Watering the Jasmines Article by Ulla Suokko, written for the Mythic Journeys Newsletter

I believe that the purpose of artists, musicians and storytellers is to inspire, excite and uplift, but also to unsettle and to provoke, to arouse and to awaken, so that the veils of comfort are lifted and the deeper truths revealed. It is through art, poetry and music that we water the jasmines of our souls and ignite our heart’s fire to cultivate beauty, bliss, passion and compassion in our lives. Artists shape-shift into messengers of timeless times, leading us into the known and the unknown, into darkness and light, soothing our souls and stimulating our minds. They educate and entertain, heal and hold, connecting us with our own hearts and visions, bridging peoples and cultures, reaching for the ultimate vision of oneness with each other and with the universe. Joseph Campbell was an avid advocate of the artist’s function as the communicator of the divine mysteries of life and as the interpreter of the things seen and unseen. In today’s world, it is the artists who are the magicians, the shamans and the bards, who stir the cauldron of our dreams and guard the wisdom of the ages. But as Campbell said, he or she “has to be an artist who understands mythology and humanity and isn’t simply a sociologist with a program for you.”

In June, we had an extraordinary opportunity to delve into mythology and humanity from various intriguing perspectives at the Mythic Journeys conference in Atlanta, celebrating the work, ideas and 100th birthday of Joseph Campbell. It was an honor to be part of this festival with such luminaries as James Hillman, Robert Bly, Michael Meade, James Flannery, Mickey Lemle and Coleman Barks, and so many others! It was brilliance and beauty in action on many levels, where the essence of ancient myths and timeless tales offered their timely gifts through the voices of daring and caring, and through the poetry of intellect and intuition, of eloquence and imagination.
As a flutist and performing artist, I have always been fascinated by the power of breath, exploring the possibilities of the expression of breath, listening to the hidden meaning of sound, observing how the conscious change of the intent, character, color, mood of the breath behind the sound changes the vibration of the room, the player and the listener. And very fittingly my presentation, the first Big Story in Atlanta, was the creation story from the Kalevala, the national epic of my native Finland, which is about the Air Goddess, the very breath of the beginning of time, riding the winds and the waves of the primordial ocean creating the world, and finally, giving birth to the first man, the witty, steadfast, old Väinämöinen, the supreme hero, a consummate singer-musician-healer-shaman-bard.
Many of the creation myths are testimonies to the power of breath and sound to create and to transform.. The Old Testament says, "And the Lord said 'Let there be light!’ And there was light." The Gospel of John, "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The Vedas of the Hindu we have “Nada Brahma,” the God-Sound through which everything is made, "In the beginning was Brahman with whom was the Word. And the Word is Brahman." Sufis talked about “sound that intoxicates man.” The Koran says, “When God said ‘Be,’ it became.” In the Ancient Egypt, Thot was said to have created the world by his Word, and the sound of Thot’s song was thought to have created four frog gods and snake goddesses who continued Thot's song, helping the sun journey across the sky. The Hopi Indian's have the Spider Woman, the Earth Goddess, sing the Song of Creation. In the Popul Vuh, the Mayan tradition, only the giver of breath, the Maker, is present in the primordial hum under the empty sky, and the world is created by word alone. In India, the mighty sage Markandeya listens to the flow of the life-breath, the song of the immortal wild gander, a manifestation of Vishnu, “the sound of whose breathing is the magic of the creation and dissolution of the world.”
Picasso said, “Painting isn’t an aesthetic operation; it’s a form of magic designed as a mediator between this strange, hostile world and us, a way of seizing the power by giving form to our terrors as well as our desires. When I came to this realization, I knew I had found my way.” For me this way is music and
We all have powerful tools of creation available to us right here right now. Through the awareness of our breath, we enter the threshold of silence within, thus creating the conditions for the primordial hum, tuning into the sound of the Absolute, nada. (In Sanskrit nada means “sound” and in Spanish “nothing,” perhaps, in the ephemeral infinity of listening to the universe through your own breath, these two become one and the same thing.) By consciously changing the pattern and expression of our breath, we can change our lives at any given moment, at any given breath. Working with the sound of our own voice, uniting ourselves with the vibration of the sacred mantras, the sounds of creation, we can access the subtle vibrations beyond the physical form and enter into the realm of manifestation and miracles. The great mystics and schools of knowledge have always studied the power and science of conscious breath and sound as carriers of divine codes, and as potent portals into higher awareness, profound healing and deeper awakening. When in doubt – breathe.
I will always remember the Mythic Journeys festival as one of the important and inspiring milestones in my life, an affirmation of courage and continuous curiosity, a confirmation of my purpose as an artist and human being. Mythic Journeys was a discovery of a beautiful community of seekers and finders, of explorers of the inner and outer worlds of our humanity, both on personal and global levels. It offered a new vocabulary for the hidden mysteries and an expansion of ideas and insights. Since the Mythic Journeys conference I have paid yet again much closer attention to my dreams and to the subtle signs that connect me with my true path. Every moment is a call to live the life to the fullest and to fulfill our visions and dreams. While staying aware of the world around us, we must courage to keep our hearts open to goodness, kindness and love. We can, and we must make a difference. Every action counts. Every thought counts. Every breath counts. Let us keep watering the jasmines, one breath at the time, one note at the time, one heart at the time for the hope and healing, and for the fulfillment of each of our life stories. As the poet says, it is our “obligation to water the jasmines, or bleed to death in a dark street.” The choice is ours. Let’s make it now.
This is what it means to change the world.