Despite being lost for hundreds of years, the Solfeggio frequencies used by these chants would finally be recovered in the 1970s.
Today, as shown by Dr. Horowitz, the 528 Hz frequency, which is the third note in the original Solfeggio, is used to repair DNA.
This would explain why the Latin word for miracle is "mira gestorum"? Remember that 528 Hz is Mi on the original scale.
Introduction of the 12-Tone Scale
Some time near the end of the 16th century, the "Twelve-Tone Equal Temperament" was created in Renaissance Italy and rapidly gained in popularity.
As such, the "Just Intonation" method of tuning, which used the six-tone Solfeggio, was gradually replaced.
Many, like David B. Doty, consider this 12-tone scale to be too rigid and confining.
In his book The Just Intonation Primer, he describes the ancient 6-tone scale as having a certain clarity and smoothness that today's music, which uses the 12-tone scale, lacks.
This is perhaps the reason why masters of Just Intonation, like Beethoven, are still praised to this day?
Solfeggio – Lost in History
There's also the possibility that the scale was to some extent "lost", which wouldn't be surprising given the time period they were developed: Guido d'Arezzo's lifetime fell right in the middle of Western Europe's Middle Ages.
His death also came during a period of great contention between the Western Christian Church, which we know today as the Roman Catholic Church, and the Eastern Church, which we in the West now call the Eastern Orthodox Church.
This led to the Great Schism of 1054, a separation that still exists to this day (8).
So, while the Eastern Church and the Eastern Roman – or Byzantine – Empire was very active in preserving Western artifacts during the Middle Ages, they would've had very little reason to preserve a music scale created by the Western Church, especially since the Eastern Church had their own scale at the time, one with 8-tones called the Oktoechos.
In short, it's not impossible that the Solfeggio was actually lost in history, like so many other documents of the time.
In fact, the historical records place the introduction and rise of the twelve-tone scale in the century just preceding what most historians consider the "end" of the Middle Ages.
Musicologist Professor Willi Appel thinks the solfeggio frequencies were first introduced by Guido d'Arezzo; a Benedictine monk.
Spiritual to Secular: A Loss of Feeling
Regardless of why exactly the six-tone scale was replaced by the twelve-tone, the latter arguably gave rise to some of the West's greatest composers. But many believe it has also contributed to some of the spiritual problems of the modern world.
They argue that the modern scale restricts our thinking, stifles our emotions, produces lower consciousness, and can even create physical problems.
Joachim Ernst-Berendt, a 20th century music journalist from Germany, claimed that all consonant intervals, save the octave, are mistuned by the modern, twelve-tone scale.
Interestingly, many historians mark the beginning to the "Age of Enlightenment", noted for an increased secularism in Europe, just decades after the creation of the Twelve-Tone Equal Temperament.
Music also became more and more secular during this period, removing itself from the influence of the Christian church.
It's interesting to consider the changing attitudes in a period when the musical scale changed from six tones to twelve.
Could this be why so many people today have a positive reaction to the Solfeggio frequencies?
Could returning to the six-tone scale create better harmony not only in our lives but for the world?
How Were the Solfeggio Frequencies Recovered?
As mentioned earlier, the Solfeggio frequencies were brought back to public attention in the 1970s. The man credited with this rediscovery is Dr. Joseph Puleo, who also briefly wrote under the pseudonym Joseph Barber.
Dr. Puleo found that, when examined through the Pythagorean method of number reduction, the Book of Numbers in the Old Testament revealed a repeating pattern-particularly in verses 12 through 83 of Chapter 7.
If you missed this class in school, don't worry.
Pythagoras was an ancient Greek mathematician best known for the Pythagorean theorem, which describes the relationship between the sides of a right triangle: a² + b² = c². But his influence extended far beyond geometry-his ideas shaped generations of Greek philosophers, including Plato and Socrates (9).
The Pythagorean method used by Dr. Puleo involves reducing numbers by adding all their digits together. For example:
The number 18 becomes 9 (1 + 8 = 9).
A larger number like 184 becomes 13 (1 + 8 + 4), and then 4 (1 + 3).
