Die Heilige Trommel
Die Trommel des Schamanen
The
drum is one of the major tools, if not the most important tool of the
shaman. This is because the drum enables the shaman to go into a deep
trance which is vital for healing or divination and to journey into the Otherworld.
But inducing a trance state is by far not the only use of the drum. The
drum is a very versatile tool with a long history as a musical
instrument and ceremonial tool in many cultures and shamanic traditions.
The drum can be used for journeying in the Otherworld,
for healing, for clearing space, for sacred dance, for getting into a
trance, for calling spirits, for honouring the land, for communion with
divinity, for divination (divining the future) or getting messages from
Spirit, and for many other purposes. Therefore it is not surprising that
the ceremonial drum has been held sacred and treated with great respect
and reverence in many ancient cultures! This article intends to give
you an overview of this amazingly versatile tool of the shaman, the
sacred drum.
Heiliger Symbolismus
When
meditating on the drum, many things get revealed to us. All we have to
do is to let the drum speak to us. The message is there for those who
want to hear it and who have an open heart and mind. The very symbolism
of the drum shows its connection to Spirit and God/Goddess/All-That-Is
-- in short to divinity. To touch the drum is to touch the sacred.
The drum is round. It forms a perfect circle. The circle symbolises the cycles of life, from birth to death to rebirth, from spring to winter and spring again -- over and over. A circle has no beginning nor ending. It is neverending and eternal, like our souls! Maybe this is why the sound of the drum puts us in touch with eternity, with our true essence. And though our minds may not understand the message, in our hearts we know and feel the joy of coming home when we listen to the beat of the drum.
The drum is hollow. Its rounded hollowness is reminiscent of the womb of the Goddess from which all life springs. To really understand the spirit of the drum we need to honour the Goddess and the Divine Feminine. According to the Vedic tradition all things came into being through the divine sound of Om. The sacred drum of Shiva, the damaru, symbolises the sound of creation. Shiva beats his drum and brings the universe into existence and at the end of a cycle dissolves it by dancing his Tandava dance. This is a wonderful example how sound and dance are directly connected to divinity and creation.
To understand how sound can create you need to know the first principle of reality: everything is energy! Sound is just a specific form of energy, the most subtle energy to emerge from the divine at the very dawn of creation. It is through the energy of divine sound that the Goddess creates the material universe with its myriads of beings. For there can be no creation without the Divine Feminine, also called Shakti (or Sakti), which is the active energy of creation.
But even though the drum is a very feminine instrument, it could not sound without the beater. The longish, phallic shape of the beater is representative of the male energy that is necessary to make the drum sound and thus to create! This shows us that the Divine Feminine (Shakti) and the Divine Male (Shiva) are equally important. Together they create the world of matter. While the Divine Male is the pure consciousness that thinks all things into being, but alone is inert, the Divine Feminine is the active energy needed to bring forth matter. For this reason you often see the Goddess Kali (a form of Shakti) depicted as dancing on the body of Shiva who appears completely inert but blissful. This is to show that the creative energy of the Goddess is needed for anything to come into being, for the creation of matter.
When you understand those principles of the Divine Male or Shiva and the Divine Female or Shakti, and their representation in the drum, then you can see how the sound of the drum represents the sound of creation. By playing the drum we become co-creators. In the drum there is balance between male and female forces. Earth and Sky, Matter and Spirit, Shiva and Shakti are working together in perfect harmony. And so the sound of the drum restores balance to our being as well!
The drum is round. It forms a perfect circle. The circle symbolises the cycles of life, from birth to death to rebirth, from spring to winter and spring again -- over and over. A circle has no beginning nor ending. It is neverending and eternal, like our souls! Maybe this is why the sound of the drum puts us in touch with eternity, with our true essence. And though our minds may not understand the message, in our hearts we know and feel the joy of coming home when we listen to the beat of the drum.
The drum is hollow. Its rounded hollowness is reminiscent of the womb of the Goddess from which all life springs. To really understand the spirit of the drum we need to honour the Goddess and the Divine Feminine. According to the Vedic tradition all things came into being through the divine sound of Om. The sacred drum of Shiva, the damaru, symbolises the sound of creation. Shiva beats his drum and brings the universe into existence and at the end of a cycle dissolves it by dancing his Tandava dance. This is a wonderful example how sound and dance are directly connected to divinity and creation.
