Psychomantiums

I recently listened to Tangerine Dream's Zeit for about the 10th time. I like Tangerine Dream but this album is unique and, I also believe it to be by far their best. For some reason, when I listened to this album, it brought back a strong stream on consciousness. The slow evolving drones and other worldly sounds that seems to come from out of some otherworldly sonic landscape made me think of the word pscyhomanteum. This word is a very powerful archetype of sorts celebrated in many cultures, in literature, in movies. It is the other side of the mirror, the flip side and also perhaps, a reflection of our subconscious brought out of the effective use of mirrors or as I will suggest in perhaps a series of blogs, sound and music.

A brief introduction can be found on wiki but no doubt a quick google search will yield a plethora of interesting sites on the subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychomanteum

One site I found has a drone. I believe there is a strong connection here. For example, Tibetan bowls are a form of sonic psychomanteum inducing meditative states. Many cultures use rhythms and drones to create a mirror image world of the world we live in and perhaps, a landscape to explore the inner world.

The psychomanteum is found in places you might not expect it such as Tolkien's middle earth as Gadreil reveals to froto who might occur should he fail his mission. Even the bible speaks of it:

"In front of the throne was something that resembled a sea of glass like crystal. " - Rev 4:6

There is much spoken of it in Greek mythology and literature.

Modern psychology will often use a mirror in a dark room.

Anyway, I thought the idea was worth exploring musically to see connection between the psychomateum and music. More to come so stay tuned...