Making My Drum

My drum, mallet and leather bag

I have always wanted to make a drum.

One winter the opportunity dropped in my lap. I heard of Dan Maxon, drum maker and teacher at Turtle Drums, and he lived only two hours away in Burlington, VT. I contacted him that very day and before the week ended, I was at his home filled with excitement in anticipation of making my very own drum.

We began the afternoon with a small ceremony at his altar, welcoming to it something I brought with me. I then laid down on the floor amongst the pillows and blankets and settled in for meditation.

Dan began beating his drum with amazing skill. I could feel his caring heart coming through the vibrations as they traveled from the drum into my soul. As they reached the depths of my soul, I drifted off into meditation with Spirit.

I saw a group of souls and I sensed they were all women, not only by the long dress-like clothing they were each wearing, but also, by the feminine energy in the air. 

I joined this group and standing in a circle, we each held onto a section of the outer edge of an elk hide. All of us, except for one, were pulling with the same tension in preparation for the drum.

The one soul that was doing her own thing had a precious look of determination on her face as she was pulling her section of the hide further away from center than the rest of us. It was as if she thought she could stretch it all by herself.

I thought to myself this soul needs to be working on something within herself, but I didn’t get an indication of what that was at that point in time. But, I’m pretty sure it was something about myself that I was going to be looking at further down along my journey.

On the hilltop behind us, a majestic elk appeared. I instantly knew it was the elk whose hide I was about to use for my drum. He carried his huge rack with such pride and when I thanked him for the gift of his hide, a glow of love showered over us and warmed my heart.

When I signed on to make this drum, I had no idea I would also be taking this kind of Spirit journey, let alone meet the elk. 

It was at this time where I was solidly at that turning point, where dreams and intuition were more than what I thought they were. They were Spirit sending us messages to listen to and follow.

This is my truth,

Carol

Check Dan’s work out at Turtle Drums on FaceBook!