"Solfeggio Shamanic Journey" Single Release

I am pleased to announce the release of my new single "Solfeggio Shamanic Journey." Solfeggio Shamanic Journey combines trance inducing drumming and synthesized Solfeggio tones with callback for shamanic journeying. Preview the entire 20 minute single on YouTube and try a shamanic journey. If you like it, you can download Solfeggio Shamanic Journey for $0.99 at Amazon and iTunes.

This recording was made using a frame drum and a composite of synthesized Solfeggio tones in a mathematical sequence to induce brainwave entrainment. Solfeggio frequencies make up the ancient 6 note (hexatonic) scale thought to have been used in sacred music, including the beautiful Gregorian Chants. The chants and their special tones were believed to impart spiritual blessings when sung in harmony. Each Solfeggio tone is comprised of a frequency required to balance your energy and keep your body, mind and spirit in perfect harmony.

Furthermore, within the composition, the tones exert the binaural beating phenomenon, adding to the overall effectiveness. Binaural beats recordings are designed to stimulate the production of brainwaves associated with shamanic states of consciousness by presenting the brain with two tones close in frequency, one to each ear. The two hemispheres of the brain detect the difference between them as a third frequency, and then entrain to this binaural beat rather than the audible tones. Click here to learn more about shamanic journeying.

Shamanizing at Bigelow Hot Springs

Bigelow Hot Springs

I love to camp and shamanize. For the past week, I have been camped on the McKenzie River near Bigelow Hot Springs, which is located on Deer Creek Road about 58 miles east of Eugene, Oregon on Highway 126. Bigelow is one of the few wild hot springs that you can still enjoy without paying any kind of fee. It is a small thermal spring that pools inside a beautiful riverside grotto. The spring emanates from the back of the grotto, so it is the warmest part of the pool. The best time to use this pool is when the river is at its lowest, during the summer and fall. The spring is popular on weekends, so weekdays are the best time to visit. Since it is a day use area, it is open dawn to dusk.

I love soaking at Bigelow early in the day, near sunrise if possible. I like to lie on my back in the back of the grotto and meditate to the calming sound of the current rushing over the river rocks. I just allow the current to carry me away on a journey into myself. It is a blissful place to go. I get in touch with my spirit self and the spirit of the place.

Every place on the planet has a spirit. From the wildest of forests to urban landscapes, every place has a spirit that oversees its life force. Healing the land involves actively working with the spirits of the Middle World in a collaborative way to clear negative energetic imprints, to harmonize what is out of balance, and to restore energy and life force which has been lost.

The energy of the place where I camp is balanced and harmonious, making it a good place to do shamanic work. When I arrived at my camp this spring, I discovered the claw marks of a bear on a cedar tree on the west side of my campsite. I found bear tracks around the camp. I frequently have encounters with bears at my medicine camps. I love bear energy and work with it often in ritual and ceremony. I like to drum the bear-beat and sing a bear chant. Whenever I call in my spirit helpers for help and healing, Spirit Bear comes immediately.

Each morning, I arise early to greet the sun with song and prayers. I then cook a simple meal of oatmeal with raisins and green tea. Throughout the day I play flute, drum, and sing as the mood strikes me. After sunset each evening, I begin another round of shamanizing. I open portals to the spirit world with drum, rattle, and flute. I call in the spirits and improvise an evening of shamanic music. I approach them with humbleness and humility, becoming like a hollow bone through which their life force may flow to be used as needed. Alone in a riverside camp, I offer myself as a vehicle of healing. That is how I choose to relate to the spirit world.

At the end, after dedicating the power which has been generated by the performance, I close the circle. I then crawl into my sleeping bag; physically tired, yet spiritually vibrant. My heart is wide open and blissful. Where the McKenzie River wraps around my camp, the soothing sound of the water lulls me into a peaceful sleep every night.

6 Ways Drumming Heals Body, Mind and Spirit

Sayer Ji, Founder of GreenMedInfo.com, wrote an interesting blog called "6 Ways Drumming Heals Body, Mind and Soul." According to Ji, drumming improves our quality of life in many ways. From slowing the decline in fatal brain disease, to generating a sense of oneness with one another and the universe, drumming's physical and spiritual health benefits may be as old as time itself. Ji asserts that drumming brings us to a time when "... a direct and simultaneous experience of deep transcendence and immanence [Divine presence and the connection to this presence] was not an extraordinary, rare occurrence as it is today." It makes perfect sense that through ancient rhythms we are transported to a time before the written word--perhaps even to a time before the spoken word was fully developed. Drumming was used to generate cohesiveness and connection in a time when the needs of the tribe were more important than the needs of the individual.

