SONGS

This song is designed to companion folks working on ancestral lineage healing. I am a practitioner in this process, trained in the method developed by Daniel Foor of Ancestral Medicine. His teaching has been a gift to my life. The part of the song that keeps sticking in my mind is "so many gifts." I feel more and more aware of the gifts making up my world and life. In this video, you can see gifts from: •Michael G. Smith, who led the project of building the Earth Chapel •The friends who helped build the Chapel •The Earth, Stones, and Trees whose bodies make up the Chapel •Shovava, who made the owl scarf •Jorge Lewis and the lands and beings of the Snuneymuxw Nation who made the drum •My Father who gave me the meditation cushion years ago •Jamie Knapp, who gave me the blue bottle that the light shines through •The Ancestors who inspired all this (especially my Father's Mother's people who chose the scarf and who are so grounded in the Earth) •The Light that shines through Lyrics: Trusted powers, build me a circle Exquisitely safe and strong But for one single thread of my people That I might heal in song I am healing burdens I am blessed with gifts Heal up the burdens Bring down the blessings (bring 'em on down) Feel free to adapt the words to fit your prayer and ritual of the moment. I sometimes sing things like: "Where the pure, woven voice of my people Can move and speak in song" or "Where the fine, woven strands of my people Can dance and sing along" laurasandage.com • ancestralarts.org • @earthchapel

A simple song in layers I wrote to call back all the pieces of myself I may have left behind in travels or inadvertently put into others' keeping. Like me, you need all of yourself to be present and embodied and to do your unique, important work in the world! Let me know how this song is working for you! ~Laura laurasandage.com / ancestralarts.org Lyrics: 1.Who I am, calling back all that I am. 2. Here I come. Here I come again. Here I come, coming back, falling back into my arms. (Feel free to change these words to suit you. Sometimes I sing "here she comes" or "here we come." Sometimes I sing "falling back into my heart." Call your self/selves back into wherever you are needed!

FOR ASPIRING ALLIES Sing, Pray, Do this song-ritual until any fear or shame burns away, and it sings true. Words and music by Laura Sandage. Recorded in the Earth Chapel. laurasandage.com / ancestralarts.org / @earthchapel LYRICS: I speak up for Black lives I stand up for Black lives I step out for Black lives And follow on the road to justice May Black Lives Live Oh, my People Time to right the wrongs Repair, repay Sing new songs All honor to your People High praises to you Deep thanks May Black Lives Live Featuring: Leontyne Price, opera singer, recital singer Bernice Johnson Reagon, singer, scholar, composer, activist Harriet Tubman, abolitionist, activist, rescuer/guide, suffragist, scout, spy Michelle Alexander, author, lawyer, prison reform advocate, professor George Washington Carver, scientist, inventor, agriculturist Neil deGrasse Tyson, planetary scientist, astrophysicist, cosmologist Sojourner Truth, suffragist, women's rights activist, speaker, recruiter Shirley Chisholm, politician, congresswoman, educator, author Angela Davis, anti-racist activist, professor, author, philosopher Patrisse Cullors, artist, anti-racist and queer activist, speaker, educator Langston Hughes, poet, playwright, novelist, activist, journalist Alice Walker, poet, novelist, short story author, activist Alvin Ailey, dancer, choreographer, director, activist Iris Rosa, dancer, choreographer, professor, director Jessie Redmon Fauset, editor, poet, essayist, educator, novelist Gwendolyn Brooks, poet, Pulitzer Prize winner, teacher, Poet Laureate Billie Holiday, jazz singer, improviser, recording artist Lizzo, singer, rapper, songwriter, flutist, actor, voice performer Eugene Jacques Bullard, international military pilot, decorated war hero Mae Jemison, doctor, engineer, astronaut, author, actor, aid worker Zora Neale Hurston, novelist, anthropologist, folklorist, filmmaker Toni Morrison, novelist, Nobel Prize winner, editor, professor, essayist Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, writer, orator, statesman, reformer Ta-Nehisi Coates, author, journalist, novelist, comics writer Moses Hogan, composer, arranger, choral conductor, pianist Emile Hassan Dyer, drummer, dancer, singer, improviser, choral director Madam C. J. Walker, entrepreneur, millionaire, philanthropist, activist Oprah Winfrey, actor, TV host & producer, philanthropist, media executive James Baldwin, novelist, essayist, poet, playwright, activist Zadie Smith, novelist, professor, short story writer, essayist Portia Maultsby, ethnomusicologist, professor, author, musician, archivist Porsha Beed, intimate activist, mentor, musician, earth builder John McCluskey, Jr., novelist, professor, short story writer, editor James E. Mumford, choral director, professor, composer, vocal coach

