The Sacred Drum

In January 2020 I began having deep, uncomfortable feelings in my chest / heart region. This started shortly after a family member’s emergency hospital visit so I wrote it off as stress. As February rolled around the discomfort was more consistent and really agitating my sleep. Thankfully, a wise and insightful friend, who also happens to be one of my sound healing teachers, suggested I begin taking Hawthorne Berry supplement, which I did. Worked like a charm! Everything calmed down, but – as we all know – 2020 was far from a calming year and the insane levels of stress and lack of grounding has flowed into every year thereafter. I was on a mission to find a peaceful place within.

Then this last weekend rolled around. A delightful gal, Sarah Lemos, gifted psychic-medium and featured guest “seer” of haunted locations (see Travel Channel’s “Ghosts of Morgan City”) was presenting at the RaSani Fair in Oregon, just south of here. Since I’d had an insightful reading with her by phone I wanted to meet her in person. This would also be my first trip to a psychic fair! Generally, I tend to avoid large crowds, a remnant PTSD issue since my band days when I was coerced into playing my saxophone amidst large crowds of drunk and clumsy dancers. But the weather was beautiful, and a voice within called me to be brave and follow through. So glad I did! Not only was a Sarah an inspiration to see and hear, but I also discovered a beautiful display of drums. Creator David Burling, owner of Dragon Reiki Drums, explained all the materials he used: skins, crystals, wood, and he kindly let me sample the sounds of each one. He said this event was his first time putting the drums on public display since 2019, so I felt very fortunate to have found his booth! After carefully playing each handmade creation a couple times the one that just sang to my soul is pictured below.

The deep resonant tone of the drum so echos what I feel the spirit of Buffalo to represent: grounding, present-moment, extension of the Earth, indomitable, perservering, ancient, primal, solid, and life-giving. The feel and energy of the elk handle brings to the drum a gracefulness; strong, resilient, yet able to adapt. The spirit of the Cedar tree in the mallot exudes strength, might, purification of spirit.

I sit in a darkened room, closing out the world, with little more than a small candle or incense burning while playing. With the drum positioned close to my chest I tap with the mallot gently in different sweet spots where its voice changes timber, tone and resonance. There’s no structure, no right or wrong way to play, no stress. Bathing in gratitude for the spirit company of buffalo, elk, and cedar tree we float together in a river of rhythm, and after a period of time my mind feels light, my body almost floaty… we could dance the entire night if it weren’t for the need to rest. Playing this drum right before sleep has resulted in some of the most peaceful sleep I’ve experienced in a long time!

Hoping you, too, will find your peaceful place in this wildly insane world we’re roller coastering through. Perhaps a drum is calling your name?

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Caring for Your Drum
https://www.cedarmountaindrums.com/about-drumming/caring-for-your-drum/

Dragon Reiki Drums
https://www.facebook.com/Dragon-Reiki-Drums-1550472638519532/

Sarah Lemos, psychic medium
https://www.mediumsarahlemos.com/