Sounds
of the Drum
After reading this article
on the power of the rattle, I was energized to write about my
experiences with the drum.
The
Drum Speaks
Shortly after beginning my shamanic work in 2005, I bought my first
drum. It's a Remo Buffalo drum, a frame drum with a mylar head
shown in the banner picture above each page on this site. Having
never really been a drummer, it took me a while to begin to learn how
to work with my drum. At first I was akward and made unpleasant
sounds come out of it, hitting it directly in the middle where it makes
a rather dead sound.
Soon, though, I learned how to use my beater to make more interesting
sounds come from my drum, and then I learned my first big lesson:
my drum talks to me, making
all sorts of unlikely sounds. At first I doubted what I was
hearing. I mean, flute sounds
coming out of a drum? Really.
But when it became a regular occurrence for everyone to report hearing
the same sounds, I began to believe and then to accept.
When I drum for myself or for a group, I now listen intently to the
sounds that my drum is making. My drum can sing, it can sound
like bells, flutes, an orchestra or organ. Sometimes there are
discernable words that emerge. Always these sounds inform and
reflect the nature of the journey which is taking place; the drum is
narrating the inner energetics of the journeys that all the shamans are
taking.
I am comforted by these sounds. My drum has decided to become my
ally instead of just being a tool. Now, I pay close
attention in the first strikes of my drum to see what it has to say to
me. I also listen in my entire body, my entire energy system to
find out where the day's drum strikes seem to be resonating and to try
and decipher what they are trying to say to me.
When I bought my drum, I always thought to myself that someday I'd buy
a real drum, a handcrafted
drum with an actual hide head like any shaman should have. In my
mind I thought of my drum as a starter drum, a temporary synthetic toy,
certainly not a serious
shamanic tool.
Both the years and the spirit of my drum have humbled me, have changed
my mind and opened me to the possibilities of every tool. One of
the basic shamanic tenets, after all, is that everything is alive. Everything is a
potential ally and medicine tool. The medicine you have is the
medicine you use.
click
here to make an on-line appointment for shamanic work now
Jeffrey
Rich
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