Invoking the Grandmothers, the Grandfathers, the Grandparents of all gender flavors! They have been through plagues and pestilences and survived to sing and dance another day. May all the vibrant ones join together to protect us and to celebrate our remembrance of them. P.S. The photo is of brooches that belonged to my Grandma Mary and Grandma Gretchen, shining in the Earth Chapel! ~Laura laurasandage.com / ancestralarts.org Lyrics: May my grandmother's grandmothers' grandmothers And your grandmother's grandmothers' grandmothers Shine in this moment of praise together Singing along with this song! May my grandfather's grandfathers' grandfathers And your grandfather's grandfathers' grandfathers Shine in this moment of praise together Dancing along with this song! May my grandparents' grandparents' grandparents And your grandparents' grandparents' grandparents Shine in this moment of praise together Keeping us safe in this time, Loving us all in this time!

The song is about interbeing, vulnerability, and reciprocity with the Earth. Some lines were inspired by police officers who took off their riot gear and walked with BLM protesters, but the song is about our relationship to the Earth, not about the protests. To be clear, I do not for a second think that those brief actions of police officers constituted meaningful police reform. They only offered a tiny glimpse of other ways of being together in the flow of change that could open up if leaders take the necessary steps to recreate community safety structures and policies from the ground up in consultation with community members and stakeholders. The film footage is from my friend's garden, after enacting a private corn-honoring ritual. Laura Sandage / laurasandage.com / ancestral arts.org Lyrics: She is one, she is many, she is all She is Earth, she is Goddess, hear her call We are one, we are many, we are all We are Earth, we are spirit, we evolve She's saying put down your weapons, take off your riot gear Then you can walk without your armor, let compassion move you through the fear We put down our weapons, take off our riot gear Then we walk without our armor, let compassion move us through the fear We receive her tender exhalations, take all she gives Then gift her with our blameless breath, that both of us shall live

I wrote this song to ground and re-center myself back in 2013 when a shocking double murder occurred in our community, leaving me and many others feeling disoriented and fearful. It feels useful again in the COVID-19 era. The song (potentially a 5-part round) has traveled to many song circles and choirs. It's accessible doo-wop groove is a fun and easy way to carry a message of radical non-attachment and embodied, heartfelt presence. ~Laura laurasandage.com / ancestralarts.org Lyrics: How can I know anything with certainty? How can I know anything for sure? I can stop: am I breathing? Stop: am I listening? Stop: is my heart opening to love, to love, opening to love?

A song created by Laura Sandage at Song Village 2022 in response to the need for a name for the moment of quiet integration that sometimes occurs (or is cultivated) at the end of a community singing experience. Lyrics: 1) When we’ve been singing along On a wonderful song And the song ends What do we call that, friends? 2) Song Hang Songvassana Song soaking, Aftertaste Hum Yum (hum yum, hum yum) 3) After song cigarette (inhale) Taking time to tingle Patting the song’s bottom (pat, pat) Patting the song on the bottom (pat, pat)

In honor of the spirit of Song. LET THE SONG by Laura Sandage 2020 [G+4] Chorus: [G Am G/B D / / G Em C D / G D G -] Let the song carry Let the song carry us Let the song carry all of us back to reverence Back to reverence Verse 1: [G Bm C D / / G Em C D / G D G -] Let the song stir the soul of beauty Let the song turn the wheels of prayer Let the song fire the kiln of our tempering And wash the ash from the air Verse 2: Let the song wake the voice of justice Let the song emerge from sacred lands Let the song offer a welcome safe house And guide our open hands

When Kristi Heatherstone's home burned down in the Oregon fires of September 2020, some people connected to her in songleading community put out a call for songs to cheer her. They said she was "getting by on Love and Beauty." I wrote this 3-part round in response and shared it with Kristi. She sent me some photos of her home and possessions to include in this video. I combined them with footage of morning glories that self-seeded in my yard from last year's planted flowers. Lyrics: I will live upon love and beauty When the burnt out shell is empty I will live upon beauty and love When the ashes of home Drift up above Love and beauty Oh, love and beauty laurasandage.com / ancestralarts.org / @earthchapel

Original Song by Laura Sandage, created while simmering rose petals on my stove to make prayer beads. Source is here within me. Source is here around me, Like perfume of petals I breathe in. Like perfume of petals I breathe in. O Mother Rose, O Mother Rose, Your beauty is a mercy, A mercy upon us. Video footage of the kinetic art sculpture "Meadow" by artist collective Studio Drift, on display in the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, filmed by Laura Sandage in November of 2019.