[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Woowooville, the next stop on your spiritual journey, hosted by two fellow travelers who found a soul connection on the path to higher consciousness.
Our goal is to help you navigate the choppy waters you're likely to encounter on the spiritual path by sharing our experiences with you each week.
Join us as we spill the tea on what it's like to wake up to your authentic self.
Hello, I am Lola Singer and welcome back to another episode of welcome to Woowooville. And we have special guests in the studio, AKA the cabin today.
[00:00:40] Speaker B: Lovely cabin.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: We met them earlier in the previous episode. We have Harmony and Todd. They are a lovely married couple and we got to learn a little bit more about what it's like to raise a spiritual family and be. Be married on the spiritual journey. I hope you guys got a chance to listen to that episode.
And now I wanted to devote this one to something that's deep in the heart of both of them and the reason why a lot of people in my personal community know these two people, and it is because of the joy of the art and the spiritual comfort of drumming.
So we didn't even name this episode yet. How about maybe it should be the Spiritual Art of Drumming. Do you like that?
[00:01:31] Speaker B: Beautiful.
[00:01:32] Speaker C: Sounds good.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: All right.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: And that's how I met them.
And oh, by the way, our lovely co host Amaral is on a retreat this week.
So that's why I invited some special people into the studio today.
So you two just as basics, you guys run a community drumming circle.
Todd does workshops for building your own drum.
They are willing to go to different locations to help people build drums.
So this has really become a cornerstone of your life, hasn't it?
[00:02:19] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely.
[00:02:20] Speaker C: It really has.
We have been in our new house about eight years now, I think, this summer, and we're given just a few drum circles here and there at random.
And then really, I think right around the COVID season, or whatever you want to call it, Covid season, we really just felt like we wanted to maintain and provide a space for connection and community, even though it was kind of against the rules.
[00:03:04] Speaker A: That's when people really needed it.
[00:03:06] Speaker C: Yeah, that's when people needed it the most. And we started doing it monthly, you know, basically religiously, every full moon. And so for over five, almost six years now, I guess probably even a little longer, have been offering the drum circles.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: Yeah. And then it's a place, you know, to create community. We share meals and songs and play the drums and connect and celebrate life, you know, and that's one of the things the community outside, you know, of the norm or outside of the spiritual community, the American society is lacking. You know, there's a lot of grind 9 to 5, not really getting together as a community and sharing meals. Like even families aren't really sharing meals. So, you know, connecting the drum in that way and the community has been a big part of why we do what we do the drum. Personally, for me, it was a life changing experience.
My first drum circle and you know, even before drum circles, like connecting to music and the power of the drum, just listening to other people play was a huge catalyst in my spiritual awakening. And then once I became a drum player, the limits were endless and the community connection and that powerful energy. Because throughout my childhood I was told to be quiet. I was told not to make noise.
And so like that ability and that permission to not only make noise, but to do it in a very mindful way and connect in to creating music and creating that mother's heartbeat and that background for like sacred songs, which was, was really what connected me to drumming. And then when, like Todd said, when the world shut down, the places that nurtured my drumming passions were shut down as well. And so there was no festivals to go to, to go and find community.
All of the community events had been closed.
And so we made that decision.
When there's something out there that you want in your life, if it's not available, if somebody else isn't providing it for you, you need to provide it for you and for other people as well. And so that's where it kind of started for us is, you know, there wasn't what, as much of what we envisioned available for us. So we wanted to create that for ourselves. And we've been, you know, holding that space for, like Todd said, over five years and continuously showing up for ourselves.
Because no matter who shows up for themselves, we're showing up for ourselves and holding that ritual and connecting to the cycles. Because you know, the moon phase is always exact, it's always precise, it's, it never, it's, you know, it's not every four years, you skip one and you know, you like skip a year, like a leap year thing and you know, it's always precise, but. And it helps you to tune in to that calendar of the year of the natural cycles as well. And so that's been a really beautiful part for the catalyst of me wanting to work with drums and sharing that with the world.
[00:06:35] Speaker A: It's interesting because when you were talking I was thinking, well, you know, you're Making, like, a microcosmic rhythm with the drum, tapping into the macrocosmic rhythm of the cycle of the moon.
[00:06:44] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah.
[00:06:46] Speaker C: It's all about cycles. Absolutely.
[00:06:48] Speaker A: Yeah. So before we go deeper into the spirituality of drumming, which I know you guys can talk about a lot, if someone's in Western Washington and they're interested in you and your drum circle, how would they find you? Where are you located?
You know, how can they connect with you?
