Extras
The punk rock priestess, live from the Heineken Jazzaldia Festival (Playa de Zurriola) in San Sebastian, ES.
Spiritual Poetry, Jane Hirshfield
Twenty-two poems about spirituality and enlightenment by award-winning poet, essayist and translator Jane Hirshfield.
“Literary treasures from the medieval period.”
How to Make a Medieval Manuscript
Article and video from Kathleen Doyle and Patricia Lovett, The British Library.
Ryuichi Sakamoto, “Energy Flow” Music
From the “BTTB” solo piano album. Directed by Neo S. Sora and Albert Tholen, and produced by Zakkubalan.
“What Does Religion Sound Like?”
The American Religious Sounds Project (ARSP) “which aims to offer new resources for documenting and interpreting the diversity of American religious life by attending to its varied sonic cultures.”
Founded by Jane Fortune, this American not-for-profit organization is “committed to identifying and restoring art works by women in Tuscany's museums, churches and storage facilities.”
Vocalist, composer, and cultural worker composer on “Wild Cotton,” her “improvisational conceptual project exploring the undocumented soundscapes of enslaved Black American ancestors.”
Poet Constantine P. Cavafy Archive
While Cavafy isn’t considered a spiritual poet, per se, many of his poems, at least to me, trend in that direction.
Australian Indigenous Art & the Natural World
Stories & Structures: New Connections art exhibition exploring the visual parallels between Australian Indigenous art and microscopic images of the natural world.
The Healing Power of Art & Artists
“Artist Frida Kahlo Transcended Suffering through Art,” article by Renee Phillips.
There Are 31,102 Verses in the Bible...
...and Spark+Echo Arts are bringing patrons and artists together to create new works of art to illuminate the Old and New Testaments. Yes, every single one of those verses, with artists from a wide range of backgrounds and spanning all artistic genres. This is a community (and nonprofit) effort, and no small feat, as their goal is to illuminate the entire Bible by 2030.
Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir performing “Cloudburst”
“Composer and conductor Eric Whitacre has inspired millions by bringing together ‘virtual choirs,’ singers from many countries spliced together on video. Now, for the first time ever, he creates the experience in real time, as 32 singers from around the world Skype in to join an onstage choir (assembled from three local colleges) for an epic performance of Whitacre's "Cloudburst," based on a poem by Octavio Paz.”
“Voices of Light” by Composer Richard Einhorn
...with Carl Dreyer’s film “The Passion of Joan of Arc.” Performed by the Notre Dame Vocale and Notre Dame Festival Chorus and Orchestra, under the direction of Carmen-Helena Tellez.
Devotional sounds, at London’s Boiler Room.
Jazz Vespers, St Peter’s Church
At 6pm on Sundays from midtown Manhattan. Led by bassist and composer Ike Sturm and featuring many leading lights of jazz. Livestreamed.
Compline Choir, St. Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle
Weekly podcast of the Compline service as sung every Sunday night.
…illustrating the mathematics of music.
Artist William Kentridge, TEDx talk
The creative process of a master artist.
Music of Cathedrals and Forgotten Temples
A one-hour Atmospheric Choir mix.
“The On Being Project is a media and public life initiative. We make a public radio show, podcasts, and tools for the art of living. Six grounding virtues guide everything we do. We explore the intersection of spiritual inquiry, science, social healing, community, poetry, and the arts.”
I Fagiolini & Circa - How Like An Angel
Rehearsal at Gloucester Cathedral of the Australian contemporary circus company. Gorgeous music with still photos.
Hosts Carl McColman, Cassidy Hall, and Kevin Johnson explore the “beauty and importance of silence from many angles, not just the religious/spiritual/mystical, but also reflecting on the psychology of silence, silence and the arts, silence and politics, silence and education… the list goes on.”
Werner Herzog’s “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”
The documentary focuses on the Chauvet Cave in southern France, capturing humankind’s oldest painted images discovered (carbon dated to be more than 30,000 years old). Composer-cellist Ernst Reijseger’s score is particularly haunting and inspiring. Concert alone is Here.
Pipes at One, St Paul’s Chapel Trinity Church
Leading organists and rising stars perform innovative concert programs every Friday at 1pm on the celebrated three-manual Noack organ inaugurated in 2018. Concerts are Livestreamed.
Vast library of free guided meditations — as in 15,000, and counting.
A glorious and brilliant labor of love from writer, deep thinker, and feeler Maria Popova on “the search for meaning across literature, science, art, philosophy, and the various other tentacles of human thought and feeling.”
