Have you ever heard of crystallisation? It is the forming of a crystal. We advise you to do a quick research on the phenomenon and read with an eye on the science and an eye on the poetics of chemistry, that is able to help you crystallise some deeper understanding of humanity. Unstable molecules in a liquid gather together to become stable. In a way, so do we — in our monthly rehearsals in Alba Iulia, we come from various parts of the country, we organise, we play, we form stable bonds and (just like crystals) as we are lifted into the light through the music, through the silence and through the often deeply philosophical conversations we get into together, we start refracting the many colours of truth. Ever heard about someone being called a crystal soul? That’s probably how it is formed.
Chapter II of Haggard’s album „And Thou Shalt Trust the Seer” is called Origin of a Crystal Soul - listen to the original! And then come and hear us play it in our ways: you will see it’s never quite the same. Each time you come back to hear us play, you’ll be hearing our newest sentiments in the ways we approach these musical pieces. Crystals require patience to form. And a nucleus to form around. And time. And a willingness to bond. We’ve got all these, as you may have noticed.
We’ve told you before about Michel de Notre Damme, haven’t we? This particular song is about his coming to this world. He is the crystal soul and this is some of the story of his life — some of it told through words and some of it told through the interplay of instruments. He was one of the (at least) nine children of a family from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, who was born (as the song reminds us) on December, 14 - 1503 and he was later known as Nostradamus. Often called a prophet for his supposed capacity to predict events to come, he did not identify with this status. He relied on historical precedence as well as on contemplation, meditation and incubation to write his poetic and seemingly prophetic verses and then chose ambiguous ways to express his intuitions about the future. The general, the ambiguous and the vague enough terms he used in poetic creation are stimulative of the readers’ minds, who could associate them with various subsequent events. His texts display characteristics of modern projective tests, consisting of creating empty spaces to be filled by human subjects with the missing that in their views creates coherence. In this way it is rather the reader’s subjectivity that is revealed through the interpretation of his texts. Would you dare to look into such an interesting mirror, able to refract the unique colours of your soul, as the song suggests in “Er, der Spiegel eurer Seele”?
Haggard’s Origin of a Crystal Soul describes Michel Nostradamus as a gifted child, endowed with the Creator’s capacity to see the future (“mit des Schöpfer's Fähigkeit zu sehen was sein wird”) . He used to speak of what will happen in hidden and unrecognisable ways, because he risked being labeled heretic and death by burning was the fate of heretics in those times. If you have read his Quatrains you will have found (in the introductory letter) that he describes prophetic inspiration as driven from God, then from chance and then from nature, which is why prophecy comes to pass only partly as predicted and never clearly where or when. Yet intelligent and reasoning beings can understand events and see things distant in time through a natural knowledge of all creatures.
Michel was born in mid December when it is the beginning of winter in Europe. As the naked trees, the fallen autumn leaves and other signs predict the arrival of the cold season, so can the prophet inspect the signs predicting the cyclic repetition of events in historical times. And where he notices that hunger and strife are slowly approaching, generosity, greed, humanity and loss of humanity are coming along as well. Times of hardship have always been a reliable test of human character and of quality of the human bonds. To be liberated by God on that terrible day, when hunger strikes, is to be able to share your crumbs of bread with the others and to maintain one’s faith and cool down in the face of adversity, in order to reason and to appreciate the divine plans unfolding right before your eyes. The alternative is the morte aeterna.
Speaking of the foreseeable future, we’ll be back in Harman - Brasov with a concert on the 22nd of June"; we’ve as well been invited to play in Bistrita on the 6th of July; and then in Biertan - Sibiu on July the 20th. Save these dates! We’d love to see you! Chances for the unforeseen to interfere with our enthusiastic plans are quite real, but you’ll be informed in due time if you remain interested and in contact with the Coincidentia Oppositorum Family.