[00:07:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
Do you want me to share?
[00:07:10] Speaker C: Well, I have a Facebook page.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: Oh, before you say that, go ahead. Let me tell the city they're in.
They're in Arlington, but it's bordering on Darrington.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:07:26] Speaker A: So now if anybody's able to attend locally, how would they contact you?
[00:07:31] Speaker C: Right. Yeah. So we both have Facebook pages. Harmony Lorraine Fronterhouse and Todd Dalton, which is my middle name.
Also. Fronterhouse Drums is a page that you can check out some of the work that we do. And then drum making workshop group. We have a drum making workshop group, and we also have a full moon drum circle group.
But it's, you know, mainly more for people we've already connected with. But it's a way to stay in touch with the schedule that we. That we keep with the drum circles.
[00:08:12] Speaker B: And we do classes at our property, like Lola had said, in Arlington. Darrington. It's an Arlington address, but it's about eight minutes from Darrington. So it's a beautiful drive to an amazing natural sanctuary full of wildlife. And we usually do the workshops in a beautiful geodesic dome.
And we provide a profound ceremonial experience, rebirth of not only the materials that we're using to create this drum portal medicine wheel, but we're also rebirthing ourselves and allowing ourselves to connect deeply into this layer of ceremony and creating something, and especially a spiritual tool that you're going to be using in the future or gifting to somebody in that way. So we provide them locally, but we are also. Our next workshop is in Renton.
And what date is that? The 23rd. 23rd of May. And then we'll be having some workshops in June as well on Whidbey Island.
And we also connect remotely. Like, if you guys want have special requests for us to travel, we can come and create that experience. We also did a drum making workshop retreat, which was really amazing. I'm not sure if we're going to do that again this year, but stay attuned and see what we're doing. You can check out that drum making workshop group on Facebook.
Just ask to be. To join. And we'll we'll invite you on in there.
[00:09:51] Speaker C: Facebook is the main way that we connect with our community right now.
And Instagram, but that's where we post all of our schedules for workshops and events so we can be reached through there.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: And if you don't have Facebook and you have email, you can connect with
[email protected] that's to O D D O N E A R T H at gmail or wildcraftwellnessive.com and you can just let us know that you're interested in drum workshops or you know, song and drum circles and connect with us that way.
What is it the 20 oh is this Saturday the 16th? I think it is of May that we're going to be over in Okanagan doing a song and drum workshop. Song circle and drum circle workshop at 5pm on that Saturday for the fair too. So if you are going to be in that area, go check that out and come to the fair and come sing with us. We love to share what we do.
[00:10:58] Speaker A: Okay, so nuts and bolts.
We pre record these episodes and if we're going to be Talking about the 23rd, I'm probably going to have to do this, have this one air before the one I referred to in the intro.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: Well, we'll just pretend. We'll just pretend I didn't say that.
[00:11:18] Speaker A: That's okay. So.
So you'll get to hear the one where we talk to Todd and Harmony about raising a spiritual family. Probably after this one. I'm going to prioritize.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: Sure. We can do it the other way. We can do it the other way.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:29] Speaker C: I'm setting up several dates for June and July in other locations. So Whitby island, she said. And yeah, and some other surprises too. So look forward to those.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: And then we also have an ambiescence page that we're with Leah, Francesca and Alia. She does amazing song circles over in Wenatchee as well. And then we do some in Seattle and around the Pacific Northwest area. So check that out as well and be updated on local events.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: Okay. I wanted to get this loaded up up front because I know we're going to go deep into why you would want to get a drum or why you would want to join a drum circ sometimes afraid we forget to mention how you can connect.
So we wanted to talk about the spirituality and drumming which I think goes hand in hand. If you look at any culture around the world you are going to see people using drums in ceremonies.
Asian.
I love my neighbor growing up like the bonadori festival in Skaddle. He played one of those big stand up Japanese drums. Those are beautiful, Mr. Abe. I'll never forget Mr. Abe. The drum was so much bigger than him.
You know, I'm Norwegian. You know, we got that going on with the Scandinavians. We've got the Celts. It's all over Europe. Talk about drumming. South America. Oh my gosh. Do they know how to beat a drum?
Africa, Australia,
[00:13:08] Speaker B: Hawaii.
[00:13:10] Speaker A: Every culture, Alaska. Every culture drums for a reason. Because it's a universal language.
[00:13:15] Speaker C: It's one of the original, one of the first instruments and one of the original ways to connect with the rhythms of the earth and of our body and our spiritual connection.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: One of the original ways to communicate as well.