I was also fascinated by the section of Sayer Ji's article that discussed the positive effects of drumming on socio-emotional disorders in children who live in low-income families. I'm encouraged that something as simple and ancient as community drumming can benefit us on so many different levels. In a society in which traditional family and community-based systems of support have become increasingly fragmented, group drumming provides a sense of connectedness with others and interpersonal support. To learn more, read "6 Ways Drumming Heals Body, Mind and Soul.".

The Power of Masks

Rainbow Man

Across time and culture, masks have served to imbue power, transform identity, and connect people with each other and with their sense of the divine and the spiritual. The shaman uses a mask to communicate with or take on the identity of an animal spirit or helping spirit. During a performance, a shaman would seek the help of or take the identity of the spirit -- sometimes changing identities several times throughout by changing masks. In communal ritual, masks are used as part of a broader social function to achieve a benefit for the group. Masks are also an important aspect of storytelling, whether an oral tradition or a theatrical performance. For many cultures, these uses are fluid and intermingled.

The "Rainbow Man" mask featured in this post is a shamanic mask that I crafted twenty years ago. I wear it when holding ecstatic body postures. Specific body postures reappear in the art and artifacts of world cultures, even those widely separated by time and distance. Anthropologists discovered that people who assume these yoga-like postures report strikingly similar trance experiences. The first time I tried a trance posture, I got a clear image in my mind of how I should craft a mask of my face, paint it, and use it in my shamanic work. Wearing the mask enhances my trance experiences.

Shamanic mask making is a very ancient art of bringing out your inner or spirit self and embodying it into a mask form. Crafting a spirit mask of your face can be a very empowering process -- one that enables you to see into the deeper realms of the self. The process reconnects you with your deepest core values and your highest vision of who you are and why you are here. Summoning the energy of the true self, you then channel your discoveries into painting and adorning your mask of personal transformation. 

Earthrise: The Mythic Images of our Time

Earthrise over the moon's horizon.

They are some of the most iconic photos ever taken -- the Earth rising over the moon's horizon. The Apollo "Earthrise" and "Blue Marble" photographs were beamed across the world some forty-five years ago. They had an astonishing effect and in fact transformed thinking about the Earth and its environment in a profound way that reverberated throughout science, religion, and culture. Gazing upon our whole planet for the first time, we saw ourselves and our place in the universe with a new clarity. The photographs of Earth represented a turning point. In their wake, Earth Day was inaugurated and the environmental movement took off and began to have an impact on our national policy. People turned their focus back toward Earth, toward the precious and fragile planet we call home.

Joseph Campbell was a writer and mythologist, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. Campbell achieved enormous popularity and influence addressing the disenchantment of modern life with a message of hope and renewal. Campbell once spoke about the famous images astronauts took of the Earth rising over the lunar horizon. The space age, he felt, had brought us an awareness that is still slowly sinking in: The world as we know it is coming to an end.

"Our world as the center of the universe, the world divided from the heavens, the world bound by horizons in which God's love is reserved for members of the in group: That is the world that is passing away," said Campbell. "Apocalypse is not about a fiery Armageddon and salvation of a chosen few, but about the fact that our ignorance and our complacency are coming to an end."

To view a collection of these remarkable NASA photographs, please watch my new HD video "Earthrise" at https://youtu.be/mPCUJlO_qNQ. 

Healing Story, Singing Drum

Singing Elk Drum

This is a story about healing. It is also a story about a singing drum. In October 2011, I felt spirit calling me. I felt compelled to travel to the sacred sites that beckoned me. I followed my deepest instincts. I traveled with my drum, medicine bundle, and helping spirits to shamanize the meridian system of her numinous web, which is the planetary counterpart to the acupuncture meridian system of the human body.

Early man discovered these planetary currents called ley lines. In China, they were known as dragon currents. The Aborigines of Australia know them as a line of songs. In England, the Druids referred to the old straight track. Native Americans regarded the energy channels as the serpent power or the great dragons. According to Cherokee mythology, the dragons once followed the will of the great shamans who would invoke them to protect the people and the land.

These energy ley lines contain a two-fold element, a male and female, positive and negative, expanding and reverting breath, resembling two magnetic currents -- the azure dragon and the white tiger. At the intersection points of the planet’s energy web exist holy places, power spots, or acupuncture points. Like acupuncture needles, humans are capable of maintaining the harmonious flow of the planetary energy meridians by making an earth connection at power places.

Many magical things happened during my two month pilgrimage. I soaked in the healing waters of Umpqua, Buckeye, Travertine, Whitmore, and Keough Hot Springs. I camped at Panther Meadows on Mount Shasta. I hiked among the oldest living things on the earth in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest.

