I like to do 3 rounds of drumming.  The first round has the intention to drum away what ails you or annoys you.  We often share our thoughts on what we want to release during this first round.  As each person in the circle expresses what they want to get rid of, we all form that intention with and for them.  In the second round of drumming, we focus on what we want to bring in to replace what we just released.  Drum in Love, Light and Well-Being to replace it all! Each person can express something specific that they would like to manifest in place of that which was released.  During the actual drumming part of this circle, we all focus on our personal manifestation and also those manifestations of each person as they expressed it.  It is a powerful prayerful ritual filled with Love.

To complete the evening, I provide an opportunity to experience a meditative journey into oneself. During a drumming journey, I guide everyone into a deep state of consciousness to have an encounter with a guide, power animal, to find an answer to your questions as a drum a slow consistent beat. As we allow the drumbeat to help us to learn more about ourselves and our connection with All That Is, we open ourselves to receive visions, messages and guidance from another level of our consciousness. This journey is known in some arenas as Shamanic Journeying.  In Michael Harner’s book, Way of the Shaman, he explores the techniques and affects of using drumming journeys to reach various levels of consciousness within to receive answers and guidance in our lives.  Using symbols as analogies provides the answers to the visions or thoughts we experience during a journey of this nature.

We have many opportunities for connection with the spiritual realm.  Making a connection with your power animal provides you with another avenue for receiving messages and guidance to have an easier life  . . .  or at least a life with guidance.  Having a personal power animal or totem may assist you in many of life circumstances. 

Every animal has gifts, talents and qualities.  This is often referred to as animal medicine.  The gifts are the ‘medicine’ to assist us in healing, growing and learning on many levels.  Once you meet with, connect with or know your power animal, you have the opportunity to draw upon the gifts that animal brings and use it in your every day life.  Afterall, that is the purpose of finding your power animal, to use their medicine in your everyday life. To understand the gifts that your power animal brings you, you can research their habits. 

During the journey, the rhythm of the drum will help bring you into a trancelike state to deepen your experience. 

-Excerpt from Margaret' new book, Voice of the Muse: Spiritual Wisdom for Everyday Living

    "Joining a drumming circle may help reduce stress and improve immunity, according to preliminary research by neurologist Barry Bittman, M.D., director of the Mind-Body Wellness Center in Meadville, Pennsylvania. In this study, an hour-long drumming session featured activities involving humor, drumming to words and names, and guided imagery. Then doctors took blood samples from the participants, finding an increase in natural killer-cell activity and a reversal of the hormonal stress response. A control group who had listened passively showed no such changes. Next Bittman plans to study drumming's effects on cancer patients.”  New Age: The Journal for Holistic Living, March/April 2001

 Use my Guided Meditation CD if you can not come in person.  Buy it here: