Drum therapy is a profound way to restore the vibrational integrity of body, mind, and spirit. Through the natural law of resonance, the sound waves produced by the drum impart their energy to the resonating systems of the body, mind, and spirit, making them vibrate in sympathy. When we drum, our living flesh, brainwaves, and spiritual energy centers begin to vibrate in response. According to percussionist Dru Kristel, this sympathetic resonance “leaves reverberating effects up 48 to 72 hours after a session.”7 A single-headed frame or hoop drum works best for drum therapy. The larger the drum, the greater the resonance. You will need a partner to act as your “patient.” The basic steps are as follows:

1.       Begin by selecting a suitable location, smudging, and relaxing.

2.       Frame a simple and clear statement of your intent. Since healing is the objective of this exercise, you might phrase your intention something like, “I pray for the help and healing that ______ needs at this time.” (Fill in the blank with the name of your patient).

3.       Next, have your partner lie down on his or her back on a blanket spread on the floor of a quiet, darkened room. During the drumming, the patient’s only tasks are to remain still with eyes closed and to stay aware of what they are experiencing.

4.       Kneel down next to the patient and hold the drum so that the lacing or open end opposite the drumhead faces the patient. Most of the sound energy from a single-headed drum flows out through the opening opposite the head of the drum. By holding the drum over the patient in this manner, a resonating energy current will flow readily into the patient when you strike the head of the drum.

5.       Starting at the feet of the patient, begin drumming the eagle-beat. An even cadence of about 180 beats per minute is the most effective. Find the drum’s sweet spot and make it sing and hum. Work the drum to build up the hum of the overtones. These are the best frequencies for healing.

6.       As you drum, repeat the word or phrase that represents your intention over and over like a mantra. So as not to disturb the patient and to better hear the sound of the drum, silently repeat your intention to yourself. The drum will generate, access, and direct healing energy based solely on your intent.        

7.       Crawling along beside the patient, gradually move the drum from the feet to the top of the head. Keep the drumhead parallel to the patient and twelve to twenty-four inches above the body.

8.       Listen very carefully to the sound and resonance of the drum as you move it back and forth over the body. It is not unusual for the drum to go flat or lose its resonance over a portion of the body that is in need of healing. When this happens, continue to drum that area until the drum begins to sing again. Let the drum do the healing.

9.       Upon reaching the top of the head, begin drumming a heartbeat rhythm at around 180 beats (90 heartbeats) per minute.

10.   As you drum, clear your mind of everything. Focused intent, to be effective, should be followed by complete surrender and detachment. 

11.   Focus your attention on the beat of the drum and repeat steps 7 and 8, except that you will now make your way gradually back down to the feet. 

12.   Upon returning to the feet, make certain that you drum this area for at least a minute or more to firmly ground the patient back into his or her body. 

13.   End the exercise with four strong beats.

Exercise Summary

The basic steps in the preceding exercise are:

1.       Select a suitable location, smudge, and relax.

2.       Formulate your intention.

3.       Have the patient lie down with their eyes closed.

4.       Kneel down and hold the drum so that the open end opposite the drumhead faces the patient.

5.       Starting at the feet, play the eagle-beat and make the drum sing.

6.       Silently repeat your intention like a mantra.

7.       Move from the feet to the top of the head, keeping the drumhead parallel to the body.

8.       Keep the drum singing.

9.       Upon reaching the crown, drum the heartbeat.

10.   Clear your mind of everything.

11.   Make your way back down to the feet.

12.   Drum at the feet a minute or more.

13.   End with four strong beats.

This exercise can also be performed with up to four drummers. One drummer should kneel down and drum the crown of the patient’s head, while a second kneels to drum the soles of the patient’s feet. These two drummers remain stationary during the exercise, generating between them a powerful healing current that flows through the patient. Two additional drummers should kneel down on either side of the patient and move their drums up and down the length of the body as outlined in the previous exercise. All of the drummers should drum in sync. It is not necessary for the drummers on either side of the patient to move in sync since each drummer may find that a different portion of the patient’s body requires more attention.

