Drumming This Friday and Saturday!

Two drums this week:
Friday: First Universalist Church, 34th and Dupont, Uptown Mpls.
Saturday: UU Church of Minnetonka
7-9:30ish each night.

Dear Drummers,

So we arrive at the autumnal equinox - the point in the sun's yearly rhythm where day and night are equally balanced, heading toward the dark time, toward to the winter solstice. The equinox is officially on Thursday, as is the full moon. The full moon will rise again on Friday at around 7:15, so we will be bathed in equinoxical moonshine as we drum together.

This is the time of year when, in the Celtic wheel of the year, we move from the direction south, associated with bright summer, music, dancing and glee, toward the mythic west - the realm of water, destiny, faith, mystery, grieving, letting go.

When we gather this Friday, we will celebrate the transition into early autumn, with at least one wild, whirling throb-groove, and at least one sonically wistful meander. I also hope to tell you a beautiful Irish story of the powers of the west and how they call to us, urge us and cajole us into the Presence of Mystery.

I intend to shorten the Friday drum slightly so that those who want to can follow me a few blocks south from the church to a park where we may cavort and drum (softly) to the equinoxically glimmering moon. You might bring a long sleeved shirt, and if you want, a blanket to lie on or even a camp chair if you wish.

I leave you with old Scottish invocation to the moon:

O moon so fair,
May it be so,
As seasons come,
And seasons go.
May thy laving lustre leave us
Seven times still more blest.

(Laving: 1. To wash; bathe. 2. To lap or wash against. 3. To refresh or soothe as if by washing.

Blessings,

Jaime

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Spiritual Power of the Receding Hairline

Image
For father’s day I will be shaving off the nub. As a trained theologian, it is time for me to put down the books and take spiritual action. For those who need to know, the nub is that humiliating last patch of hair just above the forehead, the last scrap of youth clinging to an otherwise balding head. I'm shaving it off. Here is why. Many men have experienced the crushing realization that their hairline is receding. It makes no difference if they are young or old, if it has happened glacially or with the suddenness of a wildfire laying bare the forest. The moment when the man faces the truth is what the 18th century German theologians aptly termed Aufschrei den Verlust von Haarleukoplakie Steifigkeit, loosely translated as “the mournful gasp over the loss of hairy stiffness.” The Germans dealt with the moment of realization by drinking dark beer and moving several pews closer to the rumbling organ in church, but in our time we are peppered with hair replacement products promising...
Read more
Image
Dear seekers after the Spirit, Now four people have sent me this video of Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, telling me how amazing it is. Finally I watched it and they were all right, it’s astonishing. Now I get to become part of the viral spread of this video by recommending it to you. It’s 18 minutes long, and it is well worth it. I’ve made some comments below as a response to the video. Taylor is a brain scientist who describes her own experience of having a stroke, and how this event opened her perception about the workings of the brain. She points out that each side of the brain essentially creates its own reality and those two different realities are only barely connected by a thin (but exceedingly wondrous) membrane. The left brain’s world relies on the sense of “I” and therefore a sense of being separate from everything else. It observes everything as objects outside itself. The right brain relies on a sense of oneness with everything, a sense of expansiveness and inclusion. Each brain li...
Read more
Image
Dear Solstice Drummers, If you attended my Winter Solstice Drumming/Ceremony at Wisdom Ways, thank you! I promised you a few musings on the Reindeer Runes, and here they are below. By the way, if you purchased a script of the show, the runes in the script are in an inncorrect order. My aplologies about that. The runes in your program, and below, are in correct alignment. If you would like to purchase a script that contains the text from this year's show as well as last year's "Blessing," please send me an email at jaime@drummingthesoulawake.com . There's alot more in the script than actually made it into the show, thankfully - or you would have been there for four hours. When I began working on this solstice event, I considered using the classic Scandinavian/Celtic runes. Hundreds of books have been written interpreting these runes in wildly different ways. While the runes are a powerful meditation tool, they come from a time and culture far removed from our own....
Read more