🍃 THE STORY OF THE SONG

The first verses and chorus of this song first landed in 2012 yet over the following years, I somehow couldn't somehow complete it, despite several attempts.

It wasn't until I was offered the great gift and blessing of staying in an off-grid roundhouse in West Wales in the summer of 2022 that it resolved. Finally clearing my head of all the static, this song and another both dropped in effortlessly from the ether.

That was the moment it became clear I needed to move to live off grid in West Wales... I 100% wrote this song for me... and it has been persistent medicine over the years reminding me again and again when I catch myself unconsciously speeding up...

Vaishnavi’s mesmerising, pure voice has been described as “a flute that the Divine uses to carry heart-penetrating beauty.”

Vaishnavi is one half of sacred mantra duo EARTH (www.earthmantra.net) and this is her first solo release. She only began singing when she turned 30 and found her voice through connecting with the Bhakti path of devotion.

This song was received in 2008 whilst she was living on the roof of a Kali Temple in South India. “I had begun a daily practice of journalling my gratitude for one thing each day. On about day three, I chose ’trees’. I began writing words and this song just flowed out, fully formed. I truly believe it came from the trees themselves.”

It wasn’t until 2017 that the song was finally recorded - and it seemed to be very much the right time. “I had spent 2 months living completely Off-Grid, without even solar or wind power, in a Hobbitty roundhouse deep in the Welsh woods. I began to feel the trees imploring me to release this song out into the world.”

“She sings like an angel, touching hearts at a deep devotional level.” Chloe Goodchild

it is a song of the heart… the words and your voice carry the soul’s longing and truth” Jerome Flynn

“serious all over goosebump-making music”

“a beautiful voice that  has powerful healing energy that penetrates into your body and gets directly into your heart! That’s  my experience!”

“Pure Sattva”

“her voice is captivating in a way I have never heard”

“Only one who has braved the journey of transformation can spread the sweetness of its trials”

“a real gift for evoking the divine in your singing”

“Her voice is mesmerizing!!! It reaches your heart and fills it with affection, peace and love. It is a magical experience hearing this enchanting soul sing! I am spellbound!!!”

🛟 THE STORY OF THIS SONG 🛟

An upbeat song about… civic regeneration?!

An epic pop anthem… moi?!

The Mayday Saxonvale crowdfunder is in its final days and this is my heartfelt rallying cry for support for one of the UK's most ambitious community-led development projects

The song burst out of me after receiving an update that - after 6 years of visioning, planning, leaping through hoops and fundraising - the council will put the site back on the open market. My heart is in my throat at the idea that this incredibly inspiring project might stumble at the final hurdle.

And yes, that IS the Morse Code for SOS you hear before the 2nd verse because this is an emergency:

MAYDAY SAXONVALE NEED TO RAISE A TOTAL OF £1.5MILLION TO PURCHASE THE LAND BEFORE THE 9TH JULY.

As the Guardian put it: “Residents of a “renegade” Somerset market town have… an innovative 5-hectare (12-acre) community-led development”. The vision is to purchase a derelict town-centre site in Frome and develop it in line with local needs and long-term enrichment, rather than a short-term profit-making model.

And… this song isn't just about Frome.

I realised that - if we could pull this off here - it would set a precedent for communities everywhere to reclaim their power and believe they can be involved in shaping the future of their local area.

If you have £250 to spare and you want to see local people taking ownership of what happens in their areas, YOU can be a part of this story. Let’s rewrite how local development happens. Not just in the UK but EVERYWHERE.

“Communities across the UK have bought pubs, shops and football clubs for years. What we're attempting has never been done before at this scale. We are ready for a new way to develop, with long-term thinking that creates lasting benefits for our communities, rather than relying on short-term decisions driven by profit. If you believe in a better future for communities, we invite you to join us.” (Holly Lawton, Director of Mayday Saxonvale.)

NB: WHILE ANY INCOME FROM THIS SONG WILL BE EITHER DONATED TO OR INVESTED IN MAYDAY SAXONVALE, I AM NOT IN ANY WAY AFFILIATED WITH THIS PROJECT AND THIS SONG REPRESENTS MY VIEWS, NOT THEIRS.

A slow-build kirtan building into a wild violin and cajon rock-out.

Vaishnavi first dropped into mantra through training as a Kundalini Yoga teacher in 1999 and connected deeply with the bhakti (devotional) tradition through meeting Amma in 2005. Immersing deeply in the practice for a number of years while living in a large Indian ashram, she was privileged to be one of the few Westerners to lead kirtan in the Temple.

Vaishnavi holds sacred songbaths, shares kirtan and offers one-to-ones, workshops and retreats in kirtan, sacred sound and voicework. She loves collaboration and, as well as being one half of sacred mantra duo EARTH with Amy Bisazza, she regularly chants with other like-hearted bhaktas and yogis.

www.at-om.com & www.earthmantra.net

Maha Mata draws on different traditions to support the birthing process, be it for a child, a creative project, a new venture or planting seeds for great dreams.
“Maha Mata”, the Great Mother, the Divine Mother, the creative life force that we are all a part of - and that resides within each of us - is awakened through these sacred words. These mantras are prayers for profound protection, healing and strength, supporting the feminine powers of intuition and creation to blossom and flourish.