Hired as a Shaman

In lat summer I have been approached by the city of Bracebridge, to join them as an employee of the City to bring some of the workshops I usually provide for the community under the umbrella of the Culture and Recreation Department.

I was not interested.

But, they said, I would get paid by them! 🙂

Not very much, certainly not equivalent to what I normally get paid, if they hire me as an “independent consultant”and workshop provider in this department.

In the end they chewed me down and I agreed – at least for this winter – to see, how it goes…….

They first wanted to write Shaman/ “Medicine Woman” onto my contract of employment and on the fliers for the workshops I agreed to provide. But I told them, the word Medicine Woman was controversial, as it is understood – by the Native American (First Nations) – to mean “one of THEIR Medicine People” – like a Lodge Leader, Faith Keeper (Sachem) or Shaking Tent man or Pipe Carrier……..

The word shaman is not as widely known among the general population here in Ontario and often I get asked, what exactly that is. When I explain, that it is a Siberian term for a “Medicine Person, that gains information and help from the Spirit World during theta trance journeys brought on by drumming ”

they say Ooh, like a Medicine Man! – Or ah, you are a Witch Doctor!

NO, I am not!

I am not a witch and I am not a doctor, although I do have a current RN licence and am training as a Jungian analyst from a Western university.

My father’s people call a person that does the things I do a “Kham”, leading Khamlanies = healing and other rituals.

Udega is another similar word but it rather describes a person working with herbs and potions.

Someone who uses drums and chants , who has one or more Spirit Guides, mostly in Animal form that he or she contacts while drumming in order to find out what is wrong with a client is called a Kham. The word this culture uses is Shaman, also a Siberian word, Tunguse to be precise, it is descriptive of someone entering ecstatic trance in order to help, advise, divine, heal, and otherwise aid the community.

Living here in the West I claim this word as a befitting description for me because it points not only towards what I do but also to my Siberian heritage and distances me from the also often used term “Medicine Woman” that implies Native American heritage and incidentally would be analogues to the word Udega among Siberian people.

Shaman however is not what I do, it is what I am. It permeates every aspect of my daily life, my art, the way I teach at elementary and university level, the way I engage the Spirits in order to facilitate healing, the way I mentor my students, and how I conduct public multicultural gatherings and rituals.

But generally the ordinary folk here in Muskoka do not care so much about what I am called; they are waaaay more interested in what I do and what I teach THEM to do.

One lady, that signed up for the upcoming drum workshop and was advised by one of the town clerks taking in her application, that no, I was not going to do any healing right there…. She reportedly replied: ”I do not care if Mi-Shell teaches knitting this fall, my sisters and me and a few friends will be there and we will learn something that will be important to us – and besides, something awesome always happens anyway…..”

Well, we will see…..

Drumming:

About me and drumming:
To me my work with drums and drumming, is an inseparable aspect of being Shaman —
My people call a person that does the things I do a “Kham”, leading a Khamlanie = a healing and/ or other rituals. Udega is another Siberian word but it rather describes a person working with herbs and potions. 
Someone who uses drums and chants , who has one or more Spirit Guides, mostly in animal form that he or she contacts while drumming in order to find out what is wrong with a client is called a Kham. The word this culture uses is Shaman, also a Siberian word, Tunguse to be precise and descriptive for someone entering ecstatic trance in order to help, heal, or otherwise aid the community.
In this culture I claim this word as a befitting description for me because it points not only towards what I do but also to my Siberian heritage and distances me from the also often used term “Medicine Woman” that implies Native American heritage and incidentally would be analogues to the word Udega among Siberian people. 
Shaman however is not what I do, it is what I am.

It permeates every aspect of my daily life, my art, the way I teach at elementary and university level, the way I mentor my private students, and how I conduct public multicultural gatherings and rituals.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….The musical aspect of my practice as a shaman involves drums and drumming as well as chants, traditional ones and others received in trance states and by extension movement and dance.
To me drumming in itself has different aspects that all fit onto a fluid continuum from light-hearted fun all the way to deep states of conflict resolution and healing.
Describing this continuum in more detail I want to first mention community based events that I facilitate and supply a multitude of drums and percussion instruments for:
There is the Bracebridge Drum Circle that gathers every Tuesday evening and provides everyday fun, good for you drumming. People come to jam together and also practice culture specific rhythms from around the world.

