For You and Yours!

TVD Changes

Happy Holidays to All!!!!

There are lots of changes occurring at Thunder Valley Drums, so here’s the latest!

New Web Site: https://www.naturalshamandrums.com/Home_Page.php

New Email: livefree@naturalshamandrums.com

The New Podcast Logo!

New Blog / Podcast / Logo: http://blog.naturalshamandrums.com/

Or New On iTunes here:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=348401683

On to 2010!!

Joy!

When Metaphysics Makes Bad News

From the Thunder Valley Drums/Shaman Center Combined Fall/Winter Newsletter:

Shocking headlines sweep us nearly every day now, from disastrous and often conflicting reports of the faltering/prospering economy to the grievous news of mounting casualties in two far-away wars, to incalculable crimes of violence and other random acts that assault our sense of self, country or world. But seldom do we see such news items about the metaphysical community, unless of course, it’s bad news.

Even with the dreadful Fort Hood shootings of last week dominating every media outlet, another news story continued to receive attention, an Oct. 8 sweat lodge ceremony in Sedona, Arizona that claimed three lives and resulted in the hospitalization of up to 20 people.

Self-help author and speaker James Arthur Ray, dubbed a “New Age Guru” in some media, headed up a five-day “Spiritual Warrior” program, of which the sweat lodge was a part. According to Oct. 29 articles in both CNN and People, 60 participants paid $9,695 each to attend the program, which Ray has sponsored for several years.

The resulting tragedy has resulted in a local law enforcement homicide investigation, according to the articles, and Ray has announced the suspension of any more workshops or speaking engagement for the remainder of the year while he seeks to “bring closure” to the incident. He has hired private investigators to examine the tragedy as well, the articles report.

While it will be some time until we know what occurred in the large plastic-wrapped sweat lodge enclosure that day, I want to take time to reflect on the event.

Followers, Or Seekers

First off, various news accounts have portrayed participants at Ray’s event as “followers.” While undoubtedly some in attendance enjoyed Ray’s style and probably would describe themselves as his followers, I suspect most people who attended would not describe themselves that way. Rather, they would probably say they had sensed there was more to life than what can normally be found in day-to-day activities, our so-called “consensus reality,” and that they were interested in trying something new to explore for meaning. Most, no doubt, researched far and wide before giving Ray’s program a try. In that regard, they were, simply, “seekers,” people who are seeking new knowledge and/or experiences that may broaden their philosophical or spiritual outlook.

It was noted in early CNN coverage that several people in attendance that day were there on the advice of colleagues who had attended previous Ray-sponsored events and had found them inspirational in that they had returned to their lives with new vigor for work and for exploration of life’s meaning after attending his event.

To label attendees as “followers” tends to give the impression that all who attend belong to a specific group, like a religion, and in this case, a “New Age” group, which lends a rather pejorative slant to the term.

I am not attempting to either defend Ray or judge him, for I do not know him, and thought I had never heard of him until the tragedy. I was surprised to learn, however, that he was one of the featured personalities in the film, “The Secret,” which I had watched shortly after it came out. Guess I had forgotten. At any rate, I do not have an opinion about him and will reserve any future opinion until the facts are revealed about what happened in the tragedy.

However, I do have some additional thoughts about the use of ceremony in helping people explore consciousness and spirituality, and how the Sedona event may have impacted such.

The “Sweat” Means More Than It Used To

In a thoughtful article on Religion Dispatches author Johnny P. Flynn, an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University (Purdue University Indianapolis), and Director of American Indian Programs and an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in Oklahoma, says the Sedona tragedy is yet another example of confused identification of a once prominent Native American practice that has morphed into many other practices that people use to explore a greater reality.