Be careful that you don’t overload the patient’s nervous system because four drummers will generate an incredible amount of energy. Should a patient feel overstimulated, you should drum a soft and steady heartbeat rhythm at a tempo of about 60 beats (30 heartbeats) a minute in the area around the feet to calm and ground them. Physically touching or sitting on the Earth will also have a calming and grounding effect. 

Another variation, a standing version, should also be explored. Have the patient stand with his or her feet parallel and about six inches apart. Their knees should be slightly bent, removing any strain on the lower back that would occur if the knees were locked. The arms should rest easily at both sides of the body. You should stand about two feet away, facing the patient, and perform the basic steps of the exercise as outlined above. You will have to kneel or squat down to effectively drum the patient’s feet, then gradually stand as you bring the drum up the body. It is not unusual for the patient to rock or sway while being drummed.

A variant of the standing version can be undertaken with up to four drummers. Have the drummers stand at the four cardinal points with the patient standing in the center, facing whichever direction he or she feels most appropriate. If the patient is uncertain about which direction to face, I recommend facing the West, the home of Spirit Bear, the Great Healer. The four drummers should drum in sync as they move up and down the body. It is not necessary to move in sync, since each drummer may find that a different portion of the patient’s body requires more attention. Again, be careful that you don’t overwhelm the patient with an energy overload. Four drums will generate a powerful vortex of energy and move it up the body from the feet to the top of the head. This ascending surge of energy tends to give the patient the sensation of leaving the body through the top of the head. It is very powerful and ecstatic—a peak experience. When the drummers reverse direction, they bring the energy back down into the physical body and help ground the patient.

Finally, there is a very powerful group variant of the standing version. The group version works well with eight or more participants. I have facilitated this exercise with groups of up to forty people. First, divide everyone into two equal groups—one group of drummers and one group to be drummed. All participants in the group to be drummed should stand shoulder to shoulder in a circle, facing outward. The drummers should then form a circle around this inner circle and perform the exercise as outlined above. Upon completion of the exercise, the participants in the inner circle should exchange places with those in the outer circle, then repeat the exercise.

Allow your intuition to guide you when performing drum therapy. Experiment with different postures, tempos, and rhythms. There is no single right way to do it. Each person must ultimately go within to find his or her own way.  

Michael Drake is a writer, rhythmist, and ceremonial drummer of Cherokee descent. He is a member of the United Lumbee Nation and author of I Ching: The Tao of Drumming (Talking Drum Publications, 1997). He has studied with master drummers from the Native American and Mongolian shamanic traditions. Michael lectures and gives workshops around the country. Through his work, he has guided thousands in the healing art of ceremonial drumming. Thank you for your interest.

CRAFTING A DRUM

The Big Bang Theory:
Therapist Rick Cormier helps people find release through drumming  
By Hank Seaman

