One of a kind... This unique ceremonial Reiki 'love' drum was birthed, painted + signed by weaver on Gabriola Island, BC... - 16 x 16 inches in diameter and height - with handle for holding or hanging... - Materials... recycled wood, deer + goat rawhide, salmon skin on mallet, upholstery tacks, basalt stone pebbles from Sandwell Beach, stick from Drumbeg Beach and acrylics... - Being a two-sided drum, when one plays one hide-side, the sound reflects off the 2nd side-hide thus, creating a third sound = a true shamanic drum... - Below, is a video so you can have a listen to this wonderful healing drum... - Please click the thumbnail photos below to enlarge, showing more detail... more about this sacred shamanic drum...This special drum hung in the gallery at The Hive Emporium on Gabriola Island for their recent art show called, "Love is the Seventh Wave"... It's been fun to offer this sacred drum as an interactive piece to invite folk to 'drum up their love' in the moment... This is a powerful 'Intention + Dreaming' drum... My artist statement... In our sorted history, the drum was often used as an instrument of war... not no more... Let's Drum Up Some Love! With all the heated global and political events of late, we're all feeling deeply that the world and everyone could use a lot more love right NOW... The drum represents the voice of our Mother's Earth's loving, resonant heart – we wouldn't be here without her. One of the best ways to connect to her heart and our own heart is through the sacred healing heart-beat of the drum. To see more love in world, love begins from within ourselves... so, let’s drum up some love... i invite you to get still within your own present moment... connect with your own heart-love-feeling and choose to gently drum your love-vibration out into the world - to allow your love to go wherever it needs to go... and love will return 10-fold and more.... x (((o))) other meanings of materials + symbols chosen...
a sound bite...Click on the short video below to have a listen, as my friend Mark plays this drum 'hand-style'... this drum can also be played with a mallet... As Mark plays, the drum is hanging though, it can also be played sitting down on one's lap or on a stand, etc... enjoy!
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Good News! I've been celebrating - a lot of late!... because dear laughing wolf has found her new voice! As some of you may know, it was about three years ago or so that this amazing sweet drum accidently fell and her beautiful voice/hide was torn and cracked wide open... i wrote about it in a blog post and again when deeper teaching came for me later on another post... Part of why it took so long for her to sing again was, it was a bit of a challenge to find a new hide that was actually big enough and thin enough to fit her amazing 27-inch red oak steam-bent hoop... When i asked the guys at the drum-supplier i work with, if they had any goat hides larger than 33 inches in diameter, they laughed replying that goats here just don't grow that big.... Though, they would let me know if something that large may come in. They never let me know... so, i thought to myself that perhaps i may not find a hide that would be similiar to what she had before or big enough. So, dear laughing wolf sat has remained open with no voice for the last three years. I sure have missed her! I considered using another type of hide though, it never seemed right... so, i continued to call and ask spirit for her new voice to come - trusting that perhaps one day, it would come. A few weeks ago, i was back at the supplier picking up stuff for two drum-birthing workshops i had coming up for Vancouver and Gabriola. After finishing going over the orders, i took a chance and was moved to ask the guys once again, if maybe they might have any large goat rawhides in stock - maybe one?... Lo and behold, Francis said he thought they might... and off he went out to their other room to check and.... brought back a large goat hide. Together, we measured it up... it was real close to the size needed and so, i decided to take it home. One of the first things i did when i got back was, to lay laughing wolf's beautiful hoop on top of the new hide to see if it was going to fit! I was elated - it did! About a week later, with the assistance of dear Joanie, we re-birthed laughing wolf... and, it was a beautiful thing to do together... and i have to say, she sure turned out beautiful... being a part of her new birth was a moving and deep experience for both of us... it was definitely a birthing, that's for sure... 'cause she's one big drum! It was a big labour of love andi couldn't wait to 'hear' how she came through........ So, on a Sunday evening, the night before the full moon, on November 13th... i was thrilled to re-awaken laughing wolf along in sacred circle with wonderful dear souls here on Gabriola.... i can't tell you the joy we all felt to be witness to her sacred sounding and enlivening in that new-birth moment... it made me realize just how much we have missed each other and to again, begin building a whole new relationship - getting to know one another yet again... Thank you Colleen for holding the space for us to do that... with much appreciation and joy.... Many years ago, laughing wolf, a beautiful qilaut frame drum was birthed for me - by master drum maker, John Millen of Thunderheart Drums in Baltimore... John is retired now... and three years ago, he was kind enough to share with me how he birthed a drum like laughing wolf... i wish to thank you so much John for your wonderful sharings and for birthing this beautiful sacred drum for me all those years ago... with much love to you with hoards of light... weaver x (((o))) “I hear a drum in my soul’s ear coming from the depth of the stars.” “Drum sound rises on the air, its throb, my heart. A voice inside the beat says, "I know you're tired, but come. This is the way.” ―Jalaluddin Rumi Below is a short video to hear her new voice............ x (((o))) all above photos taken by carol weaver © 2016 copyright - all rights reserved
Time of abrupt shifting and transformation + the fire drummers drummed for us during despacho ceremony! Holy wow... you never know when life will throw a curve ball at you... At the beginning of January, my partner and i received notice to move from the lovely home we've called home over the last few years. This notice came out of nowhere and we certainly weren't expecting it. The owners informed us that their lives had shifted and they needed to move back in the space we've been renting. Whoa! Now? Of course when something like this happens, it's never good timing... We were shocked... and i know i went through the many phases of that shock... not knowing where we'll be next is a big part of that... And so, we are now in the throes of packing up our home and squeezing it all into cardboard boxes... searching for a new place to live while at the same time keeping the balance of work and daily life... Not long after hearing, we chose to offer a despacho ceremony... to offer our gratitude for the time we have had here in this beautiful space and community... and to offer our intentions of what and where we wish to land in our new home - wherever that will be... There are many types of despachos offered in the Andean cosmology and daily life... The 'despacho gift' we chose to create in ceremony was an ayni/gratitude gift for our blessed earth mother, Pachamama.... (see our photo above). Flowers, leaves and combustible ingredients like grains, aromatic dried plants and sweets are added in layers on top of a piece of wrapping paper. Every item is 'prayed through' and holds meaning as it is placed mindfully in mandala form. When the despacho is complete, it is wrapped up, just like a gift, tied with a ribbon and then offered to a sacred fire for transformation to the light - to be freely given away to the helping spirits and mother earth - to give thanks in right relationship (ayni)... We lovingly created our despacho andplaced it in our sacred fire in the hearth to burn. We turned our backs in respect to allow the spirits to 'consume' our prayer-gift.... as our gift burned, i offered some soft drumming to hold space... to honour our sweet spirit-helpers doing this work on our behalf... When we knew it had been fully burnt, we turned to sit on the couch together to watch the fire continue to burn... A few minutes later, we both realized that we were hearing soft drums drumming from what seemed a distance away... At first, we thought perhaps the drummers were outside somewhere... Though we soon realized that the drums drumming were actually coming right from the fire! ...The flames were actually dancing to the rhythm of the spirit drums drumming... We sat in complete awe for quite some time listening to the 'fire drummers' drumming for us - knowing on a deep level that our heart-gift had been accepted and acknowledged in such a beautiful way... that, we were receiving such a blessed gift from our helpers who were supporting us... Our hearts were opened and we felt so blessed in much joy!!!... a moment we shall never forget and hold so dear in our hearts confirming that we are never alone... We thank you fire drummers for your wonderful support and for the gift of 'hearing' your sacred healing rhythms of love and light... wow! We still don't know where we're going to land as of yet - though we trust that the best new home is awaiting for us as we prepare to move for April 1st... With much love + light... in ayni and deep munay... weaver x (((o))) • above photos by carol weaver © copyright 2016 - all rights reserved update: I thought i had repaired that little tear i wrote about a few posts ago - when laughing wolf accidentally fell and was wounded.... and out of the blue one day, i discovered the tear had split even more... it had grown sooo long that dear laughing wolf now requires a complete re-skinning... she will never ever sound or look the same again...... a major 'death' of sorts... stuff is definitely shifting... Ouch!... it all feels pretty strange that she is no longer 'playable' or sounding her beautiful resonant voice... soon, i will be removing her beautiful torn goat hide and have called + prayed for