dream... This morning very early... i had a strange dream about many little drums... I don't really remember much more about them or more of the dream... but i remember waking from the dream with the image of many, many little drums... small, little, tiny frame drums... so tiny that when i attempted to play them... i could only use my thumb and forefinger... and there were so many of them... everywhere... It was kind of cool though... strange... very strange... brightest, weaver (((o)))
0 Comments
Lately... i've been too busy again... and so what else is new eh?... Last Saturday i was attempting to sleep in a tad... to get caught up on some much-needed rest... and while i was lying about in and out of consciousness with the sheets pulled up over my head... i became aware that i could hear the cry of a bird outside... and it seemed to sound like the cry of flicker... (a woodpecker)... This was no simple cry... or call... and as i lay there listening... the flicker kept calling and crying over and over and over... after listening to this for about 10 minutes or so... i finally dragged myself out of bed to go have a look to see what was going on... When i got to the window and looked out... there he or she was... about 20 feet away in the yard, perched precariously on the top of a fir tree... still wailing away... it seemed he or she was yakking at me for some reason... i looked around to see if it was upset for some other reason... but there seemed to be no reason... the flicker just kept on crying and crying... I love flickers and have a fond connection to them.... when i'm out walking in the forest... i love it when i sometimes hear the flickers or woodpeckers peck on an old, broken dead tree... it fascinates me how their fast drumming can radiate and echo for a long time... In the medicine/spiritual way as a totem... one aspect of the flicker is known to be "the drummer"... so, i can certainly relate to the flicker because i'm a drummer too... sometimes it seems that flickers will show up in my life to tell or show me something... usually when i least expect it... Like one time a couple of years ago... when i was honoured to become the caretaker of a very special drum... a 27 inch Kilaut frame drum that was built for me by a master drum-builder from the eastern United States.... for some reason i'm not sure why i became very called to this particular drum... when i was first becoming acquainted with this drum, i was dealing with many feelings about feeling worthy to be a carrier of this drum... maybe i was also feeling overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for this drum... as this special drum held much power and healing in some way... that was for sure... i can't tell you how i felt when that drum first "played" me... Well... one day as i was going for a walk with my dog and my partner during that time... i was expressing some of those feelings to her... and as i had just finished expressing my thoughts of unworthiness and doubt... we suddenly heard a loud screech response high above us... as we turned back to look where this scream had come.... there, sitting on the tip of the tallest tree in the parking lot was a flicker... confidently swaying back and forth... staring at us... i swear almost laughing at me.... my partner said to me with a smirk... "well, carol don't you think that's your answer?"... So... what was the message this time...? i'm not sure... as i went out on the porch to get a better look... i sat down on the chair to witness this event with even more curiousity... the flicker took flight and started to fly towards me in a wide circle and made it's way back to the same tree... it perched again and then did this flying dance a couple times more... and while he/she was flying, made this interesting warbling sound... when she/he got back to the tree and landed... continued to cry and call as usual... I also noticed that off to the right, a little further away... were two more flickers... silently perched near each other on the tops of trees as well... like they were holding space or being a witness to the one crying and continuing to call... eventually, the flicker finally stopped crying and suddenly flew away... in the silence, i continued to sit in the chair and wonder... and also felt honoured by my being witness to a wonder of nature... was this event just a coincidence or really meant for me? I'm still not really sure... maybe it was yet another message or an affirmation for me to know that i truly am worthy... that i am a human being on this vast earth with worth... like all human beings... maybe it was a reflection of how i've been feeling these past few months... a reflection of my own crying inside of all that i've lost and grieved... maybe i just didn't get the message at all...? Maybe it'll come to me another time? Maybe never.... or... maybe it was a message for me just get my butt out of bed and get on with it... maybe? weaver x (((o))) poem...
the healing ears (not a typo either) a hanging half moon night is nagging away a blue sky day... driving back home and stopping in on the way a mallard stands at the store door... mom with a butcher knife still screams in my ears... remembrance… that i got way too close to an unknown full-swinging baseball bat... and the many drums are healing once again... yes please... the resonant. -- © 2003 weaver
A story about the Healing Sacred Drum...The following creation myth from the Swedish part of Lapland shows how the caring heart pulses at the center of all existence...