You know me, I'm always trying to drum up a good story, so picture this.
Consider yourself one of, perhaps, 25 drum-toting people seated in a large circle. The various drums surrounding you -- mostly hand drums, mind you -- like the individual drummers, themselves, are every size, shape, and color imaginable.
Everything from an African drum called the djembe (pronounced jim-bay) and a Middle Eastern drum called the doumbek (dum-back), to Indian tom-toms, and even bongos are represented.
Male, female, young, old, black and white, the group is made up of people just like you.
One person starts beating on a drum. Slowly. Deliberately. Rhythmically. Others join in, banging their drums in unison, or in counterpoint, or just plain awkwardly, according to their skills.
Finally, albeit reluctantly, you do, too.
Some of your fellow drummers are talented, most are not, but that really doesn't matter ... for expertise, it begins to dawn on you, is not this aggregate's objective. A Buddy Rich you simply do not need to be.
At times the beat quickens and the sound intensifies to a pulsating, thunderous crescendo, while at others the cadence diminishes to a sound barely more audible than a church whisper.
The one constant is the complexity of united sound.
Before long, you and the other 24 people are in a world apart, a world -- at least for the moment -- totally devoid of tension and everyday problems.
If all is going well, nothing else matters ... there is nothing outside this room.
You are totally intent on the sound that, together, you are producing. Each in the circle is feeling a connection from one to the other -- almost like a shared heartbeat -- and in this pulsation there is release, harmony, and joy.
Welcome to the world of Rick Cormier's Drum Circles.
Both as leader of a SouthCoast Learning Network course and as part of a monthly group that meets at New Bedford's First Unitarian Church, Rick has had many documented successes.
Not that he wants to bang his own drum, mind you. But, luckily I get paid to pry.
"People come to drum circles for a dozen different reasons," the 48-year-old self-described drum therapist says.
"Some come to it intent on creating music, while some come to it for the physical benefits ... arthritis, say, or arm and hand injuries. Some are in recovery from substance and alcohol abuse. Still others do it as a social outlet ... to have fun. While some are just in it for the psychological benefits."
Whatever.
There is no one "right" reason to be part of a drum circle, the Fairhaven resident emphasizes. Only the right conclusion.
"People often come out of this experience with laughter," Rick continues. "The release is joyous. Everybody feels connected. People are amazed to be part of this wonderful experience."
Admittedly, Rick Cormier, comes at these sessions with a lifetime of music and percussion as background. He began drumming at the age of 10, graduating to guitar and keyboards by his teens in a number of area garage bands. In fact, he even recorded two solo albums under his own name wherein he played nothing but acoustic guitar.
More to the point, he has always collected percussive instruments as a hobby, and theorizes today he has at least 40 -- from a huge Japanese Taiko drum to a tiny Tibetan finger drum -- even after selling more than three dozen of them over the years.
Still, as master's graduate in counseling psychology at Cambridge College, music, as such, has never been his main focus, he maintains.
As a psychotherapist specializing in anxiety disorders, Rick has seen many cases of post-traumatic stress disorder both in his current job at Taunton's Community Counseling of Bristol County and his former part-time gig at the Veteran's Administration Hospital.
In each instance, drum circles have been an unqualified success -- for everyone from Vietnam vets with PTSD and people with aggression issues, to rape and incest victims. They afford Rick an admittedly back door access into troubled people's lives.
As illustration, the married father of a 10-year-old son offers how just recently he introduced a group-home of "at-risk youths" to a drum circle.
According to the group-home staff, at least two of the teens were categorized as having attention deficit disorder and could not be counted on for more than a few minutes attention to anything, yet there they were participating with glee throughout.
"Despite my apprehensions about working with this (group), it was a huge success," Rick says. "After less than 15 minutes of drumming, the room was full of smiling faces, creativity and laughter."
He also points with pride to his most notable success, a veteran who was so blocked that he could not deal with people, even small groups of people.
Yet, today, thanks to drum therapy, this 52-year-old man can run the Boston Marathon shoulder-to-shoulder with 17,000 other folks ... a major victory.
OK, so we've seen that it works, but how, exactly, did Rick Cormier get started in this unusual pursuit, I wonder?
"About six years ago, someone at church (New Bedford's First Unitarian) approached me to ask if I'd like to participate in a drum circle. I was amazed. 'Wow,' I said, 'how did you know I played drums?' She looked at me kind of funny and said, 'I didn't.' "
She was just recruiting anyone and everyone who might be interested, he laughs.
Beyond his own involvement, however, drum circles have a curious history, with Rick crediting Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead and a man named Arthur Hull as the "grandfathers" of the initial events.
"It's become a big phenomenon, all over the world," he says. Indeed, the annual Drums Around the World festival was held in Amherst a couple of weeks ago and attracted hundreds of drummers to Western Massachusetts, not to mention thousands of people around the globe.
As far as details of his own groups -- open to everyone -- are concerned, a long individual drum circle performance is about 10 minutes, Rick explains, while the average piece goes on for six to eight minutes. "There have even been some memorable times where our groups have gone on for 15 to 20 minutes, but that's rare ... only six times, or so, in my experience."
His own expertise is not really a factor, Rick insists. "I can direct it if it's flagging, but generally I don't. I'm not really there as a leader of the drumming. I'm just there as a member ... and an observer."
And, as with any club or group, there are certain rules of etiquette. "If you've played a lead part in the last piece, you should try playing a supportive role in the next few," Rick cautions.
"The only sin a novice can make is to be the loudest drummer in the room," Rick explains. "The object is not to worry about your individual performance. Just listen. That's the most important thing to do."
Go, as they say, with the flow.
"We're novice friendly," he adds, emphasizing yet again there's no need to be musically inclined. "There's no audition ... nobody sits in judgment."
Even for people who are painfully reserved.
"People who are shy are less shy when they are drumming," a smiling Rick Cormier contends.
"You don't need to be charming, witty or glib ... you just have to pick up a drum and bang your brains out to add your two cents' worth."
The results can be quite amazing, Rick sums up.
"There is magic going on here."
For more information, e-mail Rick Cormier at: file://C:\ym\Compose?To=synthrick@hotmail.com 

