What goes on at a drumming circle? I’m glad you asked. Last night I attended a drumming circle organized by Lauren Torres. We meet the first Tuesday of each month in Alsip, Illinois. For information log on to FaceBook and go to Chicago Shamans. Then click on Events. You’ll find information there. There are usually five or six regulars that show up for the circle. Last night there were five. We started off drumming for ten or fifteen minutes, clearing the space of negative energies and inviting our helpful spirits and power animals to join us.

Then, as usual, we discussed what was going on in our lives. This involves someone telling something that happened to them and then having the rest of the people comment on it. There is no set pattern and comments are purely voluntary.It is a very friendly and helpful process. Sharing ideas with others and having them share their ideas is a productive way of getting input to the various issues life sends our way. We all enjoy it. Some of the talk was about what jerks guys can be and I, being the only male present, had to duck a few slings and arrows. They weren’t necessarily aimed at me, but I WAS the only guy there. In reality it was a good natured discussion about relationships, you know, the venus/mars kind of things we have all encountered.

Toward the end of the evening we discussed the upcoming eclipse of the full moon. This time it would be what they call a ‘blood moon’. A major lunar eclipse like that one is a great time to look for areas of our life where we need to make change: breaking bad habits, ending unproductive relationships, etc. Lauren suggested we journey to the lower world to ask our power animals to assist us in discovering these issues and help us start getting rid of them. She drummed and we all journeyed. When I went to the lower world I met my friend the beaver. He knew what I wanted and we wandered around for a short time until he brought me to a large mass of what looked like large, old rubber bands. The beaver joyfully picked up a large scissors and began cutting away. I had to laugh to myself. I knew this was symbolic, but I didn’t realize I had so many bad habits that needed clipping. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that some of those were the negative ‘self-talk’ thoughts that we all have. I imagine some of them went back to my childhood (previous millennium). The drumming ended and we all packed up our drums and went home. The process of getting rid of negatives had started and would continue until the next eclipse about six months from now. Blessings!

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