Kangaroo Drum Dreaming Journey

Background

SOTEMS is pleased to announce a unique and immersive opportunity to express and deeply explore your personal experience of medicine ways through traversing the spiritual dreaming wheel of SOTEMS (The Spirit of the Earth Medicine Society) and birthing your own shamanic Kangaroo Skin Medicine Drum and Beater.

The Dreaming Wheel [DW] is map and compass that offers an orientation of experience through this world and other worlds. The DW is situated in the spirit of this country and its people, all people, and it speaks of the wisdom needed to honour, respect and survive well in this harsh yet beautiful country within this harsh but beautiful world.

The DW has the following general characteristics:

1. It is a wheel or circle which circumscribes a sacred space which separates the world within from the world of everyday life
2. To step into the wheel is to enter into a space where there is an opening to the many ways in which a spiritual life may speak to and guide us
3. It is a ritual arena, allowing the many possibilities of the human heart, soul, body and mind to be expressed poetically
4. It is a map of the seasons; it is a map of the seasons of our lives
5. It symbolises the wholeness of things, the unity of all life
6. It is a map and compass for our lives, the virtues which we can call upon and cultivate within ourselves and the realization which can flow from this
7. There are four cardinal points and a centre, each with specific virtues and sacred spiritual properties

Drumming has the power to synchronise brain and body hemispheres into balance and create altered states of consciousness in which the rhythmic wisdom of the earth connects us to spirit and deep healing. The medicine drum is a shamanic tool used for healing and transformation since ancient times. The drum vibrates the beat of nature and life-force of our own hearts and spirit.

Why the Kangaroo?

Kangaroos are of this land and through their instinctual connection; the drum instantly connects us to the nature and cycles of this land. Kangaroos are powerful creatures of great fertility and abundance. The males keep watch and are the protectors. The females are so fertile that they can produce 3 offspring, they are also able to instinctively read the seasons and will hold back a baby in utero if there are changes within a cycle; such as drought ahead. Both are fiercely protective and sit up on their strong hind legs to watch and wait, before moving forward.

To birth a roo drum is unique not only to this land, but means the healing and song of the drum will always propel us forward, never moving backwards, nor looking back.

Birthing a Roo Medicine Drum

The earliest drums were created and used in shamanic agriculture and mirror the very first sound we hear, within the womb of the Mother, many say it is the heartbeat, yet it is actually the sound 'boom boom' of the blood pumping through our mothers veins.

The birthing of a drum within and informed by the dreaming wheel and using only high quality materials lovingly prepared is very different and a much deeper experience then simply purchasing or making a Medicine Drum.

From the very first moment within the SOTEMS sweatlodge where you will be asked " What is the medicine you want to sing into the world" through this journey and drum and then travelling with your answer, throughout the rituals and immersive experience of each direction, culminating in the birthing of your drum embedded with the virtues of each direction and your relationship to the Kangaroo spirit, your ancestors, and all that shall come from a long transformative undertaking.

Throughout the journey we will acknowledge and be informed by the spirit of the Kangaroo through ritual and immersion in the land it roams.

The Hoop (the feminine component of drum) is created by a shamanic craftswoman Jyatis of Divine Heart Frames based in the Blue Mountains, NSW. Each hoop is hand crafted from solid timber that is sturdy and light, meticulously cut and shaped, segments secured with dowel and finished off with a natural beeswax.

The Journey and Medicine Objects

The Dreaming in Drum journey will take place over a 4-month time span. Participants will be required to commit for an ongoing extended period to be part of this undertaking.

There will be a private sweat lodge ceremony to commence and conclude the journey. The sweat lodge is a sacred purification ceremony; practiced throughout the world; that assists us to leave the everyday world and make space for sacred work. See the SOTEMS sweatlodge page for further details.

The birthing of our own Medicine Drum informed by every aspect of our 4-month journey deepens the significance and relationship between the soul of your drum, the spirit of the kangaroo and your own spirit.

With reverence and ritual, we will create symbolic objects using natural materials and ancestral traditions imbued with the significance of our journey around the dreaming wheel.

What makes this offering especially significant and unique is that we meet the hoop (tree) and Hide from the first moment of our journey, when we dream our drum’s vision into life.

At the centre, through the divine ritual of its physical creation it becomes actualized.

Community

Formative to this journey is the creation of an intimate supportive community. For although each of us will travel alone we will also travel together throughout the 4 months within a unique experience connected to nature, to each other and our ancestors in ways that support us through the joys and challenges of transformational healing work.

Duration, Location and Pricing

Booking and registration essential. To keep the journey personal & intimate, participation is capped at 8 participants. Sweatlodges will be held at Ceres and the geographical locations around Melbourne for all other days will be provided to registered participants.

Cost for the entire journey is $1475 with Deposit of $150 upfront paid in installments over the 4 month journey. ($1315 for SOTEMS Members.)

Drum Facilitators

Dale-Allison is a Ceremonial Leader within SOTEMS and long-term active member. She has explored both the Dreaming Wheel and Medicine Drum for many years. She is also a qualified Shamanic Practitioner, Community Development Worker and Expressive Arts facilitator. Her passion for medicine ways and community comes from lived experience and training in a variety of modalities, that support her personally and with people she holds space for.

Robyn will take us all on an enchanted journey through a weekend of Medicine Drum birthing and the completion of your Medicine Drum Beater.
Held in much reverence for her life-long relationship with Medicine Drum. Robyn’s passion is to support and guide all who hear the call; to experience the enchanted, truly profound healing of Drum. Robyn is also an initiated member of the Spirit of the Earth Medicine Society.

We pay our respects to the original sovereign people of this land; through acknowledgements and offering back to the land.

To learn more about this opportunity, please contact Dale-Allison by email at daleallisonnewman@gmail.com or mobile 0457340218