Things a Shaman Sees

Everything that is -- is alive
on a steep river bank
there's a voice that speaks
I've seen the master of that voice
he bowed to me
I spoke with him
he answers all my questions
Everything that is -- is alive
little gray bird
little blue breast
sings in a hollow bough
she calls her spirits dances
sings her shaman songs
woodpecker on a tree
that's his drum
he's got a drumming nose
and the tree shakes
cries out like a drum
when the axe bites its side
all these things answer my call
Everything that is -- is alive
the lantern walks around
the walls of this house have tongues
even this bowl has it own true home
the hides asleep in their bags
were up talking all night
antlers on the graves
rise and circle the mounds
while the dead themselves get up
and go visit the living ones

-- Chukchee of Siberia1

1. David Cloutier, Spirit, Spirit: Shaman Songs, Incantations  (Providence: Copper Beech Press, 1973), pp. 32-33.

The Call of the Drum

All over America, people of all ages are taking up drumming in great numbers. In communities all across the country, small drumming circles are springing up, oriented not toward performance and musical virtuosity, but toward personal transformation, consciousness expansion, and community building. Since there are no prerequisites to drumming, anyone can join in and explore rhythms with hands and drumsticks as an exhilarating way of communing.

Folklore around the world reflects the age-old use of drumming for creating communal and sacred space. Realizing that healthy living things are not only internally rhythmic, but also synchronized with their environment, the earliest communities of humans based their survival on keeping track of these rhythms. Living in harmony with the rhythms of nature was of vital importance. Perceiving life as a rhythmic existence, primal peoples used drumming rites to arouse and shape group emotion and behavior, developing a continuous, shared consciousness.

Drumming also served to influence modes of awareness that both underlie and transcend the normal patterns of consciousness. Cultures throughout the world continue to use drumming to initiate changes in group consciousness and to attune to the rhythms of life. The rites may differ significantly from culture to culture, yet virtually all utilize the drum to induce holistic states of consciousness.

Our own western culture is deeply rooted in drum images: the Little Drummer Boy of the Christmas tale, rudimental drumming of the military tradition, and the driving beat of rock and roll. Missing, however, is the spirit or trance side of the drum, a side recognized by virtually every culture on the planet. There are two voices to a drum. One is physical, having to do with the drum's construction, cultural context, and method of playing. To commune with the drum's second or spiritual voice, we must be carried away by the rhythm. We must soar on flights of rapture. It is this ecstatic element that today's drummers are rediscovering.

People are again hearing the call of the drum. As we hear and respect the compelling voice of the drum, we connect with our own inner guidance, which inspires us to heal our own place on the planet. The heartbeat of the drum is breaking through our soulless scientific misconceptions of nature to a new communion with our planet. The drum is calling us to a path of environmental sanity, to rejoining the miraculous cycle of nature. Indeed, it is the voice of our Earth Mother who is speaking through the drum, for the drum echoes the pulse of her heart. Her heart is crying out to the circle of humanity to attune our hearts again to hers. May we all heed the call of the drum.

The Paradoxes of Rhythm

Pandit Subhankar Banerjee

One of the paradoxes of rhythm is that it has both the capacity to move your awareness out of your body into realms beyond time and space, and to ground you firmly in the present moment. A steady, monotonous single beat, for example, will arouse and vitalize you. At a rapid pace of about 180 beats per minute, a steady, unvarying pattern stimulates an upward flow of energy within the body. It creates the sensation of inner movement, which if you allow it, will carry you along.

A two-beat rhythm, on the other hand, produces a different sonic experience. The soft, steady lub-dub, lub-dub of a heartbeat rhythm, at around 60 beats a minute, has a calming and centering affect. It reconnects us to the warmth and safety of the first sound we ever heard -- the nurturing pulse of our mother's heartbeat melding with our own. At a rapid tempo of 180 beats per minute, the heartbeat rhythm stimulates a downward flow of energy within the body. Every rhythm has its own quality and touches you in a unique way. These qualities, in fact, exist within each of us, longing to be activated.

