Summer Solstice Celebration
Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd June 2024
Come and join us for an absolutely magical weekend of sacred crafting, Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd of June, where we can use the powerful energies of the summer solstice AND the full strawberry moon in Capricorn to enhance the power of the tools that we create.
Drum and Rattle Birthing Weekend Retreat
During this two day weekend, you will craft a rattle, a drum, and a beater - sacred tools that will be intimately connected with you as their creator, and that will serve you in a way that no off-the-shelf tool ever could.
Birthing a drum is a profound and moving experience, as you literally bring into being a companion for your spiritual journey. As you craft, you work with the spirit of your drum, and infuse it with your intentions, your energy, your love and your prayers. This creates a medicine tool intimately connected to you, which will aid your own personal development and healing. The journey may be challenging, emotional, or flow smoothly, but each drum birthing is an intensely rewarding experience. Rattle birthing is also powerful, especially when you create the perfect sound with your chosen stones. The process is usually meditative and relaxing, stitching your intentions into the tool as you sew up the two halves.
My workshops are rich in honouring and ceremony, held in my rural home in the Purbecks, Dorset. We are nestled in a valley, overlooking a water meadow and beside a pocket of ancient woodland with oak and holly trees that are hundreds of years old. For this weekend, you are welcome to camp on this beautiful land, stay in a B&B room, or opt for a non-residential place.
We will take time to honour the materials that we will be working with, including the wood of the hoop and the skin of the deer. We’ll spend time outside connecting with ancient trees, to give our thanks for the tree that became our hoop. We will work locally sourced deer skins, learn about Deer medicine, and honour the Deer. We will journey to meet the spirit of our drum, which usually steps forward to aid the creation of the drum itself. Wherever possible, we’ll use lacing cut from the same hide as the drum face, to keep the spirit of that particular deer within the drum. There will be ceremonies to welcome our new tools into the world, celebrate their birth-days.
I walk an earth-honouring path, and the ethical sourcing of materials is important to me. The rawhide used comes from Deer local to the Purbecks, which have been killed in road traffic accidents or culled as part of a herd management plan. I have cleaned and prepared the skins myself, taking great time and care to honour the Deer in ceremony at every stage of the process. The hoops made by British craftsmen, who also honour the land and the trees that they work with. Most hoops are imported from Pakistan, and so I am proud to use these materials.
Schedule
A two day workshop brings with it many benefits, as you will be able to do every single step necessary to craft your drum from start to finish. This way, you will be able to cut out the face of your drum from the hide yourself, and soak it overnight with your prayers and intentions. You'll connect with other like-minded souls, and fully immerse yourself in the creative process.
Day One
We will begin by opening the space, calling in any guides who wish to help us with our sacred crafting. We'll create an altar, pull some oracle cards, and take that moment to pause to set our intentions before we start work.
We'll then invite in the spirit of the Deer, and you will connect with the hide of the deer that you will be working with. You will take time to forge a connection with this deer, and journey to meet its spirit. This deer will become both your rattle and drum, sister tools which will be forever connected.
We'll explore rattles, their uses, and the myriad shapes and sizes that we can craft them into. You’ll get to choose a stick for your rattle, walking the lands and the ancient woodland to see if one calls to you, or your can rummage through my collection. We will give thanks to the tree that has given its wood for you, and delve deep into the meaning of that tree, and how it intends to work with you and Deer. Any preparations necessary to make the stick how you want it are done at this stage, whether that involves sanding, whittling, or shortening.
You will then choose the shape of your rattle, either from my templates or by creating your own. After drawing around the templates, you will cut the hide to shape. You’ll then create the rattle, punching the holes around the rattle and sewing it together.
We will have lunch as the rattle begins to dry.
You’ll select the perfect stones for your rattle, whether they are river stones, sea stones, earth stones, or crystal chips. You can also select any herbs that you might like in the rattle.
When the rattle is fully dried, you will fill it with the chosen stones slowly, until you find the perfect sound.
We will select the leather that you would like as the binding on your rattle, and prepare the strips needed for the tool. We will secure the rattle to the stick, and decorate with the bindings.
We will then work with your hide, drawing around the drum hoop to create the face of the drum. You will cut this out, and we will have a ceremony in which we soak the skins. You will get to choose any crystals or herbs that you would like to complement your drum - these will go in or by the water. We will call in the spirits of these beings, honour them, and they will enhance the powers of the drum.
It will then be time to deconstruct the altar we created for the rattle birthing. You are welcome to drum, sing or dance around the ceremonial fire in the evening, or simply take some rest.
Day Two
We will open up the space once more, and call in any guides who wish to help specifically with birthing the drum today. A new altar will be created, and we will journey to call in the Spirit of your Drum.
