The backstory

by Heather Holm

In July 2017, my husband Steve and I visited Pam in Ottawa. I had a new Blue Yeti microphone and suggested we record Pam doing her voice and singing bowl “thing”.

Her bedroom was pretty quiet, so Pam set up her crystal and brass bowls and other instruments around her as she stood on one side of the bed. Steve lay on the other side. I put the laptop outside the room to minimize background hum, and connected it to the mic by a long cord.

Pam started with a prayer of invocation and intention:

We invite in the archangels, the ascended masters, your guardian angels, ancestors who are in the light. Welcome. We thank you for your presence, enfolding the space here for light, for healing, for help, for well-being….

Then she began playing the bowls and improvising vocally.

Pam had long cultivated her awareness of different high spiritual energies and gave them her voice, essentially channelling them, not with words, but rather allowing them to express healing intentions and move the energy that arose to be cleared.

Our first attempt was interrupted halfway, right at a moment of peak intensity, by a neighbour’s lawn mower or leaf blower. Pam paused and resumed when he was finished, but we didn’t know if the recording would be salvageable.

Nonetheless, she stated that the energies that had come through concerned prayers for the Middle East and Africa, specifically for clean water and healthy food, a safe environment for children, the releasing of despair, hope for those who are imprisoned, harm reduction for those who need it, raising the vibration on Earth and in the heavens, rest and a peaceful sleep at the end of the day.

She had felt the presence of Archangel Sandalphon especially, as well as Archangels Zadkiel, Michael, Raphael and Gabriel. Among the ascended masters she had felt Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene and the Christ Consciousness.

Lying on the bed in the middle of all this, Steve felt that there was a lot more going on in the room than was immediately apparent. He had been transported into a timeless space in which the bowls were pulling sound up from the ground and swirling it in a vortex that drew out worry, tension and fear, cleansing the mind, leaving it quiet, the heart happy.

Not knowing if we had a recording that was shareable, she did a second “piece”/prayer/meditation, which turned out to be quite specific in its intention: healing for those who had been abused. The neighbour left us in peace for that one.

When we got back home to Nova Scotia, I published the second recording as a YouTube video. Pam was delighted. You can find it here.

But I gave up on the first recording until now, 6 years later. This time I persisted, feeling Pam’s blessing on the project. There is power in the sound of her voice and the bowls.

I coupled it with a video of the sky from our backyard. If you keep your eyes open (no obligation), you may see some birds flying across it.

The post Angelic Sound Healing: A Prayer for the Earth appeared first on Pamela Holm 1960-2019.

At the funeral for her father, Flemming Holm, on October 17, 2009, in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Pamela sang one of his favourite pieces of music, “He Shall Feed His Flock” from Handel’s Messiah, accompanied by Bev Shaw, violin, and Josephine Skinner, organ.

Before singing the above piece, Pam spoke about her father’s love of music, and how it helped shape her own:

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One of the most popular Hindu mantras, dedicated to Vishnu as Lord Krishna. (As I understand it, Krishna is considered an incarnation of Vishnu, one of the principal Hindu deities. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna reveals his divine form to Arjuna as this assemblage of manifestations of Vishnu.)

Pam’s original tune for it is quite lovely. Here she is singing it with a small group in a sound healing workshop in 2011.

Photo: Avatars of Vishnu by Flickr user https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/378256/in/photostream/, thanks also to Wikimedia Commons.

The post Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya (2010) appeared first on Pamela Holm 1960-2019.

My son picked up a camera and made an impromptu video, so at least we have a rough recording.

Mom loved it. It made her cry. It made her dance. It made Dorcas and Mike’s dogs join in with whimpers and howls. Good fun.

Our mother was an avid gardener who enjoyed growing ornamental grasses (photo below). That would be why Pam wrote “Grasses bow down their heads to honour the day.” There’s no reason not to change the words to something that suits the person being honoured!

Video

Sheet music

The post Happy Birthday for a capella trio (2013) appeared first on Pamela Holm 1960-2019.