People would communicate different messages through drum, different drum patterns, and they would communicate to different tribes, different villages through their drumming. And it was just. It's a universal. And that's one of the things that a lot of people forget is that every culture at the very roots is connected to drumming, to making drums, to connecting with the power of the magic of the drum. How it can break up stagnant energy, how it can communicate different things. And it connects us to that heartbeat of Mother Earth and to our own heartbeats and how we are all interconnected in that way.
[00:14:11] Speaker A: Yes. And I run a drumming circle as well, which we'll probably talk about later. But one of the things I've noticed that people really connect with is when we have them, you know, hold the drum up to their heart and feel the beat and just hold it up to your chest. And it's just.
It's like being in the womb again, isn't it?
[00:14:30] Speaker B: It really is.
Yeah. Your drum circles are really powerful. And, you know, the, the way that you orchestrate with so much mindfulness and connection with intention is, you know, really honoring the spirit of the drum and that ceremony that is, you know, connecting in a community with the drum like that. So. Yeah. Honor you in a good way like that.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: Thanks. Yeah. And so my drum circle's a little different than a traditional one. For that reason, we're working as a group and setting intentions, and then I sing in light language while we drum. But there's very traditional ceremonies you can go to as well, where people are going to be speaking and singing in their ancestral tongues.
So there's different types of drumming experiences and they're all powerful.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Because of the group, all those hearts getting together.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: Right.
And even in the individual experience with the drum, my personal, my frame drum, the first one that I received was a catalyst in creating many healing songs for me when I've been in really hard situations, felt very isolated, felt very alone.
I connected with the drum and asked the drum to give me a song. And the drum gave me a unity song and a song that has carried it over 10 years and has carried into many communities. And, you know, people can share that. And it's called we are one.
We are the ones we've been waiting for. You know, we come to build a bridge, open up the door. We are the ones we've been waiting for. And there's more to it, but it breaks that moment of aloneness.
It helps you to bridge it, to understand that, like, those moments of solitude and aloneness are actually super powerful, but they will also be the catalyst for creating those community moments. So it's all, you know, it's all interconnected. Just like the medicine wheel. Is that that sacred hoop that we're mending again?
[00:16:31] Speaker A: Okay, this is a good way to start from the beginning. I like this. So you were given your first drum?
[00:16:37] Speaker B: Well, no, the spirit gave me my first drum.
[00:16:39] Speaker A: Well, what do you mean by that?
[00:16:41] Speaker B: So I asked the spirit for medicine drum. This is actually a really cool story.
And I saw one on Craigslist, and I didn't have the funds for it at the time, and I was saving up, and then I finally had some money. It was like a month later or two months later, and I went back online to see if I could find it or something like it. And there was. I couldn't find it. And I had typed in some keywords, and when I typed in some keywords, I found this festival. It was called the DNA Activation Festival at Cove Crystals in Shelton.
And I was like, oh, this is really cool. So I printed out. I wanted to print out a copy to remember it. Well, I printed out three copies, and I was like, this feels very intentional. Why is there three copies? And then spirit said, you're supposed to take these two other copies to other places.
So I sat in meditation, and spirit was like, okay, what about Vision Quest? And then there was this other place, and I was like, okay, hold on.
[00:17:44] Speaker A: Vision Quest is a local spiritual store?
[00:17:46] Speaker B: Yeah, it's an amazing spiritual store that used to be on Colby and Everett. Now it has another location, but this. At the time, I thought to go bring this and put it on their bulletin board. Well, I'd gone to the other place, and I put it on the bulletin board, and I get to Vision Quest, and they're like, yeah, absolutely. And when I walked into the door up on the Shelf was the drum, and it was the exact amount of money that I had. Oh, and Spirit said, there's your drum. Good job listening. You like, it was like. It was like a video game, like where you take a quest and you do the quest and then you get your prize. It was like you were initiated. It was amazing. And so, you know, that. That was how the first one came to me. And then Todd ended up painting hummingbirds on it. And that was his first drum he ever painted.
And now he paints drums. That's another thing he does is he custom paints drums. And they're just incredible what he allows to flow through him, through Spirit.
He works with your guides and the elements and really connects deep to creating these amazing creations. So that was my first drum.
[00:18:57] Speaker A: You were called?
[00:18:58] Speaker B: Yes, I was very called. And I listened. And that's the key too, is listening to those subtle messages. When you print three pages out, don't just go oops and throw away two pages. Go, why?
Why is this connected?
And then just listen and do it. And then all of a sudden it will lead you right where you need to go. Yeah, it was very magical experience.