Flynn reports that he has participated in and offered Native American sweats for over four decades. When he began following the Sedona story, he found that many Native Americans were upset and angry for the usurpation of their tradition by whites and other ethnics. In reality, he says, the sweat has grown beyond the Native American tradition since the 1970s, ironically because Native Americans introduced the practice to a broad range of multi-ethnic supporters during a number of protest events associated with the rise of the American Indian Movement, and actually, that much of the original sweat has been incorporated into a rather Christian context, among others, since that time. In essence, then, he identifies many sweat traditions, some quite new, others very old.

It is a fact that people have used hot enclosed places to sweat their way to peace and opening awareness for centuries. “Sweat bathing–be it in the form of the Finnish sauna, the Russian bania, the Turkish hamman, or an American Indian sweatlodge– is as common to the world as the baking of bread and the squeezing of the grape,” writes Mikkel Aaland, on his Website. He is the author of a book about the subject, Sweat, a project involving his direct experience with such sweat venues for several years around the world. He also presents a common sense list of precautions to take when preparing for a sweat.

To Sweat…Or Not

Because of the Sedona tragedy, I’m sure many people are put off with the idea of attending a sweat, and may actually now be concerned about pursuing any means of spiritual exploration beyond what a mainstream religious group may offer. I’ve read, for example, many blogs where writers admonish people not to stray beyond their Christian roots, else they may be led to bad results like that in Sedona. It’s a shame, really. But there are also many blog writers, including Christians, who support the idea of sweats and other means of expanding their awareness.

This brings up another point, and that is a probably widely held belief that practices such as sweat lodges are religious in nature. Wow! What a sticky subject. Like, is there a difference between a “spiritual” and a “religious” practice? So, please, allow me to stray, if even tangentially, from the subject for a moment.

I, for one, believe there is a huge difference, as a religious practice is one that follows and is directly related to a prescribed dogma, whereas a spiritual practice is not necessarily related to dogma. As I have written on my Website and on my blog, the late, well known British shamanic practitioner, Kenneth Meadows, said that shamanism is not a religion because it honors nature, but does not worship it. That makes it more of a spiritual practice.

There are many, many contemporary Christians who practice shamanism, without inner conflict. Ancient Celtic peoples, the original tree huggers and nature lovers, embraced the introduction of Christianity without a problem, as they saw the two traditions as complimentary. Of course, most Celtic practices were frowned upon and eventually persecuted by the Church, but the people saw little to separate the two ways. While persecuting certain practitioners, the Church also cleverly incorporated a huge corpus of Celtic beliefs into its indigenous practices and, in fact, also bestowed sainthood on a number of Celtic gods and goddesses in order to make the religion more palatable.

And here’s a real kicker: Jesus, according to an increasing number of Biblical scholars, was a shaman! You can check out two books to begin with: Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography by Bruce Chilton, and, The Life of a Galilean Shaman: Jesus of Nazareth in Anthropological-Historical Perspective, by Pieter F. Craffert. Given these perspectives, it is easy to see why Christianity became so popular with indigenous people, from Europe to the Americas and even beyond, as these populations were already prominently involved in shamanic cultures.

So, all in all, I see the Sedona incident as a terrible, but isolated tragedy, not as a condemnation of a practice aimed to help us explore beyond what we normally perceive as our limits in what is really a limitless universe.

Notes:

1. I do not incorporate sweats into my shaman training classes or in my own shamanic practice, as I prefer other means. This certainly does not mean that I find anything whatsoever wrong with sweats. It’s just that I use different approaches to the same end.
2. A few additional articles on the subject can be found at the Shaman Portal.

Jewelry Time

“Quiet Joy” Teardrop Necklace

I make jewelry on average about once each year, with customers and friends asking to have it available in time for the Holiday Season. So the 2009 collection of necklaces, made from lightning-struck cherry wood and lilac wood, my two favorite to work with (as you probably know from my Website), and two of the most sacred, to me at least. For a new free eBooklet of why I do what I do with lightning-damaged wood and other stressed natural materials, visit the Downloads Center and look for “The Tree, The Shrub And Something Called The Ain Soph Aur.”