A Biblical Revelation
When Dr. Puleo applied this technique to Chapter 7-beginning with verse 12-he noticed a pattern emerging every sixth verse:
Verses 12, 18, 24, 30, and so on followed a repeating pattern of 396.
Verses 13, 19, 25, 31, and so on followed a pattern of 417.
These numbers, 396 and 417, correspond to the first two tones in the ancient Solfeggio scale. Dr. Puleo continued the process and identified three additional frequencies, which now form a modern extension to the original six-tone scale.
He documented his findings in the book Healing Codes for the Biblical Apocalypse, co-authored with Dr. Leonard Horowitz.
Divine Vision or Research Discovery?
Puleo explains that a vision led him to investigate and uncover the Solfeggio frequencies. Skeptics, of course, dispute this claim.
Spiritual and religious individuals, on the other hand, tend to be more open to such explanations. They recognize that intuition, visions, chance encounters, or coincidences often guide people back to "The Creator" or "Mother Nature."
Others speculate that Puleo may have studied Gregorian chants and other elements of musical history, which then inspired him to explore the Bible-eventually uncovering the link to the frequencies.
The Bible is rich with musical references: there are hundreds of mentions across the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament. Drawing from these, Puleo was able to identify a "code," which he later shared with Dr. Leonard Horowitz.
This sparked modern interest in the Solfeggio tones. Experts such as David Hulse, a pioneer in sound therapy with over 40 years of experience, have since studied and developed descriptions of the frequencies we use today.
It's worth noting that, independent of Puleo's discovery, there is extensive information available on the healing potential of individual Solfeggio tones, particularly 528 Hz. You can read more about that here.
Pythagorean theory was used to decipher the ancient Solfeggio 6-tone scale.
The 3 Modern Solfeggio Frequencies
As noted above, Dr. Puleo unearthed three new frequencies in the scale during his research:
- 174 Hz: Associated with pain reduction and anesthetic properties.
- 285 Hz: Associated with cellular repair (tissue restoration), body regeneration and better immunity.
- 963 Hz: Associated with spiritually awakening and connecting to the "oneness" of universe.
Interestingly, if we continue to apply the Pythagorean method to the Solfeggio frequencies, we find that each of them adds up to 3, 6, or 9.
And there are two frequencies in the original scale (and three if we include all 9 frequencies) that include the numbers 3, 6, and 9.
Note that Nikola Tesla, the famous inventor and engineer, once said:
If you only knew the magnificence of the 3, 6 and 9, then you would have a key to the universe.
Did he know something we didn't?
Tesla wasn't the only one who believed this.
Another notable inventor and engineer, John Keely, wrote that "thirds, sixths, and ninths, were extraordinarily powerful" and documented the extraordinary effectiveness of vibratory thirds, sixths, and ninths in manipulating matter on a molecular level.
How Solfeggio Frequencies Can Help You
You don't have to believe that the Solfeggio frequencies are a miracle cure that will heal your wounds and alleviate a lifetime of trauma with the playing of a few notes.
It's undeniable that through history music has has contributed to wellbeing and healing, and this is now confirmed in modern scientific literature.
Music is given great significance in the Bible, in Greek mythology, ancient Egypt, and even among famous Greek philosophers, like Aristotle and Plato.
Albert Einstein said the following:
Concerning matter, we have been all wrong. What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. There is no matter.
Music is vibration, and music that vibrates at the right frequency has a positive effect on your matter, i.e. your mind and body.
Music has the ability to make us feel calm, to alleviate stress and anxiety. It can also lower blood pressure and reduce pain perception. Certain music are more effective at this than others, because of its specific frequency blueprint. And that's what Solfeggio frequency is – healing music, for mind and body.
Article References:
1. Review: Gregorian Chant by Willi Apel – Jstor.org
2. Benedictines – Wikipedia
3. Music as Medicine: The impact of healing harmonies -Harvard .edu
4. Music, Medicine, Healing, and the Genome Project – Ncbi.nlm.nih .gov
5. The Effect of Music on the Human Stress Response – Ncbi.nlm.nih .gov
6. Effects of music and music therapy on mood in neurological patients – Ncbi.nlm.nih .gov
7. Alfred Tomatis – Tomatis .com
8. East-West Schism – Britannica
9. Pythagoras – Wikipedia