It is this process of internalization that allows us to access the inaudible yet perceptible soul, so-to-speak, of a rhythm. Another paradox of rhythm is that the audible pattern is the inverse of the "inaudible matrix." Every rhythm has both an inaudible (unmanifest) and audible (manifest) aspect -- silence and sound. It is the inaudible intervals between audible beats, which allow us to hear the grouping of beats in a coherent cycle or pattern. We sense the interval as the "off-beat" or light element and the audible beat as the heavy element. The drummer establishes the audible beat, whereas the silent pulse quality unfolds by itself in any rhythmic pattern.

Master percussionist, Reinhard Flatischler, in his book The Forgotten Power of Rhythm, established that all people perceive the unmanifest essence of this silent pulse in the same way, regardless of how the drummer shapes the audible pattern itself. As Flatischler puts it, "As the inaudible part of a cycle, this pattern exists in a universal archetypal realm. The audible shaping of the cycle, on the other hand, exists in the realm of uniqueness and individuality. In rhythm, both sides unite and thereby allow the individual to make contact with the world of archetypes."1

In conclusion, one can be creative with the audible aspect of a rhythm, as long as one stays within the framework of the cycle. One can shape a rhythm by varying the tempo, the intervals, the accents, or the drum sound itself. Alternatively, one can play the exact structure of a rhythmic pattern with precisely regular intervals. Both approaches to rhythm have merit and both allow you to internalize the archetypal essence of rhythm. The way you shape a rhythm will shape your response, but the "inaudible matrix" remains timeless and invariable. So do not be concerned about your rhythmic skill, technique, or competence. Allow yourself to be carried by the power of rhythm without fear of falling out of rhythm. Allow the drum to integrate the seemingly paradoxical yet complementary aspects of rhythm into the resonant core of your being. 

1. Flatischler, Reinhard. The Forgotten Power of Rhythm. Mendocino: LifeRhythm, 1992.

Elk Medicine

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 my song "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.

Trevor Hall - The Fruitful Darkness

Joan Halifax's 2004 book The Fruitful Darkness is a great inspiration behind singer-songwriter Trevor Hall's latest album of its namesake, which is currently in the midst of a four-part release. Hall was in the middle of recording the album when he discovered Halifax's insightful book. Her deep study of shamanism, Buddhism, tribal wisdom, and their interconnections resonated with Hall on many levels. "The book really helped me finish the album," Hall said in an interview.

In her book, Halifax delves into the fruitful darkness -- the shadow side of being, found in the root truths of shamanic traditions and the stillness of meditation. In The Fruitful Darkness, Halifax writes: "Both Buddhism and shamanism are based in the psychological grammar that says we cannot eliminate the so-called negative forces of afflictive emotions. The only way to work with them is to encounter them directly, enter their world, and transform them. They then become manifestations of wisdom. Our weaknesses become our strengths, the source of our compassion for others and the basis of our awakened nature."

Shamans, Halifax notes, develop mystical abilities by surrendering to darkness and that which attacks them. Her reflections on the Buddhist path and the shamanic journey -- a spiritual journey of learning to befriend darkness -- spoke to Hall's own difficult walk through darkness. Hall's latest album tells the story of his own journey through darkness in song. Nearly three years ago, his health deteriorated as the result of a staph infection, leading to his hospitalization and many canceled tour dates.

Hall says he became completely disconnected from the beliefs and inspirations he had previously based his life on. As his idea of himself disintegrated, he found himself feeling alone in the dark, filled with doubt, asking "Who am I? What do I believe?" It was a feeling he couldn't shake.

Halifax's reflections on the Buddhist path and the shamanic journey immediately spoke to Hall's own difficult walk through darkness -- his own shamanic initiation. Initiation is the death, dismembering, and dissolving of old forms/structures/ways of life. Shamanic initiation serves as a transformer -- it causes a radical change in the initiate forever. An initiation marks a transition into a new way of being in the world. It tells us something about the mystery of life and death.

