The Indigo Keys and the Spiral Portal PLAYLIST
a playlist of musical notes/keys to accompany The Indigo Keys and the Spiral Portal Collection of tarot tinctures - a collection which was birthed following the Womb aspect of its manifestation: ‘The Medicine of the Blues’.
most of the potions for The Indigo Keys were intentionally crafted while the corresponding song played in the background, while some were extracted with their corresponding tune harmonizing the atmosphere. wishing you an insightful and expansive journey as you listen to the music and commune with the medicine.
(full playlist found at the end of this article)
0/22: The Fool || Are You.. Can You.. Were You (Felt) by Shabazz Palaces
“I can’t explain it with words - I have to do it.” A song about following your instincts, trusting your feeling on the “risks” to be taken.
Key 1: The Magician || Mr. Magic by Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse covers Grover Washington Jr.’s Mister Magic and expresses her love for Cannabis (or whatever else you can interpret) with her vocals. the metaphors of ‘seeing one through the smoke’ and ‘getting a stress-free point of view’ speaks perfectly not only to the confidence of The Magician, but also to the energetics of The Magician’s tincture which clarify the mind and provide insight to the inner tools we possess which can aid our workings.
Key 2: The High Priestess || The Third Eye by Roy Ayers
Like The Third Eye, The High Priestess is a key for vision into the mysteries. ‘Baby baby baby, look to the sky, seeking to find the 3rd eye, seeking to find the 3rd eye. Secrets of numbers, secrets of sound...” perfect melody to describe some of what The High Priestess helps us uncover.
Key 3: The Empress || Plenty by Guru + Erykah Badu
This is a playful tune about a Queen-like woman, an entity abundant, beautiful, sensual, powerful who deserves to be loved as plentifully as she loves and experiences herself. Listen for yourself - it’s quite a lovely interaction in rhythm.
Key 4: The Emperor || Rule by Nas
Nas shares his dreams of empire, speaks life, and even paints for us the picture of how this type of desire for ordered and high vibrational living is embedded in our genetic code and is, thus, our birthright - that what I hear when I listen to this. “Yo, there's brothers on the block, posted up like they own it; That's they corner, from New York to California. Got blocks locked down like, ‘dog (god) you safe whenever you with me, see this is my town.’”Through the song, he reminds of us the work left to do, like a true emperor commanding completion and thoroughness upon his empire.
Key 5: The Hierophant || Master Teacher by Erykah Badu + Georgia Anne Muldrow + Bilal
The Hierophant is surely an educator in their own right/rite. The paradoxical spin of this song is that, unlike The Hierophant, Badu speaks of searching for something new, while The Hierophant adheres to tradition and traditional ways. The beautiful thing here is that a Master Teacher is always in tune with the ancient wisdom that brought them to the point of mastery.
Key 6: The Lovers || Think Twice by Erykah Badu + Roy Hargrove
Erykah tells her potential lover to consider what they are about to do, to consider what is to be sacrificed in order to initiate their union. “Your love’s like fire and ice”; the main symbols of The Lovers is a wand and a cup - fire and ice, respectively. And like Gemini’s (astrological correspondence) ability to consider things from multiples angles, thinking twice (thoroughly) is an important aspect of this journey.
Key 7: The Chariot || Above the Clouds by Gangstarr
“Above the clouds where the sounds are original - infinite skills create miracles. Warrior spiritual…” The magick of The Chariot is contained in the hook. Lyricism about universal truths much in alignment with the voyage of the charioteer.
Key 8: Strength || Sun Goddess by Earth, Wind, & Fire + Ramsey Lewis
In Strength, we ascend by uniting the animal forces with the potential of higher consciousness that we possess. In Sun Goddess, we hear the music move through different octaves on the various instruments, presenting us with a sound that lifts us as we listen.
Key 9: The Hermit || Falling by Dudley Perkins
One with an Indigo vision says, “I see what the lack of knowledge can do to a civilization.” The quest of a Hermit often has us going within to reconcile with the imbalance we see by balancing what we find inside. The closing (starting at around 2:33) of the song is very much in alignment with the mental of one journeying as The Hermit.
