Is listening to New Age music a bad thing? My problem.

[Your Dramatic Angel]

I have a unique thing going on for me. Some people listen to the New Age genre for meditation, relaxation, or to alter the state of their mind. Some composers, songwriters, and bands label themselves as "New Age", most likely meaning they are into New Age Spirituality. However, on the other hand, some other artists are lugged into the genre when they don't consider their music to be New Age; thus, music that doesn't really fit any genre get labeled "New Age". It's a melting pot of music.

Now, what's interesting about my issue is that I have a sort of clairaudience. I'm hesitant to call it that (what should I call it?), as words such as "precognition", "clairvoyance", "empathy" in the psychic sense, and so many other psychic abilities are uncomfortable for Christians to talk about and thought of as part of witchcraft. My grandmother and mother both have ESP (extra-sensory perception), and I was also born like that. My grandmother, according to what I heard my mom say, has precognition. My mom is also able to supernaturally tell when things will happen before it happens, she's an Empath, and she can see people's auras (as when I'm joyful she remarks that I'm literally glowing, and when I'm angry/moody/depressed she complains about how my "black clouds" are invading the entire house; she can see them even when I'm not in the room). We rarely ever talk about these things, as we're Christians, and we feel uncomfortable sounding like New Age spiritualists or witches. Rather, we show these things through our actions. My mom would say, "This is the funniest thing! I thought about a person I hadn't seen in many years, and I debated whether or not I should call her. A few minutes later, she calls!" rather than say something about precognition being at work, as that doesn't sound normal.

I have clairvoyance (like seeing movements, shadows, sparkling lights, and large flashes of light in my peripheral vision, seeing and discerning angels and demons in my head (another story if you want me to share this and the events surrounding these visions, which help me discern between angels and demons), and I've physically seen transparent monsters as well as a ghostly woman with the face of my mother when I was in 1st grade (I screamed myself hoarse, pointing at "air"), last month, at night, seeing a floating orb of light that I stared at as I loudly gasped until my mom came into the room because she heard me gasping). I can sense presences, as I'm sensitive to the changes in the air (like spirits of God bring a peaceful, light feeling, and demonic spirits make the air feel heavy and give off a sense of evil and danger). Sometimes, I turn around, sensing a person in the room, and no one is there. I am highly, highly empathetic (I am very intuitive and perceiving on the air other people give off and their emotions, and I am emotionally intelligent and understanding on human behaviors, body language, and emotions. I sometimes start feeling how they feel, whether happy or miserable, as if my emotions shift to match theirs. I am so sensitive, I feel so much, that dark, scary things repel me strongly. I can't stand certain feelings; for example, hatred. Hatred makes me feel as if I'm suffocating and drowning, so I try to escape by apologizing and/or focusing on happy, positive things, and only then do I feel free and uplifted from the torture).

Last, but not least, I am clairaudient. In my freshman year of high school, I've heard angels singing and praising with their beautiful voices that day I rebuked Satan (who was singing to me in my head in a lullaby tone for me to turn away from God). I've held conversations with God in my head (I still do), like on questions I have, advice I need, and God has helped me understand things and be all the wiser. I don't pray every day (I should talk to God more), but when I pray I pray for at least an hour (one time it was three hours), talking, going through a range of emotions, and listening to His loving, caring, comforting voice and gentle admonishing. One time I was washing my face in the bathroom, and I heard joyful acoustic guitar music loud and clear, which lasted for three seconds. I jerked up my head to look in the mirror in shock, and then I smiled, appreciating the music. But almost all the time in my life, I hear ethereal music, like angelic echoes or New Age sounding music. It's all very beautiful, and I never tire of hearing the ghostly music. In fact, if I'm reading a book and hearing music in my head, the events that happen in the story impact me so much more deeply and dramatically on an emotional level, and I've even cried before. I've heard this music ever since I was a little girl. I don't really like a lot of the music that's out, whether it's Pop or Christian Pop. Most of the songs stink and sound ehhhh and ugly, although the lyric messages/meanings can be wonderful. I like very few songs. I tell people I have no music life, but in reality I can't help but compare the weird music everyone listens to to the breathtaking music in my head, and I hear ghostly music all the time. Now, New Age music, like ambient, spa, relaxing music, etc. resemble my ghostly music the best, so I like to listen to that stuff. I AM aware of needing to avoid certain music in the New Age genre, however.