The one above is a simple lilac pendant with woven black leather cord held by a copper crimper and two antique copper beads. A 36″ calf leather tie-back thong threaded through copper rings completes the presentation. The disk pendant is a maximum of 3/4″ round and 1/4″ thick (cost $9).

Here are few more pieces.

“Blue Princess” Lilac Necklace

This pendant on the right is a beautiful lilac disk studded with turquoise beads and draped by handmade Peruvian ceramic beads. The lacing is yummy smooth butterscotch and white suede lacing held by a twisted copper eyelet in a 36″ tie-back. The Pendant is 2″ round and at least 1/4″ thick. ($26)

Nature does the creating of these wonderful pieces, whether when lightning takes down a cherry tree, or by the passage of time when the lilac needs pruned, especially after the insect clan bores its way through the soft lilac branches. I merely cut out and clean damaged areas of each piece, rub and rub and rub it with beeswax and oil, then decorate it. And while it’s all great fun to make these, I do so with the awareness that these honored gifts of the Earth Mother are quite special when worn in ceremony, and are great friends to wear throughout your day as they help you to connect with Spirit.

“The Energizer” Cherry Necklace

Each piece is hand rubbed with a combination of all natural beeswax and linseed oil, and the leather and hemp are treated with appropriate oils to help protect them and to prolong their usefulness. This piece (left) is lightning-struck cherry wrapped in copper wire and studded with an emerald chip. A continuous (brick color) leather thong weaves wooden beads from the bottom through the top and also forms the 30″ tie-back. The pendant is 3/4″ wide, 1″ high and up to 1/2″ thick. ($17)

While the necklaces serve various functions during shamanic spiritual ceremonies, you may find them attractive to wear with some of your styles and moods. Each piece is a one-of-a-kind, impossible to duplicate, so when it’s sold, it’s gone, no duplicate available.

There are about three dozen necklaces in this year’s offering, many in unisex styles.

Hope to see you on the Website!

“For, to encounter the Lilac is to chance upon the secret of life.”

A New U.S. Gov Cabinet Post?

There’s always money for war and for bank and Wall Street bailouts. There are always cabinet officials for money (usually staffed by people from banks and Wall Street) and war (usually staffed by people whose livelihoods have always relied on their knowledge of how best to develop weapons and to outfit armies), and yet, we have no one at the top levels of our government whose expertise is compassion. I think we need a Secretary of Compassion.

We could use one right now in the health care debate, and in the wars we fight.

The Compassion Secretary can point out the obvious—that the country can always find trillions of dollars to conduct war and to assure the welfare of the rich, and yet cannot afford the far lesser amounts needed to assure that every citizen can get attention if he or she gets sick— and then seek to reverse it.

We don’t seem concerned at the cost of killing a soldier in a pointless war, but we get up in arms and rail at the prospect of spending a few dollars to save the life of a poor person?

While I certainly don’t wish to support the big pharmaceutical or insurance companies or the bloated, profit-driven health care industry (industries which all deserve far more oversight than now available), I do support health care for all. It is the compassionate thing to do, even if it enriches the pharma-insurance-corporate-provider cartel. When someone is sick, they deserve care and attention.

And there are certainly other health care options provided by a plethora of Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) practitioners that are not nearly as costly and that do not feed the cartel.

And once we get the American health care system in a position to help each and every citizen, the Secretary can then begin to counteract the default tendency of American diplomacy to project American war power by instead arranging for the projection of American Compassion to the world. A bottle of Cipro or a corps of CAM teachers is cheaper than a bullet or a fighter jet, and has the potential to save a life instead of taking one. We can make more friends by healing them than by killing them.

New Digs!

What a journey. With a lot of help from friends and family, the giant corporate assets of Thunder Valley Drums have been relocated!

What a caravan– an old Dodge van, a Subaru Baja and an ancient Chevy pickup, we made our way across the vast reaches of Elizabethtown, KY through dark of night and rain of day, with thirst and hunger we traversed, blistering sun and barking dogs we plied the treacherous path. When at last, as if suddenly transported on angel’s wings, we arrived at the gleaming destination, we knew the travails had been worthwhile. For, in a twinkling, we were in!

