Divinatio
Scene III from The Shaman, Heretical Story of Francis of Assisi
In this piece a forbidden medieval rite is staged: divinatio per sortes. Francis, the shaman of Assisi, after studying the flight of birds, opens a sacred book three times to draw auspices. Chance does not exist: every fragment, every word, every gesture has meaning. What seems accidental is only the visible face of synchronicity.
The bells of the Upper Basilica of Assisi, recorded live, mark the three moments of the rite, while the clarinet serves as a guide, with sweet, singable themes.
A voice rises from the pages: it is a Sibyl, announcing visions, objects, discoveries, ideas and inventions that come from a very distant future. In the Sibyl’s whispers and muted laughter dwell the mystery and irony of otherworldly experiences.
Within the simplicity of an intuition, of an everyday object, infinite worlds are hidden. Francis does not speak to his own time: he speaks to us.
This piece is the third scene from The Shaman: A Heretical Story of Francis of Assisi, a poetic and musical work that tells the life of the (not yet) saint as an initiatory journey between the worlds of the visible and the invisible.
Lyrics
Here is a possible English translation of the text for this piece. It is as faithful as possible; however, the full semantic nuances and layers of meaning in a poetic text like this cannot be fully rendered in translation. The complete text will be available in Italian in the book + CD Lo Sciamano. Storia eretica di Francesco d’Assisi, to be released later in 2026.
«Figures of wind
portrait of this flesh
only memory the wandering
weaves pages in embroidery:
guide the hand
and you find the eye
three times
the secret path of the book.
Here you have drawn me
acrobatic sign
and fate to read I do not know how to speak.
Mysterious wings, save the white lion!
A millenary journey
be a clue to new worlds.
Electricity feathers of dinosaurs shells footsteps fossils engines oil polymers burials uranium hells transfigurations sinopia galaxies atoms earth trilobites drums comets carts ships geometry space probes plasma infinite worlds
Kings have fallen, kings will fall
time crumbles into catastrophe.
Dust are the empires
and not even the names will survive.
But the earth is black with autumn
and sings of water,
green breath in the silence of light
of the world that endures.
Toys sealing wax glasses fibers brushes gardens shortcrust pastry vegetables microorganisms tattoos liqueur clothes video camera sandals steel scarf oven washing machine helicopter stove tomatoes walks rain turntable roses
and the sun
on this day of the year sets always behind the same chimney.»
Credits
Voice of Francis of Assisi: Alessandro Ciacci.
Voices of the Sibyl: Alessia Ambrosi and Pietro Ambrosi.
Clarinet: Alessio Zanovello.
Tenor: Mario Giaccoboni.
Lute and theorbo: Luciano Bernardi.
Synthesizers: Carlo Matti.
Field recordings (bells) by Carlo Matti at the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi.
Production, mixing, and mastering: Carlo Matti.