‘mary’s drum’... magdalene rose… in honour of Mary + the return of the divine feminine…

‘mary’s drum’ birthed by weaver...

This is a big ceremonial drum on a 20-inch maple hoop with a strong moose spirit that was plant-dyed in a rich, wine-red… the hoop is stained + finished, with the inner hoop stained red ochre + wood-burned with prayers, honouring the moose who gave its life to become this sacred drum… to be re-birthed with new life, spirit + sacred sound…

The mallet is from a found arbutus branch, finished + burned with a suede pocket…. the back of the drum is finished in a rainbow yarn wrap + black felt handle… Painted on the front in acrylics is an open red rose… tied to the back of the drum is a small wild turkey feather - of which i found on the ground next to the soaking bin, the morning of July 22nd (during her second birthing)… wild turkey holds the energy of ‘shared blessings’ and ‘harvest’ - marking the fire festival of Lughnasadh, the time of the first harvest on the Celtic wheel of life (which happens August 1st every year)...

I fastened to the top/sides of the drum, a hand-made 'blessing' scarf.  The scarf is attached is removable, if needed.  Drums from the Siberian regions of Russia often have cloths or scarves (khadags) attached to their drums that are used for blessing…. when the drum is played with the intention of 'drawing down/in the spirits' or 'drawing down/in blessing power', the blessings or healing power pours… cloths tied to drums can also be used  to transfer this spirit power... ie., during a healing ceremony, face each of the four directions in turn, including the upper sky + lower earth powers, drum and ask for blessings to come into your drum in aid of the person you are offering the healing work for…

I have also infused the drum with the 2nd degree Reiki symbol, ‘Choku Rei’... which means, “place the power of the universe here now”... making this is a ‘healing sacred drum’ that holds good healing intention...

About the spirit of moose… One of the most obvious things that a moose animal totem symbolizes is immense strength + power... the sheer size of this animal gives it a certain prestige. This isn’t an animal that you want to upset. The strength of the male moose can also symbolize bravery and courage. They aren’t afraid to fight for what they want, even if it could result in a broken antler or death... other traits are... gentle, strong, brave, dominating, power-full, courageous, fast, enduring, agile, communal, graceful, adaptive…

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more about how this red sacred drum came into being...

sacred red drum dreaming...

I was guided to birth this sacred drum over six weeks ago and it’s been quite the journey for both of us… and, i know that She had her own journey - i was merely her hands in Her becoming… 

I also like to note that this sacred drum was birthed during the Lion’s Gate Activation Portal that happens every year in the astrological sign of Leo between July 26 through to August 12th... 

I began during the Pisces full moon in early July (2020), the process of soaking a very strong Moose hide… which had been cut from the upper middle shoulder part of the animal - probably the thickest part… i was thrilled to be working with a hide that held the backbone line through what would be the center of the drum - this doesn’t happen often as i attempt to use all parts of a hide, so as to not waste...

i was also experimenting with a new dye vat mixed of tumeric + other natural elements - mostly as an experiment to see what effect i may see, wondering how this moose hide would turn out… I was also dying some rattle heads in my red dye vat... and, to stop the dye process with the rattle heads, i transferred them from the red bin to the new tumeric bin.  I noticed the next morning that the rattle heads had stained the moose hide with large spots of red… “Oh, stink!” i said, “i guess this drum wants to be red”.. so i simply moved the hide over to the red vat.  

She was birthed not long after, however, i failed to pull her tight enough where the drum just wouldn’t come in to her voice… so, i sat with her for about two weeks hoping that she would eventually come into voice… disappointed i questioned many times if this drum was even meant to be… was i no longer strong enough to birth such a strong + big drum?  After many days sitting with this, i chose to take the drum apart and re-birth her all over again… something was definitely nudging me to not give up...

The morning i returned her moose hide to the soaking bin, i noticed a small turkey feather had fallen right next to the bin… i picked it up knowing that this spirit held special significance to this cycle of Lughnasadh...

What i didn’t know at that time until later, that this morning was July 22nd… the Feast of Mary Magdalene… hmmmnnn… interesting as it seemed that this drum was being divinely guided to perhaps, become an honouring sacred drum to the Magdalene + the divine feminine… ah ha!  She was calling me or prompting this process… it seemed right that she was to re-birthed...

I knew some about this beautiful goddess that represents divine love and was compelled to research some more the Magdalene… the one symbol that represents Her, that kept coming up, was the Rose… i thought wow, knowing that the rose is one of, if not the highest vibrational flowers/plant...

Rose is sacred...she is the closest thing to love in tangible form. Literally.  Her vibration is measured at 320 MHz.  She is as high as it gets in terms of ‘things we can actually see…’ and more...

During a Virgo new moon she was ready to birthed again, this time, after her drying gestation, she did come into finding her voice and my heart was thrilled… i have to admit she is a heavy drum because of her size + weight of the hide… her sound is different than any other drums i have birthed… she holds a good deep sound + resonates much healing energy out… even without playing Her!

In ceremony i painted her face with a large red rose during a Leo new moon on August 17/18th when i received a message, i feel from the Magdalene herself that this, Her sacred ceremonial drum is to sound the return of Her becoming… the return of the Divine Feminine… to sound + hold the intention of humanity to once again return to honouring our blessed earth Mother as our Source… to remember Her… to Respect Her… to love Her - for we wouldn’t be here without Her!

An added note… I was taught by a couple of teachers (one being, the wonderful Djembe drummer + feminist, Ubaka Hill) to never, ever ‘beat’ my drum… as we know, the sacred drum represents ‘Mother’ + the voice of the Mother and She has been raped, beaten + abused for far too long enough… perhaps we can watch our language we use about the sacred drum... knowing that our ‘words’ hold power + intention = our words create… also, i never call my mallet a ‘beater’... ‘cause when we deconstruct that word, ‘beater’ to...“beat - her”... knowing this i am mindful to longer call my mallet or stick that name… i also choose to ‘play’ my drum versus ‘beat’ or ‘beating’’ my drum...

Also, looking close up to this drum, you may notice that her hide may look somewhat ‘beaten up’… it has not.  Though, i believe that ‘Mary’ is perhaps showing us that the Mother is done with being abused + beaten up... and the marks + imperfections in the hide, remind us of that…

This sacred Ceremonial drum has found Her caretaker... if you have interest in my sacred work please, don’t hesitate to contact me  or visit my spirit art drums shop >>

blessed be + brightest blessings…
i am honoured to be offering this, my sacred work, thank you...
weaver x (((o)))

• all photos + video by weaver © 2020 copyright...

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