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Word Gems
exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
Soulmate, Myself:
The Wedding Song
Preface
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“Into every songwriter’s life
comes a song, the source
of which cannot be explained
by personal experience...”
Noel Paul Stookey
Automatic writing, as the term suggests, is a process whereby handwritten messages are guided either by (1) the (higher) subconscious mind or (2) an invisible Spirit-entity.
On the Word Gems website, many items, including automatic writing,
are featured concerning the scientific evidence for the afterlife. Famous
examples of automatic writing include the unassailable Myers Cross-
Correspondences – this example of “the scientific evidence” offers high
degree of incontestability, such that, it has never been refuted; also relevant here are the channeled writings of Charlotte Dresser and the works of William Stainton Moses.
Much could be said on this subject of automatic writing, and I would
encourage your further investigation; however, I will introduce its application to an area which will interest not a few, that of song-writing:
Joan Baez: “It seems to me that those songs that have been any
good, I have nothing much to do with the writing of them. The words
have just crawled down my sleeve and come out on the page.”
Joan’s comment here regarding “songs that have been any good” is the
simplest test, I think, offering clues to the veridical nature of purported
automatic writing. The test becomes: Are we inspired by the product?
Do we sense a higher wisdom in its message?
In this regard, one of the most remarkable examples of song-composition
as automatic writing will be The Wedding Song by Noel Paul Stookey (of
“Peter, Paul, and Mary”).
Consider this from songfacts.com:
[The Wedding Song] was featured on Noel Paul Stookey’s first solo
album, which he’d recorded after Peter, Paul & Mary disbanded in
1971. He wrote it for ex Peter Paul & Mary bandmate, Peter Yarrow’s marriage to Marybeth McCarthy, the niece of senator and one-time presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy.
Paul Stookey’s name does not appear as the author, either on the
record or the sheet music. Neither does he receive any of the royalties – because, he says, after he prayed he was “given” the song. All he was required to do was to “allow the pencil to move across the page.”
On his website, Stookey says, “Into every songwriter’s life comes a
song, the source of which cannot be explained by personal experience.” The royalties of this song go directly to a trust fund called Public Domain and the monies are distributed to individuals and organizations throughout the world.
These are the originally-received lyrics of The Wedding Song:
©1971 Public Domain Foundation
I am now to be among you at the calling of your hearts
Rest assured this troubadour is acting on My part.
The union of your spirits, here, has caused Me to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in My name
There am I, there is Love.
A man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home
And they shall travel on to where the two shall be as one.
As it was in the beginning is now and til the end
Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again.
And there is Love, there is Love.
Well then what’s to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
Is it love that brings you here or love that brings you life?
And if loving is the answer, then who’s the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you’ve never seen before?
Oh there is Love, there is Love.
Oh the marriage of your spirits here has caused Me to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in My name
There am I, there is Love.
In an interview with Guideposts Magazine (June 1, 1993) Mr. Stookey
explained how the original lyrics came to be altered:
Just one hour before [Peter’s] wedding ceremony, I sang it to my
wife, Betty. “It’s beautiful,” she said, “but they won’t understand I
am now to be among you. They’re going to think you’re presuming
to be God.” I thought about what she said, and changed the words.
These are the modified, popular lyrics of The Wedding Song:
©1971 Public Domain Foundation
He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts
Rest assured this troubadour is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits, here, has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love, there is Love.
A man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home
And they shall travel on to where the two shall be as one.
As it was in the beginning is now and til the end
Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again.
And there is Love, there is Love.
Well then what’s to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
Is it love that brings you here or love that brings you life?
And if loving is the answer, then who’s the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you’ve never seen before?
Oh there is Love, there is Love.
Oh the marriage of your spirits here has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love, there is Love.
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