Shamanic Music
Honoring song on Cedar Flute- Mt. Hood, Oregon. Shamanic music wilderness week. (The only woman in an eight member ensemble!)
Music is traditionally part of many shamanic practices. The spirits are summoned by our intent, and the sound of the drum, flute, rattle….and when we allow ourselves to be open and receptive, we too can become a channel thru which spirit and the creative energies of the universe flow.
I consider shamanic music to be part of my energy medicine practice. Traditionally, a shaman would receive soul songs or power songs for healing or to call in spiritual powers. The drum, flute and voice are instruments of healing that I often use during individual healing sessions, ceremonies and rituals. I am also available to play the Native American flute and frame drum for ceremonies and rituals; and to facilitate improvisational shamanic music or drum circles. I play “from the heart” – I primarily don’t play songs I’ve learned from others – but the songs that come thru from Spirit….usually in the moment. Some of these stay with me and are played again….others are offerings on the wind in the moment….
I have continued to nurture this form of musical expression, and have begun recording a largely “improvisational” CD… unrehearsed music created in the moment in the recording studio. One of my dreams is to co-create a “Rainbow Tribe Shamanic Music Group” of musicians from different backgrounds, who come together to play in this powerful way of Spirit….for healing the Earth, weaving a musical web of healing and empowerment and sharing the spiritual communion of shamanic musical souls! If this speaks to you, please contact me via my contact page.
Our ceremonial site used at night around a sacred fire - Haines, Alaska.
My shamanic music experiences began with the frame drum, and the “soul songs”, chants and rhythms that came through me when I played. Later, feeling very drawn to sound and healing qualities of the Native American flute, I found my first flute at the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow in Albuquerque, NM – a handmade cedar flute with redwood burl and sacred pipestone inlays, and a powerful “windhorse” block, built by Alex Begay, a Dineh flute maker from Arizona. The tone is a rich mid-tone and very healing. This flute I reserve primarily for ceremony. I now have several handmade flutes (as anyone who plays the flute, knows, once you have one flute, another usually follows!) – each with its distinctive tonal and healing qualities.
During a week-long “Songs for Gaia” retreat in Montana with Brooke Medicine Eagle, my connection to the Spirit songs deepened. Three additional week-long shamanic music wilderness retreats as a member of the Shamanic Ceremonial Music Ensemble, (founded by Niles Urry, who produced Brooke’s Gathering the Sacred Breath CD), were spiritual and musical highpoints for me. In ceremony with that group, I experienced the trance channel state of music, where my voice and instruments became vehicles for the Spirits to express themselves as part of the totally improvisational group experience. The ceremonial music reached periods of “bliss” where we felt “at one” with each member of the ensemble and Spirit. On one incredibly dark night under the stars in Alaska, a very loving grandmother ancestor spirit came and spoke her blessings thru me in her own language, around the sacred fire in response to our spontaneous song calling the ancestors. On that occasion, I tasted the Bliss of Being At One With the Universe – an experience I will never forget. Aho! Mitak Oi Yasin
Shamanic Music Ceremonies
Arriving for a week of wilderness ceremony in Haines Alaska.
Debra and Brooke Medicine Eagle.
Songs for Gaia Retreat Week, Wolf Creek, Monatana - 2004