Hank Seaman paints "Portraits" for you every Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. E-mail: file://C:\ym\Compose?To=hseaman@s-t.com Telephone: 508 979 4504 

This story appeared on Page E1 of The Standard-Times on September 8, 2002. 

Original Memory by Maria Yracébûrû
Author of Legends and Prophecies of the Quero Apache

When I touch the Stone People, when I touch the Standing Tall Ones, when I touch the marks of the world that are part of the land, I touch the face and heart of my ancestors. I touch the face and heart of myself, and I am home.

I carry my home with me, in the reality of my flesh upon the flesh of the land. It is the one essential seeding as my life as a storyteller.

I feel my home beyond my fingers reach, deep inside where dreams are born. And I can silently reach out... touching the this and that of my home... by reaching inside with spirit fingers, and seeing inside with spirit eyes.

My spirit fingers write the words that create ancient connection. My spirit eyes see the images and truth and knowing moving up through my spirit, entering the pen that makes my marks on the talking leaves of paper.

My marks are my spirit movement in the world. I move lovingly from one place in my home, to another place in my home. Resting where my spirit pen stops in its dance.

So many suffer from fear, and I too fall prey from time to time. I have a great need to share the ancient teachings I have been honored to receive. And so I write. I strive to be a good storyteller. I have a great drive inside of me to bridge communications.

When I was a little girl, I held this image of storytellers as extremely mystical people. I have discovered this is true, and it is born of the path of experience. I have found that to become a good storyteller one must embrace all that life has to offer. This in turn, takes us to the very core of our spiritual essence.

I am a storyteller, a life partner to my mate, a healer, a mother and grandmother, a teacher and ceremonialist, and I am happy. I find my life rewarding because spirit breathes with me in each of these roles.

Now humanity is beginning to know what the word "connection" is all about.

Sometimes it is necessary to be alone, separate from others, in communion with nature and Spirit. I am not a product of mainstream America . I am of a time long ago. I live a lifestyle whose philosophy was first actualized centuries ago by my ancestors, the Quero Apache. This is my way.

I am very connected to all things. My work reflects my connection. I write what I hear within the whispered echoes at edges of my consciousness. I am very proud of my "dictation" skills. These words resonate with many.

I do not look for validation from others. I am confident in the path I walk.

I am very fortunate because this is a job that I love, and I wouldn't trade for any other. I put my entire self into it. I have been told I put more energy into what I do in one day, than many put into their entire life walk. Much of this energy is given to my community.

There was a time when I started writing and our community was small. Now Nohwiké Bagowa - House of Our Footprints - extends around the globe.

I always try to teach the importance of personal integrity, whether I am writing a story, or in ceremony with others. It is a "walking my talk." This is a good way to be.

The more at peace with myself that I am, the more powerful the words are, the more at peace the community is. It goes in a big circle. I always relate my life to walking the great wheel Tutuskya. This speaking to you now is part of it... one of the many spirals.

Being in service is my job and my life.

I consider myself a traditionalist. Being a traditionalist means living in a nature conscious manner. This can be equated to dancing the sacred spiral. This conscious way of being shifts the energy of time paradyms in evolution.

I am of the earth like my great grandmother. When my great grandmother gathered the medicinal herbs of the earth for healing, she was gathering a bit of her own essential self.

