The Cosmic Center of the Drum Circle

Indigenous cultures have been practicing community percussion for thousands of years. Although most of us did not grow up in an indigenous rhythmic musical tradition, we can still tap into the healing power of the drum circle. 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. All are equal in the circle; no one is above or below. In a circle, each person's face can be seen; each person's voice can be heard and valued. Like the hoop of the drum, the circle represents the wheel of life. The plants, the animals, the minerals, and the elemental forces of nature all exist within the circle. All creatures walk the circumference of the wheel of life, experiencing birth, life, and death. After completing a cycle of learning on the sacred wheel, each one returns to the source, the Great Mystery at the center of the circle.

Every drum circle has a center, which represents the cosmic axis of the sacred space. In circle culture, it is customary to set up a centerpiece or altar that is appropriate for the purpose of the circle. A simple altar can be created with a cloth, a candle and other symbols that mean something to you. For example, if it is a grieving circle, a photo of the person who has passed away can be placed on the altar. If it's a circle of celebration, a symbol of the reason for the celebration can be included. It is customary for participants to bring offerings, sacred objects and fresh cut herbs to place on and around the altar. The circle participants will decorate the center with these objects as a way of making it their community space.

Although an altar is not essential, it provides us with a focus to pray, meditate and listen. It is traditional in circles to speak into the center. The idea is that everyone's voice is added to the center, and it is from the center that the wisdom of the circle will begin to emerge. Once someone has spoken into the center, their contribution becomes part of the circle. It becomes part of a collective, evolving story, a pathway to unity and understanding. When a circle meets regularly over an extended period of time, extraordinary things happen. As members learn to trust the process, the circle itself becomes the teacher. Participants both contribute to and benefit from the group's collective wisdom and experience. Individual visions coalesce into one common vision and mission. To learn more, look inside Shamanic Drumming Circles Guide.

The Book of Ceremony

Ceremony is essential for a healthy and balanced personal and communal life. Many persistent personal and social problems can be linked to the lack of ceremony. Ceremonies reduce tension, anxiety and stress, produce deeper self-awareness, and connect us to our community. They connect us with our deepest core values and our highest vision of who we are and why we are here. That's why shamanic teacher Sandra Ingerman wrote The Book of Ceremony -- to help us recover the sense of deeper meaning and sacred connection that makes ceremony a powerful tool for transformation and healing. "Ceremonies have always been used to create transformation," writes Ingerman. "Performing ceremonies creates a bridge between the material world we live in and the world of the unseen, the divine, the power of the universe." This practical guidebook is recommended to anyone seeking to engage the powers of the unseen world. Look inside The Book of Ceremony: Shamanic Wisdom for Invoking the Sacred in Everyday Life.

Shamanic Synchronicity

Carl Jung, the eminent psychologist, defined synchronicity as "meaningful coincidence," one that involves an internal psychological event that corresponds to an external observable event. Jung's premise is based upon the synchronicity of the universe. This is the proposition that the human experience is a microcosm and reflection of universal law and order. Humanity is the universe, occurring in every moment. Each human being is a hologram of the Cosmos, a weaving together of universal information from a particular point of view. As American author and human potentialist George Leonard put it: "Each human being consists of pure information expressed as rhythmic waves that start as infinitesimal vibrations of subatomic particles and build outward as ever-widening resonant hierarchies of atoms, molecules, cells, organs, organisms, families, bands, tribes, nations, civilizations, and beyond." At every phase of unfoldment, every entity is interwoven through the resonant web of information that is the universe.

Jung held that synchronicities mirror deep psychological processes, convey messages the way dreams do, and impart meaning and guidance to the degree they correspond to emotional states and inner experiences. A synchronicity is a coincidence that has an analog in the psyche, and depending on how you comprehend it, it can inform you through intuition and emotion. As anthropologist Michael Harner put it in his book The Way of the Shaman, synchronicities are considered "a kind of homing beacon analogous to a radio directional signal indicating that the right procedures and methods are being employed." So be on the lookout for synchronicities, for they confirm that your shamanic work is producing effects beyond the bounds of probability or coincidence.