By happenstance, I encountered my dear friend and master drum maker Judith Thomson in Bishop, California. Judith and her husband, Lloyd studied about the healing power of sound with Jonathan Goldman. She studied the healing ways of the Native Americans who live in the states of Oregon and Washington. This included learning how they crafted drums and used their sounds for healing. Judith taught many people across the United States how to make drums and how to use drumming to heal.

Judith and I began facilitating workshops together in 1993. She was called by spirit to teach drum making and I was called to teach shamanic drumming. Unbeknownst to me, Judith had journeyed from her home in Packwood, Washington to facilitate a three-day drum making workshop in Big Pine, California. Upon her request, I helped Judith facilitate her final seminar before retirement and she helped me and twelve other participants birth the most beautiful singing drums I have ever heard.

After the seminar, Judith returned to Packwood and I was asked to stay for a drum blessing and workshop the following weekend after the wet rawhide drums had dried. The drum awakening ceremony was held outside next to Birch Creek. We asked each of the seven powers/directions to bless our drums. We thanked the animal spirits for giving their skins for our drum heads. We thanked the trees for the wooden rims and asked that our drums' hoops be connected to the World Tree which enables all trees to sing our prayers while drumming. Our drums were consecrated and we journeyed to meet our power animals.

The Big Pine seminar was the last time I ever saw Judith alive. She crossed over into the spirit world five months later on March 25, 2012. Judith mentored many drum makers and drum keepers in many communities across the United States and Canada. Her extraordinary passion and tireless devotion to "the way of the drum" has been a wellspring of inspiration for me. Hers was an authentic life well lived and she will be deeply missed.

The singing elk drum that Judith helped me birth at the Big Pine seminar turned out to be the last drum that she ever made. It has a remarkable range of tones and overtones. It is a powerful healing drum, but it is also a "desert drum." I learned this upon my return to my home in Salem, Oregon. In the humid, rainy climate of Western Oregon, the melodic desert drum that Judith and I created together became flat and toneless. It would only sing on the warmest, driest days of the summer. Even then, its voice was sad and melancholy.

For three years I debated whether I should soak the drum to loosen the rawhide, take the drum apart, and tighten the lacing of the drum, or simply return the drum to the Owens Valley. To rebuild a drum is to embark on a path of no return. You must first take stock of the situation and make certain that you have no other options. It should only be done as a last resort, for its effect upon the voice of the drum is unknowable. It should answer a real need and spring from unselfish motives. As Judith put it, "Making a drum is like pulling your heart together and giving birth to a new part of yourself."

Since rebuilding the drum would have irrevocably changed its voice, I chose to return the singing drum to its natal home. Like the adult Salmon that finds its way from the sea to the stream of its birth, I returned Judith's drum to the arid desert of its birth. I departed from Salem on April 16, 2015, retracing the route of my 2011 pilgrimage to Bishop, California. Along the way, I soaked in thermal hot springs, drummed in the earth's oldest living forest, visited an ancient vision quest site, and participated in sweat lodge and pipe ceremonies. The high point of my journey was when I presented Judith's final drum to my friend Marla. She is now the caretaker of this sacred drum. The drum is happy and sings again; it is full of songs.

Judith Thomson at the Big Pine Drum Making Seminar

Song of the Drum

My drum has many voices.

My drum tells many stories.

This drum is full of mystery.

This drum is full of dreams.

Listen to the drumbeat.

Listen to the heartbeat.

Now you hear the hoof beat.

Now you hear the wing beat.

All are One.

  —Michael Drake

"Heart of the Shamans: Ceremonial Medicine Songs"

Heart of the Shamans CD by Liquid Bloom with Robert Mirabal, vocalists Ixchel Prrisma, Sarah West and Rara Avis offers shamanic music with global rhythms, nature sounds and evocative vocals for healing music and yoga instrumental music.

Heart of the Shamans was conceived as a sonic prayer, a lovingly-crafted ritual transport into the heart of the universe. Its original arrangements by producer Amani Friend – aka Liquid Bloom - are skillfully interwoven with threads of global rhythms, sounds of natural atmospheres and evocative vocals.

A voyage through the energy centers of the body, this music is designed to support ceremonial trance states of awakening. Weaving powerful voices and instrumentation from around the world into a layered, multi-dimensional sonic tapestry resonant with ancestral depths, the music is inspired by such diverse sources as indigenous ceremonial dances of New Mexico's deserts and pueblos, and sacred traditional ayahuasca invocations from Amazonian rainforest cultures.

The album's liner notes offer guidance for participatory, immersive listening. A succession of mudras – traditional hand gestures from India believed to provide physical points of reference and increase energy flow throughout the body – are also suggested to enhance the participant's experience, each specific to one of the album's six major compositions.