To understand how sound can create you need to know the first principle of reality: everything is energy! Sound is just a specific form of energy, the most subtle energy to emerge from the divine at the very dawn of creation. It is through the energy of divine sound that the Goddess creates the material universe with its myriads of beings. For there can be no creation without the Divine Feminine, also called Shakti (or Sakti), which is the active energy of creation.
But even though the drum is a very feminine instrument, it could not sound without the beater. The longish, phallic shape of the beater is representative of the male energy that is necessary to make the drum sound and thus to create! This shows us that the Divine Feminine (Shakti) and the Divine Male (Shiva) are equally important. Together they create the world of matter. While the Divine Male is the pure consciousness that thinks all things into being, but alone is inert, the Divine Feminine is the active energy needed to bring forth matter. For this reason you often see the Goddess Kali (a form of Shakti) depicted as dancing on the body of Shiva who appears completely inert but blissful. This is to show that the creative energy of the Goddess is needed for anything to come into being, for the creation of matter.
When you understand those principles of the Divine Male or Shiva and the Divine Female or Shakti, and their representation in the drum, then you can see how the sound of the drum represents the sound of creation. By playing the drum we become co-creators. In the drum there is balance between male and female forces. Earth and Sky, Matter and Spirit, Shiva and Shakti are working together in perfect harmony. And so the sound of the drum restores balance to our being as well!
Das Pferd des Schamanen
The drum is the vehicle the shaman uses to journey to the Otherworld.
Therefore it has often been called the "horse of the shaman". The
steady beat of the drum puts the shaman into a trance so she can leave
the world of matter behind and journey in the world of spirit. In many
traditions the shaman has an assistant who beats the drum for the whole
length of the journey or healing work. This enables the shaman to
completely let go of the physical body and go into a very deep trance.
In modern times people often journey with a drumming tape. I used to do that too but soon came away from it. At the beginning, when I first attempted to drum for my own journeys, I found it very hard to beat my drum and keep my mind focused on the journey at the same time. My arm would get tired and the discomfort distracted me. Even when I had finally overcome that problem by finding a way to drum very long without fatigue, the very act of drumming still kept some of my attention on the physical activity and the material world. With practice I eventually managed to forget my physical body while drumming for extended periods of an hour or longer. From then on I experienced journeys which were many times more powerful than those I undertook with the help of a drumming tape.
Therefore it is well worth to experiment with different sitting positions and practise drumming until you can do it with total ease while still going into a deep trance. In the end, you should be able to achieve a state where you can separate the physical body, which keeps on beating the drum no matter how deep you go in your meditation or journey, and your spirit body that goes off on its own and completely forgets the physical body! Working with an actual drum is always more powerful than listening to a drumming tape, simply because the drum has a spirit!
In modern times people often journey with a drumming tape. I used to do that too but soon came away from it. At the beginning, when I first attempted to drum for my own journeys, I found it very hard to beat my drum and keep my mind focused on the journey at the same time. My arm would get tired and the discomfort distracted me. Even when I had finally overcome that problem by finding a way to drum very long without fatigue, the very act of drumming still kept some of my attention on the physical activity and the material world. With practice I eventually managed to forget my physical body while drumming for extended periods of an hour or longer. From then on I experienced journeys which were many times more powerful than those I undertook with the help of a drumming tape.
Therefore it is well worth to experiment with different sitting positions and practise drumming until you can do it with total ease while still going into a deep trance. In the end, you should be able to achieve a state where you can separate the physical body, which keeps on beating the drum no matter how deep you go in your meditation or journey, and your spirit body that goes off on its own and completely forgets the physical body! Working with an actual drum is always more powerful than listening to a drumming tape, simply because the drum has a spirit!
Geist der Trommel
Every
drum has a unique spirit that interacts with the shaman in various
ways, lending its power and help to the work at hand, whether it be healing, trance or sacred ceremony.
The spirit of the drum is made up of different parts and can grow in
strength with time and continued sacred use of the drum. It can also
lose power when the drum is profaned. Therefore always keep your sacred
drum sacred! The spirit of the drum is a blend of energies such as:
- The spirit of the animal that gave its skin to making the drum. And, if the drum beater is covered with leather, also the spirit of the animal that gave its skin to making the beater.
- The spirit of the trees that gave their wood for making the rim of the drum, and the stick of the beater.
- The spirit of the drum itself, which is made up of all the different parts of the drum.