Completing this restorative rite is precisely the task of the shaman. As Joan Halifax explains in her book Shamanic Voices, "The shaman is a healed healer who has retrieved the broken pieces of his or her body and psyche and, through a personal rite of transformation, has integrated many planes of life experience: the body and the spirit, the ordinary and non-ordinary, the individual and the community, nature and supernature, the mythic and the historical, the past, the present and the future."

While writing an album reflecting on the wisdom he'd gained navigating a period of hardship, Halifax's message was the very guidance Hall needed. When it came time to title his record, Hall knew he wanted the album to share the same name as Halifax's book. He wrote to Halifax, who serves as the Abbot of Upaya Zen Center, requesting her permission to title his project The Fruitful Darkness. She gave him permission to use the title for his album, which echoes many of the book's themes in its lyrics. On the title track of the album, Hall sings:

The dark within my dark
Is where I found my light
The fruit became the doorway
And now it's open wide
The fruitful darkness
Is all around us

On "Arrows," the eighth track that Hall has released from The Fruitful Darkness, he sings:

The dark is all around me
But I'm so glad it found me

Hall has come to know the fruits of darkness well. In a recent interview Hall said, "It's been a journey to get to this point. The spiritual path is like a razor's edge. Every tradition says that -- Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Jewish. It's not a walk in the park."

Auditory Illusion

An auditory illusion is an illusion of hearing, the aural equivalent of an optical illusion: the listener hears either sounds which are not present in the stimulus, or "impossible" sounds. Shamans are known for their ability to create unusual auditory phenomena. According to Scottish percussionist Ken Hyder, who has studied with Siberian shamans, "Shamans tend to move around a lot when they are playing, so a listener will hear a lot of changes in the sound ... including a mini-Doppler effect. And if the shaman is singing at the same time, the voice will also change as its vibration plays on the drumhead."1 The Doppler effect can be described as the effect produced by a moving source of sound waves in which there is an apparent upward shift in frequency for observers towards whom the source is approaching and an apparent downward shift in frequency for observers from whom the source is receding.

Furthermore, in a recent ethnographic study of Chukchi shamans in northeastern Siberia, it was found that in a confined space, shamans are capable of directing the sound of their voice and drum to different parts of the room. The sounds appear to shift around the room, seemingly on their own. Shamans accomplish this through the use of standing waves, an acoustic phenomenon produced by the interference between sound waves as they reflect between walls. Sound waves either combine or cancel, causing certain resonant frequencies to either intensify or completely disappear. Sound becomes distorted and seems to expand and move about the room as the shaman performs. Moreover, sound can appear to emanate from both outside and inside the body of the listener, a sensation which anthropologists claimed, "could be distinctly uncomfortable and unnerving."2

1. Ken Hyder, Shamanism and Music in Siberia: Drum and Space. Tech. 11 Aug. 2008. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

2 .Aaron Watson, 2001, “The Sounds of Transformation: Acoustics, Monuments and Ritual in the British Neolithic,” In N. Price (ed.) The Archaeology of Shamanism. London: Routledge. 178-192.

Elephant Medicine

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, and the insight of collective memory. Elephant connects us to the wisdom of the collective unconscious, the common psychological inheritance of humanity. Our ancestors and the collective spiritual power of all those who went before us reside in the vast realm of the collective unconscious. When our own time comes to pass on, we will become part of this infinite creative matrix of all that we are and have ever been. To connect with Elephant, listen to my song "Elephant Dreamtime."

Shamanic Initiation

Buryat Shaman's Initiation Staff *

In his classic work, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, Mircea Eliade discusses the three stages of becoming a shaman: the Call, Training, and Initiation. The first stage to becoming a healer, as described by Eliade, is that of the calling -- this call comes from the family, the community, or from the world beyond. Some are called, initiated and trained by spirit guides and/or human teachers from childhood.

Shamans are called, and then receive rigorous instruction. Training may follow an ordered tradition or take a spontaneous course guided by the shaman's spirit helpers. The function of training is to develop the skills and talents so that shamanic practitioners don't unintentionally hurt themselves or others. Though the spirits give shamans their healing powers, shamans must learn the technique of invoking them.