You will begin by working with the hoop; connecting to the spirit of the tree that has given this wood. You will find out what strengths and gifts that it has to bestow on you, and you will have the opportunity to give your thanks. You will sand the hoop, and if you wish you will be able to decorate the inside of the hoop with a marking using pyrography tools. You can then choose whether or not to enhance the grain with homemade beeswax polish.
You'll cut the lacing for your hide, and go through the meditative process of twisting it. You will then punch the holes in the face of the drum, connect it with the hoop and the lacing, and ask for blessings once more. As you lace the drum, you will connect up the different elements.
You will then choose a stick for the beater of your drum, and again, connect with the spirit of the tree that has stepped forward to work with you. After preparing the stick, we will use wool to fill the beater, leather to cover it, and also to bind the handle if desired.
We will then have a ceremony to bless all of the tools that have been created, and celebrate them.
Before we depart, we will disband the altar and give thanks to all those beings who stepped forward to work with us during our sacred crafting.
Location
This workshop will be held at my rural home in the Isle of Purbeck - just outside of Wareham, Dorset. You are welcome to find your own accommodation, or can stay on site either camping or B&B. We are custodians of seven acres of land, with the river Piddle running between our garden and meadow; we have a little pocket of ancient woodland with oak and holly trees that are hundreds of years old. The place is abundant with wildlife, and you will likely spot herons, buzzards, swans and Egyptian geese; you’ll likely hear tawny owls at night, and may spot the deer.
Pricing
Non-residential:
£400
includes materials, tuition, and an evening meal on Saturday
please bring your own lunches
Residential:
£425 earlybird (book by 31st May)
£450 (1st June onwards)
this includes materials, tuition, 1-3 nights of camping, self-service breakfast, evening meal on Saturday
- details to upgrade to onsite B&B below
please bring your own lunches
Should you wish to, and if space allows, you can book on for just one of the days - Saturday for rattle birthing (£90) or Sunday for drum birthing (£290).
Payment plans are available for those who would prefer to pay in instalments. A £100 deposit is required to secure your place; this is non-refundable but can be transferred to a friend should you be unable to make it.
Extras
You are welcome to choose the size of hoop that you would like your drum to be: 14” or 16”. The smaller drum is usually favoured by those who like to travel with their drum; the 16” offers a deeper tone, though is still fairly portable. We will be creating a beautiful cross handle with the lacing on the back. You will also be able to craft a beater for your drum, or should time be limited, select one to take home with you; this way you will be ready to play your drum when it is ready to sing.
Additional Extras:
Larger hoops (18”) are available for an extra charge of £30 - please let me know if this is something that you would prefer and I shall source and prepare a larger deerskin.
Should you like, you are welcome to bring a crystal to weave onto the handle, or you are welcome to buy one from me on the day.
Camping is included in the price of this weekend workshop. Three B&B rooms are also available in our family home, to upgrade please add which cost £25pppn (single), or £15pppn (2+ sharing).
I also offer 1:1 and small group one day drum birthing workshops, as well as two day rattle and drum immersions. Please check out the 1:1 page for further information.
Contact me below or email lucy@sacredcrafting.com to find out more or book your space:
More About The Drum
A drum is a powerful healing tool, which has the ability to connect you deeply to spirit and the natural world. As well as being a healer, your drum is both a teacher and a friend. The first instrument created by man, it has been played for thousands of years on every continent of earth, so deeply connects us to our ancestors and ancestral wisdom.
Drumming has so many benefits, not least the improvement it brings to mental and physical health. It has been scientifically proven to reduce anxiety, depression, grief, fatigue and stress. It releases endorphins in the brain, increasing our energy levels, accelerating physical healing, boosting the immune system, and enhances mood.
From a spiritual perspective, the drum beat creates a sharp point of focus which instantly anchors us in the present moment, connecting us with our own bodies and what we hear, see, feel. We find we can easily still our mind, and enter into a deep state of relaxation. This brings mental clarity, feelings of peace and stillness, and makes it easier to find healing and spiritual guidance for ourselves. Our ancestors, our spirit guides, and other helping spirits step closer as we drum, so we can hear them more clearly.
The drum has been called ‘The Shaman’s Horse’ as it is the vehicle by which shamans journey to the spirit realms to bring back guidance and healing for members of their community. Shamanic drumming involves repetitive and rhythmic drum beats, which quickly still the mind and take those listening into a deeply relaxed state of consciousness. Our brainwaves move from their usual stimulated Beta state through to Alpha and into relaxed Theta state, which is perfect for shamanic journeying, lucid dreaming, and trance healing. This happens very quickly using the drum; it takes much longer or is not always possible through meditation alone. In this state, we can receive direct revelation from our spirit guides and helping spirits; we do not need to look elsewhere for our guidance.