Also included are two bonus remixes, of songs from Liquid Bloom's debut album, Shaman's Eye, which were created specifically for trance journeying. Their multi-layered currents of sound and chanting have been freshly remixed to embrace Ixchel Prrisma's sacred medicine songs.

Some of the outstanding artistic contributions to this project include Native American music legend Robert Mirabal with his Taos flutes and chant, the sacred medicine songs of vocalist Ixchel Prrisma, the ethereal voice of Sarah West and overtone singing by Rara Avis, to name a few. 

A portion of proceeds from all sales of this album will benefit The Paititi Institute for the Preservation of Ecology and Indigenous Culture, a nonprofit organization devoted to the integration of indigenous wisdom into every day life. Heart of the Shamans is available at Amazon.com.

Drumming in the Eastern Sierra

Hiking to a sacred spring in the Sierras

For the past few weeks, I have been on a pilgrimage to the sacred sites in the Eastern Sierra that beckon me. So far I have soaked in Buckeye and Travertine Hot Springs near Bridgeport, CA, which Jack Kerouac and his "dharma bums" once used as a base to explore the Eastern Sierra. I then soaked in the Rock and Shepherd Hot Tubs in the Long Valley Caldera. On Monday April 27, I made a four mile trek through the earth's oldest living forest to drum in the Methuselah Grove of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. It was an incredible day and I look forward to returning again to the Bristlecones. On Wednesday April 29, I hiked with three friends to a sacred spring high in the Sierras, or Range of Light, where we drummed and did a pipe ceremony.

The Sleeping Lizard

To celebrate May Day or Beltane, I visited the Sleeping Lizard, which is an ancient vision quest site located in the Volcanic Tablelands north of Bishop, CA. This site is sacred to the Owens Valley Paiute people, who use alcoves in the rock for vision quests. I took a journey back in time to visit the ancient ones who etched petroglyphs in the volcanic rock. 

On Saturday, I participated in a Sweat Lodge purification ceremony on the Big Pine Paiute Indian Reservation in Big Pine, CA. The Sweat Lodge is a place of spiritual sanctuary and mental and physical healing, a place to get answers and guidance by asking spirit helpers, the Creator, and Mother Earth for needed wisdom and power. More drumming and ceremonies are planned for the days ahead.

"Dying Well: Shamanic Wisdom"

Streaming live on the Co-Creator Radio Network on Tuesday, April 28, at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern on "Why Shamanism Now? A Practical Path to Authenticity," shaman and founder of the Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing Christina Pratt notes that dying is part of life; it's that simple. According to Pratt, when death is accepted as a natural part of our journey, an extraordinary amount of energy can be set free for you to be happy, discover your purpose, and help others. Shamanism shows us that the end of life is just as important as the beauty of birth at the beginning. Living in fear of death contorts our lives, robbing us of Death as a great ally for how to live well. "It is not death but an unlived life that should terrify us," explains Pratt, "this becomes ever more clear with each ancestral healing." When we understand how our unlived lives and unreconciled relationships bind us here at death, we understand what is needed to live well. Prior episodes from "Why Shamanism Now" can be downloaded for free from iTunes.

The Transformative Power of Shamanic Art

"Flame Swan" by Denita Benyshek

Dr. Denita Benyshek is a professional visionary artist, an internationally recognized researcher on contemporary artists as shamans, and a psychologist who provides psychotherapy and coaching services to artists and creative individuals. Dr. Benyshek recently composed an article in which she explains how contemporary artists serve as shamans and demonstrates the transformative benefits offered by art. According to Dr. Benyshek, art can provide for psychological, social, physiological, and/or spiritual needs of individuals and communities. When an individual is engaged with art (as an artist, member of the audience, or collector), art can evoke memories, make new connections, heighten awareness, discharge repressed emotions, halt patterns of repression, lead to self-discovery, create empathy with individuals or cultures, remind society of social ills needing attention, and lead to individual and societal healing. To learn more read "The Transformative Power of Shamanic Art" by Dr. Denita Benyshek.

10 Ways to Connect with Power Animals

Great Horned Owl

A power animal is an archetype that represents the entire species of that animal. When we connect with a power animal, we align ourselves with the collective strength, wisdom, and archetypal energies of the entire species. Owl, for example, carries the archetype of the wise one, the seer, the prophet. Power animals are the gatekeepers to the deeper truths that exist in our collective consciousness. They are valuable allies who can help us navigate the inner planes of consciousness during shamanic journeys. Without this alliance, the practice of entering a trance to journey into the inner realms is risky.