Next is my Frame Drum Circle, called “The Healing Drum” It is centred around spirituality and personal growth and I teach the use of the drum as a tool for relaxation and meditation, anger management and conflict resolution and -on occasion- I facilitate cathartic psychological ab-reactions for participants and lead them into profound healing states.

Next there would be the Native American ceremonies and other events I attend and also participate in as a teacher, setting up my teaching tent and bring drums for the people that gather around. Aside from other teachings I teach drum songs and chants. And we of course have the big Pow Wow drum there. I am a Drum Keeper, have received a 4 foot in diameter grandfather Drum from one of my clients… I bring that to events for the community to use. – See a pic about all the kids around it on the previous post about me in schools……

Here we are at home:

 
In the Longhouse we sing and dance to the Mohawk water drum, that the Sachem plays. We accompany him with horn rattles..Even further along the continuum is my use of drums in shamanic healings. When I either drum with or for an individual client in order to put him/ her and me into trance, so I can “see” into the body/soul to find the cause of an illness or dis-ease.

The last on the continuum is me, alone, drumming and chanting, most every night to initiate and maintain altered states of consciousness and thereby see/find out about concerns I have for self and others. 
That is also where I receive most of my chants and where rituals are “born” as finished entities, ready to be used with the community and where the concept of much of my artwork comes from….. 
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Hemispheric synchronization
or 
How the healing Drum works
One of the most powerful aspects of drumming and the reason that people have done it since the beginning of being human is that it changes people’s consciousness. Through rhythmic repetition of ritual sounds, the body, brain and the nervous system are energized and transformed. When a group of people play a rhythm for an extended period of time, their brain waves become entrained to the rhythm and they have a shared brain wave state. The longer the drumming goes on, the more powerful the entrainment becomes. . All of the oldest known religious rites used drumming as part of the shared sacred experience. 
It is interesting to look at these ancient drumming practices from the perspective of the latest scientific research into the functioning of the brain. Using electro-encephalographs, scientists can measure the number of energy waves per second pulsing through the brain. A system of classifying states of consciousness according to the frequencies of these waves was created. 
Normal outwardly focused attention generates beta waves which vibrate from 14 to 40 cycles per second. When awareness shifts to an internal focus, our brain slows down into the more rhythmical waves of alpha, vibrating at 7 -14 waves per second. Alpha is defined by relaxation and centering. Dropping down to 4- 7 cycles per second the brain enters the theta state in which there is an interfacing of conscious and unconscious processes, producing hypnagogic dream-like imagery at the threshold of sleep. 

Theta is the source of sudden mystical insights 
and creative solutions to complex situations and is 
marked by physical and emotional healing. People with a preponderance of theta brain waves are also able to learn and process much more information than normal. Without some form of intensive training, it is hard to stay awake in theta–one slips quickly down into delta. This is the slowest brain wave frequency, 1-4 cycles per second, the state of unconsciousness or deep sleep. 
The brain is divided into two hemispheres that are basically split in their control of the thinking process. The right brain functions as the creative, visual, aural and emotional centre. The left brain is the rational, logical, analytical and verbal administrator. Generally, either the right or left brain dominates in cycles lasting from 30 minutes to 3 hours. While one hemisphere is dominant, the memories, skills, and information of the other hemisphere are far less available, residing in a subconscious or unconscious realm. Not only do the right and left brain operate in different modes, they also usually operate in different brain wave rhythms. The right brain may be generating alpha waves while the left brain is in a beta state. Or both can be generating the same type of brain waves, but remain out of sync with each other. But in states of intense creativity, deep meditation or under the influence of rhythmic sound, both hemispheres may become entrained to the same rhythm. This state of unified whole brain functioning is called hemispheric synchronization or the awakened mind. As the two hemispheres begin to resonate to a single rhythm, a sense of clarity and heightened awareness arises. The individual is able to draw on both the 
left and the right hemispheres simultaneously.
The mind becomes sharper, more lucid, 
synthesizing much more rapidly than normal,
and emotions are easier to understand 
and to transform.

Mi-Shell

 

At Home with my Nepali Drum :)

So, as you guys know, we are home now.

The drum currently resides right on top of our Family Altar. 

