Divination is the art of seeing and interpreting signs in everything around us and the drum is a powerful divination tool. The Sámi shamans of northern Scandinavia were renowned for their drum divination skills. They used drum divination to determine the future, location of game, diagnosis and remedies. Sámi drumheads are decorated with cosmological rune symbols and drawings of heavenly bodies, plants, animals, humans and human habitations; sometimes divided into separate regions by horizontal or vertical lines. For divination, the drum is held horizontally with the drum face parallel to the floor. A metal ring or other kind of pointer is centered on the top of the drumhead. The drum is gently played with the drumstick so that the pointer moves across the drumhead. The diviner observes the movement of the pointer in relation to the symbols on the drum to interpret the answer. Detailed instructions on how to make and use divination drums can be found in the book Oghams & Oracles: Divination in the Druidic Tradition.
