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)))
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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! in loving memory...
Honouring + Remembering "Mrs B" - Evelyn Beharrell
July 3, 1914 - February 26, 2007 ~ Died in Nanaimo at the age of 93 ~
Dear Mrs. Beharrell... ...Thank you for YOU Mrs. B !!!
Just wanted to let you know how much i appreciated you and to thank you sooo much for being a major influence in my life in all ways - with music and life... I always loved and so looked forward to being in your bright loving presence whenever you came to visit my mom at our house or at church. You and my mom were best friends - you both first met when you worked as telephone operators at BC Tel... and, you loved to debate politics with my dad any chance you could get - and same with him! I think you won those debates in my mind... You taught me sooo much - how to be a passionate and soul-full musician - to open my mouth wide when i sang and to always enjoy life in the moment... it was always fun to be with you any time and we always laughed a hell of a lot! You are the most joyful and elegant person i have ever met! I also loved how passionately and how well you played the piano and the organ... I will always remember the many songs you cherished and played so beautifully... "How Great Thou Art"... "My Favourite Things"... "Robin In The Rain"... "Swinging On A Star"... and so many more - every time i hear them i always think of you! I will always remember the day you chose me at church choir (St. Stephen's United Church, East Delta, BC) ...when you handed me a pair of old bongo drums. asking me to play some new calypso hymn with you and choir. That was the first time i actually played 'real' drums' - i always wondered how you knew i would be able to play them? That was certainly a pivotal point in my life and i've never stopped drumming on 'real' drums since...
You taught me much about life in many ways - i loved how you always saw the good in all people and it didn't matter from what walk of life they came from... you taught me that there is goodness in all life and in all people...
One time with you, i will always treasure... One day as you and i were driving back from Ladner to my house in East Delta, (i think i was about 10 then), there was a young bearded man with a back pack hitch-hiking by the #10 highway exit to the 99 freeway and when we drove by and, you said to me... "Gee... i wonder where that beautiful young soul is going - do you think we should pick him up!?" From what i had learned thus far in my young life... a lot of folk would have quickly judged and saw him as a dirty transient bum or a hippy - But not you.. you never judged people in a negative way - ever! And, i always admired you for that - you taught me that there was a whole other way to see life... to choose to see the beauty in everything - thank you for that! In your elder years, i was saddened when you had to move away to the Island because i didn't get to visit with you as much as i would have liked... i was glad that i did get to see you a few times before your passing when you were in Nanaimo - i will always treasure the moment when i shared some music with you during one of those visits... your sight was rapidly leaving you tho' you still "saw" so much - a treasured moment i shall never forget - your face was as bright as the sun! I appreciated that you thought my voice had 'matured'... What was ironic, was one of the last times i saw you, i learned you were sharing a wall in the care home you lived in, while in Nanaimo - with celebrated Ojibway artist Norval Morrisseau... one of my most favourite artists ever... You both passed over that same year in 2007. I had the privilege of meeting Norval a couple times, there, with you at the care home and another time at a health food restaurant (Sweet Cherubim's) on Commercial Drive in Vancouver... So, my dear dear mentor and friend... i thank you again for all the wonderful times and all the music we shared together and, all you taught me - i will always remember you, i honour you and please know... i really really miss you!!! I miss our visits, our talks and just being together laughing, and... I also know deep in my heart that you are sooo very happy to be finally reunited with your beloved Charlie and you both are most likely dancing and singing in the light! ...with much love and light always, carol x (((o))) PS... above photo taken with Mrs. B wearing one of the air-brushed shirts we created when i co-owned and operated Women's Work Screen Print & Design Studio - she loved it and the bright rainbow colours certainly suited her (she thought so too!)... Mrs. B's Obituary...
BEHARRELL _ Evelyn (nee Lowrey) Born July 3, 1914 in Esquimalt, B.C. Evelyn passed away peacefully February 26, 2007. Predeceased by her husband Charles Francis Beharrell in 1965, as well as her brothers Stan and Warren Lowrey.
She is survived by her brother Raymond Lowrey, as well as many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grand-nephews. Evelyn had a rewarding career as a pianist, accompanist, choir leader and director of music throughout New Westminster and East Delta, as well as working 20 years with the phone company before marrying her beloved Charlie in 1957. She lived many years in Ladner, then Sidney where she spent 18 happy years before moving to Nanaimo with her brother in 2001 to live with her niece and nephew Rosalind and Mike Brethour and their children. Her sense of humour and empathy will be sadly missed by all her family and friends. Many thanks to the staff at Nanaimo Seniors Village for their thoughtfulness and care during her stay. - Private interment of ashes at a later date. Published in the Vancouver Sun and/or The Province on 3/08/2007. |
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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