According to a new analysis of paleolithic caves in France, prehistoric peoples chose places of natural resonant sound to draw their famed cave sketches. This research, known as archaeoacoustics, has shown that ancient rock art was often placed on surfaces or in locations that focus, amplify, and transform the sounds of human voices and musical instruments. Instruments such as bone flutes and bullroarers; bone and ivory instruments that whir rhythmically when spun, have been found in decorated caves. Read more.
Thousands trek to Nevada’s Burning Man festival to burn a towering effigy and the hopeful ill journey to Lourdes seeking a cure as they have for centuries. Although pilgrimage may seem an antiquated religious ritual, it remains a vibrant activity in the modern world as pilgrims combine traditional motives--such as seeking a remedy for physical or spiritual problems--with contemporary searches for identity or interpersonal connection. That pilgrimage continues to exercise such a strong attraction is testimony to the power it continues to hold for those who undertake these sacred journeys. In Pilgrimage and Healing, the authors, Jill Dubisch and Michael Winkelman, bring together anthropological and interdisciplinary perspectives on these persistent forms of spiritual quest to expand our understanding of the role of pilgrimage in an increasingly secular world. This volume examines the healing dimensions of pilgrimage and seeks to illuminate why so many participants find pilgrimage a compelling way to address the problem of suffering.
While traditional shamanism continues to decline around the world, it is currently undergoing a revival in Mongolia. In a bewildering urban landscape where long traditions of nomadic lifestyles are things of the past, the ancient beliefs of Tengrism (modern term for a Central Asian religion characterized by features of shamanism, animism, totemism, polytheism and ancestor worship) serve to fill a spiritual void. A new generation of Mongolians has been chosen by the spirits to serve as Shamans. Photographer Hwee Young How has published a photographic essay exploring the shamanic resurgence.
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.
The instrument we call the jaw harp exists in many forms, is found on nearly every continent and has countless regional names and variants. It is classed as a plucked idiophone: it consists of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or reed attached to a frame. The tongue/reed is placed in the performer's mouth and plucked with the finger to produce a springy sounding, rhythmic drone-like note. For many people the jaw harp is an instrument of meditation and introspection. Among the shamans of Central Asia, the drum is thought of as a yang instrument, and is suitable for use in group ceremonies, but the jaw harp is considered a yin instrument and is used by the shaman to directly enter a trance state, and is therefore more for the player and less for the listeners. Read more.
With the growing consensus that global warming is a fact comes the realization that the increasingly violent weather we are experiencing is its chief manifestation. Each storm, each flood, each blizzard seems to break 100-year-old records for both intensity and damage. Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases may be too little, too late. Through a unique blend of anthropological research, shamanic journeys, and personal stories and anecdotes, Nan Moss and David Corbin show how humans and weather have always affected each other, and how it is possible to influence the weather. They present teachings directly from the spirits of weather that show how our thoughts and emotions affect weather energetics. Weather Shamanism is about how we can develop an expanded worldview that honors spiritual realities in order to create a working partnership with the spirits of weather and thereby help to restore well-being and harmony to Earth.
For the past week, I have been camped near Breitenbush Hot Springs, about 75 miles east of Salem, Oregon. Since discovering the peaceful hot springs in 1980, I have made periodic pilgrimages to Breitenbush to soak and shamanize. I have visited sacred sites throughout North America, but Breitenbush is the most enchanting nirvana I have ever experienced. Indigenous people worldwide believe that where fire and water mix at a hot spring is a sacred place. Healing ceremonies and like-minded gatherings have been traditionally held at these power spots.
Hot springs are a link between the lower world and the middle earth plane and provide a means of tapping into those sacred feminine powers. A water deity, usually a goddess, resides in each spring. People make pilgrimages to thermal springs to connect with the goddess and to supplicate the benefits of her healing graces.
I prefer to soak and commune at the hot springs early in the day when the veil between the physical and spiritual realms is at its thinnest. I begin my morning with a sweat in the rustic outdoor steam sauna. The small wood house, which seats 9 to 12, is built over a hot springs creek. Emerging from the lower world, the purifying steam rises through the slatted floor, cleansing body, mind and spirit. Rays of sunlight slant down through cracks in the roof and walls, illuminating the ethereal water vapors. The heat from the steam sinks into my skin and muscles. My body sighs deeply. I settle into a comfortable position and close my eyes.