- The energy and a bit of the spirit of the shaman who works with the drum.
Wählen einer Trommel
When
buying a drum it is best to go to a place where you can try out several
ones, because not every drum will resonate with you, and not every drum
will match with your voice if you intend to use it for sacred song as
well. Remember, it is not only you who chooses the drum, the spirit of
the drum actually chooses you! So be open to hear the message of each
drum, whether it wants to work with you or is waiting for somebody else.
One way of being sure you choose the right one is to select the one
that sings sweetly with you, the one that speaks to you and the one that
makes you feel powerful when you play it.
The pitch of the drum is also important. The lower the pitch, the deeper it takes you on Underworld journeys. It is well known in Yoga that various musical notes resonate with the seven chakras (energy centres in the astral or subtle body). The general rule is that lower notes resonate with the lower chakras and higher notes with higher chakras. The lower chakras are connected with the Underworld, and the higher chakras with the Upper World. Therefore a low-pitch drum will be ideal for Underworld journeying and a higher pitch one more ideal for Middle World or Upper World journeys. But that doesn't mean that you need several drums for going to these different regions of the Otherworld. When you are experienced enough you can journey anywhere you want, with any drum, though it is best to work with one's own drum which holds the shaman's own energy and power. Still, if you intend to do mainly Underworld work you may find a very low pitched drum helpful as it probably enables you to go deeper. Go by how the sound of the drum makes you feel. If there is a drum that puts you in trance quickly, go for it!
But consider that the pitch of the drum can change with weather conditions, as the natural hide of the drum will get tighter in dry weather or when exposed to heat, and looser when the weather is damp or cool. The tighter the skin, the higher the drum will sound. Generally bigger drums are lower in tone than small drums, as they have more volume to vibrate. I have two drums, my main drum which is just 14 inches in diameter and quite comfortable to hold for long drumming, and another much bigger drum with a very deep tone, which is extremely good for deep Underworld journeys, but a bit difficult to play as it is so heavy. I had some very powerful journeys with that drum. In spite of its heaviness I have found a way to beat it almost effortlessly, which makes it possible for me to go on long journeys with it.
The design of the drum should have deep personal meaning to you. Ideally it should be one of your power animals, your totem animal, a sacred symbol, or anything that connects you to your power. It is great if you can paint the design yourself, but if you are not skilful enough at painting you can let somebody help you with the artwork, or you can buy a drum with a design that really resonates with you. Don't let ego get in when choosing your drum design. Don't think you need to have an eagle design because you are "great shaman" when in reality you are a beginner and your main power animal (totem animal) is a deer! You would do better to honour your own power animal than just copying a design or pretending to be somebody else! Any power animal is good, whether it be big or small, fierce or gentle. If it is your power animal, then this is what you need and what you are most aligned with. So honour your totem animal!
Even better than buying a drum would be to make your own drum from scratch. But not everybody has the necessary skills and patience for this. But at the very least you can do some work on the beater, for example you could decorate it with leather or feathers or bead work, or engrave sacred symbols into it. This way you make the drum fully your own and put something of yourself into a part of the drum at least. Finally the drum should be painted with a design which resonates with you, such as your power animal or power plant, sacred symbols that resonate with you, the image of a Goddess that you love and serve, etc.
As the spirit of the drum works with you specifically, and as it holds some of your power as well, it is best not to lend out your drum or let others handle it in any way. If you let others play your drum their energies will blend with it, which is not a beneficial thing. Negative energies could get in, or your drum may lose power and be less effective for healing or journeying. To keep your drum vibrant and its spirit happy, use it only for sacred ceremony and shamanic work. If you let somebody even touch your drum once it may result in a power loss. The shaman's drum is an extension of his or her power and for somebody to touch it without permission is akin to stealing their power! If you keep your drum sacred it will build up an enormous amount of energy and become very powerful in time. The drum will also need regular cleansing, such as smudging, which is to be done after each healing work and whenever you feel it is necessary. The spirit of the drum will want to be fed and you will have to find out in which way the spirit of your drum likes to be fed. You can journey and find this out from the spirit of your drum directly.