Concert flutist and performing artist’s talk on, “Do You See the Signs of the Universe?”
Writings from the Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher.
Barbara Sher, Helping Your and Other’s Dreams Come True
This isn’t about art, and it’s not about spirituality, per se, but it is about humanity, kindness, and inspiration.
An “immaculate confection” from the singer-songwriter.
Featuring Sir Simon Rattle · Rundfunkchor Berlin · Berliner Philharmoniker
“A place where you can find wisdom from all over the world, where images and texts will tell you centuries-old stories created by free thinkers.” Inspired by the collection of the “Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica,” it offers a forum where history, science, art and spirituality are connected.
Hieronymous Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights”
Part of a transmedia triptych, this interactive documentary provides an in-depth virtual tour of Bosch’s painting and includes sound, music, video and images.
Rare 1926 video of Wassily Kandinsky at Work
Vintage film of the Russian painter creating an abstract composition when he was teaching at the Bauhaus. Film made by Hans Cürlis at Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf in Berlin.
Icons of Sound’s Hagia Sophia Music Project
Cappella Romana’s concert program "From Constantinople to California, performed in Stanford University’s Bing Concert Hall amid electronically enhanced acoustics that simulate the lush resonances of the ancient Hagia Sophia cathedral in Istanbul. For more info check out Icons of Sound.
Pharoah Sanders’ “The Creator Has a Master Plan”
A nearly 33-minute spiritual jazz classic from the tenor saxophonist’s 1969 album “Karma.”
“The Life of Christ (1990), a bronze and white-gold triptych altarpiece, is among the last works of noted New York City artist Keith Haring (1958-1990), completed just weeks before his death from AIDS.” St. John the Divine in New York City has one cast of the nine, along with Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and Saint-Eustache in Paris.
Free archive of online books about religion, mythology, folklore, and the esoteric.
Get out your coloring pencils and markers! 100+ libraries, archives, and cultural institutions worldwide have shared free coloring sheets and books from materials in their collections. The New York Academy of Medicine started this fun project. On the “divine” side, check out the Andover-Harvard Theological Library Coloring Book.
Mohammed Fairouz, "Symphony No. 3:
The Arab-American “obsessed with text” composer “interweaves texts of Arab poets Fadwa Tuqan and Mahmoud Darwish, the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai, and prayers such as the Aramaic Kaddish.”
“A closer look at the many faces of Frida through her art, life and legacy.”
Yona Verwer and Katarzyna Kozera’s interactive art project on the Book of Jonah. Touches on identity, conversion, immigration, and heritage issues. From Yona: "This series blends the immigrant stories of Katarzyna Kozera and myself with the biblical story of Jonah the prophet. They echo my own journey from Europe to New York, from Catholicism to Judaism. Conversion requires ritual immersion, a total submersion of the body in a pool of water, to symbolize a change-of-soul. The water symbolizes birth as a Jew. In these paintings these 'living' waters are New York’s East River."
"The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind"
Osvaldo Golijov’s composition featuring A Far Cry and David Krakauer. From the composer’s notes: “Eight centuries ago Isaac The Blind, the great kabbalist rabbi of Provence, dictated a manuscript in which he asserted that all things and events in the universe are product of combinations of the Hebrew alphabet's letters: 'Their root is in a name, for the letters are like branches, which appear in the manner of flickering flames, mobile, and nevertheless linked to the coal’.”
Live from Durham Cathedral at Durham Castle.
Writer Amy Tan’s TED talk on her creative process.
Hilma af Klint, Visionary Artist
Swedish artist and mystic Hilma af Klint, born in 1862, painted purely abstract compositions that pre-dated the art of Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, and Kazimir Malevich. She felt a higher consciousness speaking through her and was strongly influenced by spiritualism and séances. See the retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City through February 3, 2019.
Ann Mortifee’s album, “In Love with the Mystery”
"Many years ago,” says Ann, “I chose to begin awakening each morning at sunrise. These hours of quiet developed an awareness of the fertile stillness that underlies all things.“
Artist Makoto Fujimara’s meditations
Video meditations based on Shusaku Endo’s transformational novel, “Silence.”
Visionary Swiss artist and telepathic healer Emma Kunz (1892-1963) was inspired to draw by her spiritual evolution. Her works are geometric abstracts, many of them mandela-like, and she reportedly drew each in a single sitting which could last more than 24 hours.
Conjuring Arts Resource Center
“A not-for-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of magic and its allied arts, which include psychic phenomenon, hypnosis, deceptive gambling, science and history of playing cards, mentalism, ventriloquism, juggling, and sleight of hand techniques.”