I offer silent prayers to the deity and spirit keepers of the healing waters. I pray for my own healing and the healing of all who enter the sauna. I ask the healing waters to draw out any toxins, cleansing me completely. I express my love and gratitude to the water spirits, who then hold and perpetuate these patterns of intention. The water molecules of the sacred springs take the form of each pilgrim’s thoughts, words and emotions. The elements are living energies that change and move as we think and then take the form of our thoughts. Thought is the tool of the mind that shapes physical reality. From the water spirits, we learn to plant seeds of good cause. We learn that energy and life force follow thought.
Feeling cleansed and renewed, I slowly arise, thanking the spirits for their water blessings. I step out of the sauna and the cool morning air tingles on my warm, moist skin. My body and spirit are aglow as I towel off and dress. As I approach the path to the upper sacred hot springs, I encounter a deer grazing along the trail above me. I stop to savor the moment as the beautiful doe saunters up the trail and out of sight. Later, as I depart the hot springs, I sight three more deer, including a young buck.
Deer is the power animal that chose to reveal itself to me at Breitenbush. Deer symbolizes gentleness, alertness, speed, adaptability, keen scent and the healing power of love and generosity. Deer offers humans a much needed medicine. They remind us of what is innocent and truthful. Deer subsist from the heart, with a deep instinctual knowing that is always connected to the web of life. They live from the heart and are not entrapped by their reason. Humans, on the other hand, tend to live from the head, trying to figure everything out. But the energy that comes in from the source is directed through our hearts. We come into our own power when we learn to live from the heart. We can participate in the world’s rebirth by following our own deepest instincts, each contributing our sacred part by following that which holds for us the greatest sense of truth and meaning.
Later in the evening, the skies over Mt. Jefferson turn leaden with storm clouds and the sound of distant thunder rumbles through the South Breitenbush canyon. I make tobacco offerings to the Thunderbeings in the fire pit of my encampment and thunder booms diectly over my head. Rain begins to fall and I throw a tarp over the fire pit to keep the wood dry. I take shelter, pick up my drum and begin playing the Thunder Beat. I supplicate the Thunder Beings to bestow their enlightenment upon humanity as the lightning enlightens the earth. I continue drumming until the sound of thunder fades into the distance and the rains begin to subside.
After the rousing storm, a mist gently rises from the roaring falls, cascading just feet from my idyllic encampment. I uncover the fire pit, make offerings to the spirits and build a fire. I thank the spirits for the blessings received, and the blessings yet to come. I shake my rattle and invoke the elements: earth, water, fire, and air into my sacred space.
The elements are the building blocks of nature and interact with humans in the creative process. It is the cohesion of the four elements that hold material reality in form. Collectively, they define the vibratory infrastructure that literally holds together our resonant field of reality. Inviting their presence, participation, and assistance not only aligns us with their power, but also is a way of giving energy that helps revitalize these primal forces.
After warming my drum by the fire, I play the rhythms of the Four Elements. As I drum, I hold my intention for this fire ceremony. I then drum the Deer Beat to invoke its power for the benefit of the community. I become a hollow bone and imagine the spirit of Deer flowing through me, with all of its corresponding qualities and abilities.
Deer medicine instills an understanding of what’s truly necessary for survival and what to sacrifice for the higher good. Deer teaches us to find the gentleness of spirit that heals all wounds. We must be gentle with ourselves, in spite of our errors, and gentle with others who react from a place of fear or anger.
My heart is wide open and blissful. I shake my rattle four times. I express my gratitude to the archetypal elements and helping spirits for their participation and assistance and send them off, releasing their energies to the seven directions. Oh, how I love shamanizing with the nature spirits in the Emerald Forest of South Breitenbush.
Water drums are a category of membranophone characterized by the filling of the drum chamber with some water to create a unique sound. Water drums are common in Native American music, being the traditional drum for the Ojibwa, Ottawa, Pottawatomii, Huron and Iroquois. It’s used today in both traditional Longhouse social dances and the Native American Church. Wooden water drums are made either by hollowing out a solid section of a small soft wood log, or assembled using cedar slats and banded much like an old keg. This youtube video shows how to construct a Log Water Drum of the Woodland Native Americans.