I apologize if this post is a giant wall of text! I strayed a bit with talking about psychic abilities (which I like to think as gifts from God or simply me being more spiritually attuned than most people). A lot of the world's music doesn't appeal to me, but the New Age genre music is appealing and makes my spirit "perk up" because it reminds me of the music in my head. Can Christians listen to certain music in this genre? Not all, of course. I feel kind of helpless, as I have read some things Christians thought about New Age music, saying it should be avoided and is sinful. I can't find any other music I really like (except for very few, and the ones I like resemble MY music more).

Help! Some insight, please? I could also pray about this.  

[Your Dramatic Angel]

I'm back after nearly an hour of praying. After greeting God with a sheepish "Hello," I asked God what you all might think is a weird or amusing question. I asked Him, "How are You?" I just felt like everybody (including me) prays to God with the topic being all about us, our lives, our problems, and how He can help us. I don't know if my thinking is silly or childish, but I wanted to show that I care about His feelings and how He is... In the span of what I think was three seconds, I saw an array of emotions along with a feeling that was hard to describe. I couldn't understand it, as it was something detached from me, something I couldn't relate to at all. That unfamiliar feeling came with a reminder of the position that God was God, and I was a mere human being. The wide array of emotions coming from Him I understood. What stood out to me was loneliness, disappointment, and joy from the blur of feelings. My lack of discipline and rebellious behavior disappoints God, and neglecting my Father is making Him lonely, hoping to get my attention. My desire to pray to Him tonight caused His joy and excitement to erupt. Finally, Calen is speaking to me again! I want to hear from you! I felt guilty, spoke with him about several things, and came to the realization that I don't need to pray everyday. That is not what is truly important, what I should focus on, and it can lead to the trap of routine. I should pray when my heart genuinely calls for it, not make prayer a routine, as I could end up with an empty prayer, praying without pouring my heart out to God. However, when I asked what could draw me closer to God so that I could WANT to pray more often, I was told to read the Bible everyday. The Bible was what should be routine. The prayers would naturally follow. That was my answer.

Yes, I talk about a lot of things with God, which makes my prayers so long. I asked, "God, why are my ears so musical? Why do I hear this music?" God's response told me I already knew the answer to my question.

"It's my gift to you," He explained. "I gave you the gift of hearing music no one else can hear to make up for what you cannot hear in this world." Gorgeous music played, loud and clear to me, and then silence followed.

My nose burned a bit. This response made me feel touched and emotional, although I already knew the truth. I have severe hearing loss. I'm almost completely deaf, yet I'm able to function above-average (but not amazingly well) with hearing aids compared to other hard-of-hearing people. "Lord, You have blessed me with so much! I'm truly grateful! So many blessings! But why this gift, Lord? How can I use this gift to further Your Kingdom? How does this work?" But, God didn't answer. His silence made me feel like I was not yet supposed to know. Or perhaps I do know but haven't yet realized what I know... Or, He's saying with that small, knowing smile, "Trust me." I did feel a smile with a meaning. "Please help me understand what I should do about New Age music," I continued. "Is it okay to listen to New Age music?"

"No."

"Oh, what should I do, God?! I can't listen to any of it?" I started to panic a little. The feeling then came to me with pictures of needing to be careful, but there were acceptable songs/music scattered about in a sea of evil. I then understood that I already knew the answer, which made me feel a bit embarrassed. Instrumental music, for example, is good and wholesome, although it had been coined "New Age". I understood that God's "no" meant actual New Age music that went hand-in-hand with the Movement. My question was asked with a broad range of music in mind termed as "New Age", but His answer was as simple as my written question. I feel quite silly now, asking God for things I already know. He clarified for me, but I know He is incredibly patient, and He enjoyed so much that I took the time to talk to Him.

My question is answered. If you're reading my thread, I appreciate you taking the time! However, I ended up answering my own question with clarification from praying about it. Hahaha, this is kind of funny and embarrassing.  