a new voice-hide to come so i can re-birth her... A wonderful thing has happened during all this... spirit guided me to finally find and re-connect with John, the dear man who originally birthed laughing wolf - it was wonderful to re-connect with him again and he has taught me much about this sacred drum... thank you John with so much gratitude and appreciation... i am so very glad we are back in touch... he is freely sharing his knowledge with me to re-birth laughing wolf myself this time... I know deep in my heart that i am grieving and at the same time, very aware that i am in a deep place of transition of 'what's next?' = a new pacha... the tear actually originated from the place of the east - the place of my 'becoming' and new birth... I also find it quite interesting that i am care-taking yet another sacred drum without her hide and no physical voice... (the other is windwalker)... Recently, i was guided to ask a question of an elder grandmother... "Is there a message from our blessed earth mother's 'deep heart'?... Without hesitation, a deep teaching came through dear grandmother... "The deep heart of the mother needs healing........." "...What does mother's deep heart need?... "...allow your self to experience the frequency of that call........... [pause]... ...allow your self to know...if you hold your hands in Gaia mudra - with the thumb and the tip of the index finger together and the other fingers stretched out straight.........." "...Your body is the deep heart of the mother... the mind and every cell of your body, in every nucleus of every cell is a resonant frequency that absorbs the messages from the deep heart of mother earth..." "...You are the deep heart... when you go into the forest... you are the deep heart when you ride your horse over a pasture... you are the deep heart of the mother when you're swimming in an ocean - not a chlorinated pool..." "...You are the deep heart because you're 70-80% liquid... When you're in a powerful natural setting, you are receptive to the 'signature' and 'pulses' of 14 billion years of earth...and, that's the message from the deep heart...and my advocacy for you is to join us in a journey to the deep heart of the mother..." "...She is we and we are she now........." Thank you grandmother for this deep teaching... with so much gratitude... Perhaps having the responsibility of two very special sacred drums in my care at the moment, is teaching me a 'whole' new way of 'listening'... a way of 'wholeness'... 'be-ingness' and 'open-ness'... perhaps my dear drum - these two dear sacred drums are 'drumming me' for now... ...and that's okay - for now... I continue to await for 'what's next' knowing deep within my own 'knower and the known' that, all that matters is the present moment of right now... Bright blessings to you all with deep love and hoards of light - i look forward to being in sacred circle with you soon.... weaver x (((o))) PS... another update... what's interesting is that my teacher's drum broke almost the same way two weeks prior to my drum breaking... of which i can't help knowing that perhaps this relationship of 'teacher/student' has come to a much-needed close... "The wound is the place where the light enters you..." -Rumi there are no accidents! x (((o))) Talk about timing... it happened right out of the blue, just a couple days before our winter solstice sacred drum circle + ceremony this last December... laughing wolf, the 27-inch sacred 'big' wind drum that i humbly caretake and carry suddenly fell down - and she fell down hard... At first i thought she was okay however, with a closer look, her beautiful goat hide had been torn from the impact of the fall in the lower southeast... OMG, yikes!...my heart sank. I closed my eyes and was immediately catapulted to the center of my heart... all i could do was take one grrreat big deep breath and prayed.... Initially i wanted to cry right out loud... I believe a year or more earlier i certainly would have... In that moment of stark-reality as i hugged onto to my dear wounded drum... what i felt was a strange deep calm of sorts... Breathing certainly helped in a huge way... I also knew that this happening that happened to my sacred drum - an instrument sooo dear and close to me was probably some kind of 'shift'... perhaps a new pacha (time) has come right 'now'... Oh, how the sacred drum can place us in the present 'now' moment - even when i wasn't even playing her! This happened to one of my other drums about 11 years ago that also marked a new pacha shift for me... So, what is this present 'wounding' informing? What is the 'healed state' my dear drum showing me now?... I re-membered the beautiful quote by Rumi... "The wound is the place where the light enters you." Well... the light was definitely shining through me and that torn and ripped hide! And she had lost her voice - sounding like a buzzing, flapping piece of paper... oh my and wow............. A few days later, a friend pointed out that the tear held an interesting shape... she shared with me that she saw a snake's head with a forked tongue (see photo above)... How fitting to see