With B (crown chakra) crystal singing bowl

With small Tibetan brass singing bowl

The post Vocal Improvisations with Singing Bowls appeared first on Pamela Holm 1960-2019.

Pam made this recording privately on a digital recorder, not as a performance but for her own records. – HH

Video

Lyrics

There is a home within my heart
Where all things end
From whence they start
It knows no bounds
Springs forth through song
At times I’m sure the angels sing along

My soul’s a giant in a pea
Singing a song of love to Thee
It shimmers, glistening with the sun
Encircling life
Embracing goodness in everyone.

My life’s a song
A journey being sung
Awakening lovers,
Pilgrims to the One
At rest time, I hold the perfect pause
A drawing gasp of transcending awe

In rays of sunlight my heart takes flight
An owl’s vision in the dark of night
A portion of the perfect heart
A reflection of the gem we are

Each soul’s a jewel in the crown
A precious lamp on the Oneness tree
To hold a seed of hope
In the dark of night
The Christed presence reaches out in me.

Audio

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Spirit of Life, work your magic in my soul
Bringing your wondrous touch, you ignite
The fire that makes me whole
Spirit of Life reflected in the rising of the Sun
Resurrect your spirit here in the knowing we are all one.

One in the Godhead, one in the heart
One in the peace, that’s where we start
One in the blessing of the sun
One sun that shines on everyone.

Spirit of Life, I feel so full of Grace
Knowing how your radiant form transfigures every face
Spirit of Life reflected in the light of every smile
Opening heart and mind alike to your presence here all the while.

Light of loving, light of truth
Light through the Spirit we’re made new
Light that warms us like the sun
One sun that shines on everyone.

One in the Godhead, one in the heart
One in the peace, that’s where we start
One in the blessing of the sun
One sun that shines on everyone.
One sun that shines on everyone.

The post Spirit of Life (2009) appeared first on Pamela Holm 1960-2019.

She mentored some other younger sisters in her adult life, and must have been acutely aware of their needs to develop their own interests and identities, and to individuate from a self-confident older sibling.

As Pam’s big sister, I knew of this challenge in her life, and our mother understood it very well. I had to learn to give her space to find herself, and be supportive without taking over. When she was dying and I had to take over – in everything from life and death decisions to income taxes – it was especially poignant because of our history as the big and little sister.

Self-actualizing as the little sister was a big life lesson for Pam. And she succeeded, as the song proves. I am very proud of her.

She made a personal recording of this song, which I have illustrated with photos of her growing up and as an adult. – HH

Lyrics: All I Want to Be

When I stand by an ant, I am ten feet tall
When I stand by a tree, then I’m very small
In the eyes of Creation I am wholly free
To be all I want to be.

Being me, being free
Choosing how I want to be
In the eyes of Creation
I am wholly free to be all I want to be.

When I look at my sister who is older than me
Then I sometimes feel so small
I would like to do just as she can do
But I just can’t do it all.
So I take a breath, and I let it go
And I breathe in one more time
And I know inside that I’m four, not five
And as my mommy says, I’ll grow.

When I take some time to be all by myself
When my sister’s not around
Then I find some things that I like to do
That are different from what she’s found
And I take a breath, and I let it go
And I smile here just for me
And I know I have ideas that are mine to grow
And I’m happy and feeling free.

Being me, being free
Choosing how I want to be
In the eyes of Creation
I am wholly free to be all I want to be.

Audio only:

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Photo is of Pam and her nephew (my son) with the Christmas creche we had as children. -HH

The post Jesus Shine Your Light (2009) appeared first on Pamela Holm 1960-2019.

Note that “Beloved” in many mystical writings, including the works of Rumi as well as those of Christian mystics, refers to the Divine, whether you characterize that as God, Christ or Christ Consciousness, the soul, the Infinite Spark within, etc. It speaks of the seeking and finding of spiritual awakening and union with the Divine, even if it comes across to our cultural ears as a romantic love song.

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