I truly cherish this beautiful story of the blessed reindeer myth and can't help but believe it is possibly one way of how pachamama, our earth mother and the sacred healing drum came to be known as a sacred partnership for one another... "The sacred reindeer drum" is very old... ancient... a heart-teaching as a gift given to all of us that we can journey deep within to our earth mother's core to be one with her heartbeat to find peace, healing and oneness with all... it is my hope that you enjoy this story as much as i have... brightest blessings, weaver (((o))) A Lapp Creation Story... Once, while walking in solitude by the eternal waters, the creator, Jubmel, found the peace shrieks of hated, and evil chants invaded the calm of the eternal void. Disturbed, Jubmel decided to create a new world, a universe so peaceful and harmonious that love and compassion would reign and the evil spirits would flee. He wanted the beautiful body of his favorite creature, a gentle reindeer doe, to be the matter from which the new world would be shaped, and he wanted her loving heart to inform the new creation. So he called the lovely vaja, the reindeer doe, from Passevaari, the holy mountain upon which she grazed. As the radiant reindeer came running, her golden hooves sparkled like shafts of sunlight, delighting the creator's heart. Turning to the gentle vaja, and looking into her tender eyes, Jubmel said: "You my little vaja, have infinite sadness in your eyes: and from your body I will shape the world to set my Savio-aimo (the home of holiness) apart from the nether regions." So the creator took a tiny bone from the body of the reindeer doe and built a bridge that spanned the abyss between the light world and the nether regions. The innermost structure of the new earth was fashioned from the vaja's bones and became the rocks and boulders and the peaks and mountain ridges. Her flesh became the fertile soil, and her blood and veins the flowing rivers. From her hair the mysterious forests were created. Her skull became the sky, which shields the earth from the blazing brightness of the holy heavens. The reindeer's deep, sad eyes became the morning and evening stars to guide the songmakers, the dreamers and the parted lovers and to give them hope. Finally, Jubmel hid the vaja's still-beating heart in the centermost depths of the earth to remind the lost wanderer, the lonely mountaineer, and all those in sorrow, that help would always be there. The vaja's heart would be the heartbeat for the earth, so that when peace and love reigned the reindeer doe's heart would beat with joy. But if hatred and greed disrupted the earth's harmony, her heart would convulse in pain and tremors would shake the earth from top to bottom. The beauty of the new earth was abundant. Sweet milk - the holy milk of the vaja - flowed forth from the rivers. The tree trunks were filled with marrow, and cheese-fruit and meat-fruit hung from the branches of the birch and the firs. Jubmel asked the sun to shine upon this wondrous creation, and the splendid world created from the body of the gentle reindeer doe was so warm and loving that the evil spirits would not approach it.
Delighted with the new world, Jubmel wanted to share his joy, so he decided to create beings of his own kind to rejoice on the earth. From a small, nameless substance, Jubmel shaped two men to be children of the earth and asked his son, Beijve, the sun god, to warm the earth and guard and love it.