Then there is Initiation. Shamanic initiation is a rite of passage, connecting the apprentice shaman intimately to the spirit world. It is typically the final step in shamanic training, though Mongolian Buryat apprentices go through a sequence of initiation rituals to become shamans. Buryat shamans having completed more initiation rituals are believed to have more power and more experience. However, initiation may be spontaneous, set in motion at any time by spirit's intervention into the initiate's life. Ultimately, shamanic initiation takes place between the initiate and the spirit world. It is the spirits who choose and make the shaman.

Shamanic initiation is probably the most powerful and least understood of all forms of spiritual awakening. It is not achieved by having mastered a body of knowledge or having completed some long-term training program. Though it may be set in motion by an apprentice's human teachers as part of an ordered, training process, authentic initiation can only be conveyed by the spirits themselves.

Initiation into shamanhood often involves shamanic dismemberment -- the experience of being taken apart, devoured, or torn to pieces. 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.

Shamanic initiation functions as a transformer -- it causes a radical change in the initiate forever. An initiation marks a transition into a new way of being in the world. It tells us something about the mystery of life and death. According to shamanic teacher and author Sandra Ingerman, "Initiation is the death, dismembering, and dissolving of old forms/structures/ways of life. And I have come to understand that true initiation is allowing spirit to sing into creation the new forms and new creations. Allowing spirit to sing formlessness into form creates a new evolution of consciousness." To learn more, look inside my guide to becoming a shamanic healer, Shamanic Drumming: Calling the Spirits. 

* Photo of Buryat Shaman's Initiation Staff by Arkady Zarubin.

The Tao of Drumming

Tao is the most inclusive concept in Chinese culture, the center of all philosophical and spiritual belief. It may be defined as a path, a way, a doctrine, or the natural process of the universe itself. Every art and science is called a Tao or a way.

From a rhythmic perspective, the I Ching offers and represents a "Tao of Drumming." The I Ching is an ancient Chinese text and divination system. It is the wellspring of Chinese thought, stressing the connection between humanity's destiny and the natural world. Philosophically, it describes the universe as a single, flowing, rhythmic being, and all things in it in constant cyclical change. Everything is t'ai chi -- one universal energy, which expresses itself as two polarized yet complementary aspects, yin and yang. Yin and yang ebb and flow, creating the cycles and rhythms of life.

By observing nature, the sages perceived all of the rhythms and energy patterns that arise from the interaction of yin and yang. They then coded these rhythmic patterns into a "book of life." The I Ching's sixty-four hexagrams represent a code or program of the operating principle of life itself. Each six-line configuration is the visual representation of a rhythm archetype. The image pattern of each hexagram generates a particular drum pattern based on the sequence of the yin and yang lines. Each rhythmic pattern pulsates a particular resonance, which stimulates, works with, and informs the body, mind, and spirit in the most optimal manner for effecting change or harmonizing with change.

The drummer may then utilize the I Ching as a gauge, a precise means for placing oneself in relation to the pattern or way of cyclical change, and that way is known as Tao. It is a guide to harmony and balance and the drum is the instrument of attunement. It is a pathway to the "infinite Tao," the unknowable force that guides the universe and everything in it. Through the beat of the drum, anyone can resonate in harmony with the eternal rhythm of Tao. To learn more, look inside my book I Ching: The Tao of Drumming.

Snake Medicine

Hopi Snake Dance

Snake medicine represents cosmic consciousness, lightning, creation, fertility, sexuality, reproduction, transmutation, and the all-consuming cycles of death-and-rebirth, exemplified by the shedding of Snake's skin. As Snake sheds its skin so we can shed beliefs and habits which we have outgrown, moving into higher levels of consciousness and wholeness. On the deepest level Snake represents infinity or wholeness, which is depicted by the Ouroboros -- an ancient symbol depicting a snake swallowing its own tail. The Ouroboros eats its own tail to sustain its life, in an eternal cycle of renewal.

