Liber Babalon:
 
 
 

Liber Babalon is a double-CD release of ritual dark ambient by Gydja, pressed on black cdrs and limited to 156 copies. While most works by Gydja are conceived well in advance of their execution, this was not the case with Liber Babalon. The seed for this release came whilst working on the Clothed in Shadow series: a collection of eight songs, with eight accompanying films, considering eight different dark goddesses. The Clothed in Shadow track for Babalon incorporated a reading of the Gnostic text, Thunder, Perfect Mind, and during the processing of this reading, a second Babalon track emerged, based solely on the sound of the manipulated vocals. This track became alphaOmega: A Drone for the Throne of Babalon, the conclusion to Liber Babalon.

The process was repeated with several other tracks, basing entire pieces on sounds sourced from readings of the Birth of Babalon poem by Jack Parsons, Waratah Blossoms from Aleister Crowley's Book of Lies, and several other Babalon-related texts. The pieces seemed to create themselves, and when their combined length was finally tallied up, there was too much material for just one CD. Faced with the option of either editing down the material that had already been created, or continuing on to create enough for a second CD, it was the latter option that won out. The initial tracks had been composed as pieces of music that could be used in a ritual environment because of the way in which the processing of the vocals had encoded the words of Babalon; like a aural chaos magick sigil. As a result, these tracks were composed with little sense of order or structure, and were instead more channeled or instinctual. But, with the more concrete approach of producing a finished double cd, the creation of tracks inevitably became more structured, and greater attention to detail was paid in order to accurately render scenes sonically. The end result is a mixture of paens to Babalon, and sonic explorations of Her realms and aspects. The two black discs of Liber Babalon become a journey that begins with the birth of Babalon, explores the mysteries of the Thunder, Perfect Mind, travels through the aethyrs of Enochian magick, and ultimately, arrives at the throne of Babalon.

ALPHA
1) The Holy Table
2) The Birth of Babalon
3) Watchtower of Earth
4) Epinoia
Thunder, Perfect Mind
5) ~Pistis
6) ~Sophia
7) ~Prunikos
8) Watchtower of Air
9) Moonrise at Midnight
10) Waratah Blossoms
11) She is Flame of Life

OMEGA
1) Hymn to Babalon II
2) Watchtower of Fire
3) For the Blood is the Life
4) The Virgin of Eternity
5) Shadowed with the Circle of Stars
6) Watchtower of Water
7) Hriliu
8) Omari tessala marax
9) alphaOmega
(A Drone for the Throne of Babalon)

Alpha
Omega

Liber Babalon is unique amongst Gydja works for its large, all-womyn, cast of vocal performers. This arose, not only from the emphasis on vocals and words throughout Liber Babalon, but also from the fact that several of the tracks are based on readings of the Thunder, Perfect Mind. The aim was to cast the paradoxical voice of Babalon as the voice of many womyn, as a single voice that was simultaneously multiple, and so eight readings of the Gnostic text by eight different womyn were used. For once, then, a Gydja release has a long list of credits.

CREDITS:
Soror AAI: sound design on all tracks. Source vocals on Birth of Babalon, Epinoia, Pistis, Sophia, Moonrise at Midnight, Waratah Blossoms, She is Flame of Life, For the Blood is the Life, The Virgin of Eternity, Shadowed with the Circle of Stars, Hriliu, and Omari Tessala Marax.
Soror Maria: source vocals on Epinoia, Pistis, and Sophia.
Soror Rosarium: source vocals on The Holy Table, Pistis, and Sophia.
Soror Sappho: source vocals on Pistis, Sophia, Prunikos, Birth of Babalon, Moonrise at Midnight, Waratah Blossoms, She is Flame of Life, Hymn to Babalon II, The Virgin of Eternity, Shadowed with the Circle of Stars, Hriliu, Omari Tessala Marax, and alphaOmega.
Soror Holly: source vocals on Pistis, and Sophia.
Soror Unwoman: source vocals on Sophia.
Soror Alex: source vocals on Sophia.
Soror Mary Magdalene: source vocals on Sophia.
Soror Holly: source vocals on Pistis, and Sophia.
Soror Unwoman: source vocals on Sophia.
Soror Alex: source vocals on Sophia.
Soror Mary Magdalene: source vocals on Sophia