positive experiences. So I began making them available at workshops simply as experimental tools. People reported experiences, such as I had, of hearing the angels or feeling light coming into their body or seeing spirals. That sort of thing. We found out that they also balanced the left and right hemispheres of the brain as well as balancing the chakras. Quite interesting. Also interesting is the fact that to my knowledge, and I’ve checked with a number of authorities on this—people who really know world music and scales and intervals and such—this is the first time, at least in a very long time, that this interval of 8:13 has appeared on the planet.
Once I was teaching a workshop and there was a very well know medical doctor who was also an energy medicine authority. When I began demonstrating the tuning forks on someone, I asked her to check what was going on. She pulled out her pendulum and other devices. While this was going on, the person experiencing the tuning forks was describing the sound going down into her body as light, creating balance and alignment at a cellular level.
Someone asked me if I thought these tuning forks would assist in activating DNA. I smiled and told them I thought it could only happen if the tuning forks were in the key of D n’ A. Now, this was a joke. Remember that it is basically the interval—the ratio—and not the keynote or frequency in terms of these sets of tuning forks. But I did have the tuning forks cut in the key of D. And now people who are working with DNA activation tell me that these tuning forks are quite stellar for the process.
These tuning forks, incidentally, were not the work with sound that I was initially thinking about when I mentioned sound and DNA. There are a number of scientists who have supposedly discovered the DNA sequence through sound. Of course the fact that to my knowledge, these scientists do not agree upon this musical sequence is telling. It probably all has to do with intentionality, but I’m beginning to repeat myself.
I think there’s something quite transformative and powerful about this 8:13 interval. I’m not exactly sure what it is or why it is. It may have to do with people’s consciousness opening to a new sonic ratio. Or it may have to do with the fact that 8 to 13 represents an outer octave of the spiral created by the fibbonacci series—this is the same sort of spiral that’s found in the inner ear and in a Nautilus shell. But it seems to have something to do with our evolutionary acceleration. More on this later. We’re still gathering data, but it’s very positive.
Throughout this interview, I’ve focused upon the importance of intention and my belief that we need not become too systematized in terms of cataloging the effects of the effects of sound, nor its relationship to color and geometry. I just want to say that this doesn’t mean I don’t think the subject isn’t worthwhile investigating. It’s just my belief that you can take any sound and encode any color and geometry upon it.
In my HEALING SOUNDS INTENSIVE, which is a 9 Day training. we have people from throughout the planet come to study with me. And it really is a glorious experience. We manifest Light and Love through Sacred Sound for those nine days and it’s one of the most profound most enjoyable and transformational experiences that you can imagine. I highly recommend it for anyone who is serious about exploring the extraordinary power of sound to healing and transform.
At the end of those 9 Days, the groups constructs what I call a “group merkaba”—a multi-dimensional field which we create using specific sounds, intervals, harmonics, colors and sacred geometry. We do this in order to assist both personal and planetary evolution and it’s wonderful. But the thing I want to say is that in order to construct this, we do use specific sound, colors, etc. And there is a reason and a basis for this. And when we have constructed this with our sounds and consciousness you can actually feel the merkaba. The energy is discernable with your hands. And the gravitational fields are different around it. In fact, the whole time space continuum is different around this form. So, it’s real. And it’s definitely an evolutionary leap that the different groups who do this are able to experience. I remember the first time I was guided to create this with a group. I didn’t have a clue what would happen really—only some idea that if we could it would be beneficial for all. And we did. I’m waiting in the silence that accompanies the sound. And I hear a voice. It says “Congratulations! This is the first time this has been accomplished in many a millennium.” It was quite interesting.
The reason I told you about this merkaba and our ability to create it was to say that despite my desire to eliminate systems so that we can open our consciousness and not create limitations upon ourselves, I also believe that it’s good to have a beginning to start with. I couldn’t just say, “Okay, we’re going to create this multi-dimensional geometric form” and have us do it. I’ve got to go: “We’re going to sing this interval with these vowel sounds and these harmonics and visualize these colors and so on and so on.” And it takes some training and practice. Not difficult mind you, but just a little experience.
Now, someday, I believe I will be able to just say, “Okay, we’re going to create this multi-dimensional geometric form….” And we’ll be able to do it. But for right now, I think we all need training wheels. Or whatever metaphor you want to use for needing to crawl first before one can run.