Ruth Cunningham sings Hildegard von Bingen
This informal recording of “Alleluia O Virgo Mediatrix,” recorded on the grounds of the Glastonbury abbey, comes courtesy of Ruth Cunningham, a founding member of “Anonymous 4,” the award-winning Medieval and Renaissance a cappella group.
Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED Talk on Creativity
The writer of “Eat, Pray, Love” and “Big Magic” talks about “Your elusive creative genius.”
American poet, author and teacher mentioned in Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk on creativity. Stone told Gilbert she would be out working in the fields in rural Virginia “and she would feel and hear a poem coming at her from over the landscape. It was like a thunderous train of air and it would come barreling down… it would shake the earth under her feet.” She would, in her words, "run like hell" to the house to write it down, chased by this poem.
“With scissors and paper, artist Béatrice Coron creates intricate worlds, cities and countries, heavens and hells.” Stories, in other words, cut from paper.
“Sri Chinmoy is a spiritual Teacher who taught meditation and also the benefits of leading a dynamic outer life. As well as being a poet, athlete and author Sri Chinmoy was a prolific composer of spiritual music – he composed over 21,000 songs in both English and his native Bengali. Sri Chinmoy also performed on several instruments – recording many albums of meditative music and also performing his own compositions in public concerts.”
“This talk explores the challenges of learning to pause, and the blessings that arise when step out of our incessant mental and physical activity and reconnect with the being-qualities of presence, wisdom and love.”
Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur on Creativity
The Hollywood/Bollywood film director on creativity and storytelling.
Two hours worth of music and glorious Tina chanting the Nichiren Buddhist mantra Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.
France and England Medieval Manuscript Project
Medieval manuscripts by themes, authors, places, and centuries. Combined effort from the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the British Museum.
“Listen to Patti Smith discuss selected works from her Patti Smith: Camera Solo exhibition in these 14 tracks. She talks about why these subjects captivated her and provides insight into the circumstances which led her to photograph them with her Land 250 Polaroid Camera.” Courtesy of the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Comprehensive guide from Crystal Vaults.
The Church of Saint Coltrane Documentary
Filmed in 1996, this award-winning short doc focuses on famed jazz saxophonist John Coltrane and the San Francisco church that holds Sunday jam sessions honoring their patron saint.
A weekly podcast from producer and narrator Kitzie Stern. Features music from the soundtrack of “Mantra: Sounds Into Silence.”
“Cultivating Contemplation through Photography”
“Photography as sacred practice” webinar from Christine Valters Paintner, the online abbess for virtual monastery Abbey of the Arts offering classes and resources on contemplative practice and creative expression.
Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers
If you subscribe to Netflix, or know someone who does, don’t miss this series of conversations on myths, metaphors, transcendence, and even “Star Wars” between renowned scholar Joseph Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers.
More than a million images available for anyone to reuse, remix, and repurpose under Creative Commons license. Happy creating!
Practical Mysticism: A Little Book for Normal People
Evelyn Underhill’s book on the practice of mysticism and increasing spiritual consciousness. Free from Project Gutenberg.
“The Spirituals Database offers searchable access to recorded track information for over 5,000 Negro Spiritual settings performed by solo Classical vocalists.” Includes a “downloadable presentation version of the document, A Century of Negro Spirituals for Solo Voice.”
Covers visual arts, music, liturgical ceremony and texts, relevant art history and theory related to the Orthodox liturgical arts.
Alan Lomax Sound Recording Archives
This archive includes more than 17,400 digital audio files from 1946 to the 1990s. Features musical performances, stories, jokes, sermons, personal narratives, and interviews from around the world, conducted by Lomax and his associates.
Rubin Museum’s Mindfulness Podcast
45-minute weekly sessions, each inspired by a different work of art from the Rubin Museum’s collection. Recorded in front of a live audience, it includes an opening talk, a 20-minute sitting session, and a closing discussion.
62-Episode Series on the History of Indian Philosophy
“Peter Adamson, Professor of Philosophy at the LMU in Munich and at King's College London, takes listeners through the history of philosophy, ‘without any gaps.’
The idea in “forest bathing,” researched in Japan in the 1980s and called Shinrin-yoku, is to immerse yourself in tree-filled nature, tune into your senses, and breathe in the forest, s-l-o-w-l-y. In other words, this is not a sweaty hike in the woods! Association of Nature and Forest Therapy.