Whether you realize it or not, you have always had helping spirits. Helping spirits are like family and friends, and each has a unique personality. Basically, a spirit helper is a coherent energy pattern that may take form as an animal, plant, ancestor, deity or element. All helping spirits are extensions of the “one spirit” that pervades all existence, whom we could call God, the Tao, or Great Mystery. Spirits are a natural manifestation of human consciousness. The majority of helping spirits take animal forms called power animals. Power animals are also called guardian spirits, spirit allies, totem animals, and tutelary animals. A power animal is the archetypal oversoul that represents the entire species of that animal. Below you will find a brief dictionary of power animal symbolism. Power animal traits reflect human characteristics. By learning the nature of an animal, you can also look at what part of your nature is most like that of the animal.
Turtle is nurturing, grounding, receptive, protective, patient, enduring, adaptable, and the personification of goddess energy and the Earth Mother herself. The turtle rattle heard on "Turtle Shaker" is an ancient cross-cultural symbol of the world on the turtle's back, Turtle Island. According to the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy), "Mother Earth stops to listen when the turtle rattle is shaken." The heartbeat rhythm and ocean waves are both archetypes of the sacred mother. The conch shell heard at the beginning signals the start of a ceremony and draws the attention of the Creator.
Mourning Dove is maternal, gentle, serene, and embodies peace, love, and harmony. It is linked with dawn and dusk when the veil between the seen and unseen worlds is at its thinnest. Dove can help us connect with the spirit world at these times. The mourning dove's song speaks to our heart and stirs our emotions. Its mournful coo soothes our soul and calms our troubled thoughts, allowing us to find renewal in the silence of mind.
Eagle medicine is the ability to soar above the hurdles of life's dilemmas, keeping one's attention focused on more distant horizons of self-realization. Eagle reminds us to pay attention to what really matters in life. The eagle and the drum carry our prayers to the Creator.
Crow is sociable, curious, adaptable, resourceful, skillful, playful, and a mythological trickster or heyoka. The heyoka or sacred clown uses satire, folly and misadventure to awaken society to innovative and better ways of doing things. Crow's lesson is to stop acting out of habit.
Osprey is a messenger, guide, fearless protector of its young, and guardian of both the Air (Consciousness) and the Water (the Unconscious) it dives into for fish. Like the shaman, osprey moves between the seen and unseen realms joining both worlds together. Osprey is a master shapeshifter who merges light and darkness, seeing both inner and outer reality. When we align our energies with Osprey, we are able to access our inner truth or sense of what is correct. Inner truth reflects, like a mirror, the higher, universal truth that exists in every situation. We should allow this higher truth to guide our actions and transform our life.
Flicker is a master drummer that can link you to the rhythms of life. Its drumming is a reminder to align ourselves with the natural rhythms of the universe. Rhythm and resonance order the natural world. Dissonance and disharmony arise only when we limit our capacity to resonate totally and completely with the rhythms of life.
Badger medicine includes courage, cunning, endurance, grounding, perseverance, root and herbal remedies, and the magic of storytelling. From her den below the ground, Badger connects us to the Earth mother, her stories, and the healing properties of medicinal roots. Badger helps us see below the surface of things and boldly express ourselves with the clarity of inner knowing. Flutes, like the one heard on "Badger Medicine," are instruments connecting the seen and unseen worlds.
Grouse is a vibrant symbol of sacred dancing and drumming. Rhythmic movement generates life. Grouse signals a time of new rhythms and movement by drumming the air with rapidly beating wings, releasing the energy to the four directions. Working with new rhythms and movements will open the flow of chi or life force into your life.
Salmon is a symbol of wisdom, sustenance, regeneration, continuity, fluidity, insight, and resolve. Salmon teaches us how to overcome obstacles and flow with the shifting waters of change. The didgeridoo, like the one heard on "Salmon Run," is one of the world's oldest musical instruments, originating in Australia tens of thousands of years ago. According to Aboriginal mythology, the Great Spirit Byame created man and woman and gave them the didgeridoo to sound the animals into form.
Elk medicine includes stamina, strength, cadence, confidence, empowerment, sensual passion, and the inspirational power and influence of sound energy. As the days shorten and the temperature drops in autumn, bull elk, like the crickets heard on "Elk Autumn," use sound to attract mates. Sound is regarded as one of the most powerful ways of establishing connections. It moves through space, penetrates visual and physical barriers, and imparts information from the web of the collective mind. Sound provides a means of "relationship" as well as a "transformation" of energy. Elk power helps us use sound to inspire others, stirring them into action. We gain the confidence to fully express our ideas and intentions in an inspirational manner. Elk teaches us how to reclaim our power and how to pace ourselves to reach our goals.