With an earnest desire to connect, we can develop close, reciprocal relationships with power animals. We also discover through relationship with them that the animal spirits may have very individual and specific teachings for each of us. Similar to the way friendships develop gradually, our relationships with power animals grow and deepen based on repeated interaction and building trust over time. Here are 10 ways to connect with power animals:

1. Hang pictures of animals around your house or work area.
2. Read books about animals.
3. Observe an animal in nature to learn more about it.
4. Take time every day to meditate and tune into an animal.
5. Put on music and dance to help welcome the energy of a power animal into your body. Embody the power animal and move like it would move.
6. Give gratitude to a power animal whenever it shares a piece of wisdom or supports you in any way.
7. Simply visualize and call upon an animal. When you call or invoke the power of an animal, you are asking to be drawn into complete harmony with the strength of that creature's essence. Meditate with it. Ask what message it has for you. How does it want to be honored? What does it want to tell you?
8. Contemplate what it means if you're not comfortable with a power animal. If you dislike or are afraid of an animal, it's especially important to connect with it and learn its wisdom. The message it holds for you will be particularly meaningful. Power animals help us connect to the parts of ourselves that we've lost or denied, so it may be mirroring a trait or quality that is ready to come back to help you be in your wholeness.
9. Put items on your altar to honor a power animal and represent its energy.
10. Ritually feed and honor helping spirits with offerings such as cornmeal or a "spirit plate" with bits of food placed outdoors at mealtime. Cornmeal is a good offering because corn is a sacred gift from the beings that live in the spirit world. The one offering the cornmeal first breathes on the grains so that the spirits know who is offering the gift. To learn more, look inside my drum guide Shamanic Drumming: Calling the Spirits.

The Therapeutic Drumming Network

Kalani Das

Kalani Das is a Percussionist, Orff-Schulwerk Music Educator, Board-Certified Music Therapist, and Host at the newly launched Therapeutic Drumming Network. The Therapeutic Drumming Network is a place to share articles, products, programs, and information related to the use of drumming and rhythmic experiences to promote positive change. They welcome professional drummers and percussionists, drumming facilitators, music educators, music therapists, musical healthcare professionals, music and medicine practitioners, and anyone who has a passion for music and helping others.

According to Kalani, drumming is considered 'therapeutic' when it is engaged intentionally as a means of creating a positive physical, cognitive, emotional, and/or psycho-social outcome. It's not as much about the specifics of the drumming, as it is about the intention and outcomes. There are many types of music making that may or may not produce positive physical, cognitive, or emotional results. Therapeutic Drumming represents those drumming experiences that ARE aimed at creating positive outcomes. To learn more about Therapeutic Drumming, read "9 Ways Drumming Can Be Therapeutic" by Kalani Das. 

Playing Community Drums

Community drums are large drums that can be played by many people at the same time. A community drum symbolizes the heartbeat of a drum circle. Community drums are usually open to any participant who wishes to join in, however it is a "sign of respect" to ask permission before you sit on a drum. Each drum is different, but there is some basic protocol when you play on a community drum: Have respect for the drum and the drum keeper. Anything being passed at a community drum should be passed clockwise around the drum, never over, across or counterclockwise. Do not rest anything on top of the drum except for a drumstick or blanket when instructed by the drum keeper. Community drums are usually covered with a blanket when not in use.

Some drum circles like to open each gathering with a round of drumming on a community drum. One way to do this is to ask a community drum keeper to set up the beat, and then the rest of the circle will stand up and join in one at a time. When no more room is left to drum, the first drummer leaves to make room for another, and so on until everyone has drummed.

The community drum in the photo of this post is named "Rolling Thunder." She is a Taos cottonwood log drum with a bison hide head. She is the most powerful, healing drum I have ever had the good fortune to connect with. True to her name, she sounds and feels like rolling thunder! To learn more, look inside my Shamanic Drumming Circles Guide.

"The Gift of Shamanism"

Itzhak Beery is an internationally recognized shamanic healer, teacher, and founder of ShamanPortal.org. In his newly released book, The Gift of Shamanism: Visionary Power, Ayahuasca Dreams, and Journeys to Other Realms, Beery recounts his journey from a skeptical New York advertising executive to a gifted shamanic practitioner and teacher. Through engaging stories from his own shamanic experiences, Beery connects emotionally with the reader and guides them indirectly into the shamanic ways of "seeing" (our sixth sense or intuition), which he believes is an important part of our ability to survive.

As Beery explains it, "I'm now convinced that we human beings are truly living in multidimensional realities and that as humans we have the ability to perceive knowledge, images, and information otherwise hidden from our ordinary senses by shifting from the earthly plane into a shamanic state of higher vibrational consciousness. I believe that this is the key to humans' survival for hundreds of thousands of years."

