Shamanism Week 4

[Neamhain Riona]

Physiological Explanation of the Two-Sided Shamanic Drum

~Nicholas Noble Wolf



This article is an update specifically for the Talking Drum Newsletter of an earlier version which appeared in a now defunct publication, Shamanic News.

A shamanic drum is a sacred article that is used for journeying to help oneself or to help others--typically for healing. While medicines (spiritual helpers) such as the spirit of Horse, can be used in conjunction with the drum to make journeying easier and faster, even in its own right, the drum will carry you. In the following, I offer a "technical" explanation of how the drum, itself, works to carry one into the dream for journeying.

A traditional shamanic drum is typically two and a half to four inches in depth and 15 to 24 inches in diameter. However, I know people with larger and smaller drums that work equally well. The head or heads are covered with rawhide, typically deer or elk, but sometimes goat or horse. Cowhide, a nontraditional covering, is occasionally used, but some people will say such a drum has a tendency to "moo." This is because of what mankind’s breeding of cattle has done to the souls of cows.

When we strike the drum with a beater, the beat draws our attention, helping to still the mind-chatter. One might say that the mind becomes fixated upon the beat. With our mind out of the way, the resonance of the hide’s vibrations can then cause the mind to shift from the normal waking beta state, into an alpha state. The alpha state is the electrical frequency of the brain between 8 and 13 Hz. indicating the lack of external stimulus. It is that of daydreaming and mental relaxation.

Any drum can assist the mind to shift into the alpha state; you could even use an old, plastic water cooler bottle, but the water bottle will have difficulty in shifting the mind into the theta state (4 to 8 Hz.). This shifting into the theta state is accomplished by the drone of the drum and results in a sleepy state of wakefulness or a light dreaming state.

The two-headed drum has an additional aspect not carried in other drums such as single-headed drums. When one side is struck, it sends vibrations through the center of the drum causing the other side to vibrate at the same resonance or frequency. Therefore, beating on one side actually results in two sides playing. When the second side vibrates, it sends its vibrations not only out into space, but also back to the first side. At this point, the drum now has two sides sending vibrations towards one another, vibrations that are identical in frequency, but exactly mirror opposites of one another. Somewhere in the middle of the drum, these opposite vibrations meet and cancel each other out. Those frequencies that are identical opposites of one another actually serve to nullify and create a place of no sound at that frequency. The audio industry has noted a similar situation when one stereo speaker is wired backwards (i.e., one positive to positive, the other positive to negative) and sends mirror vibrations to those coming from the other speaker, cancelling out part of the music.

Unlike a stereo system, in shamanic journeying this cancelling is desired. With intent, you can place your attention on the portion of the resonance that is cancelled. The is the place of no sound. When you place your attention here, you hear nothing--just silence. I want to point out that you can not do anything to find this place. You must allow yourself to find it. Using the words of Carlos Castaneda, shamanic journeying is "not doing." When a person has found the place of no sound, his deep or lower theta and higher delta brain waves and will be stimulated causing him to enter a hypnagogic state or trance. The hypnogogic state is the state between deep sleep and waking--the state where dreaming occurs. It is in the higher portion of this state that lucid dreaming occurs. Lucid dreaming is the awakening within the dream-time such that a person knows they are dreaming and can control the dream. When drumming, though, the hypnagogic state is reached while awake and one enters a deep trance or dream state. Essentially, one is dreaming while awake. Hypnotists take their subjects into a hypnagogic state also. However, unlike hypnosis, during shamanic drumming, one remains in control of his dream.

Once a person has entered into the hypnagogic state, it is possible to free the spirit to journey to the underworld and celestial realms of the soul. However, my intent here has been to explain why shamanic drumming works so well. While there are other ways, such as meditation, the drum, and particularly the two-sided drum, is the most effective and fastest way that I have encountered to reach the mythic worlds.

 

[Neamhain Riona]

Spirit Song / Power Song

When you drum or rattle for a song, you create a gateway for the Spirits of Music to manifest through by the use of your voice and the instrument. It doesn’t matter whether you are musical or not. You just have to be open to receive the gifts that the Spirits want to give you. The songs that come through might have a melody and they may not… they may be just a word or two and they might be whole phrases, and they might not have words at all – just animalistic sounds. The Spirits will bring songs to you in many different voices.
What is a Power Song? A power song is something that comes from outside of the Self, what I am saying here is that it is not something that you sit down and compose. These songs are energy that the Spirits give to help empower you – to aid you in your Spirit Quests and Shamanic work. They are a set of words and notes that come from a Spirit who in some way shares a kindred energy with you and is willing to use your voice or instrument as a Channel. This is what also makes it a “power song” for you, in that it came to you for release.
What makes a song – any song – powerful is its ability to bring out deep emotion. Can it make you cry, laugh, feel lonely or uplifted? That is where the power comes from, the connection from Spirit to Self and the energy that is formed and transmitted! When this happens, you are no longer alone in that particular time and space, you have gained a Spirit Ally. You are walking with a Music Spirit – a Muse.
Still a little unclear? Well, lets look at some famous Songs of Power:

Amazing Grace

O Holy Night

How Great Thou Art

Many of you will recognize these as “religious” hymns. They are songs meant to praise, glorify, and uplift. These songs are gifts to us from the Spirit World to serve as doorways from the individual soul to that which is beyond the realms of present day existence, to that which goes past time and space. A bridge of sorts between the Self and Spirit. In the case of these particular songs – between Self and Divinity.
The connection between those songs and the Spirit World are obvious, but what about something more contemporary? Consider these:

Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd

I Will Always Love You – Dolly Parton/Whitney Houston/ Leann Rimes

Country Roads, Take me Home – John Denver

And there are others:

Marching Songs

College “Fight” Songs

Think about them. Can you see why they can be considered to be Songs of Power? I know that you are thinking – “wait a minute, does this mean that ALL songs, artwork, poetry etc. come to us from the Spirit World?” Yes, in fact, the “inspiration” for ALL creativity certainly does. The idea is planted like a seed into our subconscious mind, how we choose to develop it is where it becomes personalized and individual.
The way to go about getting a Power Song is relatively easy… the hard part is recognizing that you have been given one. You have to “listen” to be able to “hear” what is being sent to you. Do not be surprised if you get something that seems to make no sense, it often appears that way until you learn how to communicate with your Spirits better.
For instance, when I drummed the first time specifically for a power song, I felt disappointed. Words did not come babbling out of my mouth, no… quite the contrary; instead all I got was the different tones my drum was making. I thought, “Okay, I am going to do this until I get something!” So, twenty minutes later and my arm feels like it is going to fall off when I realize that I am listening to everything BUT the song of my drum… you see, I was expecting words. The whole time my drum had been singing to me and I just wasn’t hearing it!!
Still, once I finally did hear the song, it seemed senseless:
“Hooley hooooo
Wear the mask
Hooley hooooo……”
Over and over again. I remember thinking, “Great, what the heck does this mean?” Well, I was in the same place that you are now. I was young in my Shamanic studies and even though I had worked with Spirits before in magickal renderings and divination, I didn’t know how to interpret this. I turned to my Mentor for help. She told me that it could be a preview of my Spirit Guide, or it could be a helper that was making them self available to me. To keep an open mind. Well, she was right on both accounts and I will tell you more about that in about 2 weeks when we Journey. The point is that if you keep at it, you WILL get a power song – eventually many power songs – and if you think you aren’t getting one, try “listening” in a different way.

The Method
When drumming or rattling for a power song it is important to set up some kind of Ritual. Do Grounding techniques and work with a method of Meditation that opens your Transpersonal Chakra System and causes a “shift” in your Consciousness. Pick an incense that from this point out will be “reserved” for Shamanic work. This will act as a “trigger” in the future and will also serve as a way to Honor your Spirit Allies. After you have done that, it is finally time to pick up your drum or rattle!
To build a cone of power, you want to have 200-250 beats per minute. If you don’t understand what I mean, now is the time to listen closely to a Solo Drumming selection on your CD. For this, you do not need a Callback. You will not use the CD when you are actually trying for your Power Song, but it will help you to mimic the beats per minute.
Here is a tried and true method to Drum / Rattle for a song:


Calling the Beasts

Prepare the room. Smudge, burn incense. Light candle. Close doors and curtains to create the darkness of twilight.
Stand with your drum, rattle, or rattles if you have two, and face East.
Beginning with the four directions is helpful and is done in many cultures, so this is nearly universal in scope. Shake the rattle or beat your drum at a steady pace and turn to each direction in a rhythmic fashion, acknowledging the power of each. Move clockwise.
Then simply begin slowly turning yourself in a clockwise circle as you chant the following:
"Come to me... and settle here...
Come to me.... for I call you near....
Come to me.... and settle here...
Come, for I hold you dear....."
(This I repeat at least three or four times during which I make the full circle circuit, nodding at any Spirits I "see" showing up. I am calling them to me to invite them to sing, so once they show up, they have "settled here".)
After you have completed the call, you can sense it's time to do 'drum or rattle rolls'. So drum or rattle to each direction, (for rattle-shaking 7 times like for the drum roll).
Then you will be ready to begin drumming or rattling for a song ( you can sit for this part).
7. As Spirits come -- some new ones might enter while you drum/rattle -- acknowledge these with a nod of your head. This is a subtle but clear form of honoring. Also let them tell you when they want to sing "their" song.<!--[endif]-->
After you’ve sung all the songs that you get, some may repeat as you drum or rattle, then end the session. Do four drum/rattle rolls of seven beats each and conclude with "Thank you".
For some of you this exercise will work better as a dance. For others, feel free to try this method of Singing with the Beasts above. If you are so inclined, you may choose to try a variation of these, but as you do so, keep in mind the following:
You are asking for spirits to come to you. Be sure you know why.
Be sure you are in a positive frame of mind, or if you're sad, be sure you are calling on the Spirits as allies to help you out of your sadness. Your Spirit affects theirs.
Honor the Spirits you call.
Be open to the presence of Spirits that are unlikely, like Jesus of Nazareth, the Spirit of the dinner table in your dining room, an old school teacher, a friend you've had a falling out with, etc. You are calling for Spirits, but animals may not be the only ones who show up! Keep that in mind.
Honor them with a "thank you" after they have come to share your space. You will be blessed for that.
Don't forget to honor the Spirits in your drum and rattles. If your drum is rawhide, consider singing or chanting to the deer, elk, cow or buffalo that gave that hide for your Shamanic practice. Also honor the gourds and trees that donated wood and seeds to be your rattles. These are MAJOR helpers of yours and you couldn't begin to work without them. So honor them with smudging, or some other gift.
Okay, now you have the method to “Call the Beasts”.