The pitch of the drum is also important. The lower the pitch, the deeper it takes you on Underworld journeys. It is well known in Yoga that various musical notes resonate with the seven chakras (energy centres in the astral or subtle body). The general rule is that lower notes resonate with the lower chakras and higher notes with higher chakras. The lower chakras are connected with the Underworld, and the higher chakras with the Upper World. Therefore a low-pitch drum will be ideal for Underworld journeying and a higher pitch one more ideal for Middle World or Upper World journeys. But that doesn't mean that you need several drums for going to these different regions of the Otherworld. When you are experienced enough you can journey anywhere you want, with any drum, though it is best to work with one's own drum which holds the shaman's own energy and power. Still, if you intend to do mainly Underworld work you may find a very low pitched drum helpful as it probably enables you to go deeper. Go by how the sound of the drum makes you feel. If there is a drum that puts you in trance quickly, go for it!
But consider that the pitch of the drum can change with weather conditions, as the natural hide of the drum will get tighter in dry weather or when exposed to heat, and looser when the weather is damp or cool. The tighter the skin, the higher the drum will sound. Generally bigger drums are lower in tone than small drums, as they have more volume to vibrate. I have two drums, my main drum which is just 14 inches in diameter and quite comfortable to hold for long drumming, and another much bigger drum with a very deep tone, which is extremely good for deep Underworld journeys, but a bit difficult to play as it is so heavy. I had some very powerful journeys with that drum. In spite of its heaviness I have found a way to beat it almost effortlessly, which makes it possible for me to go on long journeys with it.
The design of the drum should have deep personal meaning to you. Ideally it should be one of your power animals, your totem animal, a sacred symbol, or anything that connects you to your power. It is great if you can paint the design yourself, but if you are not skilful enough at painting you can let somebody help you with the artwork, or you can buy a drum with a design that really resonates with you. Don't let ego get in when choosing your drum design. Don't think you need to have an eagle design because you are "great shaman" when in reality you are a beginner and your main power animal (totem animal) is a deer! You would do better to honour your own power animal than just copying a design or pretending to be somebody else! Any power animal is good, whether it be big or small, fierce or gentle. If it is your power animal, then this is what you need and what you are most aligned with. So honour your totem animal!
Even better than buying a drum would be to make your own drum from scratch. But not everybody has the necessary skills and patience for this. But at the very least you can do some work on the beater, for example you could decorate it with leather or feathers or bead work, or engrave sacred symbols into it. This way you make the drum fully your own and put something of yourself into a part of the drum at least. Finally the drum should be painted with a design which resonates with you, such as your power animal or power plant, sacred symbols that resonate with you, the image of a Goddess that you love and serve, etc.
As the spirit of the drum works with you specifically, and as it holds some of your power as well, it is best not to lend out your drum or let others handle it in any way. If you let others play your drum their energies will blend with it, which is not a beneficial thing. Negative energies could get in, or your drum may lose power and be less effective for healing or journeying. To keep your drum vibrant and its spirit happy, use it only for sacred ceremony and shamanic work. If you let somebody even touch your drum once it may result in a power loss. The shaman's drum is an extension of his or her power and for somebody to touch it without permission is akin to stealing their power! If you keep your drum sacred it will build up an enormous amount of energy and become very powerful in time. The drum will also need regular cleansing, such as smudging, which is to be done after each healing work and whenever you feel it is necessary. The spirit of the drum will want to be fed and you will have to find out in which way the spirit of your drum likes to be fed. You can journey and find this out from the spirit of your drum directly.
Heilen mit der Trommel
There are various ways of using the drum in healing. For one, by journeying with the drum the shaman can go to the client's Underworld and retrieve power animals
or soul pieces for them, or do whatever else is needed to restore the
client to wholeness. Besides these obvious uses the drum can also serve
as a diagnostic tool to find places of weakness in a person's energy
body. I read somewhere that there is evidence that regular beating of
the drum at a slow steady beat increases health and decreases stress!
Just beating one's drum regularly is definitely very soothing if not
healing. Though the sound of the drum is pleasant to many people, most entities
loathe it and so the drum can be used to drive them out! But not
everything negative will be banished that way, major demons certainly
won't come out just because you beat the drum a bit! Still the drum is
useful for clearing negativity.
The drum can also be used as a tool to heal the energy body and drum power into a client (an example of this you can find in Suditi's Story). Every shaman has to find out for themselves how their drum wants to work with them. The more you use your drum the more it will speak to you and tell you things about the client. For example, I found out that whenever I have clients that either have very strong negativity that needs clearing, or very strong resistance to being healed, my drum goes quite flat! At other times the drum is extremely eager to get going! Often my drum will sing to me and create a resonance beyond the actual beat of the drum that creates a feeling of bliss and joy.