Distilling years of experience as a shamanic practitioner, Beery details his shamanic way of seeing to diagnose spiritual, emotional, and physical ailments. According to Beery, seeing is not linear or logical. It communicates to us in symbols, through poetry and idioms, and in body language, colors, shapes, smells, and bodily sensations. Deep within each and every one of us lie dormant visionary powers waiting to be realized and freed from the confines of our fears, habits, and cultural taboos. Being in touch with our seeing can help us also chart new paths not only for our own life, but for society as a whole. Seeing helps us sustain and preserve the soul of humanity, shapeshifting us, from fear-based attitudes to a life-affirming sense of hope.

Through his riveting stories of visions that manifested in reality, Beery reveals that we all have dormant visionary powers waiting to be realized. This capacity to bring knowledge and healing from alternative realities and parallel dimensions is "the gift of shamanism." It is a gift that all we humans share and oddly enough it is what makes us good survivors on this planet. By embracing this gift, we can actualize our shamanic potential to change ourselves and the world around us. All you have to do is open a portal, trust your intuition, and trust the spirits to guide you. I highly recommend that you read this insightful book and apply its teachings to your life. Beery's forthcoming book, Shamanic Transformations, featuring stories (including my own story) by notable contemporary shamanic practitioners, will be released in September 2015.

Global Dismemberment

So very many are asking the same question these days: "What is happening around us?" We see severe climate change, massive oil spills, and species dying off. We see corruption in banking, politics, and religions around the world. We see fear, anger, and hopelessness in our communities. Many shamanic practitioners theorize that this is a shamanic dismemberment -- the experience of being taken apart, devoured, or torn to pieces on a global scale, allowing for a shift of awareness and transformation of collective consciousness.

In a shamanic dismemberment, the individual dies the little death, which is the surrender of the ego. At its deepest level, the dismemberment experience dismantles our old identity. It is a powerful death-and-rebirth process. The experience of being stripped layer by layer, down to bare bones forces us to examine the bare essence of what we truly are.

In his book, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, Daniel Pinchbeck developed the hypothesis that we are undergoing a transition to a new realization of consciousness, which will be embodied by a new fundamental paradigm that takes into account what Carl Jung called "the reality of the psyche," which is to recognize that its contents have a living reality, along with new social, political, and economic systems that mesh with this realization. Pinchbeck sees the rapid evolution of technology as an expression of this unfolding of consciousness. The acceleration of planetary crises can either incite a planetary awakening and a shift into a regenerative planetary culture based on sustainable principles, or a destruction of human civilization in its current form, and perhaps extinction for our species.

The emerging viewpoint coming from the shamanic community suggests the times we live in have an underworld theme of planetary and cosmological initiation. Entrance into the Lower World is most often precipitated by physical, psychological, emotional, or spiritual events that force the surrender of our ego. Who we believe ourselves to be is not who we really are. No matter how many years one has been expanding and developing their consciousness, no one is exempt from this shamanic death-and-rebirth. This is a shamanic initiation on the grandest cosmological scale.

The caveat is to not swing into polar extremes of grandiosity or deficiency. Many may view this as either an opportunity for transformation or detached withdrawal. Others may react from fear and view this as impending doom and gloom. Rather, view the melodramatic experience as a test of spiritual maturity. This provides the opportunity for letting go and surrendering our ego defensiveness. We are being given the opportunity to surrender to the great tide of change, so that new dreams and visions can emerge. 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.

The positive side of global dismemberment is that it eventually leads to a rebirth; to new ways of being. The darkness which had seemed endless and impenetrable is at long last revealed to be simply a very difficult passage -- the proverbial tunnel, at the end of which is a brilliant, welcoming light. To learn more, look inside my guide to becoming a shamanic healer, Shamanic Drumming: Calling the Spirits.

What is a Peacemaking Circle?

A peacemaking circle is a structured dialogue process used to bring people together to better understand one another, foster and strengthen bonds, and solve community issues. Peacekeeping circles are based on restorative principles that are rooted in ancient tribal conflict resolution rituals. People have gathered in circles since the beginning of humankind for a very good reason. The circle is a container for building community and celebrating life.

As Kay Pranis notes in The Little Book of Circle Processes, "Circles assume a universal human wish to be connected to others in a good way. The values of a Circle derive from this basic human impulse. Therefore values that nurture and promote good connections to others are the foundation of the Circle." These values include: the inherent dignity and worth of each person, trust and respect, compassion, non-judgment, inclusiveness, understanding, open-heartedness, honesty and courage.