TVD has a new home!

Two blocks from our old location.

Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter…

A Thought on Tolerance by Ted Kennedy

Thanks to The Daily Grail:

Quote of the Day:

“I hope for an America where neither “fundamentalist” nor “humanist” will be a dirty word, but a fair description of the different ways in which people of good will look at life and into their own souls.”

Edward Kennedy; speech on “Truth and Tolerance in America” (Oct. 3, 1983).

On the Move!

Thunder Valley Drums Is Moving…and Growing!

Well, the Thunder Valley Drums shop will soon be on the move. The building where the shop’s located has been sold, and I’ve been looking for another location. I’ll let you know the new address as soon as I know it! Meantime, there may be some slight delays in preparing and shipping orders, but only slight. It’s not like trying to relocate General Motors or something. The move should only take a few days.

This time I’m hoping the shop will be in a little nicer facility (for example, in a place with running water and a potty!) in order to allow for a more comfortable setting when people attend classes or come in seeking shamanic help.

It’s always a challenge to find a place for a spiritual shop/practice. So many people feel that shamanic practices should be offered free and how dare someone charge for such a service. In reality, though, there are expenses to pay, like rent, utilities and such, and no grocery store or gas station I know of is willing to exchange food or gasoline for shamanic services. I do provide help free of charge when a person cannot pay. But most who seek my services realize that I, too, need to make a living, so they are more than eager to pay what they wish. Thus far, this arrangement has worked splendidly.

In other BIG NEWS, I’ve also added a NEW STORE to the Website! It features all natural foods and products and is affiliated through Amazon. I’m constantly searching for just the right items to add to the store, and I’m finding it to be a big job because I take a lot of time to research the product and its manufacturer. Naturally, I’m trying to avoid the big corporations and big pharma, preferring to link up with smaller firms who maintain exacting standards and who are certified to be organic, green and non-gm (genetically modified). So far I’ve found some great essential oils, foods, snacks, and teas to feature. There’s much more to come, so please do stop by for a visit. I’d love to hear your suggestions for improvement, too.

Last month was the busiest I’ve ever experienced, and now, things have slowed down. I think Spirit has allowed some breathing room to accommodate the move and prepare for the Fall class season. I hope to greatly expand available classes in the new digs.

While thinking of that, I should mention that several people in Louisville and nearby environs are working on organizing their schedules for both a drum-making class and a shaman training class, so if you are interested in one or both of these, please email me ( livefree@sacredshamandrums.com )and I’ll include you in the discussions.

A Stargate Memory

A Place I Know

I cut a Christmas tree up here with my Dad nearly five decades ago. I drove fence posts into the rocky ground with young muscle while standing on a pickup’s tailgate. I watched a million meteorites and counted a billion stars and soared with a lone Hawk. There’s a secret place nearby in the woods that, back then, I wouldn’t have called a stargate. All I know is that when you stepped into its rectangular foundation still embedded in the stubborn dirt, you were transported, that’s all.

I can close my eyes and I’m back there…stepping in, traveling with the ancestors through the in-between.

Sacred space.

Had Enough Fundamentalism Yet?

Had enough of religious fundamentalism yet?

Now comes a newspaper editor’s report that President George W. Bush started the Iraq war in the belief that it was central to the Biblical prophecy of Gog and Magog. According to James Haught, editor of the Charleston Gazette, the largest paper in West Virginia– and apparently the only U.S. paper to report this incident– Bush called then-French President Jacques Chirac to ask “for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God.”

Read the incredible story here: http://www.wvgazette.com/Opinion/JamesAHaught/200907220060

So, instead of Gog and Magog, we had Holy Jihad vs. Holy Roller, diametrically opposed, yet fundamentally identical in a closely held belief of special dispensation from God.

More than 4,000 American soldiers and an estimated one million Iraqi citizens have perished as a result.