Polar Bear medicine includes introspection, healing, purity, strength, solitude, spirit flight, dreams, death and rebirth, transformation, mystics and visionaries. Inuit peoples regard polar bears as shamans and holy beings. View the Music Video Polar Bear Prayer.
Polar Bear Prayer
Polar Bear
We call upon you
From the core of our being flow
Words, songs, and rhythms
Brother Bear
We speak words of love
We sing you into existence
We drum your heartbeat
Spirit Bear
Listen to our Prayers
Bless us with your Healing Power
Teach us Higher Truth
Polar Bear
May you always dance
Between being and nonbeing
Forever Reborn
Jaguar is the gatekeeper to the unknowable. Jaguar medicine includes comprehending the patterns of chaos, walking without fear in the darkness, moving in unknown places, shapeshifting, psychic vision, soul work, and reclaiming power.
Frog sings the songs that call the rain to Mother Earth. Its medicine includes cleansing, transformation, rebirth, and understanding emotions. It teaches us to know when it is time to purify, refresh and replenish the soul. The Frog Rain Chant speaks of new life and harmony.
Red Deer is a magical creature that represents spirit flight, shapeshifting, and the qualities of swiftness, grace, and keen scent. The Red Deer's call is a deep bellowing roar-like-sound similar to a lion's roar. Mongolian shamans revere Red Deer as their distant ancestors and spirit helpers. Among Iroquois medicine societies, deer hoof rattles, like the one heard on "Red Deer Shaman," are associated with thunderbird imagery and attract the attention of the Thunder Beings who control the weather and sustain all life on Mother Earth.
Owl medicine includes prophecy, wisdom, stealth, silence, intuition, clairvoyance, clairaudience, shapeshifting, and keen vision that pierces all illusion. Night Eagle, as Owl is called, is the bird of magic and darkness, of prophecy and wisdom. Great Horned Owls, like the one heard on "Owl Vision," have a large repertoire of haunting calls. Some calls are ventriloquial. The males "hoo-wah-hooo-hoo-hoo" can be heard over several miles on a still night. Owl is a messenger of omens who will call out to let all share in its vision.
Elephant medicine includes dignity, grace, strength, wisdom, confidence, patience, commitment, gentleness, discernment, intelligence, compassion, and removal of obstacles. The elephant's head denotes wisdom and its trunk represents OM, the primal sound from which the universe constantly emanates. Tribal peoples invoke elephant for health, good luck, longevity, memory, and unity with the oneness of everything. By connecting to elephant in Dreamtime, one's sense of being a separate individual gives way to an experience of union with the totality of a dynamic, interrelated universe. The benefits of attaining planetary collective consciousness include relaxation, healing, more energy, better memory, greater mental clarity, enhanced creativity, and communion with the resonant web of information that is the universe.
Anne Hilty, PhD, is a scholar-practitioner of health psychology from New York, now living on Jeju Island, Republic of Korea. She is researching the seemingly incongruous revival of shamanism in one of the world's most technologically advanced countries. Though Korean shamanism has suffered centuries of ridicule and persecution, it is now acknowledged to be an important repository of Korean culture and indigenous psychology. In a recent article, Hilty emphasizes the importance of Korea's shamanic tradition in defining as well as treating the collective Korean psyche. According to Hilty, "Shamanism, in modern as well as historical eras, provides many of the same functions for Jeju society as does psychological counseling. Its form is flexible and adaptable, integrating modern elements as needed in order to maintain its relevance." Read Jeju Shamans, Healing Minds and Hearts.
Shamanism in Africa encompasses a broad spectrum of beliefs, ideologies, and methods of healing that have been practiced on the vast continent for thousands of years. Traditional African healing is deeply rooted in the shamanic belief that ancestral spirits coexist with the living and intervene in their activities. When spiritual intervention results in illness and affliction, the shaman intercedes between the spiritual and human realms on behalf of the local community. This mediation usually comes in ritual form unique to each culture, including drumming, singing, clapping, dance, trance, and a variety of other shamanic performances. African shamans use different drums and rhythms for different purposes. Read more.