Peacemaking circles bring people together to connect for a common purpose, without judgment. Circles are being used in neighborhoods to provide support for those hurt by crime and to determine sentences for those who commit crime, in schools to establish positive classroom environments and deal with behavior problems, in the workplace to resolve conflict, and in social services to create more organic support systems for people struggling to get their lives back on track.

In "Healing the Wounds of Street Violence: Peacemaking Circles and Community Youth Development," sociology professor Carolyn Boyes-Watson addresses the importance of this kind of restorative process: "Circles are about practicing a new way to be in the world. They are about incrementally shifting habits and practicing to be in a different way with one another and ourselves. Circles develop skills at participation, consensus, shared leadership, and problem solving, all of which are…essential tools for genuine democracy and social justice….They…help us see ourselves as part of a connected whole." To learn more, look inside The Little Book of Circle Processes : A New/Old Approach to Peacemaking. 

Creating Effective Ritual and Ceremony

Opening Sacred Space

Ritual and ceremony are essential for a healthy and balanced personal and communal life. Many persistent personal and social problems can be linked to the lack of ritual and ceremony. Rituals and ceremonies reduce tension, anxiety and stress, produce deeper self-awareness, and connect us to our community. They reconnect us with our deepest core values and our highest vision of who we are and why we are here.

Ritual and ceremony are two distinct practices used to engage the powers of the unseen world to effect specific changes in the visible world. Ceremony is a formal act or set of acts designed to celebrate, honor or acknowledge what is. Ceremony is used to strengthen or restore the status quo, grounding people in the natural order of things and/or deepening communal relationships. Ritual is a formal act or set of acts designed to cause a change in what is -- to change or transform the status quo.

Ritual and ceremony are a universal way to address the spirit world and provide some kind of fundamental change in an individual's consciousness or in the ambience of a gathering. They may involve prayers, chanting, drumming, dancing, anointing, as well as rites of passage. Both are designed to engage the spirit world in helping us to do what we are unable to do for ourselves. Without the connection to the powers of the spirit world, neither is an effective tool for initiating change. By creating effective ritual and ceremony, we can skillfully engage Spirit in the processes we are involved in like healing, therapy or actualizing our goals.

Potent rituals and ceremonies have similar foundational elements. Key elements of this foundation include:

1. Intention is the first element of effective ritual and ceremony. Without a clear intention or desired outcome, the energy created in the ritual or ceremony is poorly structured with little or no direction. This intention may be a new vocation, better health or world peace;
2. The creation of sacred space. Sacred space is that territory that we enter for spiritual and inner work. Preparing sacred space shifts our awareness from ordinary waking consciousness to a more centered, meditative state and structures a boundary that separates the sacred from the ordinary and profane.  There are no rules or restrictions governing this process, although tradition suggests that you begin by smudging. Smudging is the burning of herbs for cleansing, purification, and protection of sacred space. Consider setting up a centerpiece or altar that is appropriate for your reason for coming together. Although an altar is not essential, it provides us with a focus to pray, meditate and listen. An altar is any structure upon which we place offerings and sacred objects that have spiritual or cosmological significance. It represents the center and axis of your sacred space;
3. Invocations welcome and invite the archetypal spiritual energies of the seven directions -- East, South, West, North, Up, Down, and Within. Calling the spirits is an ancient shamanic rite that is practiced cross-culturally to access and honor the powers of creation. 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. The specific words of your invocation to the spirits do not matter. What matters is that your prayer comes from the heart. You must show the spirit world you have passion and heart. At this point, the process becomes either a ritual or ceremony depending on the intention;
4. Altered states of consciousness are induced through intense rhythmic stimulation such as drumming, chanting and dancing. An altered state of consciousness is any state which is significantly different from normal waking consciousness. Altered or trance states produce deeper self-awareness and allow us to view life and life's problems from a detached, spiritual perspective not easily achieved in a state of ordinary consciousness. This process allows us to connect with the power of the universe, to externalize our own knowledge, and to internalize our answers;
5. The closure of sacred space. It is important to conclude the process by closing sacred space. When you close sacred space, you again address the archetypal elements and spirit helpers, thanking them for their help, healing and wisdom during this sacred time. After expressing your gratitude to the spirits, send them off, releasing their energies to the seven directions. The event may be followed by a festive potluck meal in which the people rejoice that the spirits have brought the blessing of greater power to the community. To learn more, look inside my Shamanic Drumming Circles Guide.

