Drum Journey (Self-drumming): ~15 minutes
Lower World My drum was waiting for me as I wandered behind the drop-off point, away from Sacred Circle. This way is tha area of many terrains, which often change and shift as I walk through them. This time, I headed along my usual dirt path, and played my drum. As I did, I noticed that several compassionate helping spirits began to join me as if we were marching in a parade! It was very joyful, even though I didn't know where I was going. I saw a ravine, but did not go down into it. I remember thinking, "Isn't it odd how often I'm on a precipice, both here and in Upper World?" I was drawn toward a jungle, which, as I approached, became a dark wooded area. I remembered this area from previous journeys. I have met forest-dwellers there. I came upon a campfire and knew to sit there. Then, Snake came with her three eggs and pushed them toward the fire opposite me. She told me to drum the eggs a healing. I did so, watching the sound of the drum envelop them and move around each of them. The sound moved to Snake and she allowed it to wrap around the length of her body. Soon, she moved on and the next CHS came, Raccoon. I realized that I was being asked to offer a drum healing to all the CHSes. After Raccoon came Owl, then Black Hawk, then Hummingbird, Frog, Tree, and Turtle. Grandmother came and danced in the waves of the drumsound. She washed it over her like sage smoke. Teacher Bell'ana opened her white robes and let the drum sound inside. Reeds Blowing also folded up the drum healing into this robe and washed it over his face. I was shy to heal him with the drum—even more than Grandmother and Bell'ana for some reason—perhaps because he has been so active in my teachings. After Reeds Blowing, Water Buffalo and Mother Bear came. Afterward, Great Walker appeared and sat opposite me and we drummed. As we did, he told me that this lesson was about staying in the moment of the drum—each beat, each resonance of the beat. Even though the beats move fast, there is a stillness in the rhythm. This was something to learn about life as well: Being suspended in the moment, listening and being healed by it. We continued to drum and I felt the sounds of drum I was beating as separate from me. There was my hand, beating the drum, but I could not feel it. I could not feel the mallet striking the drum head. I only heard the beats. We continued this for some time before I sounded the callback. I thanked all the CHSes. Return to Ordinary Reality
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Drum Journey (Recording): ~15 minutes
Upper World When I arrived, I headed to the Hall of Knowledge and retrieved my drum from the nook in the wall. I walked behind the Hall, not sure where I was supposed to be going, and no one was there to assist me. As I walked farther, the ground began to give out underneath me and I slid down into a ravine. At the bottom, there was a fire and what looked to be a circle of people. When I landed from the fall, I could see it was Spirit of the Drum alone. He was still wearing the white beaded headdress and breastplate. He was drumming and offered me to receive the healing he was giving. He raised his drum and beat it to the sky, then told me to see the rhythm of the drum. I saw spirit scooped up in the bowl of the drum, then sent to my body. I was outside the image, looking at it. Spirit of the Drum told me to receive the healing myself. In other words, step in. It took me two tries but I was able to step in and stay present to receive the healing drum energy. This did not feel exactly like the Tuvan drum healing I had learned and seen, because I was seeing the energy where I had not before (I had only felt it). I also felt the drum energy blast through my chest, which was very blocked with grief. After a few healing rounds, we sat at the fire and I asked Spirit of the Drum for my next lesson. But first, I asked if he had a name I could call him by. He gave me a difficult name that made no sense. We both laughed. You could call me Healer, he said. I told him that I might as well call him shaman. He nodded and smiled. In my tribe, I am called Great Walker. You can call me that. You are in the same tribe, after all. You were once a great walker yourself. And I am your spiritual ancestor. And this grief you carry. This trying to be of the world you are in. There is no need for it. You do not have to fit there. If you try, you will always fail because you are not of that world. Your healer friend* in Ordinary Reality was right: You have always been an orphan. Your Ordinary Reality world is not your real family. You are of the spirit world, just visiting Ordinary Reality. We all do! That is why there is no need even to fear death. That fear is also taught to you by Ordinary Reality thinking. There is suffering in that thinking. There is suffering in your trying to fit. You already have connection. You can be in both worlds. You know this, which is why your tears reach you now even in Ordinary Reality. I told Great Walker that I felt I was losing my connection in the journey. He said I was supposed to; that is the lesson: Being fluid between the worlds. We spent the rest of the time drumming together. Callback I thanked Great Walker, I thanked and returned my drum to its place, then returned. Return to Ordinary Reality *Abdi Assadi |
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