It now also has a White Swan feather……..

You will find out, why 🙂

The day after getting home we went to our Tree of Life and I took the drum along, to show it, where it lives now. Of course I played it and chanted….

Peter affixed one of our Nepali welcome scarves onto our Tree

Do not be fooled by the nice sunshine on the picture: it is – 4 centigrade.

I must say, I find it fascinating that a shaman, while in trance still can wield so much control over the rhythms he/she drums…..

My Spirits usually instruct how I drum and that again is dependant on what situation, what patient, what kind of problem they are dealing with – And yes, they are dealing with the problem, not me. I am GONE!!!!! I am not I!! Just some hollow bone – or bony rack …..;)

They do not keep me on a strict drumming schedule, although I know, certain “dealings” or “treatments”call for, go with certain rhythms and chants and that may be similar from patient to patient, but never a set formula.

Now of course I want to try this out!:)

Do the teachings of these rhythms “come through the drum into me, because, this is, how Nepali shamans do it?

But I am not Nepali and the Gods and Spirits i  am bound to are quite different…. what will happen??

Well…. I tell you , what happened….

I tried last night.

As long as I was in OC = ordinary consciousness, no problem drumming the way Bhola taught. Then quickly however the trance comes and to maintain it I drummed  about 180 to 200 beats a minute,. My question was, “How should I handle this drum and use these teachings.??

Crazzzzzzzy but true, I found myself in the courtyard of Swayambhunath!

Talking to the very Monkey, that is seen on our pictures sitting on the large bronze Varya.

Well…. That is probably, because just an hour before my little exercise I had written up that blog post and sorted in the appropriate pictures…. But that is, how it goes. The Monkey, whom back in Nepal I had fed some peanuts, “transmitted” in pictures and voice:

It is all Peanuts to me! (they were dropping onto the drum making the fast rhythmic sound…)

“Ask the Goats! (The ones making up the Drum skin )They are happy you are not hanging them on the wall!”

Bhola’s head appeared on the shimmering light behind the Monkey. “Some people perform (being a shaman) some people drum (like a shaman) some people are …?????(a word that I did not understand, but it’s meaning was evident) and they fall of the (viewpoint over Kathmandu ) and fly away…….

The instant that was “transmitted” I felt myself whisked away and on the bushy Yak tail flew sirrrrrrrselllling through fast moving air, high over the city, through fast approaching dusk and night with shimmering lights below and then high across the hills and snowy mountains. I again was accompanied by a Being half a White Swan, half a –  this time young woman….. (One  of the Swan Maidens of my Ada’s culture…)

Eventually I ended up safe and sound on my own Reindeer fur at home…… Yes, and as soon as I was “sort of back there” I tried to remember, what to drum now and how to hold the drum and what not…. My brain was EMPTY!!!

I had to look it up in my notes but could not find them and when I did could not comprehend, what they meant…

Not right away anyway…

THAT however is a typical sign for a full Theta trance… At least for me…..

Sooo, what do you think?

Should I now go practice these specific rhythms and see where that leads? It would be interesting….

Or – should I just “fly”??

Will you now go and “test-drive” these rhythms – and tell us here, what you experienced???????

That would be nice!!!!!

And Yes, Bhola, if you ever read this, can you say, comment on this, add another piece to the puzzle?

Thanks! 🙂

My Nepali Drum:

In our ritual room we discovered, that Bhola had drums for us to choose from 🙂

Nepali double sided shaman’s drums. There were several, but not for long….. 2 smaller ones were taken immediately. I held out my left all feeling hand and – there was one that had A LOT of Power.  No, Bhola said, that is my spare drum….

No wonder!

There was another one, that stood out, because it was all black and had a lower tone than toe 2 or 3 others. Actually that means, that the skin is just a little more loose…. In this weather – it had been raining buckets since the last 2 days; the Monsoon just not letting up this year…

but back to the drum: I will take this drum back to Canada, where we have to heat our homes for more than 7 month out of the year and although the humidity in summer sometimes is quite stifling, let’s face it, there is AC….. A very tight drum might not make it in a very dry environment….This one however felt just right and the wood the frame is constructed of was smooth and flawless. The carvings on each side of its phurba show 3 fierce Spirit faces as well as Spirit eyes and  tridents, the symbol for life, death and re-birth and spirals – Spiral of life…

Around the phurba each drum had red and white ribbons – for male and female energy

Each drum came with a beater, bend in a snake-like shape and was adorned with  a red cotton thread – for life.

