Louisa Shorney

One of the most important tools in my kit is my drum or should I say, are my drums. These are not musical instruments but vehicles for moving through realms and working with energy.

Some of you may have read my previous posts that give a brief insight into the physics of sound and how we can understand it’s relationship and interaction with the human body as energy. In fact understanding the way sound forms and travels as a wave helps us to understand the action of light, substance and any of the elements as we engage with them in their energetic forms. I also spoke about it in terms of scent and how aroma effects our physical, mental and emotional beings on a molecular level.

If we can understand that on a fundamental level everything in existance, including ourselves, is energy resonating at various frequencies or wavelengths, as molecules, atoms and cells forming substance, then it is not such a leap of “faith” to understand how energy healing or interacting with energy works.

There are many techniques and various ways to interface with these fundamental energies, to effect change. One of the most powerful of which is the medicine drum or frame drum. As a shamanic practitioner your drum is your ally, best friend, healing tool, communication tool, spirit journey vehicle, protector, guide and energy generator.

Oh, and most definitely not an inanimate object.

But then as most of us who do this work have an animistic core belief underpinning our philosophies, nothing is inanimate.

Everything has or is spirit. Spirit, in this context, being that fundamental energy, as it gathers around a common intent. The intent is the scaffolding upon which the energy builds, this intent can be driven by thought, emotion, or things far beyond our ken.

This Earth is so much older than we and as such there are energies, entities and beings unfathomable to our comprehension, sight, experience or understanding. Beings do not have to be robed in matter to exist or interact with us, whether or not we are conscious of their exitance.

Ours drums offer us a gateway into these realms and am invaluable means of communication with the unseen realms.

As we understand the nature of “spirit” as the “energy” of a thing, we can understand that an illness, malady , event or situation has a spirit. As a shamanic healer it is the spirit of the illness etc, the energy entity of it, that we work with. And the drum is one of the most versatile and powerful tools to use in this work. It can breakdown blocks that hinder the proper flow of an energy, banish entities that have come to feast on certain energies, clear space, cleanse space, build energy where it is depleted and exhausted, realign or retune areas to resonate with more positivity where they have become heavy and dense. And so much more.

Each one of my drums has its own personality, each has a preferance for the type of work it feels more suited to. And as a drum birther (maker) bringing them into being is a sacred process that I am honoured to midwife. A marriage of energies, as rawhide and wood and sometimes metal are woven into a new form. The spirit of each lending its wisdom and undergoing the alchemy of transformation to become a drum spirit, with a unique voice, purpose, gift and intent.

As you can tell I love my drums, they instruct me, and support me, expanding my vision, my capacity and my understanding. I cannot imagine my life without them, and the herd is growing.

If you’re interested in making your own drum or having one made for you please get in touch.

Or look through my website to see all that I offer. If you’re interested in learning more about the Way of the Shaman I teach workshops and offer a 1:1 Mentoring and Apprenticeship programme.