The Spiritual Social

Tag: playlist

  • A Playlist to Surrender to a Dark Romance

    The Kiss by Antonio Ambrogio Alciati (1878-1929) – Pastel on paper

    As Mars enters Taurus and begins its return in my house of love and Other people (the 7th astrological house), I still feel under the spell of one of the most beautiful academic books I’ve read this year. It’s called “On the Way to the Wedding: Transforming the Love Relationship” by Linda Schierse-Leonard, a book initially published in 1987, which is as old as I am and so gently powerful.

    This book alongside with “The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defenses of the Personal Spirit” by Donald Kalsched have to be the most amazing texts on love, relationships, healing and Jungian Analysis that I had the pleasure to discover this year.

    These books do something to you…something begins to move in your mind once you’ve finished reading them and dreams begin to proliferate. A wall in your heart begins to chip, as you start to see things around you differently. Even if you are the most sarcastic person on the planet, you begin to yearn for love. But if you are wounded in love, you may fall for someone who risks re-traumatizing you.

    Part of the fun of reading Linda’s book is that she titles the chapters of her book as “Prince Charming and the Special Princess”, “The Bewitchment” or “The Divine Wedding”, and my favourite “The Demon Lover”, as she breaks down fairy-tales and applies them to real cases from her patients and their mental health struggles.

    There’s magic in the struggle.

    Quote from page 77 in Linda’s book “On the Way to the Wedding”

    Inspired by this book and the seductively dangerous image of the Demon lover, I created a playlist, to engage in a fun and sexy way with this Archetype. I guess this playlist can also see you through a bad romance or two, until your self-love kicks in and you begin to feel worthy of better:

    The Cure – The Last Day of Summer


    Twilight Sad – It never was the same again

    Glass Animals – Black Mambo


    Idles – Beachland Ballroom (p.2)


    Daughter – Flaws

    Warpaint – Love is to die


    Bjork – Hidden Place


    James Blake – To the last


    Sweatcult – Pray

    Austra – Beyond a Mortal


    Smashing Pumpkins – Ava Adore HQ


    Jonathan Bree – Until We’re Done


    Ghostpoet – Sorry My Love, It’s You Not Me


    Cigarettes After Sex – Twizzler


    Editors – Two Hearted Spider

    Sea Power – Want to be free

    I initially created this playlist so I can listen to it while I’m preparing to read “Carmilla” by Sheridan Le Fanu, considered by many to be the first novel on vampires that started the trend. So I thought I’d share it. Hope this emotional sound-landscape adds a darker and interesting sheen to your life, whethever you may find yourself in the world.

    With universal love,

    Lexi

  • Romantic Realist

    This post is more of a playlist than anything else. To remind myself and others that love is still possible and that it can be found in the irregularities, mistakes and issues of everyday life. One of the least sentimental and most romantic rock bands, whose music stood the test of time, has been the American band The National. I used to religiously listen to them in high-school, specifically their brilliantly undertstated album ‘Alligator’. Then I got the pleasure of seeing them live in the Netherlands at the Lowlands festival and in special gig at Edinburgh’s Queen Hall, which I was fortunate enough to live in close proximity to, at that time.

    And because ysterday, I drank some champagne for Christmas and Youtube randomly started playing ‘Quiet light’ in the background, just as the clock turned to midnight, I thought I’d put together a top 10 of my favourite love songs from The National with some lyrics that stand out to me. So courtesy of singer Matt Berninger (an Aquarius Sun) and the band, here are the songs I most listen to when I want to feel loved and hopeful:

    1. Brainy : You know I keep your fingerprints in a pink folder in the middle of my table / You’re the tall kingdom I surround / Think I better follow you around / You might need me more than you think you will / Come home in the car you love, brainy brainy brainy
    2. Conversation 16 : I’ll try to be more romantic / I wanna believe in everything you believe / I was less than amazing / Do not know what all the troubles are for / I fall asleep in your branches / You’re the only thing I ever want anymore
    3. Val Jester : Build a fire for Val Jester / Build a room for your love / Take your time when you tell her / How she lives in your blood
    4. Quiet Light : But I’m learning to lie here in the quiet light / While I watch the sky go from black to grey/ Learning how not to die inside a little every time / I think about you and wonder if you are awake
    5. Start a War : Whatever went away, I’ll get it over now / I’ll get money, I’ll get funny again / Walk away now and you’re gonna start a war
    6. Terrible Love : It’s a terrible love and I’m walkin’ with spiders / It’s a terrible love and I’m walkin’ in / This quiet company
    7. The system only dreams in total darkness : Maybe I listen more than you think / And I can tell that somebody sold you / We said we’d never let anyone in / We said we’d only die of lonely secrets
    8. I need my girl : I am good, I am grounded / Davy says that I look taller / But I can’t get my head around it / I keep feeling smaller and smaller
    9. City middle : You said “I think I’m like Tennessee Williams” / I wait for the click, I wait, but it doesn’t kick in / I think I’m like Tennessee Williams / I wait for the click, I wait, but it doesn’t kick in
    10. About Today : Hey, are you awake? / Yeah, I’m right here / Well can I ask you /About today? /How close am I / To losing you?

    With universal love,

    Lexi