Running Around In Circles

Sometimes the best thing you can do is to run around in circles! There are sacred circles around the world, some of standing stones or little stones, some of old groves, some of cut wood, some of the boundary between a fire and the chill, and nearly all of the heart.  The circles are a place for reverence, ceremony, protection, connection, love, family.

And that’s one reason why people treasure drums so much, I think. The round frames with the deep sonorous sounds resonate deeply within our cellular memory, our DNA. In shamanic practice, the drum can reunite us with ancestors in the great circle.

And that is why I love to make drums– for the circle. They always create circles of friends!

Here are some examples. The customer purchases a drum, and a friendship begins. The drum extends the circle to the customer/friend. The friend takes the drum and the circle to more friends. Beautiful! So, you will always find many friends in the circle, like the one pictured above, Dromberg Stone Circle, in Ireland. It’s located near to Tracey and Barry’s home in West Cork.

And here are Tracey’s photos of Barry opening the new Hummingbird-type drum she gave him as a birthday present and to help start him on his way to the study of shamanism.

The drum was painted of course by Glenn Lewis, our resident artist, and features the image of Green Man.

Here is Tracey’s reaction upon receiving it:

Hi Bob,
Just to let you know…the Green Man arrived this morning!! We are absolutely thrilled- it’s SO beautiful and the sound is AMAZING even now.

Barry would like to email you personally and will do so tomorrow. We will get some nice photos at the weekend and forward them on. In the meantime I attach pics of Barry receiving the drum today…

Can’t thank you enough Bob – it’s everything we expected and much more 🙂

Be in touch soon.

Kindest regards

Tracey

Here is our photo of Barry’s wonderful drum…

Tracey followed up with another email after I had asked her about Celtic shamanic practices in Ireland, since our Advanced Shaman Training Class here is studying that subject now. She sent the photo above of the circle, along with these fascinating insights:

Hi Bob,

Great to hear from you !

In terms of Celtic healing, the druids were of course keenly attuned to the cycles of nature – much as tribal cultures all over the world are. Trees are richly symbolic in Celtic druidism and it’s interesting to note that the Oak is associated with the month of May, which is the month of the Bealtaine fire festival heralding in the summer and the fertility it brings. This imagery carries over to the Green Man as you know, the vines associated with him are many times of oak. In ancient times, each Celtic tribe had it’s own sacred tree or totem and druidic wands were usually made of rowen wood.

When Christianity arrived in this part of the world, the old Celtic feasts were quickly overlaid with “new” Christian feast days – one such example is St Brigid’s day, celebrated on Feb 1st (Imbolc fire festival, half-way between winter solstice and spring equinox). When I was growing up in the 1980’s it was still traditional, even among staunch Catholics, to leave out a scarf on the eve of St Brigid’s day. It was said that if one had a sore throat the scarf was to be wrapped around your neck and you would be healed. It’s really interesting how the old Celtic traditions merged with the Christian feasts here, and even more heartening to see a revival of more intuitive, wisdom based spiritualism here.

I have a nice picture of a stone circle in West Cork called Drombeg that you might like which I attach – It’s a really special place, like a mini Stonehenge I suppose but very accessible and only about an hour from where I live. Of course, celebration of the winter solstice at Newgrange and Dowth is a massively important in the Pagan calendar here, we are hoping to go this year. The stone circles were almost like a giant sundial, tracking the cycles of the year. Most contained an altar stone, used for ceremony and, possibly sacrifice in ancient times. Many times human remains were found there, so they were possibly burial grounds also.

Here are a few links that you may find informative also
http://www.slianchroi.ie/rites.htm
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/ancient-wisdom-on-the-curriculum-at-ireland-s-only-druid-school-1.1840019 (article in the Irish Times)
http://www.celticdruidtemple.com/

I’ll think some more on this and forward on any other info I have – please be aware that Barry & I have only recently began to explore a neopagan belief system and are by no means experts.

Be in touch soon.

Kind regards,
Tracey

I have always loved to make drums! And now you see why. Friends around the world…in one big circle! Special thanks to Tracey and Barry… and to you too!

Slán leat!

Aho & Namaste,
Bob