For time immemorial people have regarded Snake as the guardian of sacred places, the keeper of concealed knowledge, and the path of communication between the worlds. The ancient Maya invoked serpent deities who dwelled beneath their stepped pyramids. In the rapture of bloodletting rituals, the shaman priests opened a path of communication between the human world and the Otherworld. The Vision Serpent was seen rising in the clouds of copal incense and smoke above the vision chamber of the pyramid. In the vision chamber atop each pyramid, the entranced shaman king and priests communed with the ancestors and with the gods of the Otherworld.

Snake symbolizes rain, growth, and fertility. Among the Hopi tribes, the Snake Dance is the grand finale of ceremonies to pray for rain, held in Arizona every two years. Hopis believe their ancestors originated in an underworld, and that their gods and the spirits of ancestors live there. They call snakes their brothers, and trust that the snakes will carry their prayers to the Rainmakers beneath the earth. Thus the Hopi dancers carry snakes in their mouths to impart prayers to them.

Snake is often associated with spiritual awakening and the path to enlightenment. The Feathered Serpent was a prominent deity of spiritual enlightenment found in many Mesoamerican religions. In the Eastern traditions, a storehouse of fiery energy known as Kundalini, or the Serpent Fire, lies coiled at the base of the spine. When awakened, the Serpent Fire rises up the spine, activating spiritual energy centers and opening new levels of awareness. Snake medicine is the energy of cosmic consciousness, wholeness, and creativity. Invoke Snake to awaken your untapped power, creativity, and vision.

They Were Here: An Epic Shamanic Album

New Music from the two Shamanic Practitioners Debuts High on Radio Charts, is called "Phenomenal, Primal" in early reviews, and slated for soundtrack placement.

"They Were Here," by shamanic practitioners Byron Metcalf and Jennifer Grais, is an epic full length shamanic album, invoking the untamed power of America's wild horses. Driven by a deep sense of respect for 'Horse' as healer and spirit guide, tempered by sociological and political concerns about the ongoing extinction of mustangs from the American West, the seven-track, hour-long recording evokes the magic and majesty of our wild horses. "Run," the transcendent 14-minute journey at the heart of the album, begins with the real-life sounds of galloping horses that Byron ultimately fuses with his explosive drumming and Jennifer's joyful, heart-rending vocalizations.

Horse as 'Spirit Animal' represents and mirrors the innate life-force, personal power, wildness, and the instinctual impulse for freedom within all of us. Jennifer's invocation-like vocals, combined with Byron's deeply meditative drumming, take the listener on a unique shamanic adventure -- a freedom ride of soaring potential and along the way they are held gently and safely in the arms of Mother Earth. "They Were Here" weaves a deeply-grounded yet blissfully ethereal world infused with beautiful and haunting vocals, polyrhythmic drumming, droning didgeridoo, orchestral soundscapes, and field recordings of galloping horses. This evocative shamanic performance is an astounding listening experience of spiritual depth and sonic ecstasy. It debuted this week at #10 on the NACC Radio Charts and is available on Amazon and iTunes. Listen to the entire album on Bandcamp.

FREE Guide to Shamanism

The Sacred Hoop Magazine "Guide to Shamanism" is 128 pages of wonderful, image-rich shamanic information. This special (PDF download) issue of Sacred Hoop is a give away, please feel free to share it widely, wherever you think it would be well received. You may share this free issue in any non-commercial way but reference to www.SacredHoop.org must be made if any of it is reprinted anywhere. Sacred Hoop is an independent magazine about Shamanism and Animistic Spirituality. It is based in West Wales, and has been published four times a year since 1993. Sacred Hoop seeks to network those wanting to learn the spiritual teachings of indigenous peoples as a living path of knowledge. In Hoop you will find articles and features by acclaimed contributors about Shamanic Traditions, Storytelling, Myth, Traveler's Tales, Ritual Arts, Sacred Living, Healing, Ceremonies and much more! To get a low-cost subscription please visit: Sacred Hoop.