My grandfather, Ten Bears, was a well respected holy man. He knew the legends and prophecies that are the foundation of our living life philosophy. He facilitated ceremonies that resulted in "healing complete." As is our way, in his passing to me, the circle was complete. In the same manner, I shall honor my granddaughters.

The path is very simple, and is one that I have a great deal of respect for. It is a family way... a cooperative, regenerative way.

When I work with people and landscape and All My Relations, I am looking into a mirror of my community, the dance of life, our swaying energies and moving emotions, changing times.

Traditional peoples seem to have strength... a great deal of strength which keeps them going. Within them lies the need to move forward, and yet they know that the ancient path is the surest route to travel. This knowing gives them pleasure.

This time is about interaction, and it is exhilarating to watch others awaken to remembrance.

I am always connected. Not connected as many would think of it. But connected in a fashion with the beauty of energy, the sharing of light and songs, and love exists.

My connection is a great dance of life affirmation. My connection is of quickening and silencing, an energetic garden where relative butterflies move among relative flower blossoms. Where the Shadow of Fear cannot enter. And where at the end of my earthwalk the echos of the dance will dance away with me to my home in eternity.

I am always conscious in my great connection.... gentle butterfly trails, and Changing Mother's fragrant soil smiles.

Moon Fire Painter of Visions is my name. I think it is a beautiful name.

It is very important to me that humans learn about being part of the earth and their place as a part of the whole. Many are demonstrating interest in knowing these ancient teachings, a love and respect for All Our Relations. They sense when to be still and when to act. They are fortunate in that they have responded to the spiritual call.

I think it is very important that these seekers have the opportunity to walk a path of responsible co-creation.

I always feel that when I return to spend time in nature my ancestors are celebrating. I sense when I was my great grandmother, and I remember. Images in time overlap and I realize, I am who I am meant to be.

Living in contemporary society does not mean we must live apart from our natural connection. It is always a part of us. Humanity awakens to its existence. Humanity is finding its true place with the dance of life they once missed in their knowing. My participation exists as inspiration through my work.

Humanity now takes an active part in singing the blessings, dancing the dances of energetic shift.

There has been a period of separation. We now choose peace and illumination. We claim our spirit, providing future generations a life of harmony and balance. The heart center of humanity has been opened.

This is me. This is what I give.

I think of my life as a circle. A circle that has no beginning, nor ending. A circle that spirals inside of itself.

That's how my life goes. This circle keeps going, and has more parts, and is always complete.

There are overlapping energies in the connection of my knowing. I move easily between the rhythmic cycles... dance sharing my planting seeds... dance sharing my nurturing time... dance sharing my healing complete... dance sharing my time in silent listening...

In the connection of my knowing I travel upon the heart line of past and present. Grateful in Grandfather Sun's blessing for who I am today. Writing in rain puddles... there is much to say, as I speak from the Four Directions. It is where I have been. It is where I am going. It is where I move. It is where I am.

I invite you into the connection of knowing...

Maria Yracébûrû, author of Legends and Prophecies of the Quero Apache, has captured the imagination of thousands with her remarkable images of walking a path of true knowing, as typified by her traditional Quero Apache upbringing, and pursues her personal goal of sharing the ancient teaching foundations of a balances lifestyle. As founder of Nohwiké Bagowa - House of Our Footprints - non profit spiritual organization of earthwisdom, Maria has become the inspiration for life changes - life changes of empowerment along the path toward personal and planetary "healing complete". Visit her website at www.nohwikebagowa.org.

Copyright 2002 by Jim Ewing

I was honored to be asked to clean a building last weekend.  No, I haven’t gone into janitorial services&ldots; not  exactly. But, part of what I do is clean buildings – energetically speaking.  It’s not often that I’m asked to clean a building; not that I don’t want to, but maybe people aren’t aware that a business or home can really “take off” if it’s cleaned energetically from time to time. In this case, it was an old building, about 80 years old, and had housed various businesses with lots of foot traffic for most of that time. I dearly love old buildings. They offer more of a challenge. Cleaning a home, business or building is really composed of three parts:

 1) Smudging to cleanse the energy;

 2) Rattling to break up old “stale” pockets of energy or

 remove negative thought forms;

 3) Activating and/or accelerating the building’s Merkaba

 or light body;

 4) Maintenance.

