ARMONÍA DE LAS ESFERAS

The notion of harmony comes from the ancient

Greek word, harmonia, which primarily means
properly joining or fitting things together.
Harmony was a key concept of the cosmology
of Pythagoras's (580 – 500 BC). He saw the
Universe (from Latin Uni = Oneness and
Versum = Reflection) as a reflection of the
Divine and as such as harmonious and
beautiful. These harmonies could be described
mathematically as whole number proportions
and ratios, similar as ratios are used to
describe scales and tones; this is why the late
Sufi Mystic Hazrat Inayat Khan says:

"The one who knows the secrets of

Sound knows the Mystery of the
Universe"
Pythagoras was the first who formulated
the concept of a "Harmony of the
Spheres," in which the whole cosmic plan
is reflected in the laws of mathematics
and music. Pythagoras was primarily a
mystic, and it is said that he could tune in
to the Divine and actually hear and
perceive the "Harmony of Worlds." His
knowledge did not come only from logical
thinking, but from his harmonious
connection with the Divine. The most
passionate lifelong study of the Music of
the Spheres was done by Johannes
Kepler (1571 - 1630), which resulted in
the measurement of the
exact mathematical laws
which governs the motion of
the planets around the sun.
Kepler himself was a Mystic
and Alchemist. After Kepler,
other scientists, mystics and musicians
used different methods to determine the
sounds and harmonies of the planets, but
the quest for the "Harmony of the
Spheres" was always conducted by a
select few insiders, and this knowledge
rarely reached the mainstream.

It is the work of Hans Cousto (born in

1948 in Switzerland, a freelance
scientist, mathematician and author in
the field of harmonics, now a resident of
Berlin) which brought this issue back into
the public eye at the end of the 20th
century, and spawned new interest and
research by musicians, scientist and
healers. On October 2nd, 1978, Hans
Cousto, after spending the day in the
English Garden in Munich, later that night
tapped into the same space Pythagoras
and others had found before, and he
perceived the Symphony of the Spheres
with full color and sound. He heard and
saw the sun and the planets moving in
total harmony, and he envisioned the law
which underlies the sounds of the
planets.

At the end of this vision he took out his

pocket calculator, which was close to his
bed, and tapped: 60 x 60 x 24 1/x 2 x 2 x
2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2
x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2=
194.180. He looked up one of the tables
in his tuning book, and there it was: the
closest note he found was a G with
193.77 Hz. The sound of the Earth
spinning around its axis was a G! Yes,
this seems so simple, but it is profound.
The heart of his vision was the
understanding of the Cosmic Octave. In
music, octaves are regarded as being the
same tone, only proprotionally higher or
lower. If you have a guitar and you play
the E string, then you put your finger on
the middle of the string and play, there is
again the E, one octave higher. So
shortening a string into its half, or
doubling its length, the tone always stays
the same, just an octave lower or higher.
This vibration or frequency is measured
in Hertz (Hz), which means the number
of vibrations per second. The E string has
a frequency of 329.63 Hz. The E an
octave higher has a frequency of 329.63
x 2 = 659.26 Hz, and the E one octave
lower has a frequency of 329.63/2 =
164.82.

There can be much said about the

philosophical and esoteric implications of
the octave law, as it means nothing more
or less then 'as above, so below' and
'Micro Cosmos equals Macro Cosmos'.
Pythagoras had already proven that
whatever can be said of one octave can
be said of all octaves. The Earth, spinning
in one day around its axis, can be said to
have the frequency of one rotation per
day. The day has 24 hours x 60 Minutes x
60 Seconds = 86,400 Seconds. This
means it has a frequency of 1/86,400 =
0.00001157 Hz. Now, the human ear
does not perceive such a low frequency,
but if we octave this frequency up until
we can hear it, the octave law says it still
stays the tone it is. The 24th octave of
the Earth rotation has a frequency of
194.18 Hz, which is close to a G.
Cousto also recognized that the chamber
tone (standardized pitch or concert
pitch), the frequency all instruments in
the western world use to tune the
instruments, is artificially created. While
all systems of measurement have a base
in nature (1 meter is a millions of a
meridian quadrant, a cube of the side
length of one tenth of a meter has the
volume of 1 liter, 1 liter of water has the
weight of 1 kilo gram etc . . .), the
chamber tone was defined as an A with
435 Hz in France in 1859, and was
confirmed in 1885 by the Vienna chamber
tone conference. In 1939 in England on
the 2nd chamber tone conference this
tone was redefined as an A vibrating at
440 Hz. It is not known on which base
this was defined, certainly it has no
relation to anything found in nature. This
is maybe the reason why the western
world is literally out of tune with nature.

Finally, in combining modern

astronomical data and the octave law, we
have a tool to tune our instruments in
tune or resonance (German: Einklang)
with nature. So, a G at 194.18 Hz the
tone of the day, which is the tone of the
year, the time the Earth needs to circle
the Sun. The year has exactly 365.24199
days. The calculation of 1/(365.24199 x
86400) = 0.000000031689 Hz. This is, in
its 32nd octave, the tone C# at 136.10
Hz. As Cousto found out on his journeys
to India, the sitar masters tune their
instruments exactly or close to a C#
136.1 Hz. And they didn't use a Korg
tuner or did mathematical acrobatics, but
were actually in tune with the universe.
This is the higher meaning of tuning an
instrument: to be attuned with the nature
of reality.

