we lost a dear sister of the sacred drum this day... thank you Layne Redmond, rest in peace... 1952-2013

Layne Redmond... Rest in Peace...

It's a sad moment for all women (and men) drummers as Layne Redmond, woman frame drummer extraordinare, teacher, mentor, herstorian... and author of one of the most beautiful books ever written, called, "When the Drummers Were Women" passed away from cancer this morning. 

It was probably in 1998 or '99 while nosing around in a local Vancouver bookstore that Layne's newly published book (1997) literally dropped off the top of a shelf and fell into my hands...

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Layne's book reprinted!...

 I was awe-struck and couldn't believe what i was seeing... at first glance of the cover, i was quite taken with the stunning beauty and powerful energy of this book... i loved the feel of the paper it was printed on and the engaging herstorical photos on every page - each image was of women from all cultures drumming from the beginning of time!  I was elated and it excited me to learn more about my own 'woman' herstory being a female drummer... We've been drumming together since the beginning!

Well... needless to say, i immediately bought the book and have had it on my book shelf ever since.  I have read it often and since learning of Layne's passing i am reading it again.

I was thrilled to learn and re-member that the first drummers were women... The first drum was the women's drum... yeah!!!

Layne spent five years travelling and researching the ancient Goddess traditions and civilization in the Mideast and Europe... she collected and compiled hundreds of photos and drawings of ancient women drummers, mostly of Goddesses and and priestesses... 

Layne was compelled to create a powerful and empowering herstory of the sacred drum - the 'women's' sacred drum - an empowering reclaiming of the sacred feminine...  The book has over 80 photos and drawings throughout.  I recommend all women drummers to own and read this important book.

The ancient frame drum was and is a women's symbol - of the sacred power of women... of creation... birth... and fertility... where, with one stroke of the sacred drum, everything comes into existence.  

One of my favourite and i feel most powerful and beautiful passages within, is a sacred teaching from Layne Redmond... First Sound............

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...It is often said that the first sound we hear in the womb is our mother's heartbeat. Actually, the first sound to vibrate our newly developed hearing apparatus is the pulse of our mother's blood through her veins and arteries. We vibrate to that primordial rhythm even before we have ears to hear. Before we were conceived, we existed in part as an egg in our mother's ovary. All the eggs a woman will ever carry form in her ovaries while she is a four-month-old fetus in the womb of her mother.

This means our cellular life as an egg begins in the womb of our grandmother.  Each of us spent five months in our grandmother's womb and she in turn formed within the womb of her grandmother. We vibrate to the rhythms of our mother's blood before she herself is born. And this pulse is the thread of blood that runs all the way back through the grandmothers to the first mother. We all share the blood of the first mother - we are truly children of one blood."  -- Layne Redmond

I love how Layne's sharing acknowledges and confirms our women's sacred frame drum lineage... We come into this world, even before we are birthed into the physical human form with a deep pre-knowledge and knowingness of the sacred drum - there is a red-blood drumming and sourcing deeply rooted within our DNA - also within the rivers of our own blood and we pass this on to our children and they, their children... there is no beginning and no ending - we are a circle round like the sacred drum... like the moon and the sun and our blessed earth mother...

We women are all drummers even before we are born...

So, the exciting news is that we all (women and men) already KNOW HOW to drum even before we are born - because it is the sound of our mother's heart-beat and her blood pulse that taught us - 'her' blood is the first sound we ever hear within our mother's womb... This is also our 'blood' lineage as women that connects us all...
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mother bear red sacred drum birthed by weaver...

"In ancient times, Layne writes... women used to often paint their drums red, the colour of blood or sometimes green, the colour of vegetation... as throughout the ancient world, these were primordial colours of life... Also, Sumerian frame drums are referred to as painted red, the sacred colour of blood...

​The Egyptian goddess Hathor sometimes manifests as the Seven Hathors, or the seven Celestial Cows... These seven birth goddesses set the fate of a newborn child by giving it seven souls... The 'ab' was the most important of these souls "because it was the central blood-soul emanating from the essence of the Mother."  The Egyptians believed that the mother's menstrual blood descended from her heart to her womb to create the new child's life... The mother's heartbeat was the power behind creation... this is why her frame drum was often painted red - it represented the pulse of creation..."

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celebrating the goddess with drum, flute, voice + sacred dance...

red drum dreaming... art by weaver...

Back in the late 1980's i had a profound dream about being ceremonially gifted a sacred 'red drum' by another woman... i often wondered if i may be gifted such a red drum at some point and remained open to the possibility...

​It wasn't until years later that i realized that i was to birth my own sacred red drum... to gift my self and reclaim my own blood lineage as a sacred drum carrier... to step into my becoming as a sacred 'red' drum carrier...

After that dream, i created some art that i titled, 'red drum dreaming' ... to assist me in dreaming this red drum into be-ing...... to this day, i still hold that sacred dream very dear to my heart because that dream has been fulfilled... I know now when i birth any sacred drum, that the blessed Goddess is guiding me on many levels... I am truly honoured to birth a special red drum to those womyn who are deeply called to hold one... and, i am truly honoured to be a part of helping other womyn to become red drum keepers ... to help hold the balance of our blessed earth Mother, great goddess...

I know one can never 'own' a sacred drum... we are simply caretakers + holders of our precious drums... as we are the midwives + the keepers of our dear Mother's sweet voice and deep heart...

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 In Layne's book, When the Drummers were Women included a whole chapter about the Island of Cypress which is the birthplace of Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of love and beauty.   In her research she discovered that at one time, there was a flourishing ancient tradition of women drummers in Cypress... though that tradition had been long lost to the rise of patriarchy...

In 2004, women from Cypress who saw and read Layne's book invited her to come to Cypress to teach them the sacred frame drum to reclaim, once again, the sacred frame drum... which is now sounding yet again in Cypress!  The women have re-membered!  It gives me goosebumps when musing this... 

Before Layne passed, in the last few months of her life, she was passionately working on a revised edition of "When the Drummers were Women" -  to be republished with added photos, text and accounts from women all over the world on how her book influenced and changed them... I do hope she was able to complete this, her life's work.

Thank you Layne Redmond for your life's work and your journey of reclaiming the sacred women's frame drum... thank you for your sharings and teachings... for helping all women (and men) to re-member the ancient traditions and feminine lineage of drumming...  You have inspired me and moved me to continue my passion of sharing the sacred drum to those who are drawn to re-member... to re-member and return to our blessed earth mother... 

With bright blessings to you dear sister of the sacred drum on your journey home to ride the pulse of the great red mother... i-yi-yah!!!  We hear + feel your voice!  

...in deep sacred gratitude, weaver x (((o)))

• To learn more about Layne's work and legacy, i welcome you to visit her website at www.layneredmond.com
and...
www.whenthedrummerswerewomen.com

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Beautiful video:  When the Drummers Were Women with Layne Redmond... enjoy!

Good News! 
Layne's book, "When the Drummers Were Women" is now back in print!  Click here >>