The original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 200 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Weekdays, poems include the poets’ exclusive commentary. Classic poems highlighted on weekends.
Buddhist Monks Breakdancing in Union Square
In honor and memory of Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch, a Buddhist and supporter of Tibet.
10 Hours of Church Bells, Nature, and Bird Sounds
Ready, set, Relax! Courtesy of The Relaxation Station.
Digitized Manuscripts from the British Museum
Manuscripts and archives, including Hebrew, Persian, Greek, Malay, Thai and Illuminated manuscripts, along with the Library's latest major acquisition, the St. Cuthbert Gospel.
The Wild Hunt, Modern Pagan News & Commentary
Founded in 2004, a daily online news journal covering modern Paganism, the Occult, New Age, and other similar religions or practices.
Pantheon: A Journal of Spiritual Art
Online journal on the spiritual power of the arts from the Life Force Arts Foundation in Chicago. Created and edited by Joan Forest Mage.
Musical mantra from boutique record label and sound collective Aetherea Sound.
Nigerian artist Laolu Senbanjo tells a story of the culture and mythology of the Yoruba and “art that uses skin as canvas and connects artist and muse through mind, body and soul.” TED talk.
Hosted by Damh the Bard and provided by the Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids, episodes feature poetry, story and song offered by Bards throughout the world. Produced monthly.
Wassily Kandinsky’s "Concerning the Spiritual in Art"
LibriVox recording of Kandinsky’s 1911 book comparing the spiritual life of humanity to a pyramid.
Audio recording of Rabindranath Tagore’s 1915 book containing 100 poems of Kabir, the 15th-century Indian poet and mystic.
Explore Dante’s Divine Comedy through Text, Intertext, Image, Sound, and History at Columbia University’s research venue.
Poetic Voices of the Muslim World
“… a digital recreation of a traveling exhibition designed to introduce American audiences to the rich and varied poetries that play a central role in the histories and cultures of Muslim societies.”
“The C.G. Jung Foundation in New York City presents excerpts from the collected works of Carl Jung, with the kind permission of Princeton University Press.”
Rob Brezsny’s Freewill Astrology
Weekly horoscopes from the writer of “Pronoia is the Antidote for Paranoia.”
Time lapse video highlighting the movement of stained glass light at the Washington National Cathedral.
Free ebooks from the prolific Brazilian novelist and songwriter whose best known work is “The Alchemist.”
Scientists at Mindlab International claim this is the most relaxing song Ever! Apparently these eight minutes induce a 65% reduction in anxiety and 35% reduction in usual physiological resting rates.
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Database of labyrinths around the world.
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“National Geographic photographer and anthropologist Martin Gray has spent thirty-five years studying and photographing hundreds of sacred sites in more than one hundred and fifty countries.”
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Jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter give 10 pieces of advice to young artists and everyone else.
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“Building bridges through knowledge and understanding.”
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Steven Farmer Oracle Card Readings
Shamanic practitioner and psychotherapist Dr. Steven Farmer's oracle card readings.
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R. Buckminster Fuller “Everything I know”
Great Big Ideas from this extraordinary 20th Century philosopher, inventor (geodesic domes), architect, and visionary. Includes transcripts.
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Artist, author, creative business coach and "ginormous hippy” from Down Under.
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“Over the last couple of years I’ve been making really really really quiet music to listen to when I do yoga or sleep or meditate or panic. I ended up with 4 hours of music and have decided to give it away.” -Moby
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Conceived in 2001, this ongoing project from contemporary composer and performer Eve Beglarian features text/music/visuals - one for each day of the year. Subscribe for email delivery.
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Check out their Chakra test, I Ching oracle, Acupressure points, Energy exercises, Enneagram.
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“Making Homes for the Arts in Sacred Places (AiSP) brings together artists and arts organizations that need space for rehearsals, studios, performances, offices, and other functions with congregations and houses of worship who have unused or underused space.”
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“A spoken word website exploring the divine through story and metaphor.” From Margaret Dulaney, the site offers monthly recorded pieces that “speak to our need for individual awakening, and embrace the shared wisdom of all faiths.”
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Audio downloads for breathing, relaxation, and meditation practices.
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When you need to figure out that last little bit of sun or moonlight!
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The Internet Wayback Machine Archive
"Universal access to all knowledge.” Digital library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.
Lord of the Rings | Symbolism of the Ring of Power
Video from Jonathan Pageau: “We all intuitively feel that the ring of power on LOTR is intuitively right as a magic object, but what binds its aspects together to make it so fascinating?