Lisa England

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Devotional archivist & practitioner
of ancestral sound traditions

I work at the crossroads of Jewish memory and Sufi therapeutic sound,

tracing migratory lineages of music as medicine across Central Asia and the Ottoman world.

For centuries, nomadic healers and Islamic court physicians practiced music as medicine — in yurts, along caravan routes, and in the Ottoman darüşşifa. Though separated by class and setting, their work wove into a shared tradition of therapeutic sound shaped by makams, pentatonic scales, and elemental forces like water.Through original writing, translation of Sufi music therapy teachings, study of regional instruments, and somatic practice, I create work that honors and remembers this lineage — especially the often-overlooked role of women healers and Jewish musicians within a story largely coded as male and Islamic.The story of therapeutic sound in Central Asia, the Silk Road, and the Ottoman Empire is much like the story of my own life: complicated, migratory, and ultimately, not confined to or defined by any one religious tradition. Maybe that’s why it feels like home.I also value the alignment between the Jewish spiritual value of Shema, the command to Hear, with listening as the core spiritual technology and delivery mechanism for the medicine of Central Asian Sufi music.Previously, I founded and directed the Temple and School of Divine Radiance, an experimental healing space weaving scholarly research, live ceremony, and shamanic practice grounded in marginalized feminine wisdom from Hebrew, Jewish, and Syriac Christian lineages.Through that project, I discovered makams as a medicinal tool and encountered the Turkish Music Therapy work of Dr. Rahmi Oruç Güvenç. This led me deeper into the history of Jewish Central Asia and its colorful contributions to the development of Sufi therapeutic sound. I later closed the temple and school to focus on this distinctive archival and creative path.As a Jewish convert whose spiritual life also has been shaped by Sufism, I consider Oruç Baba my personal sheikh and portal into this world of moving, medicinal soundscapes. My work is independent. I am not initiated into Oruç Baba’s Mevlevi Sufi lineage and am not endorsed by his family or legacy institutions.My books on therapeutic sound to date include Call Back the Four Winds: Jewish Sacred Chant as a Healing Modality and Your Soul Has a Sound: Finding Your Way with the Power of Your Voice. Since the closure of the temple and school, these (and adjacent works on the Divine Feminine in Judaism and Christianity) are offered for sale digitally, by request.I hold an M.A. in English Language & Linguistics from the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee. Originally from the United States, I currently reside in North Africa.