In Memoriam: Michael J. Harner, 1929 – 2018

It was announced that Michael J. Harner, author of The Way of the Shaman, died Feb. 3 at the age of 88. Dr. Harner was born in Washington D.C. in 1929. He received his doctorate in anthropology in 1963 from the University of California, Berkeley, after which he taught "at various institutions, including UC Berkeley, Columbia University, Yale University, and the graduate faculty of the New School in New York." Founder of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, Harner was widely acknowledged as the world's foremost authority on shamanism and has had an enormous influence on both the academic and lay worlds. Michael Harner's legacy lives on through his thousands of students and practitioners of shamanism. His was an authentic life well lived and he will be deeply missed.

Northwest Coast Indians Box Drums

Shaman's Cedar Box Drum

Wooden box drums are a customary element to the music of the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Box drums accompany singing during funerals and at the memorial potlatch ceremonies that come later. The box drum is either played upright or tilted back and is used to begin and to mark certain points within a song. Like many of the musical instruments used on the Northwest Coast, box drums can be associated with shamanic practice. Some indigenous people of the Northwest Coast utilize the drum to indicate the presence of spirits. For example, a tremolo created by rapidly striking the drum can be perceived as an audible manifestation of a spirit being's presence.

The carved cedar drum in the photo is a very old box drum belonging to the Mount Fairweather (Snail) house of the T'akdeintaan clan in Hoonah, Alaska. It commemorates the time that a T'akdeintaan shaman proved his spiritual power as a shaman. A physical representation of the shaman's spirit guide is carved into the drum as an effigy used to invoke the spirit's power. The top figure carved on the front of the drum is a bear. It's most likely the same drum depicted in geographer Aurel Krause's 1882 book, called "The Tlingit Indians" in English, and could have been carved decades before that.

Frog Medicine

Frog symbolizes rain, cleansing, purification, healing, rebirth, transformation, and magic. Their magic is reflected in their metamorphosis from aqueous tadpoles to air-breathing creatures which can live on land. It is this kinship to the element of water that gives Frog medicine great cleansing and healing properties. In knowing the element of water, Frog can use its drum-like ribbit to invoke the Thunder Beings—thunder, lightning, wind, and rain—to cleanse and replenish the earth with water. Frog teaches us how to recognize when it is time to purify our bodies and our environments so that healing can occur on all levels. It teaches us to know when it is time to cleanse, refresh and replenish the soul. Frog sings the songs that call the rain to Mother Earth. Listen to the "Frog Rain Chant."

The Neuroscience of Drumming

According to new neuroscience research, rhythm is rooted in innate functions of the brain, mind, and consciousness. As human beings, we are innately rhythmic. Our relationship with rhythm begins in the womb. At twenty two days, a single (human embryo) cell jolts to life. This first beat awakens nearby cells and incredibly they all begin to beat in perfect unison. These beating cells divide and become our heart. This desire to beat in unison seemingly fuels our entire lives. Studies show that, regardless of musical training, we are innately able to perceive and recall elements of beat and rhythm.

It makes sense then that beat and rhythm are an important aspect in music therapy. Our brains are hard-wired to be able to entrain to a beat. Entrainment occurs when two or more frequencies come into step or in phase with each other. If you are walking down a street and you hear a song, you instinctively begin to step in sync to the beat of the song. This is actually an important area of current music therapy research. Our brain enables our motor system to naturally entrain to a rhythmic beat, allowing music therapists to target rehabilitating movements. Rhythm is a powerful gateway to well-being.

Neurologic Drum Therapy

Neuroscience research has demonstrated the therapeutic effects of rhythmic drumming. The reason rhythm is such a powerful tool is that it permeates the entire brain. Vision for example is in one part of the brain, speech another, but drumming accesses the whole brain. The sound of drumming generates dynamic neuronal connections in all parts of the brain even where there is significant damage or impairment such as in Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). According to Michael Thaut, director of Colorado State University's Center for Biomedical Research in Music, "Rhythmic cues can help retrain the brain after a stroke or other neurological impairment, as with Parkinson's patients ...." The more connections that can be made within the brain, the more integrated our experiences become.