Each drum also came with a modern bright blue goretex carrying case fit for the air plane home 🙂

Next Bhola talked  about the drums and here are his words:

Nepalese shaman’s drums (dhyangro) are double headed, and covered by animal hide the drums are made of special wood. The animal hide used nowadays is either mountain goat, deer or a domesticated goat or sheep. They also have a handle in the shape of a ritual dagger (often known in the West by it’s Tibetan name phurba) which has three sides to its blade, which in its three dimensional way represents all the cosmos.

On one side of this triangular bladed handle there is the beak of the regal Eagle, or perhaps an Owl or a Horse or a Thunderbolt or an Elephant. This is the male side of the drum, so when we hold the drum in front of our face, this male side should be facing outside.

The spirits hardly make any difference between a male and a female shaman, as the drum is the universal instrument used by both the sexes it makes no difference.

Some shamans respect the male and female sides of the drum, but some shamans don’t, it depends upon the instructions they have received from their teachers and the spirits. If the shaman works with the male and female sides of the drum differently, the male side is used in the beginning of a shaman’s ceremony to call in the spirits. The female side is used towards the end of the ceremony or ritual to send away the helping spirits.

The shaman starts to drum with a 1/4 beat [O O O O O O], during which they will observe their whole body to look for tensions, performing deep breathing in order to relax, They will then invite their spirits and ancestors in to help them, and make their intentions for the ceremony or healing clear. Suddenly the shaman’s drumming will change rhythm to a 4/4 beat [O o o o O o o o O o o o], during which the shaman starts feeling sensations of heat and cold in their body as the spirits come closer and start inspiring them.

When the body of the shaman starts to move and shake, or they start to dance, the rhythm of the drumming becomes very random.

Towards the end of the session the female side of the drum is used, and then the rhythm becomes a 3/4 beat [O o o O o o O o o]. During this time the shaman starts calming and slowing down, and eventually the beat changes to a 2/4 [O o O o O o O o] and eventually a 1/4 [O O O O O O O] before it comes to a stop.

As a welcome gift I presented my drum with a Peacock feather.

This is however only the first part of  what happened.

Stay tuned 😉

A new drum:

With the Rattle conundrum being solved we turned our attention to a drum. For me it was pretty clear right away, that I would love to get a :real: Nepali shaman’s drum, the likes of which Bhola and Aama Bombo are using. E- mailing Evelyn,our tour organizer, about it, I was assured, that Bhola always has a few hand made drums for sale and that it would not be a problem getting one:)

But then, we also wanted to take another drum along – for Peter to use and just in case…. i normally drum over patients and then start to see”in the reverberations of the sound and the colours where the problem is located and what it “feels like”…

Now, I can do just that with quite a few of my own drums, have – at times, when no drum was available, also used a plastic waste paper basket ….But I also have encountered – and own quite a few drums, where that is not possible. Some drums just do not “resonate right” and, as you can imagine, all double-sided drums are among this group. Now, Nepali drums are double -sided!

So, not so good for diagnosing… for me that is….

Well, I can use the Rattle for diagnosing….

She works like a charm! Tried it,  🙂

But as in all shamanic seminars people often just drum…. So we decided, to take one travelling drum along…

But which one????

I wrote in the previous post about the humidity and – the sheer trouble of stuffing a drum into a piece of luggage along with wet wipes, water purifying solution, electric adaptors, diarrhoea and dehydration medicines and whatever else was on the list of things to bring…..

We decided on something cheap, that is made from man made materials, will take any kind of abuse and not bend out of shape or break / split its head.

A mid sized Remo “Buffalo drum”

There is nothing Buffalo in or on it, other than the name for marketing reasons…. It is all synthetic – The shamanic translation for synthetic is ancient oooooold plant material that liquefied into oil and then…….. finish the sentence however you like ……

The contraption was $ 55.00 … and yeah!? ….Not impressive….

Not very “alive” either.

It sounded – well – not like we are used to. All my working drums are quite large and have a low resonant tone. This drum has not much resonance compared to them.

