Birdsong - One of Nature's Healing Sounds

BIRDSONG...

Someone asked me recently why I record birdsong. It's not like I do so excessively or anything, I don't keep a database of various species and their warbling, but every now and then if I am privileged enough to see and hear a particularly beautiful moment, I'll video and share. I was surprised that this person found it strange - to me birdsong is simply one of the most glorious and inspiring sounds in nature.

But in case it's just me and I'm a bird song loving weirdo, here's my justification!

Healing

Bird song (not all bird calls but specifically song) falls naturally into the higher registers of sound, at a pitch proven to stimulate the brain, raise endorphin levels and promote healing. Literally, physical healing but also emotional and spiritual well being too. Studies from the 1960s onwards have reinforced the science behind this. (I discuss in more depth in Draíocht Ceoil The Sound of Magic in Irish Traditions (2026, Moon Books))

Listening to bird song sparks joy. The soaring melody, rececitive, and thrills are ideally suited to provoke a corresponding human reaction - something emulated by generations of composers using flutes, whistles and strings. 

It has the added effect of connecting us to nature. By providing this energising joyful experience in the context of the natural world, a sense of well being, and belonging, aids the beneficial effect.

MESSENGER 

In addition, birds and their song have long been associated with messages from the Otherworlds whether through dreams and journeying, or signs and augeries in this reality. Next time you hear a spectacular outburst, stop and listen. It may well contain some spark of Imbas designed especially for you.

When journeying, remember to listen - your eyes are only one avenue to understanding.  What can you hear? What does that sound suggest to you? What is your emotional response? Practice this in daily life too - start by pausing next time you hear a lon dubh or a spideog in full voice 

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Irish Pagan School Class on Draíocht Ceoil 

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Joy and Folkmagic - the missing ingredient

 

Further to some great discussions recently about folk magic traditions and their role in community building (both historically and in this fractured present) I wanted to share a few thoughts on joy and humour in folk magic. And in spirituality, in our relationship with our inner sacred landscapes and our deities.

For many people, trying to reconnect to their indigenous folk traditions, or trying to connect to those of their ancestors/those that call to them from another culture, can be a long and difficult path. If undertaken with respect and commitment this is necessary. Learning history, lore, traditions takes time and study. Without this you're just dressing up UPG in the trappings of a culture.

But it's also important to remember that the real daily practice of these traditions wasn't some dry, academic pursuit. In fact if we examine the many examples of folk magic in Irish folk lore, they often centre on particular liminal days especially the festivals inherited from our pre-Christian and early medieval past. Imbolc, Bealtaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain all have some common traditions and some unique to each, but part of the commonality is the way that magical practices were framed in the context of "play." They are often communal (e.g. building bonfires, telling fortunes by the fireside, Funerary games) and they involve teasing, humour, fun, laughter and joy. They are designed to invoke pleasurably mixed feelings of excitement, embarrassment, happiness. 

With funerary traditions, they were noticeable for bringing laughter into that most serious of events, Death. This was not some kind of disrespect towards the dead but rather a kindness towards the living. It distracted from grief, and at the same time, shielded the private grief of the family under a mask of public raucousness. It was often misunderstood by authorities both clerical and political, and the Irish wake was castigated for its lack of decorum, yet it remains one of the best psychological blueprints for healthy grieving. 

Whether seeking connection to deity, the Ancestors or the archetypes in the Otherworld, it is important to retain a sense of warmth and joy. Our gods, and our ancestors are not dry and intellectual concepts, but full of nuance. Their accessibility to us is something to treasure. They too demonstrate humour, and from the literature we know they took joy in ordinary life, in connections, in love and alleviated times of pain with music and joy.

In Draíocht Ceoil, the very nature of the tradition with its emphasis on music, singing and performance lends itself to joyous practice. Not only that but the legacy of the Filí (poets) with their elaborate word play and use of rich poetic forms for magical and mundane uses is impossible to separate from a joyful, vibrant sense of the power of sound energy. One of the three strains of magical music is Geantraí, the music of joy. 

All the careful study of musicology, of sound, of the affect of music on the brain or of the Old Irish poetic forms becomes mere ashes unless fueled and tempered by a love of music and words, by joy in their power. No great musical talent is necessary - we need to overcome self consciousness and raise our voices with pleasure. We need to let words resonate, roll them off our tongues, savour them. We need to invite joy into our practice.

It's the missing ingredient, and it's pure magic. 

Draíocht Ceoil, The Sound of Magic in Irish Traditions will be published by MOON books, date to be announced.

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Irish Pagan School Class on Draíocht Ceoil

Irish Pagan School Class on The Rosc

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Sound Energy in a Time of Fascism

We have a duty to ourselves and the world to speak up. It's not easy but we can make a difference.
There are ways to raise our voices - or amplify voices who should be heard.
We can be proactive - mundane or magical, both count.

Sound Energy in a Time of Fascism 

 

Write letters / make calls. Compose Rosc and call the wrath of all passing gods on them. Choose honied words and persuade the deluded to turn against the cult. Pretend to sympathise - old Irish saying "a lie told to the invader is a valuable act"
Use satire and ridicule. They hate being laughed at. Laughter robs them of power. Laughter conquers fear. Satire holds up mirrors.
Be joyful. Sing and dance. Shout and take up space. Distract them from those who cannot afford to make noise and make waves. Be the bright red flag that maddens the bull.

We can also bear witness. Start writing it down. Write it all down. Make stories and poems and songs about it all. Pass it on. Take names. When this is over, remember who to trust and make sure everyone knows. Don't let them steal history and destroy culture. Recite it. Like the women of Ireland memorized our music, created lilting to preserve it, sang it back to the next generation and the next - so we still have our songs. Do it for your own and every culture.

When someone speaks use your privilege. Amplify them. Silence your own voice to let theirs be heard. Shout their message like a megaphone. 

Use silence like a weapon - hone the edge of it til it's razor sharp. Stare down the cult in ice cold silence, the kind that sucks air from the lungs. Your silence can be filled with contempt and rage. Your silence can slice. 

And use words to unite. Codewords. Shared language. In jokes. Find others. Build bridges. Sing together. Exchange stories. Gift each other poetry. Recommend books and music and movies. 

And hex the enemy, with your rising and falling breath. Let the sight of you, the sound of you, the very fact of you, be a reproach and a heartscald to them. Find the notes they hate and bellow them. Whisper maledictions as they pass. Snigger as they pose. Curse them and all who ride with them.

Geraldine Moorkens Byrne 2025

     

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