Key 10: The Wheel of Fortune || Spiral by Nujabes
The perfect alignment with the 2nd part of this collection’s name (the Spiral Portal), Spiral feels like a centering of the focus, perfect for enhancing the projection of the will of one who in spinning the Wheel. Creating a harmonious space full of potential and promise.
Key 11: Justice || Ancestors by Gonjasufi
By the time we get to the point of Justice, we know that we would do well by reaching out for a higher truth which is represented by sword depicted in the card’s image, and this is where the ancestors come into play because they can remind us of the treasures we carry within. Justice takes some surrender, which is what we are led into through between keys 10 and 17. This process of invoking our ancestors in an important step in familiarizing ourselves with what gifts we have to work with and how we can use those to heal.
Key 12: The Hanged Man || Somebody Else’s World by Sun Ra + June Tyson
Yes, The Hanged Man’s perspective has shifted, but a great aspect of this key is the fact that The Hanged Man has a view which is now so clear that it cannot be obstructed by what another’s idea of the world is. This song also speaks to the multiplicity of ways to perceive and vision.
Key 13: Death || Death and Resurrection by Ahmad Jamal
No lyrics in this one because the process of Key 13 is one that calls us into a greater retreat of silence (similar to the Hermit but even more concentrated), but the music moves in a way that feels like the rite of passage that Osiris guides us through as we allow death and rebirth to occur from within.
Key 14: Temperance || Sun, Moon, Stars by Mos Def
Oh yeah, this is a song about alchemy through the consideration of opposing concepts and ideas. It’s just grand how he synthesizes the celestial forces to ground the magick of what he’s saying; encapsulating the fact that all of these ‘contradictory’ energies are existing within the same system and galaxy - the Milky Way, the Solar System, whatever you want to call it. All of what is present comes through these bodies that are within and without us. Temperance is learning how to be strong in the face of what would otherwise weaken us.
Key 15: The Devil || Devil’s Pie by D’Angelo
It’s a deep one with many depictions of the false bondage and overwhelming obsession that The Devil could present us with. It will only make us better and more aware. D’Angelo is smooth as hell, too.
Key 16: The Tower || (Falling Like) Dominoes by Donald Byrd
The Tower comes before the The Star’s renewal of faith, but this is a more than adequate prelude to it because, with this song, even as you move through The Tower, there is the knowing that all will be well. It is the realization before the feeling of illumination.
Key 17: The Star || Star of the Story by Heatwave
“Angel, used to say, yesterday, love was only in a dream, but angel, I was wrong all along - just took you for me to see” - this person expresses hope in love again after encountering the “angel” who they now love. The Star is about a perspective illuminated and the restoration of faith, and this song is about that - whether faith in love, an idea, a project, an aspect of self - it applies.
Key 18: The Moon || Other Moons by OC Notes
The Moon, connected to Pisces, can deal with illusions or how things seem to be. Here is a song where there is some reflection on how ‘their’ love and other aspects of the connection, planetary and otherwise, seem so distant.
Key 19: The Sun || Everybody Loves the Sunshine by Seu Jorge + Almaz
This melody reminds me of The Sun, bright and resplendent. It feels like a lovely summer’s day, maybe even spring with “just bees and things and flowers.” The version by Roy Ayers is supernatural, also.
Key 20: Judgment || Stepping Into Tomorrow by Madlib
Sonics to help us move forward. Judgment is the point of absolution and full acceptance/integration, the part of the journey when we merge those dualistic and opposing forces (in the depiction, it is exhibited as masculine and feminine energy) into one, or the child who is representative of the future/tomorrow.
Key 21: The World || Everything is Everything by Lauryn Hill
“Everything is everything” is sufficient a lyric to summarize why Lauryn’s soundscape takes us through The World’s portal. She speaks of the seasons and change - the constants of this realm where we find ourselves in.
Full playlist AVAILABLE HERE.