The drum can also be used for clearing space, getting rid of negativity in an area and drumming positive spirits in. Negative beings generally don't like the sound of the drum. In some cultures drums are still used today to drum negative spirits out on New Year or other festivals. The drum is also wonderful to use in singing songs to Mother Earth, in honouring the spirit of the land, or even for healing the land. I have used the drum to heal trees or sing to the ocean. The drum beat reminds us of the heartbeat of Mother Earth and puts us in touch with Her.
The drum can also be used as a tool to heal the energy body and drum power into a client (an example of this you can find in Suditi's Story). Every shaman has to find out for themselves how their drum wants to work with them. The more you use your drum the more it will speak to you and tell you things about the client. For example, I found out that whenever I have clients that either have very strong negativity that needs clearing, or very strong resistance to being healed, my drum goes quite flat! At other times the drum is extremely eager to get going! Often my drum will sing to me and create a resonance beyond the actual beat of the drum that creates a feeling of bliss and joy.
The drum can also be used for clearing space, getting rid of negativity in an area and drumming positive spirits in. Negative beings generally don't like the sound of the drum. In some cultures drums are still used today to drum negative spirits out on New Year or other festivals. The drum is also wonderful to use in singing songs to Mother Earth, in honouring the spirit of the land, or even for healing the land. I have used the drum to heal trees or sing to the ocean. The drum beat reminds us of the heartbeat of Mother Earth and puts us in touch with Her.
Regeln zum Arbeiten mit der Trommel
The
first thing you should do with a new drum is to welcome it and bond
with it. It would be good to do a ceremony to honour the spirits of the
animal and the tree that have given of themselves to create the drum. If
you wish, you can consecrate the drum as a magical tool as well. To
bond with the drum begin by putting a personal touch to it, such as
painting it with your own design, or decorating the drum beater. The
more you use it, the more you bond with your drum. Keep it near you and
touch it often and you will bond with it faster and more deeply. You can
also journey to the spirit of the drum to commune with it.
Once you have consecrated the drum and bonded with it properly, do not let anybody else touch it or play it. If somebody does touch it by accident, smudge it immediately. I find that in the West people have a very grabby attitude and are prone to touching other people's sacred items or even personal jewellery without permission or respect. To avoid this happening keep your drum close by and tell people you are working with in ceremony not to touch it. Some say the drum should not be placed on the earth or negative energy could get into it. I don't feel this is correct because the drum is very much connected with Earth energy and can actually draw power from the earth. As long as you treat it with respect and not just let it lie around carelessly, placing the drum on the earth should be no problem at all. The idea that earth energy would harm the drum is typical of ungrounded "love and light" people, who only know how to deal with sky energy but not earth energy, in other words, typical new-age people who have not integrated their shadow.
After each healing, or whenever needed, the drum should be cleansed. The best method to do this is smudging. You can also magically exorcise the drum, with blessed salt and blessed water, and by passing it over a candle flame and through incense. This is very useful when the drum has become severely polluted, such as when a very negative person has touched it, or when during a drum healing demonic energy has been released.
The skin of the drum will need to be oiled occasionally to stay subtle. I use ghee (clarified butter) for this, and my drum likes it, but yours may not, so find out that your drum likes. If you have painted any design on the drum, make sure that it doesn't come off when you oil it. And finally the drum will want to be fed regularly. The feeding of the drum can be done in many different ways, such as by wafting incense of various herbs and resins over the drum, or leaving it exposed to moonlight occasionally, sprinkling various herbs on it, etc. You will have to find out what the spirit of your drum wants by meditating with it or by journeying to the spirit of the drum.
Warning: never leave your drum near a source of heat such as a radiator, or in your car on a hot day, as the drum skin could dry out and become so tight that your drum implodes! Never leave the drum out in the rain or let it get thoroughly soaked, as the skin could get water-logged and extremely loose and when it dries again it may be warped and the drum will no longer sound good.
