Romancing the Goddess

Music transcends barriers. Perhaps even the key to the divine. Let our resident writer guide you to choosing the right kind of music that will suit your ritual needs. By Weatherlight.

Planning a gathering of magic and mystery? Celebrating a Sabbat with friends? Or perhaps just basking in the glow of your own magic in solo? Though you may already have in stock all your ingredients, tools or whatever materials you need for a magical gathering or meditation, it is important to note that a good choice of music can definitely make a difference on setting the mood of your rituals – casual or not. Nowadays, if you’re living in the metro, total silence even in your own room is a rare commodity. A good selection of ambient music on your CD-shelf comes in handy incase you need to get rid of the surrounding noise - the clutter that will cause distractions on your rituals and meditations.

A visit to your favorite music shop and some of the reviews and suggestions here can probably help you get up and relevant with today’s music scene and your spiritual purpose.

New Age, Classical, Instrumental
Hopefully it doesn’t become a misconception that pagans love listening to New Age music because a lot of us sure prefer something a little trendier. But for those looking for good meditation or ambient music, the local new age shops carry a wide variety of titles from Enya to Yanni to countless classical renditions and originals of Bach and Mozart. I personally go for Chopin’s mazurkas and Jim Brickman’s ballads.

The Gothic Underground

Looking for something edgier? Perhaps you’ll fancy a little rock-goth or epic-rock. Since gothic music isn’t exactly mainstream music, looking for titles on shops is probably going to be hard. Mainstream gothic-rock band Evanescence is a good artist to start appreciating the underground culture of Goth. Aside from songs like Going Under, My Immortal and Bring Me to Life, Evanescence pack their albums with very lively and head bangin’ tracks that’s sure to relieve some tension and stress off your head like heavy metal music does.

A good source of old-school gothic music would probably be Dead Can Dance. The band is fairly easy to appreciate if you’re familiar with chant music. They have recorded more than 10 studio albums with a variety of sounds sometimes incorporating African and tribal music or ambient and chant music. They’ve made their landmark as the pioneer in goth-rock with their rich tones and original style which will never get outdated.

Within Temptation

This band just rocks. If you liked Evanescence and Dead Can Dance then this band brings the best of both worlds. They have actually been around for a while now and have worked in collaboration with Evanescence diva, Amy Lee. This UK-based band will give you both high quality rock music and very enchanting ambient sounds that you’ll feel you’ve been pulled back in time to the dark ages. Their authentic Scottish sound and strings will definitely transport the listener to a different place and time. I highly recommend any witch to give this group an album review and satisfaction is guaranteed. Their music videos aren’t bad either, with carrier singles Mother Earth, Ice Queen and Stand My Ground, they truly represent gothic music. The downside is that albums of this band are very rare and most are only available in the US and the UK.

Chillout and Lounge

For those who think that new age music is too sappy, chillout and lounge music is the perfect alternative. If you’re not familiar with the genre, you probably heard these types of music watching CSI, while lounging at a club or perhaps while watching porn. It’s actually that versatile! The music is simply what it says it is – chilled and relaxing. You can play it on a casual gathering, a meditation rite or even while traveling. Most chillout and lounge music do not have words on them so it is even less distracting than goth-rock songs. Also, since it is mostly purely musical, it is non-offensive and easy to appreciate.

It is pretty hard trying to find albums since it is still considered an underground culture. Look for them on Tower Records and Odyssey XL shops. Albums to look out for are those from Groove Armada, Aromabar, Faithless, Massive Attack, Thievery Corporation, Bonnie Bailey and Sneaker Pimps. Compilations of lounge music are also available for safer choices. A good suggestion is the Chilloutmix 2 (2002) from BMG music and Lounge Story (2004) (mostly having female vocals), the latter was released last year. Be careful not to accidentally buy house mixes and club music because the music will probably be more apt for dancing and body bumping.

The Late Isabel
For those who follow the current local music industry, goth-rock will perhaps never see the light on mainstream music even on NU107. Independently produced band, The Late Isabel, is getting a relatively large following specially from those who frequent gothic-music bars in Malate. The band, headed by vocalist Wawi Navarozza made it to the 2004 NU Rock Awards recently. Their music - original, dark and mysterious - is strangely intoxicating. The quality of their recordings could have been better but if it’s any consolation, their debut album, Doll’s Head, was produced under an indy label. Their music, as they described on an article, is something you might play on funerals or a horror movie perhaps. But seriously, it reflects of haunting memories, sadness and vignettes of the late Isabel’s life. So who is Isabel? She is the ghost that is present on each of their songs as the album takes the listener to a different kind of trance, inviting varied emotions at the same time through their unique sound texture and overall music.

Romancing Venus

One of the Tower Records top-sellers last year was the album whose title I got the inspiration for this article’s title. Romancing Venus – Women expressing the language of love - is the brainchild of local poet “Kooky” Carren Cecillia Tuason. She originally thought of publishing her writings on a coffee table book but realized it might not gain much attention. Together with her friend’s suggestions, including Wawi Navarozza of The Late Isabel and Barbie Almalbis of Barbie’s Cradle, they produced this one-of-a-kind keeper of an album of poetry and love. The album is a charity project wherein famed celebrities shared in their talents for the benefit of the Women’s Crisis Center. That’s actually the best part in this album, you get to hear musical talents like Barbie Almalbis, Hannah Romawac (Session Road), Maegan Aguilar, Wawi Navarroza, Kim Fabros (Seven Shots) among others. There are even non-musical celebrities who contributed to the project like Angel Aquino, Iza Calzado, Chinggay Andrada, KC Concepcion and Cindy Kurleto. For the first time, you’ll hear them on record! These people all chipped in to help fellow women who are battered, gone through abuse and maltreated. Kooky is also one of them, being abused as a child, she understands the mission of the Women’s Crisis Center. She is also aware that people will know what she has been through and even includes her poem regarding the incident that happened to her on the track titled Red Riding Hood.

Musically, Romancing Venus is far from mainstream pop though. It is a collaboration of artists interpreting Kooky Tuason’s poetries spiced up with a lounge and trance-like background music for a full ambient sound. Most of the songs are just a minute or two long but the whole album contains 25 tracks. Track 25, “I Love…”, is a full-length song wherein all the artists contributed for the vocals and words. The techno groove and the non-distracting voice interpretations on the tracks make this an ideal background setting for any casual gathering or ritual.

Some Notes
Music is the universal language that can communicate emotions, mood and ambiance. It can transcend geographical barriers. Although a magical correspondence chart for music isn’t available for us practitioners, taste, preference will guide anyone on their choice of music to use on their magical workings. When total silence is impossible to achieve, the right volume and the right music for setting the mood will definitely help you focus on your ritual and help eliminate unnecessary noise outside your sacred circle.


About the Author: WEATHERLIGHT is a designer working as a project manager for an IT development company. He has always been fascinated by magic and illusions (stage magic) and since high school, he has been a collector of magic effects, props and paraphernalia and has performed for events. Also, he writes for and maintains www.thestorycircle.net, an online magic shop and community and a portal to his researches in Wicca and natural Magic.

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