Part Three
Rick Martin: Your latest album, CHAKRA CHANTS, has been exciting a lot of people. Would you explain the process in making and it and talk about your “intent” while making the album CHAKRA CHANTS?
Jonathan Goldman: CHAKRA CHANTS was really an experiment in sacred sound. And I’m so glad it’s being well received. I didn’t know what it would sound like during its creation, or the effect it would have upon people. I wanted to combine a lot of different systems that utilized sound for healing and put them together. See if they worked side by side—see if they could live together. And from my perspective, I felt they could. But I didn’t know how other people would react. It seems they are reacting fondly. It won the “Best Healing-Meditation Album” and “Album of the Year” at the 1999 Visionary Awards. I was quite honored at the extraordinary recognition it has received.
I combined the sacred vowel sounds with the Bija mantras, as well as Shabda yoga sounds and elemental toning that all corresponded with a particular chakra. It starts at the lst Chakra and goes up to the Crown. Each chakra is a different sonic landscape and it’s quite powerful.
During this recording, I’m sure they were a little puzzled in the studio. I’d lay out an alter and light incense and candles and ask the Goddess of Music and the Angel of Sound to come in and be on the recordings. And of course, when I was working with a particular chakra, I would have the intention resonating that chakra. It seems to work.
I continue to be amazed at the extraordinary response people seem to receive from listening to CHAKRA CHANTS. I frequently get letters and emails from people who have deeply transformative and healing experiences working with this recording. Recently, I received correspondence from a woman writer who listened to CHAKRA CHANTS and afterwards found that she no longer needed to wear her glasses. It was outrageous. Completely unsolicited and as far as I know, true. Now I’m not saying that if you listen to CHAKRA CHANTS you won’t need glasses. It certainly did not happen to me. But I must tell you that when I receive feedback like this, it really is quite rewarding and joyful.
Rick Martin: Any last comments?
Jonathan Goldman: I’d like to say something that I say at the beginning of every workshop I teach. And that is this: what I share is the result of years of experience and it is what I believe to be true at this particular point in time and space. However, I know that reality is fluid and things change. Including my understanding of sound. I’d like to be able to wake up tomorrow morning and find out that everything I’ve believed and known thus far has been wrong. And I’d like not to spend the rest of my time defending my old beliefs.
There are so many aspects of sound as a healing and transformational vehicle, that I’ve just scratched the surface of some important ideas. And there are many more. But it’s important to remember the sacredness of sound. In all our different spiritual traditions, we have the belief that the universe was created through sound. From the OLD TESTAMENT, we have “And the Lord said ‘Let there be Light’” In the NEW TESTAMENT, we have “In the beginning was the Word”. From the VEDAS, you have “In the beginning was Brahman, with whom was the Word”. The Hopis believe that the Spider Woman sang over the inanimate forms and gave them life. Same thing with the Mayans, in POPUL VUH. The Polynesians have the creator gods blowing a conch shell. In the East, a gong is hit and the universe begins. I could go on and on. All the different traditions understand this. Sound is sacred. Sound is the original creational force. It’s important to remember.
We need to honor the sacredness of sound. And not get too carried away with the scientific analysis of sound and frequencies. I remember reading an interview with the Chant Master of the Gyuto Monastery, where they do this extraordinary harmonic chanting. The Chant Master said that there was not even a word for “harmonics” or “overtones” in the Tibetan language. The sound of the harmonic comes as a result of one’s attunement with the divine. He thought that the Divine beings associated with sound were probably having a good laugh at all the attempts at Western science to understand this. I think there’s probably a lot of truth in that.
Rick Martin: Who, in your expert opinion, are the musician leaders at the cutting-edge of healing sounds work?
Jonathan Goldman: This is very difficult to answer because there’s probably a lot of people I don’t know who I should name and a lot of people I know who I shouldn’t name. And I’d have to name musicians as well as healers, and teachers who may not be musicians or healers. I’d forget some names and leave out people who deserve to be cited because if I didn’t, the list would be enormous.
Rick Martin: Go ahead. Just name a few so our readers can have some names.