What is shamanic integrity? Simply put, it is the accountability inherent in authentic shamanic practice--a covenant with the spirits to be in your highest level of integrity. An authentic shamanic practitioner makes a commitment to intercede between the spiritual and human realms on behalf of the local community. Though the practitioner is always consulting with their spirit helpers, there are many matters, such as those of human ethics, for which helping spirits are unable to assist. To help illuminate a code of shamanic ethics, Dr. Steve Serr, Ph.D. published a series of principles to guide practitioners in this remarkable period of shamanic resurgence. Dr. Serr holds a master’s of divinity in sacred naturalism, a doctorate in clinical psychology, and teaches shamanism at Ocean Seminary College. Read Shamanic Integrity.
In the May 2012 issue of Discover Magazine, Will Hunt writes the story of archaeologist and artist Carolyn Boyd's quest to decipher the meaning behind one of the truly iconic panels of rock art in the Lower Pecos region of southwest Texas. As an artist, Boyd visited the ancient rock art sites 20 years ago and was moved by the symbolism of these enigmatic residents. As director of SHUMLA (Studying Human Use of Materials, Land, and Art), Dr. Boyd "discovered a symbolic code that reveals narratives in the paintings, which she believes can be read, almost like an ancient language." The rock art, Boyd says, depicts archetypal shamanic journey themes dating back over 4000 years. Read Secrets of the White Shaman.
The Sámi peoples of northern Scandinavia and the Kola Peninsula in Russia were renowned for their drum divination skills. They used divination to determine the future, luck or misfortune, location of game, diagnosis, and remedies. The Sámi practiced an indigenous form of shamanism until the religious repression of shamanic practices in the mid 17th century. The runebomme, an oval frame or bowl drum, was an important trance and divination tool of the noaidi, or Sámi shaman. The reindeer, which was central to Sámi culture and livelihood, provided the hide for the drumhead, the sinew to lace it together, and the antler bone for the drumstick or hammer. The Sámi believed that the reindeer’s antlers were conduits to the Upper World. Read more.
Shamanism has achieved a dramatic modern resurgence. Recent studies by some of the world's foremost scholars on shamanism reveal that the contemporary world still hungers for transcendent experiences because the shamanic narrative is hard-wired in us all. Study results demonstrate that the cross-cultural manifestations of shamanism and its contemporary appeal are rooted in innate functions of the brain, mind, and consciousness.
The revival of shamanism can, in large part, be attributed to the fact that shamanic drumming offers a relatively easy means of controlled transcendence. Researchers have found that if a drum beat frequency of around three to four beats per second is sustained for at least fifteen minutes, it will induce significant trance states in most people, even on their first attempt. Shamanic drumming continues to offer today what it has offered for thousands of years: namely, a simple and effective technique of ecstasy.
The American Journal of Public Health reviewed shamanic drumming in its April 2003 edition, concluding that drumming activities induce holistic modes of consciousness through synchronous brain activity and provide a vital connection with the spiritual dimensions of human health that have been lacking in modern societies. Research reviews indicate that drumming accelerates physical healing, boosts the immune system and produces feelings of well-being, a release of emotional trauma, and reintegration of self.
Many people in today's world are being called by spirit to become shamans. A yearning exists deep within many of us to reconnect to the natural world. It is a call to a life lived in balance with awareness of nature, of spirit, and of self. In my third drum guide, Shamanic Drumming: Calling the Spirits, I recount my journey into shamanic practice and explore what someone should do if they feel the call to become a shaman. I have written a guide to becoming a shamanic healer that encompasses the power of the drum, of community, and of the accountability inherent in authentic shamanic practice. Read the "The Calling," an excerpt from my newly released book.
The shaman's horse, namely the single-headed frame drum, originated in Siberia along with shamanism itself over 30,000 years ago. The word shaman comes from Siberia, and it is in this vast geographical region where shamanism proper is to be found. Siberian shamans use the frame drum to convey to the spirits of a place their greetings, any requests, and thanks. It is a spiritual practice designed to help human beings relate to all of nature. Siberia is one of the few places in the world where the shamanic heritage has remained unbroken. Read more.
