All Is Forgiven by Ashana
The internationally acclaimed debut CD that introduced the world to the celestial sound and angelic voice of Ashana. In some of the most stunning music ever recorded, the resonant, pure-tone frequencies of pure quartz and alchemy crystal singing bowls are uniquely combined with vocal sound, toning, and the singing of mantra, chant and song. This exquisite blend creates luminous healing music that is profoundly peaceful and soothing, gently leading you into stillness to connect with the Divine within.
All Is Forgiven is a reflection on surrendering, remembering, forgiving and awakening to the infinite healing power of Love and Mercy. Praised for its profoundly healing energies, people everywhere turn to its heavenly sound to help relieve chronic pain, insomnia and to relieve stress. The songs on All Is Forgiven have found their way into hospitals, hospices, churches, classroom curriculum and recovery groups as support for end of life transitions, prayer, meditation, grief and loss, addiction recovery, relaxation and yoga, as well as for expecting mommies to play in utero for their babies-to-be.
All Is Forgiven features Ashana’s breathtaking version of “Ave Maria“, as heard on NPR radio and praised by critics around the world as one of the most beautiful renditions ever recorded of this sacred text.
“Ashana’s Ave Maria was so powerful, it reduced me to tears.”
— Yoga Magazine, UK
Lyrics
Ave Maria
Ave María, grátia plena, dóminus tecum.
Benedícta tu in muliéribus, et benedíctus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.
Sancta María, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatóribus,
nunc et in hora mortis nostræ. Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee;
blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Singing the “Ave Maria” precipitated one of the most profound spiritual healings I have ever experienced. I am told by many people that when they hear this song they feel as if they are being wrapped in a blanket of love. Indeed, that was my experience as I was recording it. I felt as if my heart was breaking open and I was being bathed in oceans of golden light.
The text of the Ave Maria is one of the most well-loved and recited prayers in both the Western Catholic and Anglican churches, and the Eastern Orthodox church. A prayer of intercession to the Blessed Mother Mary, the “Ave Maria” originated sometime in the middle ages, possibly as early as the 7th century. Based upon biblical texts, it is also known as the “Angelic Salutation” or the “Hail Mary.” The original text was in Greek which was later translated into Latin in the 11th century for the Roman Catholic church.
The Embrace
There is no instrument I know of with as radiant a sound as that of Rose Quartz crystal singing bowls. These bowls are the dominant drones played on “The Embrace”. When I recorded this piece, I felt surrounded and embraced by celestial light and this light was being sent as a gift to everyone who would eventually hear this music.
Into Your Arms
Into Your arms I come, Beloved
I am Thine, I am here for You.
I surrender to Your Love.
Playing and singing with my crystal singing bowls help me feel higher vibratory frequencies in very tangible ways. The lyrics of this song are an expression of deep longing for surrender to the Divine Beloved within.
Kyrie
The beautiful mantra of the Kyrie invokes the quality of compassionate mercy. This piece emerged out of a deep internal conflict I had been holding around my relationship with Jesus, Christianity and the nature of forgiveness. My experiences with the teachings of A Course In Miracles a few days before I recorded this song precipitated a long-awaited healing around these issues and opened the door for me to write and sing this Kyrie from a transformed place of peace, forgiveness and gratitude.
One of the most important prayers of the Western and Eastern Christian churches, dating back to the Middle Ages, the text of the Kyrie comes from the Greek. The translation is as follows:
Kyrie eleison
Christe eleison
Kyrie eleison
Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Loving Kindness
Loving kindness for all beings from the One beyond the stars
Through the darkness into light
We behold the gift of peace
In November of 2004, a friend dropped one of my Mother of Platinum crystal bowls onto a tile floor. Needless to say, it broke into many little pieces, never to sing again – or so I thought. Months later, I offered the pieces to my dear friend, Daniel Statnekov, who makes beautiful clay Peruvian Whistling Vessels. Daniel ground the broken shards of the crystal bowl into fine powder and began mixing the crystal powder into the clay for his whistling vessels. On the fall equinox of 2005, at approximately 3:15 pm PST, Daniel and a group of sound healing practitioners were gathered in Vancouver, B.C. to play a set of these magical crystal-infused whistles as part of a global peace meditation. At the exact time they were doing their meditation, I was in Los Angeles recording this song. The beautiful Mother of Platinum bowl that is featured in “Loving Kindness” is a sister of the one that was mixed into the clay of the whistles
When All Is Forgiven
Footsteps on the journey
Oceans in the sand
Sunlight on the valley
Stars across your hand
Beauty all around us
Beauty deep within
The sign of awakening
When all is forgiven
Music in the silence
Sweetness in the heart
They shall come together
That once were drawn apart
Beauty all around us
Beauty deep within
The sign of awakening
When all is forgiven
A few days before Thomas and I wrote this song, I was fortunate to meet Gary Renard and hear him speak. Reading his book, "The Disappearance of the Universe", based on the teachings of “A Course in Miracles”, inspired the lyrics for this piece and quite literally, changed the course of my life. I will be forever grateful for that meeting with Gary, which opened a door to forgiveness unlike any I had ever experienced until that time, and continues to guide me to this day.