In turn, Beijve asked the new beings to care for the earth and its gifts - the fleet-footed reindeer, the fruit-bearing trees, and all its wonderful treasures. The only commandment Jubmel gave them was not to hate. At first the brothers loved each other and dwelt upon the earth in peace. They sang with joy and gratitude while, deep in the earth, the reindeer doe's heart beat with love. Hearing the earthÕs glad music, Jubmel and Beijve smiled with holy joy. Jubmel had another son, Mano, who, after he rebelled against his father, had been cast out from Savio-aimo, the heavenly realm. When Mano saw the two beings living so peacefully, he wanted to make trouble. So, he whispered wicked words to one of the earth-brothers as was sleeping. From that moment on, this brother, Attjis, became restless and left home. The other brother, Njavvis, grieved at this loss. But he was comforted when he listened to the holy vaja's heartbeats deep in the earth. Filled with compassion for the abandoned Njavvis, the sun god, Beijve, shed a great tear. From this loving, tender tear of compassion and the sun god's gentle, joyous smile, Jubmel created the first woman to be a mate for Njavvis. From this couple, a race of happy, sun-bright people - the Samis - would be born. The first woman's eyes were the color of Jubmel's beloved and shyest flower, the sky-blue gentian, and held the mystery of love and life and hope. Her forehead was pure, high, and free. Her voice was sweet and as musical as the songbird, and her name was Njavvis-ene. Then Njavvis thanked Jubmel for creating such a wondrous woman. But as soon as Attjis heard her voice and saw his brother's beautiful soul mate, he craved her. Envy and bitterness over-whelmed Attjis, and he ceased listening to the guiding, loving heatbeats of the reindeer doe in the center of the earth. Then the evil Mano called forth his own daughter with black magic and chants and gave her to the envious Attjis as a mate. From then on, the envious Attjis was never satisfied with what he received, and he demanded from his generous brother, Njavvis, more and more land which in his greed he abused. Finally, Attjis became so possessed by evil spirits that he beat his brother to death with the head and antlers of a slain deer. In horror, Beijve withdrew the sun, and the reindeer doeÕs wounded heart throbbed so hard that the earth rocked violently and flung the wicked brother up to the moon. Meanwhile, children had been born to both couples, engendering a race of human beings in which evil increased. The humans found no joy in the peace and plenty that the creator had given through the body of the reindeer doe, and they began to take all the good things from the earth without thanksgiving. As a result of these cold-blooded acts, the heart of the creator's vaja, buried in earth's center, trembled with terror at so much wickedness, so that the upper earth quaked and many people fell into the chasms. Jubmel decided to reverse the world and to destroy this wicked race, and he turned the sea waters on the land so the greedy people would perish. Seeing all the suffering, Njavvis-ene, now a goddess in the heavens called Beijen-neite, entreated her father, the sun god, to help the dying earth people. In turn, he pleaded with Jubmel, who helped the last two humans, a boy and a girl, to survive by placing them asleep on the holy mountain of Passevaari. And Beijen-neite made the earth a beautiful place once more so the children would be greeted by birds, animals, and flowers when she awakened them with warm and loving kisses. The heart of humankind, Jubmel thought, is strange, for it sneers at godly gifts in times of joy and plenty. So, to save this peculiar race from itself and to part the light from the darkness, the creator hid all the marvelous treasures of the earth - gold and silver, milk and cheese-fruit - deep in the mid-earth, near the heart of the holy vaja. But he relented and allowed some of the rich milk to remain on earth, hiding it in the udder of the female reindeer. From then on, the new people, born later to the two remaining earth-children, had to wander to seek the gifts buried near the heart of the holy reindeer doe. They had to struggle to live from the earth, for the former riches had been hidden. In their sleep, they forgot how the world had been shaped form the body of the gentle reindeer doe. Nor did they know of the treasures hidden near her heart. So Beijen-neite returned to the earth to be near them. Sometimes she allowed herself to be seen, and sometimes she came in the form of a reindeer. She taught them the ways of goodness and humility, and how to tame the wild deer and to make clothes and shelter from it.
Warmed by the loving care of the sun-mother, Beijen-neite, they became the Sami (Sameh) people who learned the tales of the hidden treasure from the songs of the shaman and who journey, searching for the peace and harmony that is safe-guarded by the heartbeat of the sacred reindeer doe.
To the beat of the magic drum, made of reindeer skin, the shamans still remind the people always to listen for the holy vaja's joyful heartbeats. For near her loving, throbbing heart, the treasures of creation are being saved for them. • Excerpt from the beautiful book, Creation's Heartbeat: Following the Reindeer Spirit by Linda Schierse Leonard |
i wish to acknowledge with gratitude that i live, work + play on the traditional and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation...
my blog writings...i'm a creative soul choosing to walk softly on our blessed earth mother's back... more here... Spirit Art Frame Drum Available by weaver…
Click to view more >> categories
All
archives
August 2023
links• Healing Drum Quotes >>
|