Once, after teaching a very intense workshop, I came home tired and had many things to unload from my car. In my fatigue I forgot one of my drums outside my house. The next morning I was shocked to find it outside my door. It had rained over night and the skin had become extremely loose. When it dried the skin was uneven and very warped. The drum didn't sound properly at all anymore, plus it looked quite ugly as the artwork was very distorted. Here is what I did to fix it again:
First I let it dry completely. Then I sprayed a bit of water on the face of the drum, both on the inside and outside, so that the skin would become suppler. I then laid the drum down in a room with an even floor and very thin carpet and filled it with clean small pebbles (about half an inch in diameter). My intention was to weigh down the distorted area and hopefully make it smooth again. Note: Do not lift the drum up once it is filled with pebbles or it will break! I let it dry like this for several days. Then I removed the pebbles by hand (do not lift the drum to pour them out!). The drum was perfect again, neither the skin, nor the artwork nor the sound had suffered! If your drum has become extremely warped you may have to repeat the above process several times. Clean and dry sand could also be used instead of pebbles.
A natural skin drum needs a bit more maintenance and care than a drum with a synthetic skin, but I feel it is well worth the trouble. A drum made of natural hide just sounds so much sweeter, and can hold much greater power, as the spirit of the animal whose hide was used to make the drum combines with the energy and power of the shaman. Just take good care of your natural hide drum and it will be with you for very long, as your friend and companion on many wonderful journeys and adventures in the Otherworld!
Of course possessing a drum doesn't make you into a great shaman yet. It takes hard work and facing many challenges to become a real shaman! You can't buy power. You will have to earn it and work for it (or steal it, as vampires do. But hopefully this is not the path that you have chosen, for it will ultimately lead to your destruction!). Though the drum doesn't make the shaman, having your own drum can be an incentive to becoming a shaman marking your first step on this path. After all you will probably spend a good amount of money on it, which means sacrifice on other luxuries (unless you are rich!). Alternatively you could make your drum but this will also cost you something: effort and time! Either way sacrifice is involved, and this can be an offering to Spirit that shows your commitment to shamanism.
Having your own drum can facilitate shamanic journeying and make your journeys much more powerful. Having a drum is essential for most shamanic work, especially if you need to do healing on others. I also use my drum in the magick circle and find it empowers the magick as well.
Even if you aren’t into magick or shamanism at all, working with a drum is very beneficial for almost everyone, but especially for ungrounded people. Admitting to being ungrounded is not popular at all. Due to ego most people will deny being ungrounded. It is however very common in these modern times for people to lose their connection to the Earth and become ungrounded. Many times during healing work I find that people have very poor "roots" and not much energy flows into their foot chakras from Mother Earth. People are living too much in their heads rather than in their bodies, spending too much time in cities and too little time out in nature. An overemphasis on the mind and on sky energies also causes ungroundedness. (I am going to write more about this in an article on the Dangers of the New Age as soon as I can!)
When you are ungrounded you become an "air-head", a nice descriptive term that shows the imbalance between earth and sky energies. To become grounded again you need more earth energy, which the drum can provide. Therefore working with a drum is very beneficial for all those who need grounding. If you do your drumming outdoors, in nature it will be even more effective!
Working with a drum is also wonderful for anybody who wants to work with the energy of Mother Earth and feel Her heartbeat through the sacred sound of the drum. And, last not least, working with a drum is fun and gets you into a positive vibration!
Once you have consecrated the drum and bonded with it properly, do not let anybody else touch it or play it. If somebody does touch it by accident, smudge it immediately. I find that in the West people have a very grabby attitude and are prone to touching other people's sacred items or even personal jewellery without permission or respect. To avoid this happening keep your drum close by and tell people you are working with in ceremony not to touch it. Some say the drum should not be placed on the earth or negative energy could get into it. I don't feel this is correct because the drum is very much connected with Earth energy and can actually draw power from the earth. As long as you treat it with respect and not just let it lie around carelessly, placing the drum on the earth should be no problem at all. The idea that earth energy would harm the drum is typical of ungrounded "love and light" people, who only know how to deal with sky energy but not earth energy, in other words, typical new-age people who have not integrated their shadow.
After each healing, or whenever needed, the drum should be cleansed. The best method to do this is smudging. You can also magically exorcise the drum, with blessed salt and blessed water, and by passing it over a candle flame and through incense. This is very useful when the drum has become severely polluted, such as when a very negative person has touched it, or when during a drum healing demonic energy has been released.