So we put it aside and Peter, who first wanted to paint it and make it his – eventually just frowned and …. it collected dust….

Now however, it is crunch time and Peter had to work on one more huuuuuge jewellery order to be send into the US and said, I should just paint the thing any way I wanted… He was just not “into it”

So I went on a shamanic journey and asked for instructions.

The very first thing I was told was, that it needed a Deer Antler handle in the shape of a trine! And it was supposed to receive sky blue silk for the Tengeri of Siberia!.

OK! that is doable.

Then what?

Another journey revealed, that I was to paint it with petroglyph and pictograph designs – just like my main Ritual Drum, so the Spirits of the Land, that is always work with, are there as well.

Then, into the inside I was to draw my Ancestor Spirits and representations of a few of my Animal Guides, the Tuvan Sun Spirits I always “see” and my Clan Guardian from my Ada’s clan. It also was to receive “Sky Snakes” in the form of silk threads/ribbons of all different shades of blue into which I am to tie beads, one new bead for each experience I will make on this trip and then, later on while using this drum…..

With time in short supply I went to work.

2 days later I was yet again surprised at the outcome:

The drum has a lot of Wolf fur in which a small Serpentine Bear with Turquoise eyes is hidden, a large Owl that was a gift from a friend, the slightly sour and disconcerting face of Ee’ren Omsür in Abalone shell and the requested Sky blue silk Spirits that, on the one hand represent a waterfall I saw during the first journey. 

All the silk Snakes,that I was told, have significance for the Spirits of Place in the Himalayas, looked a little too untidy and crazzzzy, so I braided them into 3 braids. For now I wove several beads into that braid. One for the incredible invitation to even GO on this trip, one for the visions received as to how to proceed with this drum, one for all the things I have since learned about Nepal, its people and the way they worship as well as the way in which all the world religions there weave into each other…….

The BIG surprise however came, when I held the drum up into the light and realized, that all the Medicine Drawings are shimmering through the drum head and the ones drawn into the back side appear like Spirits on the front side and vice versa!

How appropriate!

This drum sounds best with a very soft beater and so I made one with Rabbit fur, to feed Wolf and Owl and added a little bone Bear….

For now there are just 2 small feathers….

I will have to find feathers for it during the trip!

I will spend every minute we are in Chitwan National Park looooooking!

I am going back …..

One of my beloved students is not feeling well…

I am worrrrried!

She lives far away,

…too far to rush to her side…..

To hold the worries at bay

I am singing healing chants

throughout the night…

I am going back where I am from
to find a healing medicine
I am riding on my horse, the drum
to find a sacred healing dream………

There’s a wild melody
among a million harmonies
There’s a note for everyone…………
That’s their big medicine!

 

I am bringing you your sacred song
from the place we all are from.
And you’ll be well if you will sing
your song of sacred medicine………….

 

A busy summer :)

At this time of year our summer season with busy markets and art and craft shows is still in full swing. On top of that I am kept busy with students, bringing teachings into resorts and health care facilities and with patients coming to the house.

This is the problem with writing a blog about working as a shaman. Most of the “more interesting” things are strictly confidential. I can not write about the consultations with patients, about individual cases and problems or private hours with students.

Oftentimes, when I bring drums and teachings into groups and healing and recovery centres, I – and the students, that accompany me have to sign strict confidentiality agreements and especially taking pictures is prohibited.

At the same time however, it just may happen, that the caretakers themselves are videotaping the sessions and circle activities.

Sometimes that makes me wonder, what will they use these videos for?

Will they try to replicate my teachings?

Are they becoming part of the public domain?

Are they on U-tube somewhere??

Anyway…

Here a few pictures, that recently were put into one of the many public networking sites and so are OK to re-post here.

Thank you to the very talented photographer ♥

Here I am on the annual Baysville Craft show, showing of my large Siberian medicine Pouch.

It worked! 🙂

I sold it! Yaaaaayyy!!!

Drums for Recovery

Buffalo Medicine Teaching Blanket

Bear Medicine Teachings

Shamanic journey during Dalva’s teaching circle:

As I had previously mentioned I was participating in a teaching circle about Finnish shamanic traditions that practitioner Dalva Lemminmäki gave in Toronto. She spoke about Finnish traditions, Tree worship, a Finish creation myth involving the egg, about working and journeyingand many other things. We also did a 1 hour long shamanic journey. here is what happened on my journey:

Dalva had previously explained, that in her tradition one drums for at least an hour, often 2 to 3 and that she at times drums up to 5 hours when journeying after sun down until sunrise next morning.

