Sacred Space, Sacred Sound: The Acoustic Mysteries of Holy Places Susan Elizabeth Hale Foreword by Don Campbell 286 pages 6x9 $23.95 paper 978-0-8356-0856-5

Together we stood in awe in the Gallery of Bulls in the prehistoric cave of Lascaux. No more words. No more questions. Only five trembling humans, strangers from different countries, forever linked to this place…Sounds rose from within. The cave was telling me how to sing…I heard an echo, my voice reflected back by the bison, no longer just my voice, but the bison’s voice, the voice of the cave itself.

There is a fundamental human need to create sacred spaces where sound reverberates to commune with the ancestors and give praise to the Divine. Ancient people recognized the importance of sound and sought out resonant caves to perform rituals. Modern-day temples and cathedrals were built to enhance sound and music. We build sacred places to house music, to hear ourselves and Spirit more clearly, and to create relationship between the seen and the unseen worlds within and around us.

"The voice itself is a cathedral," says Susan Hale, author of Sacred Space, Sacred Sound. "We are sound chambers resonating with the One Song." The first of its kind to approach sacred architecture from a perspective of sound and consciousness, this book explores the acoustics of sacred space as an avenue for understanding. It is about music powerful enough to transform us into a greater reality. Based on Susan’s life-long experience as a singer, 27 years as a music therapist, and 10 years of journeys across the globe researching sacred sites, this work discusses the desecration and disharmony of our current world while demonstrating how people are building new sacred sites with resonant qualities.

Starting with a vision to follow the Virgin Mary—also called the Lady of Roses—and her music, Susan takes us on a spiritual journey through France, the United Kingdom, and parts of the American Southwest—from the Chartres Cathedral and the prehistoric cave of Lascaux, to the Templar-built Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland, the Chalice Well of Arthurian lore at Glastonbury, and back on domestic soil to the native kivas in New Mexico. Susan compares different styles of worship through the perspective of music and architecture, focusing on a range of religious traditions including Gregorian chant, overtone chanting, Hindu mantra, and English evensong. She also illustrates the importance of sound in achieving altered states of consciousness for transformation, healing, and prayer. Featuring interviews with leading authorities on the acoustic resonance of sacred space, a discography and suggested listening at the end of several chapters, this book gives us the tools to find our own sacred voice.

A Unique and engaging celebration of how sound interacts with space to open our hearts and elevate our spirit.
—Robert Gass, author of Chanting: Discovering Spirit in Sound

Susan Hale’s book is an auspicious omen, a peacock in a lotus garden, signifying that perhaps in the 21st century humanity will come to its senses and once more appreciate the transformative power of sacred sites, the healing energies of power places, and how body, speech and mind become one in the sacred trinity of sacred space, healing sound and uncontrived spirit.
—Glenn H. Mullin, author of over 20 books and co-producer of five audio recordings of Tibetan sacred music, including Blavatsky's Tibet: Sacred Power Places and their Spiritual Mysteries

Susan Hale takes us on a spiritual autobiographical sound journey and re-enchants the world around us. She profoundly heightens our awareness of the natural processes and the creation of living forms through sound while easily supplying a wealth of knowledge of the sound phenomena and the history of the sacred sites.
—James D'Angelo, PhD, author, The Healing Power of the Human Voice; editor, Caduceus Magazine

In Sacred Space, Sacred Sound Susan Hale describes her awakening and enlivening experiences of listening to and singing with songs perceptible in places and spaces made holy by hundreds of years of prayer and sacred rite and intention. In this perceptive, beautifully and poetically written account, she also encourages us to listen to and dialogue with the unique vibrations of all of creation immediately surrounding us, thus creating a holy and respect-filled relationship.
—Katharine Le Mée, author of Chant: The Origins, Form, Practice, and Healing Power of Gregorian Chant and The Benedictine Gift to Music

Susan Elizabeth Hale's exploration of sound in the context of the world's sacred places leads inexorably to the conclusion that what we commonly think of as consciousness must be more expansive. It is, in fact, the ground state of the universe and through resonance and harmony we can experience a genuine unity. My own experience of meditation and sound in the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid at Giza confirms Hale's revelatory message in this remarkable book.
—Richard Geldard, author of The Traveler's Key to Ancient Greece and the forthcoming Parmenides and the Way of Truth

Susan Elizabeth Hale explores the primal role of sonics in ancient cultures, in our communion with the spirits of Nature, and indeed in every dimension of our life on Earth. Through the lens of personal experience, she reveals the sacred science hidden behind the song, music and speech of the various religions of the world. Sacred Space is an impressive study of the transcendental power of sound.
—Victoria LePage, author of Shambhala: The Fascinating Truth behind the Myth of Shangri-La

Susan-Hale-Songkeeper

Earth Day-Song for the Trees

Susan Elizabeth Hale, M.A., is known in the United States and Great Britain as a pioneer in the fields of music therapy, creative arts therapy, and sound healing.

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