Customer Reviews

The Shamanic Drum: A Guide To Sacred Drumming

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In response to the phenomenal resurgence of the drum nationwide, Michael has completely revised and expanded the 1991 edition for all those folks discovering the power of drumming. This useful book reveals profound teachings about shamanic drumming, which is a time-honored method of healing and helping others. Trained as a ceremonial drummer in the Mongolian and Native American shamanic traditions, Michael presents the first practical guide to applying this ancient healing art to our modern lives. Through a series of simple exercises, lessons, and rituals, he teaches you the basic shamanic methods of drumming. The focus is on creating sacred space, invoking the powers of creation, journeying, power practice, initiating change through intent, power animals, windhorse (personal power), geomancy, drum therapy, drum harmonics, drum circle dynamics, archetypal healing rhythms, and the universal rhythmic phenomena that come into play whenever we drum. Whether you are an accomplished percussionist or a total beginner, this user-friendly book will help you harness the power of drumming.

Reviews

"The Shamanic Drum expresses things as they are, and it's indeed true that the drum and the proper ceremonies are the way in which we balance and harmonize the energies of the Earth, its creatures, and our relationship with all realms."
-Dhyani Ywahoo, author of Voices of Our Ancestors

"A clear and practical work."
-Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way and The Vein of Gold

"Apprenticeship would be the ideal way to learn shamanic drumming, however most of us will never be fortunate enough to have this experience. This book is definitely the next best thing."
-Lisa DiPlacido, review editor for Friend's Review.

Michael Drake has written a sensible guide to taking a traditional shamanic journey with measured drum beats to a alternate reality where, with practice, one can meet one's spirit/animal guide. He describes with obvious deep knowledge how to use and care for a drum that will act as both a vehicle to journey and as a healing tool.

I got the impression from reading The Shamanic Drum: a Guide to Sacred Drumming that the author genuinely loves his relationship with sacred drumming and wants to share this timeless knowledge. His methods are completely safe. He states what I've found to be true: one always has one foot in this world as he/she journeys to another and can 'return' as soon as one wishes.

I thoroughly enjoyed the imagery presented in this book. The journeys of the soul were mesmerizing. The guidance for drumming was most useful. The songs presented were short, easy to remember, and inspiring. I was a little put off at the end when the author seems to imply that the book is more for the use of Native Americans (although I have some Cherokee ancestry) and not for people of other descents.

I enjoyed this short book and found the instructions short, simple and practical and perfect for the novice wanting to experiment with drumming for journeying as there is nothing complicated here. Again, these are brief instructions so don't expect any deep explanations about how to drum or the lore and spirituality surrounding drumming. I purchased the Kindle e-book version since I wanted to read it right away and the price as reasonable. This is more in the neo-shamanism vein. The author incorporates cross cultural beliefs and practices into this book. Along with the drumming instruction the author recounts some of his own journeys. He writes briefly about conducting a drumming circle. There are a couple things I would disagree with. One is his relation of the chakras to colors of visions in the journey. If, for example, your vision contains more violet (crown chakra) he feels it is a higher vibration of spiritual level than if the vision contains more reds (base chakra). Colors can mean many things and also should be taken in one's own cultural context. Drake says himself that visions are colored by our individual experiences and culture so why would you limit the interpretation in such a way? Overall though I enjoyed this book and thought it was a nice drumming intro for novices. I notice there is a instructional CD The Shamanic Drum Instructional, but the directions in the book are enough to get anyone started as there is nothing particularly complicated about shamanic drumming.

I can't believe I spent good money on this book. It's neither about shamanism nor drumming. The (very little) material about shamanism is just a few quotes from other, better, sources. There is practically nothing about drumming. But if you want to get a New Agey opinion about the colors of your chakras, this is the book for you. Altogether, this book is nothing but a thin collection of shallow New Age platitudes.

If you want some good books on hand drumming for non-professionals, I suggest the many fine books by Dworsky and Sansby.