sachamama/amaru the serpent of light now sitting so prevalent in the southeast of my drum facing east... This archetype traditionally sits in the medicine wheel in the south-place of the "physical"... Also, in the east, the 'eagle-place', the place of our "becoming"... new beginnings and vision... I know from this past year i have been dealing with some health issues a number of times - i am very aware i must attend to another layer of physical healing to embrace the "light" of who i truly am - without fear... my dear sacred drum has yet again revealed a 'healed state' for me on so many levels... and, i give thanks for this... I managed to repair the tear in time for the ceremony and it seems to have healed her for the time being - if i can call it that... I was thrilled she sounded again - tho, not quite the same as before... there is a new sound now within her sound it seems... perhaps there is a whole new "light-frequency" that has been birthed on some level...? Our winter solstice ceremony was beautiful as we welcomed the new light coming... I can still see the light shine through her new "open" amaru-serpent shape on her hide when i play her - reminding of the deep healing i have been given layer by layer as i continue my journey of the 'wounded healer'... As i still 'grieve' what happened and move through this recent 'wounding'... i remain "open" to what is next... One thing i know and have learned yet again is that "things never stay the same" that's for sure! I welcome this new year and new pacha time with excitement of what's next... Bright blessings to you all dear friends... with love and light, weaver x (((o))) 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... 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............
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... "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..." 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... 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 Beautiful video: When the Drummers Were Women with Layne Redmond... enjoy! poem...
again out walking today rust red rose hips sing to me taking me back to you... over and over and over and over and... over and over and over and over and... over and over and over and over again... - weaver © 09/04 note... while reading the above poem aloud slowly... it may remind you of soft, loving drumming over and over and over and over........ x (((o))) Over the years, i have written numerous articles about my learnings i have received from the beautiful spirit drum… i share some of them here, where i have posted on the article site called hubpages:
• Drum Care and Feeding for Your New Spirit Drum >> • How to Get Out of Your Head and Drum From Your Heart >> • Why Does My Rawhide Drum Sound Flat? >> • How to Wake Up Your Drum Ceremony >> • Discover the Healing Power of Reiki Drumming: A Guide to This Powerful Practice >> • Is Drumming Good For Your Brain >> • The Spirit Journey How To — The Trance Journey >> • Spirit Drum Quotes and Sayings That are Inspirational to Me >> All articles are written by carol weaver © copyright—all rights reserved. We are in a time of great healing and for all those who are willing to work toward releasing emotions held too long in the heart... our ancestors gift us these wise deep words they suggest, in silence... meditation... they came to me through and within the sound of drumming this day.... x (((o)))
I am love but know not love... I am free but know not freedom... I am born but know i not die... I can walk but know i not run... I can see but know i not hide... I must release this old burden, weighing on my heart heavy... Drowning me in deep sorrow, for all the wrongs I have inflicted... For all the wrongs I have so suffered... Endured in lifetimes, long forgotten.. Carried forth now, for all to hear... Brought forth now, for all to listen... Brought forth now in great remembrance, this lifetime forgiving... Learning present to let go... Turn the ego toward the Light... Choose the pain to drop away... Gift all hurt to our earth Mother... it feeds Her... as She feeds us... Breathe the Light She gifts back within Right Relationship... Feel the sorrow wash through, feel the tears now turn to joy... Open your heart once more to laughter, feel your joy light up the sky... Your soul is clear and now rejoices... Let this go, move through this, your day... - sourced through weaver © October, 2011 journey...
drum buddy... it has been revealed to me that there is a being who resides in the lower world... in a darkly cave... abundantly covered with thousands of shiny crystals of light... his or her name i believe... is shashen.... an androgynous being neither male or female... maybe both... shashen is a gatekeeper... the transmitter of the frequency of the earth's pulse... to the middle world... shashen transmits this 'pulse' through his or her own heart... shashen has to listen very carefully and in a new way to accomplish this... and so do i... a journey by weaver (((o))) |
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…
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