Studies indicate that drumming produces deeper self-awareness by inducing synchronous brain activity. The physical transmission of rhythmic energy to the brain synchronizes the two cerebral hemispheres. When the logical left hemisphere and the intuitive right hemisphere begin to pulsate in harmony, the inner guidance of intuitive knowing can then flow unimpeded into conscious awareness. The ability to access unconscious information through symbols and imagery facilitates psychological integration and a reintegration of self.

In his book, Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing, Michael Winkelman reports that drumming also synchronizes the frontal and lower areas of the brain, integrating nonverbal information from lower brain structures into the frontal cortex, producing "feelings of insight, understanding, integration, certainty, conviction, and truth, which surpass ordinary understandings and tend to persist long after the experience, often providing foundational insights for religious and cultural traditions."

It requires abstract thinking and the interconnection between symbols, concepts, and emotions to process unconscious information. The human adaptation to translate an inner experience into meaningful narrative is uniquely exploited by drumming. Rhythmic drumming targets memory, perception, and the complex emotions associated with symbols and concepts: the principal functions humans rely on to formulate belief. Because of this exploit, the result of the synchronous brain activity in humans is the spontaneous generation of meaningful information which is imprinted into memory. Drumming is an effective method for integrating subjective experience into both physical space and the cultural group.

The Hmong Shamans of France

Ly Nya Tcha

The Hmong are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. There are 15,000 Hmong currently living in France. France's Hmong population grew steadily after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. After American armed forces pulled out of Vietnam, a communist regime took over in Laos, and ordered the prosecution and re-education of all those who had fought against its cause during the war. Whilst many Hmong are still left in Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, and China, since 1975 many Hmong have fled Laos in fear of persecution. Housed in Thai refugee camps during the 1980s, many have resettled in countries such as the United States, French Guiana, Australia, Germany, and France.

Since their arrival in France, the Hmong were forced to adapt to an urban way of life in which their cultural practices could appear antiquated and superstitious. The Hmong have struggled to preserve their shamanic beliefs and traditions in the face of assimilation, religious conversion, and the incomprehension of their French neighbors. According to Ly Nya Tcha, a Hmong shaman living in Louvres, "Most of the Hmong community now places more faith in medicine and our tradition has lost its value. Plus, there are new religious beliefs that consider our traditions backwards.” Hmong converts to Protestantism, says Ly, "believe I live in the past and never ask for my help." Read more.

Eagle Medicine

Eagle symbolizes power, courage, soul flight, wisdom, higher truth, and illuminated mind -- clarity of both conscious and intuitive awareness. Eagle represents the twofold clarity of one who clings to the light of inner knowing, thereby illuminating the world. We can connect with the guidance of our inner voice by stilling the chatter of the mind through meditation or drumming. Stopping the chatter of the mind frees us of fear, doubt, and limitation. Such inner calm and openness reconnects us to our inner truth, to our sense of what is correct. Inner truth reflects, like a mirror, the higher, universal truth that exists in every situation.

Eagle teaches us that we should allow this higher truth to guide our actions and transform our life. In every situation, we should be humble, open, and receptive, suspending all previous judgments, in order to grasp the inner truth of the matter. We must rid ourselves of doubt and disbelief and trust that the correct way will show itself. The cosmic truth of the situation will then become apparent at the right time. With the power of truth as our guide, we can bring enlightenment to the world.

Eagle reminds us to pay attention to what really matters in life. Eagle medicine is the ability to rise above the material to see the spiritual. Eagle helps us to soar above the hurdles of life's dilemmas, keeping our attention focused on more distant horizons of self-realization. Invoke Eagle to help you fulfill your own unique path of self-realization. This sacred bird will enable you to fly higher or go deeper within yourself.

Many shamans call upon Eagle to carry their prayers on its wings to the Creator. Eagle will carry the shaman's prayers to the Creator, or the shaman may transform into Eagle and soar into the celestial realm of spirit that governs all aspects of the material realm of earth. The Eagle and the shaman can ascend to the celestial realm of unmanifest potential and descend on healing journeys into the temporal realm of manifest form. Both are intercessors between heaven and earth, bringing harmony and balance between the spiritual and the physical world.