Jonathan Goldman: As far as musicians go, Steven Halpern and Iasos are actively up there as people who consciously create music for healing. Kitaro is incredible for shifting consciousness with music. So are a lot of other people. John Beaulieu is a great teacher and sonic practitioner who creates some very interesting recordings. Don Campbell has helped illuminate mainstream consciousness to the power of music. Fabian Maman has done some wonderful work. Jim Albani leads amazing group toning experiences. The list goes on and on. Laraaji creates great celestial music. Sarah Benson is a wonderful flute player and conduit for divine love through sound. Kay Gardner has been a pioneer in writing and teaching about healing music. There are chanters and musicians in all the different countries who create transformational and healing music. There are people from all over the world who may not be known about in our Western society, but may be doing extraordinary work with sound as a healing and transformative modality. Sometimes we confuse the ability to promote oneself with the ability to be gifted in an area. Just because someone is well known does not mean they are masters in a field. They simply may be master promoters. Also, we may have a person who knows nothing consciously about healing with music, but whose music embodies a healing ability.
I think John Lennon would have probably been exploring this venue. Jimi Hendrix too. The CD imprint of one of Peter Gabriel’s live albums has Cymatics pictures on it. I’m sure Carlos Santana is aware of the healing power of music. This awareness of sound as a transformational and healing modality is flowing into mainstream! . It’s amazing.
I think you have to remember that healing music can come in many varieties. And frequently, it depends upon the listener and how they resonant to the music or the ideas or the frequencies that are consciously or unconsciously created by us all.
Rick Martin: What about the subject of digital vs. analog recording quality? Would you comment, please, on the range of sound as actually heard by the human ear; that which is out of the range of human conscious perception, as well as the benefit to the listener of including those higher-end harmonics within a sound healing recording?
Jonathan Goldman: This is a question that is frequently asked in workshops—the difference between digital and analog. To be truthful, my thoughts and beliefs about the difference continue to evolve as our digital technology evolves.
When digital recordings first came out, there was some data to indicate that they were not very beneficial to our energy field. I’m talking about digital records now—remember them? I once worked with a doctor who showed that digital recordings weakened certain acupuncture meridians such as the lung meridian and heart meridians. Then, later on compact discs started coming out. At the time, I was quite anti-digital. I had hoped that it was just a passing fancy, but no such luck.
For many years, I refused to release my recordings as CDs because I was quite sure they were not beneficial to our nervous systems and our energy field, and, I must say, I read some data indicating that this was correct. But eventually I realized that I would be missing a large part of the music listening audience if I did not get with the times and go digital. I began first by putting “DOLPHIN DREAMS” out as a CD, and then many of my other recordings.
Now there is a difference between digital technology and CDs. Similar in certain aspects; different in other aspects. At first, I was most concerned that digital nullified intention. A scientist who is an extraordinary innovator in the field of sound told this to me about 15 years ago and I tended to believe him. It felt correct to me because as you know, intention is very important to me. But as the CD listening public became larger and larger, I realized that I would be losing a very large audience if I did not change to CD format.
My biggest concern at the time was that the various divine energy forms that I work with on my recordings would not want to be digitized. I believed that they had no problem resonating with magnetic medium, such as tapes. But I wondered about being digitized and being turned into zeroes and ones. So, with “DOLPHIN DREAMS” and with every subsequent recording I have done, I take the master recording that will be used to duplicate copies of this recording and I put it into a crystal grid, a powerful geometric arrangement of quartz crystals which creates interdimensional fields. Once the master recording such as a DAT (Digital Audio Tape is in the grid, I ask the divine energy forms, the gods, goddesses, angels and whomever it is that I’m working with, if they would not mind being digitized and to please come into the recording in order to assist and benefit the planet. It seems to be effective.
I did that for “DOLPHIN DREAMS”, my first digital recording, and I have continued to do it with each subsequent recording. I think it’s extremely important. And I think it works. But there’s something else as well. The fact of the matter is that we live in a digital society. Digital is here. It is no fad. It is not going away. And I believe that beings of higher vibrations than we are—Divine entities if you like—have agreed that they will be digitized and converted to zeroes and ones in order to assist us on the planet right now. I’m not sure that this was true at the beginning of the digital recording phenomenon, but I believe it is true now–too many listeners tell me of Divine manifestations that occur when listening to my recordings. For example, I receive reports of Tara, the Tibetan Goddess of Compassion, coming to listeners while the CD of “TRANCE TARA” is playing—that sort of thing. “TRANCE TARA” is an invocation to this divine female energy of compassion. Obviously, Tara has consented to being digitized in order to assist listeners.
I think what my scientist friend said about digital nullifying intentionality may have been true at one point, but it is true no more. In fact, my friend who said these things to me many years ago now works heavily in the digital domain. So things change.