The skin of the drum will need to be oiled occasionally to stay subtle. I use ghee (clarified butter) for this, and my drum likes it, but yours may not, so find out that your drum likes. If you have painted any design on the drum, make sure that it doesn't come off when you oil it. And finally the drum will want to be fed regularly. The feeding of the drum can be done in many different ways, such as by wafting incense of various herbs and resins over the drum, or leaving it exposed to moonlight occasionally, sprinkling various herbs on it, etc. You will have to find out what the spirit of your drum wants by meditating with it or by journeying to the spirit of the drum.
Warning: never leave your drum near a source of heat such as a radiator, or in your car on a hot day, as the drum skin could dry out and become so tight that your drum implodes! Never leave the drum out in the rain or let it get thoroughly soaked, as the skin could get water-logged and extremely loose and when it dries again it may be warped and the drum will no longer sound good.
Once, after teaching a very intense workshop, I came home tired and had many things to unload from my car. In my fatigue I forgot one of my drums outside my house. The next morning I was shocked to find it outside my door. It had rained over night and the skin had become extremely loose. When it dried the skin was uneven and very warped. The drum didn't sound properly at all anymore, plus it looked quite ugly as the artwork was very distorted. Here is what I did to fix it again:
First I let it dry completely. Then I sprayed a bit of water on the face of the drum, both on the inside and outside, so that the skin would become suppler. I then laid the drum down in a room with an even floor and very thin carpet and filled it with clean small pebbles (about half an inch in diameter). My intention was to weigh down the distorted area and hopefully make it smooth again. Note: Do not lift the drum up once it is filled with pebbles or it will break! I let it dry like this for several days. Then I removed the pebbles by hand (do not lift the drum to pour them out!). The drum was perfect again, neither the skin, nor the artwork nor the sound had suffered! If your drum has become extremely warped you may have to repeat the above process several times. Clean and dry sand could also be used instead of pebbles.
A natural skin drum needs a bit more maintenance and care than a drum with a synthetic skin, but I feel it is well worth the trouble. A drum made of natural hide just sounds so much sweeter, and can hold much greater power, as the spirit of the animal whose hide was used to make the drum combines with the energy and power of the shaman. Just take good care of your natural hide drum and it will be with you for very long, as your friend and companion on many wonderful journeys and adventures in the Otherworld!
Of course possessing a drum doesn't make you into a great shaman yet. It takes hard work and facing many challenges to become a real shaman! You can't buy power. You will have to earn it and work for it (or steal it, as vampires do. But hopefully this is not the path that you have chosen, for it will ultimately lead to your destruction!). Though the drum doesn't make the shaman, having your own drum can be an incentive to becoming a shaman marking your first step on this path. After all you will probably spend a good amount of money on it, which means sacrifice on other luxuries (unless you are rich!). Alternatively you could make your drum but this will also cost you something: effort and time! Either way sacrifice is involved, and this can be an offering to Spirit that shows your commitment to shamanism.
Having your own drum can facilitate shamanic journeying and make your journeys much more powerful. Having a drum is essential for most shamanic work, especially if you need to do healing on others. I also use my drum in the magick circle and find it empowers the magick as well.
Even if you aren’t into magick or shamanism at all, working with a drum is very beneficial for almost everyone, but especially for ungrounded people. Admitting to being ungrounded is not popular at all. Due to ego most people will deny being ungrounded. It is however very common in these modern times for people to lose their connection to the Earth and become ungrounded. Many times during healing work I find that people have very poor "roots" and not much energy flows into their foot chakras from Mother Earth. People are living too much in their heads rather than in their bodies, spending too much time in cities and too little time out in nature. An overemphasis on the mind and on sky energies also causes ungroundedness. (I am going to write more about this in an article on the Dangers of the New Age as soon as I can!)
When you are ungrounded you become an "air-head", a nice descriptive term that shows the imbalance between earth and sky energies. To become grounded again you need more earth energy, which the drum can provide. Therefore working with a drum is very beneficial for all those who need grounding. If you do your drumming outdoors, in nature it will be even more effective!
Working with a drum is also wonderful for anybody who wants to work with the energy of Mother Earth and feel Her heartbeat through the sacred sound of the drum. And, last not least, working with a drum is fun and gets you into a positive vibration!
If you wish to learn more come and experience the beauty of working with a drum on my workshops. Note: not all workshops are announced on the Workshop Page. I am flexible and can do private groups as well.
Just e-mail me for dates for the next Sacred Drum Workshop!
Just e-mail me for dates for the next Sacred Drum Workshop!
Copyright © Avalon Sakti Tiamat, 09.10.2008
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