The Orbits of all the planets are now

known, so it is just a matter of getting
the exact data and some calculations to
figure out the tone of each planet. Cousto
did this in all details in his first book 'The
Cosmic Octave', published in 1984 in
Germany. By 1986, as I remember,
tuning forks for all the planets where
available in most esoteric book shops.
Charts on how to tune instruments to the
particular planet frequencies where
available, and are now freely distributed
(in German and English) on the web site
planetware.de.

Paiste, the famous Gong Company, was

creating a whole product line of gongs
tuned to the planets. Many more
companies would produce tuning forks,
wind chimes, singing bowls with tones
based on his calculations. Healers use
these tuning forks to stimulate specific
acupuncture points, or use signing bowls
and crystal bowls to bring these
frequencies into specific parts of the aura
and body. Joachim-Ernst Berendt, the
famous German musicologist and author
(Nada Brahma: The World of Sound),
with his specially built Monochord
created a series of recordings - each
peace playing only one pitch of the planet
series. These recordings were used for
research projects to see what effect
these specific tones have. For example,
music tuned to the tone of the day, G -
194.18 Hz, has a dynamic character, and
has a stimulating and activating effect.
Its color is orange. The scientist Fritz
Popp measured the maximum resonance
of DNA in the area of 351 nanometer.
This translates into 194.33 Hz at 66
octaves lower, very close to this tone.
This tone is well suited for many body
healing modalities, day to day activities,
as well as being erotically stimulating. It
stimulates the Muladhara - base chakra.
The tone of the year, C# 136.10 Hz, is
also called the "Om Tone," because many
masters in India perceive this tone as the
primordial sound of the universe, which
is referred to as Om. This frequency is
used to tune the instruments for Indian
temple music. It is called Sadja, or Sa,
the base tone of the Sitar and Tamboura.
Using this tone brings one in resonance
with the Indian masters and the Om. It is
good for meditation (and good for the
soul) as it is soothing and reduces stress.
The Om Tone stimulates the Anahata –
heart chakra. The Om Tone is also the
tone of the Platonic year. This is based on
the 25,920 year cycle of the precession of
the Equinoxes. In the 48th octave, this is
the tone F with 172.06 Hz. Meditation
music that is attuned to this tone can be
very effective for a spiritual path, and
leads away from physical and psychic
regions, and towards the spheres of
spirit. It stimulates the Sahasrara –
crown chakra.

There are several moon tones, there is a

sun tone, the tones for all of the planets.
In general, Cousto always recommends
experimenting with these tones for
yourself, and seeing what effect they
have for you. The Octave Law need not
only be used for the macro cosmos, but
also for the micro cosmos. Through
spectrum analysis, for example, the
resonance spectrum for specific
substances can be detected. These
resonance values are wavelengths of
visible light, and are measured in
nanometers. These wavelengths can be
expressed as frequencies, and then
octaved into frequencies we can hear.
Cousto did this for the hydrogen
molecule, but also for some psychotropic
substances and plants. Out of these
frequencies, which are unique for each
plant or molecule, whole new tuning
models can be created. To make music
based on the planet tones requires
retuning the musical instruments -
usually a "cent" value has to be
calculated by which the base A440 has to
be detuned in order to get the tone
desired. For example, to get a C# 136.1
Hz, the A440 has to be detuned to 432.1
Hz or -34.1 cent. Then the C# will be an
octave of 136.1 Hz. Since tempo is
measured in beats per minute, every
frequency can be transformed into bpm
by multiplying it by 60. In our example:
136.1 x 60 = 8166 bpm. Since this is a bit
fast, we just octave it down until we have
a beat we can actually play: 8166 /2 /2 /
2 /2 /2 /2 /2 = 63.8 bpm. So using a
tempo of 63.8 bpm will bring the tempo
in tune with the year tone. Similarly, the
exact value for binaural beats can be
calculated. The goal is to have as many
frequencies as possible expressed as an
octave of the planet's tone. Then, without
doubt, it is best to use a 'pure' scale,
such as the Just scale or Pythagorean
scale for playing the music, so that all
notes played have a harmonic
relationship to the planet's base
frequency. Tables with all these values
calculated are freely available on the
Planetware website mentioned
above. There are several musicians and
groups who are
dedicated to making
music on these
principals. Most
notable are the 'pure'
tones from Joachim
Ernst Berendt called
"URTONE", played on a monochord, as
well as the music of Rainer Tillmann
(singing bowls), and Jens Zygar (gongs).
In the area of planetary trance and
ambient music, listen to Akasha Project,
Star Sound Orchestra, Steve Schroyder
(formally of Tangerine Dream), B.E.L
(Brain Entrainment Laboratory), and also
well worth mentioning is Cousto's latest
project: the Klangwirkstoff Record Label
(there are by now 5 CD's). Many more
examples are available on the Planetware
web site.