Madge Peinkofer facilitates the "One Spirit" Drum Circle this Sunday, April 8th at 2pm, and on the Second Sunday of each month at Woodland Chapel, 582 High St. NE, Salem, Oregon. Everyone is welcome, donation requested. This drum circle is dedicated to master drum maker Judith Thomson who died on March 25, 2012. Judith was a wise, generous, and beloved friend who mentored many drum makers and keepers in many communities across the United States and Canada. Judith and I began facilitating workshops together in 1993. I was called by spirit to teach shamanic drumming and she was called to teach drum making. As Judith put it, "Making a drum is like pulling your heart together and giving birth to a new part of yourself." Hers was an authentic life well lived and she will be deeply missed.
Nicholas Breeze Wood is a drum maker of many years experience. He has made hundreds of drums for people in the UK and Europe. In this article he describes the construction of a fairly typical Native American style frame drum. The drum described in this article is a traditional Native American single-sided frame drum. This type of drum is not confined to any one tribal group, indeed, it is seen all over North America, and also in Siberia and Asia. The method of construction explained here could, with little modification, make a drum of any size, from a few inches upwards.
Tools and Materials A piece of animal rawhide - fairly thick - 0.75 - 1.5mm - such as elk or thick deer or goat.
Wooden hoop for the frame. Rawhide strip for the lacing. Stick for drum stick. Soft leather or cloth. Water & large container. Scissors & sharp knife. Small chisel & mallet. Plastic ground sheets. Water soluble artist's pencil.
The Frame
Unless you are used to working with wood and can confidently bend a plank and
join it to form the frame I recommend the purchase of a commercially prepared
frame. I would not recommend making a drum with a diameter of less than 250mm. The
depth of the frame is a variable; for a drum of 300mm diameter or so, a depth
of 50mm should be sufficient. For larger drums the frame needs to be deeper.
This is partially for the look of the finished drum, but also to give the hoop
more strength: the stretched dry skin will put quite a strain on the hoop, and may
bend it, or at worse implode it. Because of this I recommend the hoop is made
of wood of at least 8mm thick.
Preparation
The skin needs to be soaked until it is soft. I use the family bath for this, filled with cold water. The time for this will vary depending on the type of skin used. Make sure the skin is totally submerged. Once the skin is soft, it can be worked with. Place it on a flat clean surface and select the part of the skin you will use for the drum head. Place the frame on this area to make sure it is big enough and totally free of holes or very thin parts. If you are satisfied, then you can now draw around the frame in readiness to cut it out.
It is always better to draw on the back of the skin, the part that was
inside the animal, as the outer part (the grain side), will be the part that
you put on the outside of the drum. The way to tell the two sides apart is that
the grain side has a surface that is looks like leather, and the inner side,
has small cuts and scraped areas where the skin was fleshed after it was
removed from the animal.
Remember that the circle you cut needs to be a lot bigger than the head
of your drum, as it will have to go up the sides of the frame and a little way
on to the back of the drum. As a rule of thumb, for an 450mm diameter drum on a 75mm deep hoop, you
will need a circle of about 650mm. Once the correct sized circle is drawn, it
can be cut using sharp scissors. Put the complete circle back into the water to
keep it soft and wet until you use it.
With the remainder of the skin, you can now cut the lacing you will use
to lace the drum skin onto the frame. This needs to be long enough to do the
whole lacing job, wet rawhide is not easy to join, knots slip very easily. The
length of lace needed, varies according to the size of drum made, for an
average drum, 20 times the diameter of the frame is a good length. This can be
cut by spiralling around a roundish shaped offcut of skin. Cut it approximately
10mm wide. It is always better to have the laces too thick rather than too
thin, as later when you are tightening up the drum, you will be pulling quite
hard on them, and the lace will stretch and get thinner and you do not want it
to break. Once you have your lace cut, put it and all the spare skin you have
back into the water.
The next job is to cut the holes in your drum head that the lace will
pass through. I have found that the best way of doing this is to use a hammer
and small chisel. The skin first needs to have the hole positions marked on it
using the water soluble pencil.
The number and positioning of the holes is of great importance. There are
many ways of lacing drums. For the method described here you will need an odd
number of holes spaced evenly around the drum. For the 375mm drum in the
photos, I have used 17. The lacing diagram shows how these holes are used. If
you want to use a different number of holes, work out on paper the right
sequence before you begin. When the holes are marked, you can cut them. Use a
wooden block to hammer onto, and cut them approx 12-15mm from the edge of the
skin.