Of these, the first, smudging, must be done in person;  the second, breaking up energy, can be done long distance (through shamanic spiritual extraction or through Consegrity®), but it’s more difficult; the third  can be done long distance but it’s better to do it in person -- I prefer drumming and shamanic journey, but  Consegrity® will work; the last is easiest done long  distance. Consegrity® works great for that).  Even if you’re never asked to clean a building, it’s a good idea to smudge and cleanse your own places. Where energy is stale or negative thoughtforms have been  allowed to settle into the woodwork, so to speak, you  can find your own energy being dragged down. Whenever I check into a hotel or motel, the very first thing I do is smudge and rattle to clear the air and remove old “stuff” leftover from whoever was there before. That leaves me free and easy to deal whatever “stuff” I’ve got going, and allows easier transmission (perhaps, reception is more accurate) of the Creator’s power in the room, if energy work is to be done.

Cleaning a building is kinda like rustling cattle. You always want to herd the energy ahead of you. To be efficient, and follow sacred manner, it should be done in clockwise motion, so you end up where you began. Start at the front door, after smudging it and, perhaps, leaving a couple of crystals on the threshold. Ask the Creator and the energies of the four directions to guide you; “become” your power animal, tapping into the power  of the Universe, so your personal energy isn’t used; and alternately “sweep” with the smudge stick with one hand, while rattling before it with the other. Make sure and get any out-of-the-way places, cracks, crevices, behind doors, under tables . . . Rattle them extra hard, as old, stale and/or negative energy can lodge there. As you rattle and smudge, you can actually see the energy being broken up, like glass shattering, and sometimes arising, sludgelike, in globs.

If this sounds complicated, too much at once, it’s not. Practice doing it in your home and after enough repetition, like anything else, it becomes second nature. New homes and new businesses are fairly easy to clean – unless they are built atop a burial ground, water source or ley line. Then, a little more specialized work (and greater frequency) is required. Older homes and businesses can offer a greater challenge. Sometimes, as with the older building I was working on last weekend, areas of negative energy can be quite large and actually have become bonded or infused in some of the building itself. That requires more specialized treatment, as well.

A couple of months ago, I was asked to clean a building that was more than 120 years old and it had some “ghosts” in it. (It was near the site of a rather dynamic 19th century tragedy.)  “Ghost” is really not a very accurate term. Most “ghosts” aren’t people, but pieces of dynamic energy that have become “stuck,” usually through some type of sudden or intensely sustained trauma. They are

instructions, and voila, you have a model airplane. It’s the same in this work, except the Creator and the building’s own Life Force do the work. They supply the blueprint, the pieces and the glue. All you have to do is direct your intent to help it along. Even though the energy you expend to this work is  minimal (In all energy work, we must remember not to expend personal energy, but offer “willingness,” or 10 percent, to let the Creator, guides and angels and the recipient’s own energy do the work), it can take some exertion. 

For example, in getting this building’s light body running, because the building was so large and mostly inert, I wasn’t aware of how heavy it was until, while drumming, I noticed sweat pouring down my face and dripping off my nose. I felt fine, light and easy, energized, but there was an awful lot of energy being moved. Once the building’s light body is operating, it’s on its own. It has its own life, its own life force. From time to time, in maintenance, you ensure it’s spinning like it ought to.