[cristobela]

The Evil Froot Loop

The only thing I would add to the conclusion you reached about New Age music is: be careful of the impression you leave on an unbeliever (or fellow believers); if all they walk away thinking is, “oh, instrumental music” that's fine, but if they somehow associate the music as belonging to the New Age movement and are encouraged to pursue their spiritual practices because they saw New Agey album art or a particular title on your playlist, that would be problematic:

• 1 Corinthians 8:10 (NIV)
  
  10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols?

in the above... even if you don't think idols are anything and are just eating the meat in their temple, the person looking at you might get a different impression of what is acceptable to do or not. So beware.

---

That said, I wouldn't feel ashamed of the “clairvoyance”; I get the impression that the prophets of the bible were experiencing something similar (and they weren't always called prophets):

• 1 Samuel 9:9 (NIV)
  
  9 (Formerly in Israel, if someone went to inquire of God, they would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” because the prophet of today used to be called a seer.)
  
  
• Isaiah 30:10 (NIV)
  
  10 They say to the seers,
       “See no more visions!”
  and to the prophets,
       “Give us no more visions of what is right!
  Tell us pleasant things,
      prophesy illusions.

Same for the clairaudience:

If it means...

Quote:

Clairaudience, which means clear hearing, is the ability to perceive sounds or words from outside sources in the spirit world.

psychiclibrary.com/beyondBooks/clairaudience/

...there are biblical examples of this:

• Daniel 8:16 (NIV)
  
  16 And I heard a man’s voice from the Ulai calling, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision.”
  
  
  
• Daniel 10:6 (NIV)
  
  6 His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.
  

Your description:

Quote:

But almost all the time in my life, I hear ethereal music, like angelic echoes [...]

...sounds like the above passages (echoes = sound of a multitude).

It sounds like something I've heard too, but only twice in my life (that I can recall). One I would describe as you did, “angelic voices praising”. I just chalked it up to being a dream, but I could still hear it long after I woke up. The second and the more recent episode, which was not so positive, and this was before becoming wholeheartedly devoted to God; I was reading the bible (because I was researching into spiritual practices), but was dabbling in New Age mysticism as well, particularly trying to induce “out of body experiences”—and part of the techniques I read said to invoke the spirit guides, just openly invite them (bad idea).

Throughout all that time, I would wake up in weird positions, barely breathing, nearly asphyxiated. One morning, I woke up with my neck bent at a strange angle that was cutting off the blood supply to my brain; my head was somehow wedged between the wall and the bed. I kept trying to move to straighten out my neck, but just didn't have the strength to do so and I kept “fading to black”—not fainting because I could still hear my inner-voice thinking, “why can't I get up” (fainting, on the otherhand, which I have experienced before, you're totally out, not conscious of anything, no inner voice, no track of time). This “fading to black”-then being able to open my eyes and struggling to move-then “fading to black” again, happened for quite a few minutes. Then after several attempts, feeling exhausted, I gave up—and that's when I heard “the angelic echoes”. I could tell it was one person, but the voice was melodic and “amplified”, significantly louder than my own inner-voice (which paled in comparison when responding back to it), and it was encouraging me to get up, that I could do it. And I was like, “no, I can't” lol. I did manage to get up after that. I never heard the melodic voice again though.

I would identify the voice as an obedient angel intervening in response to the situation getting deadly. I would also identify it as “good” because I was not afraid of it. Prior to that, my sleep would get interrupted by this white, buzzing sound, which made me deathly afraid; it was always accompanied by a magnetic sensation of being pulled out of my body against my will. So, throughout this spiritual experimentation, I was not getting enough sleep as a result (and I would avoid going to sleep because I was so afraid of the buzzing/chainsaw-like noise and being pulled out by force; so, I'd stay up as long as possible until I passed out). And those “attacks” didn't stop until I repented of my sins, and the New Age movement, and asked for the Holy Spirit.