I agreed with her, that too is Siberian practice, but here in the very popular “shamanic workshops” they do a number of short 10 minute trips – which is why many people in the end have trouble journeying and rarely go into full (theta brainwave) trance…..

In the circle several people were drumming, using frame drums and djembes, others had rattles, others also chanted or sang… I was a bit like a prolonged community drum circle, but pleasant. I prepared my fur, so I could lay down on Ee’ren Eder ( my Reindeer Spirit and Clan Guide, represented in physical reality through my Reindeer fur, used for journeying only.) – To put the fur into the tight chair would not work and it was comfortable to use the armrest of the chair to keep the drum level….To drown out some groaning and squealing that was going on, I settled into a steady 180/ minute beat.

….I “see” Lira (my Screech Owl Guardian) flying ahead of me ~~ 2 meters above the ground, leading the way through a scraggggly Forest with lots of rocks, gray granite with veins of white quartz, huge boulders, deep barren ravines, boggy at times, Aspen and Spruce, underbrush with Blueberry bushes… It is a gray evening on a cold rainy day.

We come up to a steep rock wall. Lira lands on a small Spruce Tree that is almost leaning against the steep incline. I have to step across a wide crack in the rocky ground to get there and – – – find myself standing on the granite rock cheek of a GIANT!!!Forest Spirit Person, that has been here forever. I am standing on his left cheek, in front of his massive granite nose, to my right looking up into his GIANT eye and furrowed brow high above it. Looking down, to my left I see the Giant opening his cavernous mouth with large ivory colored teeth and then and there I am being sucked towards that, I see his tong like a giant Beaver tail… I am sucked into this maw and slide down a long tubular “riffely tunnel, that must be his gullet. Like coming down a water slide I am splashed into a large reddish brown glistening cave. There are – like stalagmites and stalactites – but all made from living flesh and bone. Nevertheless, there are rock drawings and carvings in red and black everywhere on these formations. In the middle the cavernous stomach is a large fire. Beyond that, further down there is a dark black tunnel..

A little back from the fire there sits an old man, skinny, with white hair,

– – playing a kantele!

I recognize Väinämöinen!

Oh!! now even in the trance journey I know, where I am!

The belly of the Forest Giant!:)

There also is, on the other side from Väinämöinen a large Bear sleeping further in the back and a large Moose is sitting in the center on a rock. He is crying. In his lap he is holding one of his broken of antlers, while a strange stubble on his head is rapidly growing into a sizable Wapiti Elk antler. Then the other large majestic Moose antler falls of and the Moose wails in futile desperation. “ They will not know me!!!!” he wails, while a small bird settles on the now quickly growing Elk horn and starts chirping loudly.

Moose

I try to help the inconsolable Moose, try moulding the second, just growing rack into a more Moose like looking antler, flattening it out a bit, …. But I need more stuffff and grab dripping spittle and juice from the belly stalagmites and some flesh from the ground nearby. Like as if it was puddy I manage to form it all into a Moose antler. – But for the other side it was already too late – that one was fully hardened into a sizable Wapiti antler. Now however Väinämöinen on the other side of the fire starts to sing and to my and the Moose’s high horrrror the newly formed Moose antler changes into another Elk/ Wapiti horn and then , oh shock, the whole Moose changes into a Wapiti Elk in front of my eyes.

Lira appears and gives me more “cave spittle juice” and I rub the animal with it and it starts to flimmer and shimmer as a Moose again… – until Väinämöinen again starts to sing…. When he stops the animal is half Elk, half Moose and a mess.

