An excerpt from the introduction of the book
WHAT HAVE I FORGOTTEN?
So, I guess now is as good a time as any to say: I have a secret to tell you.
Each time, before I sit down to start writing a lyric, or a musical phrase, or before I hit the “record” button to cast the sounds into form, I perform a magical ritual to connect myself to myself, my inner guides, my Muses, and any other benevolent being that might be hanging around to help bring forth what needs to come forth.
It usually takes no more than 5 minutes, and entails the use of my favorite magical incense from the supremely atmospheric Sword and Rose shop in San Francisco, incantations, and circling through my studio to create a bubble of clear intention and inspired purpose.
While repeatedly invoking this bubble throughout the making of WHAT HAVE I FORGOTTEN? an interesting thing happened. Even though I used this very method to prepare myself for every single NAKED KATE recording session, things were different for WHAT HAVE I FORGOTTEN?
I soon noticed pretty early on that each song I wrote for it ended up being about a spiritual principle that I had learned from my studies of the Ancient Mysteries; with each one a unique relic that had just been excavated.
And so with any good relic hunt, I believe it’s also advisable to have a good map.
This book is that map. A guide through those magical principles that are woven into each song on
WHAT HAVE I FORGOTTEN?
Because there is more to unpack from the distillation of these principles than I can cast in song and rhyme.
... It was born from a need to deepen your experience of the lyrics and the music of WHAT HAVE I FORGOTTEN?, to bring you in touch with the unseen worlds that were the foundations for each song, and to distill the years of study and practice that are steeped within the staves.
I created this in the hope that you may find an opening or an inkling within yourself, your own relics, that will give your own precious life more meaning and depth and freedom.
For it is an immutable part of our experiences as humans that we long for illumination and understanding of these hidden parts of ourselves. (That is what the word “occult” means: hidden.) To divine and delve deeply into decoding the unknown, and make your own magic from the words and music that I have dredged up. And to help appease, even for a moment, our ongoing longing to be in touch with divinity.
Here’s what you’ll find in this relic hunt:
1) Each chapter includes visual imagery to stimulate the part of you that lies beneath language,
2) along with the lyrics and the magical ingredients that brought the songs to life,
3) a full explanation of what’s underneath their metaphors and how the song was constructed,
4) where it falls in the alchemical stage (of what is known as The Great Work in the Ancient Mysteries),
5) always pithy (and sometimes enlightened) interjections from my familiar, Owlivor, who often can’t help himself,
6) and concluding with a related experiential practice for you to work and/or play with on your own.
So, will you grab my hand, and allow Owlivor and me to be your guides through the wonderful world of the mystery of yourself, and of us all?
For within the deep silence underneath the organized cacophony of the music, there are wonderful, magnificent worlds to explore.
Off we go . . .
