Beautiful recording of musical chanting of first 7 Beatitudes in Aramaic, the native language of Yeshua (Jesus), Judea and most of the Middle East, two thousand years ago. Chants recorded live in the "Upper Room" (now part of St. Mark's Syrian Orthodox Convent, Jerusalem) where Yeshua is believed to have offered bread and wine as part of the "Last Supper".
Recorded during a Holy Land pilgrimage by members of the Dances of Universal Peace Network.

"Beatitude" comes from the Latin "beatus" meaning "blisssful" or "happy". The Beatitudes are wise, yet mystical, teachings from Jesus Christ - whose Aramaic name was "Yeshua" - found in the famous "Sermon on the Mount" described in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In these Gospel wisdom blessings, Jesus describes the qualities and experiences needed to enter the "Kingdom of Heaven" plus how someone with this quality, or in this state of being, can ultimately reap the reward of living a spiritual life. The "Kingdom of Heaven" has often been interpreted as "The Afterlife", but could alternatively, or in additon, refer to a state of wellbeing during this earthly life.

The beautiful, and sometimes haunting, melodies on this CD come from prolonged studies and meditations by Psychologist, Sufi master and Aramaic translation expert, Dr. Neil Douglas-Klotz. Each melody wonderfully conveys the feeling of the negative starting point (for a spiritual journey of re-birth) that each Beatitude refers to. In our workshops we encourage people to move, or dance, in a way that expresses the negative feeling state that a particular Beatitude refers to. When this is combined with breathing exercises, the result is a magical transformation to the "Blessed State" that each Beatitude promises.

"Dancing with the Aramaic Jesus: The Beatitude Way"...

Aramaic Beatitudes Live Audio CD: New & Used Copies: Order page (worldwide delivery)

The Beatitudes actually have pre-Christian origins. They are also found in the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Essenes which were written before Jesus was born. They are full of both poetic mysticism and down-to-earth lifestlye-wisdom, interestingly mirroring Zen Buddhist principles (e.g. over-doing things creates an opposite effect) and Taoist "YinYang" wisdom about duality and wholeness. An MP3 workshop audio clip download of the 3rd beatitude from this CD is available and an interesting analysis of the significance of these Beatitudes can be found HERE.

The Latin root of the word Beatitude ("beatus") is often translated as "blessed/blessing" but "blessed" or "blessing" would be more related to the Latin root "benedictus", beatus is probably better translated as "blissful" and Beatitude as the "How to do it" recipes for Bliss. Aramaic is one of the world's ancient languages and hence is quite onomatopoeic, so the Beatitude chants resonate through the chakras, clearing energy blocks. For example the guttoral sound which we get at the end of the gaelic word "loch" occurs frequently in the Aramaic beatitudes but is rarely found - or pronounced correctly - in English, yet it is an excellent way to energise and clear the throat chakra (back of the throat).