Then, all of a sudden I hear a loud sound – and almost “wake up” Someone in the room (tonal) started to sing or whatever and the disturbance transformed into a strange egg yolk yellow cube with bright red Chinese writing symbols on all sides. !!??!! (6 inch x 6 inch cube)

(This strange cube appeared several more times – whenever there was a disruptive -to me- sound in the room that “made me come up” from the trance. I just resolved to drum a little louder, so as not to hear it and went back “down”)

I went back to the cave. The Moose/ Elk Wapiti and Väinämöinen I are gone, the Bear is awake and brings me a Pow Wow drum to look at. He tosses it into the fire and now I also see Lira sitting there with several old movie reels and bits of ripped film, that she tosses into the fire.- – –

– – I say:“YES!! I KNOW!!!! I WILL tell her and explain – (like sooo many others )– and just hope she will not take it the wrong way…“ I promised the Bear. Healing comes with understanding – on both sides….

When I look again there is part of Dalva’s skirt in the fire, halfway burnt.-

– Again the scene is split up by a loud noise and the yellow cube with Chinese kanjis…

When I get back there, it feels like “late” But now the fire is out and through a vapory smoke I see a black Wolf with a white triangle on his chest standing at the entrance of the passageway into the gut of the Giant, beckoning me to follow him.

I do, through the gut of the Giant….. On and of there are flashes of the Chinese kanji cube, but I just disregard them…

We get to a place, that is the beginning of the “Fire River” there are several Beings there, but again loud noises make me start to shake and “be tossed up”and hear the 1  2 3 4 drumming = Oooo Oooo Oooo Oooo…..>

By the time I am back down I am “not very deep” and hear the room in the background.

For a flash I see Sandra D. sitting at the River’s edge reading a book made up out of Oak leaves.

I now “know” where I am and ask the Wolf to show me something that I need to know or bring back . Right away the crying Moose/ Elk appears and Lira with the stupid movie reel lands in my lap – Literally! Nice! Yes, OK, again….. I will not forget to tell…

Lira leads me up to the stomach cave with the rock art. There I see a white envelope hanging among the Medicine symbols. It says “Message” and Lira directs me to take it and open it. I do – but>>> again the strange yellow cube with the red Chinese writing…

Shitt… x#*ZZOOßo**^#ZZ*ßpvochchch!!!!!

I think I loudly say something like that and wish I had not…. 😦

But I am halve “awake” and realize, the drumming has almost stopped – it is just me and the djembe left….

Dalva is winding down the journey …

Someone sings and promptly there is the yellow cube again…

I have to return – never mind the other messages… I feel being dragged own by a soup of heavy molasses and struggle against it… I should journey on, but I am no at home but at Dalva’s circle….

I struggle against the sour smelling molasses until Lira brings a watering can with “Muskoka rain water from the flood” and douses me until the molasses comes of.

I feel Peter and Janet next to me…….

.

.

So….

What does it all mean?

Well:

In one of the Runes = song/ poems Elias Lönrot used for the Finnish folk epos the Kalevala, is about Antero Vipunen, who is seen as the primodeal Elder shaman, an ancient Forest Spirit on a perpetual journey hidden deep in the Forest, turned to stone, incorporated into the living Earth. He holds a lot of secret wisdom and even the sage Väinämöinen went to him for wisdom and to learn a Rune that would aid him in “singing himself a boat” (creating a Rune = chant -vehicle that allows him to go on a shamanic journey)

I traveled to this Being,

Lira is one of my Miahanits – Medicine Guides….. Read more on : https://shamanicdrumm.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/134/

The Moose/ Elk Wapity: During Dalva’s teaching talk she referred to her special Guardian ans an Elk – and the picture that came across to me (in pre-verbal imagery ) was a Moose. However, most of the circle participants – hearing the word “Elk” envisioned a Wapiti, like we have out in Western Canada.

Wrong critter. The Moose in the cave – and in the Kalevala is upset because he is not seen by Canadians as / for what he reallllly is!

Here for the First nations out West, that are familiar with Elk he stands for sexual prowess and allure while the Moose, Hottha (Ojibwa) or Moosee (Cree) is the sacred balance of gentleness and strength within a human – and other Being

Meaning : these 2 have VERY different Medicines and the Moose in the journey wants to be seen for what he is….

I try to fix him in the journey, but Väinämöinen starts singing = the Kalevala itself talks about Elk and – so I can not fix that….

The strange yellow cube with the bright red Chinese writing is a visual manifestation for the sounds, that I am not used to, during journeying (they are yellow = alarm and red Chinese = to me = unknown and foreign. But they also represent the circle members, the many for whom journeying was unknown and new and foreign. And the Chinese writing yet again emphasizes the communication gap that exists due to language barriers in the circle……

So on one side it is Chinese to me to hear strange sounds during journeying but on the other side I could be the translator… ifffffappropriate of course…..

