When I was traveling last week, I threw my copy of Robert Gass’s CD “Ancient Mother” into my suitcase without its case (remember when we thought CDs were indestructible?). Anyway, of course it broke, and I’m having to re-order it from Amazon.com since I know this is one series of spiritual chants and anthems I cannot live without. It’s an old choral album (Gass’s chanting ensemble is called “On Wings of Song,”) but it was new to me until recently. Reverend Laurie Sue Brockway gave me my copy because she had some extras, and when she did so, Barbara Biziou, author of “The Joy of Family Rituals” happened to be standing next to us. Barbara said, “Oh, boy, I have worn my copy of that out! I love it.”

Enough spiritual-name-dropping! Just check this album out. It begins with choral chants to a generalized “ancient mother,” then transitions to homage to the Hindu four-armed goddess Kali. It includes tributes to the West African goddess Yemeya (ruler of maternity), and has lovely contemplative Christian chants to Mary on it too. You’ll note in the Amazon.com reviews that not everybody expected the inclusion of the Christian music. I find that it all rolls nicely together into a fittingly passionate tribute to the divine feminine. I could play this CD all day. It soothes and calls me to action.

Robert Gass was trained at Harvard and the New England Conservatory. His best-selling album “Om Namaha Shivaya” was hailed by New Age Journal as “one of the twenty most influential recordings of the last twenty years.” Says the well-loved Bernie Siegel, M.D., author of “Love, Medicine, and Miracles,” “Robert Gass’s music heals me over and over again. I play it during surgery in the operating room.”

For a complete listing of Gass’s work over a period of four decades, you can search Amazon.com or check out his web page at Spring Hill Media.