I’m currently working on a new recording called “THE LOST CHORD”, based a bit upon the technology I invented in my novel, THE LOST CHORD, which describes a computer generated set of frequencies that create interdimensional gateways. But unlike the Lost Chord in the novel, this will be a very safe and listenable sonic environment. “THE LOST CHORD” will employ extraordinary digital technology, but it will also focus upon the human voice and sacred chant. We’re going to be doing things that were sonically quite unimaginable some years ago, but now with digital technology, it will be possible. And the potentials for healing and self-transformation in regard to this are amazing. It’s really quite exciting. I think that with the proper intention, digital technology may prove to be an extraordinary asset to us. This is the positive aspect of the situation regarding digital.
Some concerns I have regarding this situation include the fact that many digitized sounds are not real. I have a friend who is an extremely well known recording artist. Some years ago, he sold his very expensive digital equipment to buy very expensive analog equipment. When asked why he said, “Because I want people to know what things really sound like.” And I totally understand and agree. Instead of using a synthesizer to play a violin part for a concert, he will have a violin player actually play the part. It’s wonderful! I think that there is certainly a difference between real instruments and synthesized instruments. But not everyone is in a position of touring with a string section. Synthesizers certainly have their place in music. You can do things with synthesizers that you can’t do with acoustic instruments and vice versa. I just hope we all continue to remember what real instruments sound like!
What is still quite disturbing about digital technology is the playback medium—CDs. Some of the recording technology is quite sophisticated, with sampling rates that are quite high, taking up a very large amount of the sonic spectrum. And it’s advancing and getting better all the time.
But CDs! CDs are something else! I mentioned before that we hear up to around 16,000 hz. — 16,000 cycles per second. Children can hear a lot higher than that—probably close to 20,000 hz. So CD manufacturers decided that since people couldn’t really hear higher than 20,000 hz., they would not include sonic information above 20,000 hz. There is a cut off filter that removes all sonic information above this on CDs.
Now granted, we can’t hear above 20,000 Hz., but we may be able to receive information—higher harmonics of sound—that influence and affect our nervous system, our aura, and various other aspects of our bodies and our energy fields. There may be sounds that are way beyond our realm of hearing that influence our health and energy field. It’s been suggested that these higher frequencies that we can’t hear may really be aspects of higher planes of consciousness. It could be possible. By cutting off all frequencies above 20,000 hz., we’re being denied these energies. But as I’ve said, things change. And that hopefully will include digital playback. We must not forget that cassettes do not reproduce frequencies from above 10 to 14,000 Hz. —it depends on the type of cassette. They don’t have the capability to do this. Also, remember that many people do not have playback devices with an optimum fidelity range and can not accurately reproduce the sonics of the recording.
When I do a presentation, I will play recorded examples of some of the phenomenon that I talk about. And while I ask for a good sound system to be provided, I’ve been in situations where all that’s available is a small portable cassette or CD system. One time I had a large room full of people and I was playing a recording on this tiny portable system. The initial recording was quite wonderful, but what we listened to on the system was really poor. And I remember joking to the audience that this was somewhat like watching “Gone With the Wind” on a three-inch television. Something was missing. Still, there were people at that presentation who had profound experiences from even that dismal playback unit. So anything is possible. I wonder what would have happened if those people who did have positive experiences had heard the sonics on something that came close to reproducing the actual recorded sounds?
Any last questions?
Rick Martin: Do you have any insight or theory about which tone or note Archangel Gabriel’s horn might be?
Jonathan Goldman: Ha! (laughing) That’s great! The sound that Gabriel made was The Lost Chord! But how do you know he didn’t play an electric guitar? Because everything is sacred. Every sound is a part of the Divine.
Seriously though, I work a lot with a being named Shamael, who is the Angel of Sound. In texts, he is referred to as the Leader of the Cosmic Choir and is probably a direct manifestation of the Mutation energy form. Anyway, I believe one of the reasons this angelic being, Shamael, has begun to manifest so much in the consciousness of those who work with sound and music healing is that we Westerners need a Divine Aspect to relate to when doing this work.
I’d like to conclude by leaving you with the Shamael Invocation, which I always utilize whenever I am working with sound. Many students of mine, as well as others around the planet also work with this invocation. It is something I suggest doing if anyone is using sound as a sacred tool. It is this:
I invoke the spirit of Shamael
Angel of Sacred Sound
May the Sound of Light surround me
May the Light of Sound guide me
Mat Sacred Sound come through me
For the Harmony of All!