☽ Laraaji | The Devil Card and an Unplanned Improvisation

Ambient pioneer Laraaji draws two tarot cards at the start of this Lunar segment — the Devil and the Prince of Discs — and we leave them face up for forty minutes before coming back to them. Filmed in his studio in Harlem. He walks through how a collaboration actually works: a track arrives, he layers zither, kalimba, voice and synthesizer over it, sends experimental mixes back, and eventually hands the artist to his publisher. Then, mid-conversation and entirely unplanned, he puts on headphones and improvises. That improvisation runs uncut from 06:36. On the Devil, he gets specific: a capricious rascal who ignores rules, the augmented fourth that music theory once called the devil's tone, and the devilish energy he sees running through the way scripture has been rewritten. On the Prince of Discs, he traces a lifetime in recorded sound back to his aunt's tape recorder — cassettes, LPs, compact discs, and now streaming, which he describes as a realm of service rather than a format. Then a run of word prompts: liminal, orange, vision, New York, nature, film, romance, Aquarius. Orange turns out to be how he languaged a transformation he had no words for. Romance turns out to be meditation. The second half is his Vedic chart. He entered a Saturn cycle in May 2022 — Saturn in the twelfth house, the placement of the monk — and he describes the withdrawal from social life that followed without ever having named it: "That's the sunset on that old social need. Sunrise on a new inner appreciation." Before that came sixteen years of Jupiter, the guru planet. We read him the myth of Rohini, the moon's favourite wife, and the curse that gave the moon its waxing and waning. Then back to the two cards. The Solar episode — the 1974 sound-hearing experience, the pawn shop, the silences Japan understood → — CHAPTERS 00:00 "The devil has gotten a hold of that" 00:28 Two cards, left face up until the end 01:02 How a Laraaji collaboration actually works 04:44 "Like a $20 bill on the sidewalks of New York" 06:36 An unplanned improvisation 11:25 The Devil, and the devil's tone in music theory 12:15 The Prince of Discs, from LPs to streaming 16:18 Why this card now: the Nicene Council and inner authority 18:34 His aunt's tape recorder 20:21 Word prompts: liminal, orange, vision 24:06 New York, and being reborn in Virginia at seven 27:56 "The highest romance is meditation" 32:20 The chart: a new cycle since May 2022 34:19 Saturn in the twelfth house, the monk's placement 36:29 Rohini and the moon's 27 wives 40:11 "Sunset on that old social need" 43:36 Back to the two cards 46:38 Visionary Roze Gift — applications close October 15 — ABOUT THE GUEST Laraaji is an ambient pioneer, sound healer and laughter meditation teacher based in Harlem, New York. He has been performing and recording since the 1970s, and his work with the zither and open-tuned autoharp helped define the genre. He leads laughter workshops and sound baths internationally. https://laraajimusic.bandcamp.com/music — The Visionary Roze Gift is open. Funding, a residency place in Spain, astro-tarot mentorship, and a guest slot on Season 5. Applications close October 15 → \[GIFT LINK] #Laraaji #ambientmusic #tarot