So, it is possible to hear the angelic echoes in a more positive context, just as much as in a negative context. I've heard them in a praising-like situation, but also in the midst of, what I would describe as, demonic attack and the melodic echoes appearing to offer encouragement to get up (instead of give up and die). I say all that to say this: I have heard the angelic echoes before too (and it's a biblical thing). So, don't be weirded out or ashamed to share :P

If I heard the music and melodic echoes on a consistent basis, I probably wouldn't want to listen to earthly praise music either lol. I remember the peace and serenity I felt when I heard it—and when I woke up, I got annoyed because people were in the midst of arguing/complaining, threatening to drown out the heavenly music. I didn't even want to move because I thought if I shifted positions then the music would stop (as if I were some antenna and if I nudged it I'd lose reception, lol).

That said, I must give a word of warning since I've only experienced this when I wasn't so biblical about my walk and was still open to New Age practices. Demons can give special revelation too, and even speak about the gospel, so be careful that you're not engaging in anything that invites them in.

• Acts 16:16-18 (NIV)
  
  16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

Paul exorcised the spirit despite it telling the truth.

Certain instrumental music has been known to repel demons.

• 1 Samuel 16:23 (NIV)
  
  23 Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.

But I would not be surprised if there is a type of music that invites them. When I sought "out of body experiences", I would listen to binaural beats (which disoriented me, and made me nauseous). A lot of New Age music that gets “spacey” (for lack of a better word), makes me feel the same way. I haven't listened to it in a long time though, (edit: actually just the other day, I switched to a channel the was labelled "New Age" and left it because of instrumental music emotion_sweatdrop ). But I can listen to instrumental music (harp-based) without feeling that way. So yes, have discernment about what you decide to listen to. Not only for what it might invite into your life, but what it may lead others to think as well. I should be more careful because my stepfather is not a believer and that could leave the wrong impression.

I, not having access to heavenly radio like you do :P, stick to contemporary Christian music and Christian hiphop. On occasion, I've listened to radio stations that mainly play harps. If you're interested, Tunein Radio has a few radio stations that play harp & lyre-based music.

I hope this offers comfort and encouragement. heart

(btw, it's been a while since you posted here; it's nice to see you around ^ ^)  

[Your Dramatic Angel]

cristobela

Thank you so much for your post! Just to let you know...the day after I prayed for an hour, I felt incredibly weak, depressed, and anti-social. Relatives were over, but I didn't talk to them. I ate dinner alone and sat in my room with the lights off and the door locked. At one point, I was on the couch, feeling like I was dying, and suicidal thoughts came into my mind. This was strange and not like me. I wondered, "Am I being attacked? Is Satan attacking me?" My bizarre behavior made me come to this conclusion, so I rebuked him.

This happens every time I feel super close to God on a spiritual and emotional connection, and this happens every time I pray. I would feel so full of joy, and then Satan gets enraged and attacks me the next day. sad  

[Frogsnack]

Punkin the Poodle

You have a spiritual gift! My family has some too.

Music can be incredibly healing, and it may be enough to pray before you decide what to listen to (possibly also you can fast certain foods for a specific length of time and when you want those foods, it's a reminder to pray and thank God for guidance).

I will also say that a lot of music that is called 'new age' 'healing' or 'spiritual' just isn't. It's usually just non mainstream (but like I said pray protection when looking for new music! This music is a good example. It's Mozart, and the person who listed the video on Youtube claims that it's 'slowed down for spiritual healing' when in reality, the 432 hz frequently was MUCH more likely to be how he actually recorded his music (if not somewhere around 420 hz). Supposedly instruments made from bone, leather, and wood naturally produce vibrations of 432 but can be tuned or shaped otherwise. I saw a post from an orchesteral musician claiming that all brass instruments now are made at 440 hz and so if you see brass in a live show you can bet that the whole show is tuned that way.

The modern standard of music recorded and played at the 440 hz frequency began in the US in 1940 and internationally around 1954. It's more jarring, noticeable, and less harmonious. There are vibrating plate experiments using sand on Youtube that show this too).

Long story short, I don't get headaches when I listen to music in 432 hz, and you can find playlists on Youtube that go one for hours. Normal music eventually interrupts my thoughts or keeps me awake.

I hope it helps!