Outlaw Drums

Replica of a Saami rune drum, 

confiscated in 1691

In a recent post, blogger and author David Warner Mathisen presented the argument that the shamanic worldview is an integral part of the shared history of all humanity, but that this worldview has been deliberately stolen and suppressed, beginning at a specific time and place in Western Europe and that the suppression spread from there. The shamanic worldview was perceived as an extremely potent threat -- to the point that possession of a shamanic drum has in almost every case been outlawed, and a policy of confiscation and destruction of drums implemented. The sameness of this policy of outlawing drums, whether for ostensibly theological reasons (in literalist-Christian cultures) or political reasons (in officially atheist and communist regimes), and its persistence through several centuries and in many different nations, is astonishing and notable. Read more.