Comparing Shamanism and Psychiatry

Shamanism, one of the oldest spiritual healing disciplines, has recently become a topic of interest in mainstream psychiatry. Shamans are often compared to psychiatrists, searching the unconscious for hidden sources of suffering and lost fragments of self. In a recent article for the webzine Mad in America, Natalie Tobert, Ph.D., a medical anthropologist and the author of Spiritual Psychiatries, compares and contrasts the role of diagnosis and treatment within shamanism and psychiatry. Tobert explores both their methods of working, and their function of maintaining social order. Comparison of their job descriptions to alleviate human suffering is complex. Shamanic practice focuses primarily on the individual within society, environment, and cosmos. In contrast psychiatry focuses on the individual's body/mind -- though it is beginning to consider wider issues. In both cases, the diagnoses which are made by shamans and psychiatrists are linked to their own explanatory models of causation. Although the societal role appears similar, their practices and treatments are different. Tobert generalizes that in order to diagnose and treat human suffering, one works within reductionist medicine, the other within energy medicine. To learn more, read "Shamans and Psychiatrists: A Comparison."

"Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology"

David Abram is a cultural ecologist and environmental philosopher named by Utne Reader as one of one hundred visionaries transforming the world. David Abram's first book, The Spell of the Sensuous -- hailed as "revolutionary" by the Los Angeles Times, as "daring and truly original" by Science -- has become a classic of environmental literature. In his latest book, Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology, Abram returns with a startling exploration of our human entanglement with the rest of nature.

For most of our human existence, we relied on our animal senses and our collective knowledge about the natural world for our very survival. But with the rapid growth of science and technology, we as individuals have relinquished more and more of this knowledge to experts, taking our primary truths from technologies that hold the living world at a distance. It's understandable, the author points out, that we abstract our physical selves and seek sanctuary in virtual worlds. But in doing so, we renounce our storehouse of "mammalian intelligence" and our citizenship in the natural world.

Abram's writing seeks to rectify this alienation by drawing readers ever closer to their animal senses in order to explore, from within, the elemental kinship between the human body and the sentient Earth. In thirteen chapters, the author builds a new way of looking at and interacting with the natural world. Abram's book begins with a musing about shadow and its depth, flows through tales of encounters with whales and shamans, and ends by making the crucial connection between this disconnect between humans and our environment and our ability to destroy it unchecked and seemingly without remorse. Abram writes that we can't "restore" nature without "restorying" life, hence his extraordinary, provocative, and rectifying "earthly cosmology." To learn more, look inside Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology.

How to Care for Your Drum

Drums should be cared for in a manner befitting their place in your life. It is a common practice to keep shamanic drums out of sight or wrapped in a cloth when not being used, as this will prevent careless handling of them or accidental disrespecting of the spirits of the drums by people unfamiliar with shamanism. Large community drums are usually covered with a blanket when not in use. The most important thing to remember is that shamanic drums are regarded as living, sentient beings and function best in the same conditions that humans find most comfortable. Basic care instructions are as follows:

1. Store your drum in a warm, dry place away from direct heat or sunshine. You can keep your drum in a water repellent nylon padded drum bag or simply wrap it in a special cloth or animal hide;
2. Protect your drum from moisture. When your drum gets wet, the wood swells and the rawhide sags. You can clean your drum by rubbing it softly with a slightly damp cloth;

3. Never leave your drum in the car for any length of time in extreme heat or cold as this can split the head. Leaving your drum in direct sunlight for any length of time can also make the drum's head split;

4. When the humidity is high, you can restore the tone of your drum by heating it slowly with a hair dryer, in front of a fire, or on a heating pad. Avoid heating the skin to a temperature that is too hot to touch. You can preserve the tone of a drum by putting it in a tightly closed plastic bag;

5. In high-humidity areas, some people put some kind of a natural conditioner on their drumheads once a year. You can rub a light coating of lanolin or neatsfoot oil into the back of the drumhead and on the cords. Your drum will stay in tune longer and absorb less moisture;

6. If a painted design on your drumhead is starting to wear away, you can touch it up with acrylic paint. After your paint has dried, apply a coat of clear acrylic sealer to the entire drumhead using a wide brush or spray the design with clear matte art fixative;

7. Should your drum ever require repair, consult the person who crafted the drum. If that is not possible, find another drum maker who works in a similar way. If you can find someone to teach you how to repair the drum, it's well worth the time to do so. 

With minimal care, your drum will last for many years as a trusted ally. The very first drum I made is over twenty-five years old and shows no signs of deterioration despite extensive use. The simplest way to care for your drum is to play it. A drum is not meant to be left hanging on a wall as a decoration. It is a sacred instrument that opens portals to the spirit world. Each time you pick up your drum, thank it, honor it, and express your gratitude for this gift from a greater being. To learn more, look inside my drum guide, Shamanic Drumming: Calling the Spirits.