Standing Rock Defense Fund

Photo by Lucas Zhao

The Lakota People's Law Project is asking for donations to fund the upcoming legal battles to protect Standing Rock activists, Chase Iron Eyes and HolyElk Lafferty. The necessity defenses of Chase and HolyElk could set a precedent to protect not only land and water, but freedom of speech itself. These trials can help create a permanent legal framework to protect indigenous, environmental, and civil rights. If you choose not to give monetarily, they ask your thoughts and prayers for these two brave warriors. All the medicine you can provide is much appreciated as the team gathers evidence and prepares for the fight. These trials may prove to be two of the most important of our generation. Heal. Unify. Resist.

Winter Solstice: Return of the Light

In the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year and the first day of winter. This occurs December 20, 21, or 22, varying from year to year, dependent upon the elliptical path of the Earth around our Sun. Technically the solstice marks the instant at which the Earth's axis stops tilting away from the sun and starts going back the other way. Solstice means "Standing-Still-Sun." At Winter Solstice, the Sun journeys farthest south in its orbital path and for the next three days it rises and sets at virtually the same place on the horizon, appearing to stand still, and then it slowly returns north.

This three day pause in the Sun's movement is a time of inward reflection. We are each given the opportunity to take a peek at what is happening on a heart and soul level. We can reflect on the year ending to see where we have erred and reform those beliefs, attitudes, and strategies no longer applicable to the New Year unfolding. Such a fresh open-minded approach will broaden our perspective and start us out on the right track.

Ancient peoples in our northern climes regarded Winter Solstice as the pivotal time of year. It is a time of transition in the annual cycle when the old year ends and our journey into the New Year begins. It is a sacred time to conduct ceremonies focused on the return of light and warmth. Rituals designed to divert nature from the path toward eternal winter and oblivion to one directed toward light and prosperity. Most cultures planned festivals and celebrations at or around the Winter Solstice to ensure that the Sun would return.

The Pueblos of the American Southwest have honored the Winter Solstice for thousands of years. Zuni Indians celebrate Shalako and Hopis begin the observance of the month long Soyal with rituals to insure victory of light over darkness. Hopi priests wear feathers in their headdresses symbolizing the Sun's rays. Sacred underground structures called kivas let in the rays of the rising and setting Sun and Moon throughout the year. Among the Pueblos, Winter Solstice is an affirmation of the continuation of life; that the cyclical order of time and the cosmos will continue intact.

Fire and light have always played a central role in the Winter Solstice ceremonies. In much of northern Europe people ignited huge bonfires. Lighted candles were often placed on the branches of evergreen trees, which symbolized survival and eternal life. These symbols of warmth and lasting life were lit to hasten the "old" Sun's waning and the "new" Sun's rebirth. People often tied apples to the branches of firs and oaks to remind themselves that summer would eventually return. In the British Isles, mistletoe was placed upon altars. Mistletoe's golden color was believed to store the power of the Sun, especially when plucked at the solstice.

In Peru, the people fasted for three days prior to the solstice. At dawn on the morning of the fourth day, everyone gathered in the public plaza to watch the sunrise. When its light appeared, the celebration began with shouts of joy. At the Sun Temple the rays of the Sun were focused with a mirror to make a fire. This sacred fire was carried to all the outlying temples, where it was kept burning on the altars throughout the year.

In my own solstice celebration, I like to incorporate a sacred fire. Before the Sun sets on the solstice, I will light a large candle or oil lamp, call the spirit of the Sun into that fire, and allow it to burn until morning, when his spirit has returned to the sky.

On the Winter Solstice we are all praying, on some level, for the darkness to end. "Just return the light!" the ceremonies seem to say. As we celebrate the return of the light, we affirm the continuation of life at the very moment of dissolution. To be sure, dark days lie ahead. But contained within each is the promise of brighter tomorrows.