The Drum , the film reels and the Bear.

Bear is for healing and much healing needs to be done. Healing comes through understanding the other better. Many First Nations People consider 1234 = drumming “White man’s war drum tom tom drumming a’ la’ in the old Westerns, when you hear the war drums and the Natives circle the burning wagon train and… You all know…

So nowadays there is resentment against this and it comes up, when First Nations Elders hear none Natives play that rhythm on a drum. Some are quite vocal about it…..

It happens often and on several occasions I had to defuse the situation with teachings for both sides and so bridge the gap…..

What many first Nations so far are not yet familiar with is, that other shamanic Ancestor ways – like in Europe and South America use this rhythm and it is part of their culture and not just miss appropriated or picked up from an old movie… We in Siberia for example use this drum rhythm as one of the East rhythms – to ward of unknown disease Spirits that usually – as seen by my people – approach from the unknown future = East. For us Bear guards against these. So here Bear is well aware and points out the problem by tossing the old Pow Wow drum into the fire and Lira adds snippets of moovie reels….

When we shamanic practitioners from other cultures play this rhythm in Native American company we should be wise to qualify = explain, where we got this rhythm from and why we play it right now and maybe ask, ifffff it is OK with the “Spirits of Place”

In this case it comes from Dalva’s Finnish tradition and that is wonderful and very spiritual. And yes, there are many drum circle songs with that rhythm and also some First Nations chants from the Southern tribes = rain songs for example…. Not that we need more rain in Ontario right now….

Here we are being made aware of cultural sensitivities – no rain songs when there are floods – or no John Wayne drumming ….

And Yes, my Guides alert me to the problem and tell me to explain to Dalva, because it is her skirt that was burnt in the fire = “something” happened somewhere in the recent past and the smoke is still in the air but the fire is out.

The Wolf leads me to another realm I “know” from studying the Kalevala: The River of Death, where the old shamaness, the mother of the hero Lemminkäinen has to revive her son, who got killed and tossed there. This is a place, where she sang healing Runes that are very powerful…

I still wonder, what she would have sung to me…

I will have to go back to visit her another journey…

As Dalva said in her teaching: In Finland and in Siberia we journey for looooong times – and 1 hour just flew by. When a journey needs to be aborted – or I get “tossed out” by – the proverbial phone ringing, someone touching me, or whatever, I often start to shake quite badly and it takes a while until I am back in OC…..

This time it felt like being stuck in heavy molasses that was dragging me back….

Later in the evening Dalva and me had a long wonderful talk and several other practitioners joined in.

🙂

Blessings to all circle participants who read this! 🙂

Grandmother Chant

Ya no maa…..

My Inde’ teacher taught me the Ya no maa chant waaaaay back, when I was 21.

-Actually I should rather write it like this:

Ya’no ma’a’

…because of the way “a” is vocalized in Inde’….

He taught me this chant and several others and then, when I was keyed into the melody, the inner voice of it, (what we in the West would call “entrained”, then he had me sing/chant my own words to the melody.

Anything that came to my mind, anything I needed, anything I was “calling out for” or “calling in”

So since then, that is what I do: I chant the Ya no maa

and then…….

…. This one is for my Grandmother and my Great Grandmother….

…. the women of my lineage:

It’s the right time of year for a chant like this.

When the trance comes, so does Grandmother Ulaly

… and we talk….

2 New Chants, that I “found”

I never know, where the chants come from.

They are “out there”, in the Medicine Lines called the “collective unconscious” by CG Jung

I drum…..

…..the trance comes……

….. flirrrrry lines, sparkling in the bluish blackness…..

…..then somehow the drum rhythm changes….

….. a melody instead of a steady beat……

….. and then words drift in……

….. after a while I just sing along…..

…..Then, after a while it is time, to come back.

.

Will I remember the chant, the melody, the words…

It is easier, when that is in English….

But sometimes it is not……

What language is it?

Questions the analytical mind will ask –

– and I may or may not have the answer…..

.

.

.

.

Artwork  by Frank Howell

http://www.frankhowellgallery.com/artists/frank-howell

and Khambra Scarre