Dear Drummers,

Welcome Spring! Welcome drummers! If you have been saying, “Ah, man, I really want to get to one of those drumming groups,” this Friday is a perfect time. It’s going to be a fun, uplifting and blessing drum.

I love the term you hear in Minnesota at mid-April: “ice-out.” It’s the point at which the lakes are finally free of winter ice. Or as some say, it’s the point at which the ice no longer blocks navigation. That is a wonderful spiritual image, for all spiritual work is about two things: removing blockages and courageously opening yourself to the heat of the life force. I’ve been fortunate to have been iced-in many times in my life - fortunate because it taught me how wonderful it is at ice-out. The drum is our warming deliverer of life force, the bringer of ice-out.

I’ve been thinking about loneliness. I seem to come across a lot of articles about how lonely we all are, and many of them point to the proliferation of electronic devices in our lives as the root cause. These little blinking seductresses are certainly mesmerizing but they are a symptom, not the cause of our loneliness. We are lonely because we have been culturally trained to detach from creation, and what could be lonelier than that? I believe we are in a long, painful, but absolutely necessary process of learning how to reattach to creation. This is the role of theology in our lifetime because there will be no re-attachment to creation without a viable theology to support it. I believe this is why drumming is more than just fun – everything about drumming teaches us how to re-connect with creation: with our body, with the rhythms of the earth and sky, with each other, with the holy imagination, and with sacred eroticism.

By the way, there’s nothing wrong with drumming just being fun.

At this drum (April 17th) we celebrate and connect with the awakening warmth and pleasure in the land (both outer and inner landscapes), the Groovelicious Rhythmocity of the softening earth, the dancing waters, the flowing air. And the fire, yes, that southerly breeze pouring from the lips of The Goddess Brigit, that warming breath of springtime. Ice-out.

Welcome one and all!
Jaime

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