Once you start to lace the head on to the frame, you will not be able to
stop until the job is completed, if you do not have the time to do this at this
stage, either leave the skins in the bath until you do (they will be OK left in
the water till the next day), or take them out, leave them to dry in a warm
room, and store them until you do have time.
Construction
Begin the construction of the drum by placing the circle of soaked skin grain side down on the ground sheet. Place the hoop over it so that the surplus skin is evenly distributed all around its edge. The skin can now have the lace put through its holes in the order shown in the diagram.
When the skin is laced up, the slack of the lace must be taken up, and the drum skin tightened. Begin this by working the lace from one end to the other, gently pulling it as you go. By pulling it thus, you will take up the slack, and stretch the lace itself. It's just like putting a new shoe lace in a pair of boots, you put the lace in place, then pull it tight, then finally knot the two ends together.
Once the slack has been all worked through, begin the whole process
again, and then again, and again, until it feels like you cannot get any more
slack out of the lace. Do not be afraid to pull quite hard on the lace, but do
be careful not to break it, or the holes in the drum head; especially be
careful if you are pulling on a particularly thin piece of lace.
Once you feel satisfied that you cannot get any more slack out of the
lace, you can begin to bind the back into a cross shaped hand hold. Not only
will this make the drum easier to hold, but the act of making the cross
squeezes the criss-crossing spokes of lace together and puts even more tension
into the drum.
If you have made a drum with 17 lacing holes in the head, you will have
17 spokes. This cannot be divided by 4 evenly, so I suggest you divide it into
3 lots of 4 spokes and 1 of 5. Select a group of four adjacent spokes, and
either using the spare end of your lace, or a specially cut piece, bind them
together. Begin in the centre of the drum, and bind outwards approximately
75-100mm. This binding can be finished off by using the spokes as the warp
threads and the binding lace as the weft, and weaving a little section at the
top of the binding. Tuck end back through weaving and trim underneath.
When you have done one arm of the cross in this manner, do the opposite
arm, and then the two other arms. At this stage the drum is finished. You can
leave it to dry out now in a warm but not hot place. Leave it somewhere the air
can get all around it, so it will dry out evenly. If it does not dry out evenly, the frame may warp as it dries, and you
will end up with a twisted drum.
If you put enough tension into the wet rawhide, when it dries out, you
will have a lovely resonant drum; if you didn't, your drum may sound more like
a cardboard box. In this case, if you can face it, you will have to take the
whole drum apart and start again. If you do the skin and hoop will be Ok, but
you will need to cut a new lace.
Finishing
When the drum is totally dry, it can be painted, if you wish. This can be done
with a variety of paints, but there isn't room in this article to go into detail.
The cross at the back of the drum can be bound with soft leather. This is
attractive, and it cushions the hand from any hardness of the rawhide.
A drum stick can be made by binding soft leather or cloth around a stick.
Nicholas Breeze Wood is the editor of Sacred Hoop Magazine. He is a shamanic practitioner and has been a maker of shamanic drums and other ritual objects for over 20 years. He has made a lifelong study of the tools of shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism, and never gets tired of going on and on about them.
One of the influential books that I read in my youth was The Dharma Bums, a 1958 novel by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. Kerouac’s semi-fictional accounts of hiking and hitchhiking through the West inspired me to embark on my own footloose adventures. In his latest book, Kerouac in Ecstasy: Shamanic Expression in the Writings, Thomas R. Bierowski explores Kerouac’s writing as ecstatic technique. As Bierowski puts it, "One of the duties of the archaic shaman was to retrieve lost souls and bring them back for the psychic good of the tribe. At the height of his artistic powers, Kerouac renders all of his Beat heroes in order to provide his readers with the possibility of communing, as he has, with these great souls."
Many people now believe that shamanic drumming gives access to a doorway that can be opened and closed, at will. Shamans travel through multi-dimensions, to access information, bring healing, and even travel through time. Therapists use shamanic drumming to assist their clients in integrating and healing disassociated parts of their being. Most powerful as a prayerful device, drumming is a way to touch our sacred circles of loved ones, family and friends. A shamanic journey, using the drum is "visualized prayer." And it is a technology only now being rediscovered by many in the 21st century. Read more.