Environmental News

Bush team gets ‘D-minus’ on parks 

Letter From Arvol Looking Horse on June 20, National Day of Prayer to Protect
Native American Sacred Places
Mitakuye,
I am much honored that you have committed yourselves toward the preservation of
our Sacred Sites.
My prayers will be with you all on this day of the 20th of June.
We understand this effort to be known as “ALL Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer.”
All the People of the world will be gathering at their local Sacred Site and be
aware that many others in the world are doing the same effort of gathering
prayers, no matter what faith they belong to, but offering a prayer from the
heart.
As you know, the awareness is badly needed in this country and throughout the
world. Mother Earth is the source of life, not a resource.
From the time I became the Keeper of the Sacred Bundle at the age of 12, I too
have witnessed the abuse of our Sacred Sites.
In my young age, my father Stanley and I used to go to honor these places
during certain times of the year and do ceremony. These were times when our
ceremonies were illegal. He asked me to continue this effort to bring about
this awareness even stronger.
I then dedicated my life to this purpose by initiating World Peace and Prayer
Day, currently being presented as “Honoring Sacred Sites Day” on the UN level.
This day of June 21st was chosen in 1995, a year after the birth of the White
Buffalo Calf in Wisconsin. At this time we had went to ceremony to understand
what the birth message was about. I visited with many other Indigenous
Spiritual Leaders of first Nations People and discussed this awareness to
protect these sites, as I knew there was a connection with this birth related
to the condition of our Sacred Mother Earth.
We discussed this effort in order for our future generations to continue in the
importance of understanding the energy connection that all Indigenous People in
world understand with Sacred Sites.
This date was chosen and I would like to request that you announce this time at
your gatherings on the 20th and remind the people that there are thousands of
people around the world that are going to these Sacred Sites the following day
and offering their prayers for better health for our future generations and
Mother Earth.
In 1996, I rode on Horse back from Canada on route to Grey Horn Butte aka
Devils Tower, through many reservations on the way. Many Elders met and prayed
with us as we rode through the reserves and reservations carrying this message
during our 2 month long journey.
The visit that I really remember in my heart and mind was meeting the Keeper of
the Sacred Hat on the Cheyenne Reservation in Lame Deer, Montana. The Keeper
shared a dream with me that he had long ago, of men on horseback that would
come to his home carrying a message of honoring and protecting our Sacred
Sites. He attended the very first event at Grey Horn Butte in 1996. This memory
carries me to this day.
The Park Service and I were taken to court by the Climbers Association
for “forbidding their recreational activities request” during our time of
Prayer at Grey Horn Butte. We won the case in Supreme Court four years later. I
humbly request you extend your time at these sites for one more day and pray
with us as well, as we will be in a Sacred Site on the 20th and will remember
you too.
Our web site is www.worldpeaceandprayerday.org or www.wolakota.org.
In the Sacred Hoop of Life where there is no ending and no beginning! Mitakuye
Oyasin,
Chief Arvol Looking Horse,
19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Bundle 

 Crow Brings Daylight - Inuit Native Lore

From the Editor

In the Northern Hemisphere, the first day of summer is on June 21 at 3:10 P.M. EDT . This is the day of the Summer Solstice and World Peace and Prayer Day. At the Summer Solstice, we begin a new cycle on the Medicine Wheel of Life, entering the south—the home of summer, midday, coyote, youth, joy, trust, and growth. Around the world people will be gathering at Sacred Sites for Peace. As we join together spiritually in prayer and sacred drumming, we participate in this season of abundant growth, attuning ourselves to the cyclical rhythms of nature. As we celebrate in ceremony, we create a sacred union with the vital energy of our Mother Earth, which reaches its full _expression in the south. Nurtured by our Mother’s limitless energy, we become limitless co-creators of all that is needed to benefit all beings unto seven generations. Happy Solstice!

Michael Drake

Topeka , KS

June 19, 2003

WHAT'S NEW

CDs of The Shamanic Drum Instructional Recording, I Ching: The Tao of Drumming Instructional Recording, Sacred Songs & Chants, and The Shamanic Drum Audio Book are now available at Books & Tapes. Talking Drum Publications now offers a wide selection of DRUMS through our affiliate Apollo's Axes Musical Instruments. Purchases from our Affiliates help support the Talking Drum web site and provide you quality percussion instruments at reduced prices. Check out our new FREE BOOKS page.  We also added a Recommended Reading resource list on our Books & Tapes page. This section provides a resource list of books addressing various areas of drumming, shamanism, sound healing, and Native American spirituality. This section is a work in progress. As time allows, more and more books will be available for purchase through our site from Amazon.com. You can read this NEWSLETTER at our web site anytime.