When it comes to chanting vs singing - what exactly is the difference? In my Pagan community, we call some things chants and some things songs, but we SING them both. We also have invocations and other things that look a lot like poetry that we don't sing, just speak.

To me the difference between a chant and a song is rather difficult to pin point. Chant's are usually simple melodies (but is Row, Row, Your Boat a chant? Mostly, we call a lot of Pagan folk music chants to distinguesh it from non-religious songs, jsut like we sing hymns in my Unitiarian Universalist church instead of just songs.

Here's a few more examples of "chants"

We are a Circle
Rick Hamouris, 1986

We are a circle within a circle
With no beginning and never ending . . .

You hear us sing, You hear us sigh
Now hear us call you Spirits, air and sky

Inside our hearts there lies a spark
Love and desire, a burning fire

Within our blood, within our tears
There lies the altar of living water

Take our fear, take our pain
Take the darkness into the earth again

The circle closes between the worlds
To mark the sacred space,
where we come face to face




Weaving the Web

Powerful sun of radiant light
Weave us a web that spins the night
Web of stars that holds the dark
She is the power that feeds the spark

Strand by strand, hand over hand
Thread by thread we weave the web





We are Alive
Rose May Dance/Starhawk

We are alive as the earth is alive
We have the power to create our freedom

If we have courage, we shall be healers
Like the sun we shall rise!
or
Like the moon we shall rise!




Pentagram Chant
Selena Fox

Hey-ho pentagram glow
Guard this hearth, this home, this land
And we shall be merry

Hey-ho pentagram glow
Bring us peace and health and light
And we shall be merry

Hey-ho pentagram glow
Speed our love, our strength, our power
And we shall be merry

Hey-ho pentagram glow
Grant our dreams, our wish, our will
And we shall be merry

Hey-ho pentagram glow (5X)
Hey-vo-hey



Air I Am
Andreas Corbin, 1982

Air I am. Fire I am
Water, Earth, and Spirit I am

other verses:
Breeze I am. Sun I am
Mountain, brook and Goddess I am

Maiden I am. Mother I am
Sister, lover, crone I am



Air Moves Us
Cathleen Sheil, Moonsea, Prune

Air moves us
Fire transforms us
Water shapes us
Earth heals us

And the balance of the wheel goes round & round
And the balance of the wheel goes round




Fun God

There is a fun god
He is the sun god
Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra




Ancient Mother
African chant

Ancient Mother, I hear you calling
Ancient Mother, I hear your song
Ancient Mother, I hear your laughter
Ancient Mother, I taste your tears

traditional African:

O la mama wa ha su kola
O la mama wa ha su wam
O la mama kow wey ha ha ha ha
O la mama ta te kayee




There are dozens more that I know...