Asha ~ Soldier of love

Asha’s (aka Asher Quinn & Asha Elijah) instrumental track ‘Soldier of love’ from his album “Open Secret”. Download/CD available here: The inspiration for this music came during a spiritual retreat I underwent in 1986, within the Sufi tradition. I stayed in a hut for 14 days, with a bar-heater and a blanket, and meditated on 2 practices given to me by my Sufi teacher, who assessed where I was at spiritually. I was 33, and had been developing Sufi practices since I was 26. The 2 practices were the Arabic word ‘Haqq’ meaning ‘truth’, and, simply, the Christ. I also fasted. For 14 days I went between heaven and hell; truth and illusion; Christ and Anti-Christ. I alternated between ecstasy and despair; love and fear; devotion and anarchy. I had visions of the Christ that made me weep because of their overwhelming beauty, and then they would quickly be destroyed by diabolic temptation. The devil tempted me with fear, food fantasies, unsolicited sexual fantasy, the comfort zone and so on, but I resisted, and by the end of it my heart had been blown open to receive higher truth. And this had been my vow and sacred intent, to reach that place. The visions of Christ echoed visions I had had aged 5, alone in my bedroom. Suddenly He came through the wall as if on a giant epic screen, clothed in white, radiant, and accompanied by thousands of children, all converging on Jerusalem. Even then these visions had overwhelmed me. I fell in love with Jesus instantly, and wanted only to be with him… to be HIM, in fact. My Jewish family did not understand! Aged 33, the visions returned. This time I was better equipped to integrate their meaning and put them into practice. It became clear to me what my path was in this life… as it had been aged 5; to be with Jesus, and to BECOME Him! To surrender completely to Christ Love as I now experience it. Within a year I stopped being a struggling artist in a garret doing odd-jobs on benefits, dreaming of success, and had begun a psychotherapy training. I had also finally earned a recording contract, and ever since I have practiced as a spiritual psychotherapist (psychotherapy means ‘to attend the soul’), and have made over 30 albums of spiritually themed music. I wanted to embody that vision myself, to be a soldier of love, devoted to truth and illusion-busting! Part of being a therapist is to be a ghost-buster, you know. It says ‘therapist’ on the business card, but it involves being a soul detective. All are soldiers of love who defend their faith in truth and love with a valiant heart, ready to die for their Beloved. All are soldiers of love who fight for integrity and grace in their own being. So this piece came from my debut album in 1987, with friend and mentor Anthony Phillips, a founding member of the band Genesis, producing, and another mutual friend Andy Latimer of the band Camel playing the lead guitar so evocatively and memorably. ‘Soldier of love’ is probably my best known and most popular track. Anthony showed me the ropes; how to manifest the music that lay coiled in my heart, and give it form and substance in the studio. Prior to that, my songs and pieces existed only in my psyche, or in very rough form on a cassette. Over 3 years and 3 albums I came to know how to be in charge of my own compositions. Never likely to be a technician, and so always requiring a sound engineer, I learned how to build a song musically in a studio during that time. I knew what I wanted, because I could already hear the sounds inside, in colour, pure essence and actual instrumentation! So I would describe my language to Anthony (Ant). I’d say: “Here, there’s a military drum; valiant and inviolate,” or: “I can hear it gathering momentum here, so we need a slow volume increase, extra choirs and extra bass”. I knew where I wanted an ocarina, extra percussion and that fabulous lead guitar, because I could hear the complete piece already. I just had to describe the mechanics to Ant. I played all the keyboard parts, and layered them one on top of another, until it grew to be how I heard it inside. Finally, after all these years, I have made a film that I feel does it justice. Following the Marian pilgrimage route to Santiago in Spain, I travelled with my filming companion Gloria, on a 3-day mini-pilgrimage intensive in France. Guided by spiritual beings, Micha-el, Mary and Christ, we followed our intuition and came up with wonderful moments to film, especially the most extraordinary underground church in Aubeterre. Chartres itself was an important Mystery School in the twelfth century, linking the Arthurian Knights who defended their Christ love in battle to the north and Tintagel, with the Knights Templar to the south, in Spain, who dedicated themselves to the inner battle over the dragon of the lower self. To be a soldier of love is to be prepared to defend thy Beloved, both inside and out.