[00:19:21] Speaker A: And you grew up in Alaska, so I imagine you were around Drumstick.
[00:19:26] Speaker C: Well, I actually, I remember going as a teenager going to drum circles. And I wasn't actually a drummer at the time. I was more of a guitar player. But I would. One of my. One of my guitar mentors taught me that the guitar is actually just a drum with. It's a bunch of drums and you play it like a drum. And you can definitely see that with
[00:19:54] Speaker A: the bass, can't you?
[00:19:55] Speaker C: Right, yeah. And so. And the right hand is where all the rhythmic action comes from.
And so I would play guitar in drum circles and then someone, you know, handed me a pair of like, bongos or whatever. And.
And so I always knew and loved the. The power of the drum circle. And then I wanted to ask you, did you, when you got that drum, was that before we went to Star Knowledge or was that just after?
[00:20:32] Speaker B: That's a good question.
[00:20:33] Speaker C: I can't remember. Anyways, I was just going to share that.
[00:20:41] Speaker B: So, yeah, I don't think I had a drum. When we went to Star Knowledge, when
[00:20:45] Speaker C: Harmony and I were having our mutual spiritual awakening, you know, 2011, we were kind of having.
Doing the YouTube journey, and.
And we kept hearing about, oh, the 2012 end of the world Mayan calendar, things like that. And. And we were like, what is this stuff? You know, and.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: And we're joking around and we're like, let's just go talk to the Mayan calendar keeper ourselves.
[00:21:13] Speaker C: Yeah, we should, we should find that. I'd love to talk to them actually joking Mayan elders about this, you know, and find out what the real story is instead of just watching some YouTube video. And then the YouTube videos guided us, showed us that there was a Star Knowledge conference down in California in Mount Shasta, and the Mayan calendar Keeper and timekeepers were going to be there skating seminars. And so we were like, I'm talking about 2017. Well, that'd be really cool if we could end up.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: So we joked about, oh yeah, we'll go there.
[00:21:43] Speaker C: And then time rolls around and we actually had the funds and we were like, well, I guess maybe we should just go do this. And so we went down there and, and met some amazing elders and were received really, really warmly by them. And, and that was our first experience around a grandmother drum, you know, and.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: Oh, okay. For the audience because some people won't know what a grandmother drum is. Can you tell them?
[00:22:15] Speaker C: Well, it's also. Some people call it a powwow drum, but it's a large drum that, you know, many people can sit around
[00:22:23] Speaker B: and it carries very high frequency. You can feel it from miles away. Very strong energy and just is very. Breaks up a lot of.
[00:22:33] Speaker C: It's actually low frequency.
[00:22:35] Speaker B: Well, yeah, it's a low frequency.
[00:22:37] Speaker C: That's the beauty of it because it's so powerful that it's.
These low frequency waves can go through your cell structure and break up stagnant energy. They go into the ground, they go into the ether and they, they carry our, our prayers and they synchronize our heartbeats with the earth. And so, yeah, it's a real powerful experience. And we learned our. I learned my first drum song there, which was a Lakota thank you song and gratitude.
So just a really good experience. And then when we came back, we ended up going through a self improvement course.
I went on my own and Harmony went on her own as well. But we had a set of goals that we were supposed to write out for ourselves. And one of my goals was that I had always wanted to attend a sweat lodge. And so some people offered me some suggestions for where I could go. And I just never felt drawn to those places. And so for like two years I kind of ruminated on this concept of the sweat lodge. And then our friend Michael Williams eventually invited me to swell lodge that he was attending on the Tulalip Reservation. And it felt like a strong yes. So I finally, finally attended and
[00:24:18] Speaker B: life
[00:24:19] Speaker C: changing yeah, the community there, you know, the drum and singing and sharing with each other through drumming, Prayer, and just intentions for each other as a. As a group were just, like, really powerful and beautiful to me. And I ended up, you know, just learning.
Learning these songs. And so for a long time, I didn't have a drum. And then my friend gave me a drum, and I still have it.
It's a wonderful drum.
Then I, you know, after learning all these songs, I felt like I really wanted to make. I felt really called, strongly called to make a drum on my own.
And I didn't know really even who to ask.
So I kept pestering my friend who had given me the drum to make to show me how to teach me how to make it. And.
I didn't realize how forceful I was being with it.
Energetically forceful. And I don't know that he was, like, offering to be my teacher. I was just expecting him to do it. And so we were at a festival, and there was material. He had materials there. So I poked and prodded him long enough that eventually he was like, okay, well, we went down to the water, and we did a little ceremony and put some hides in the water, and we got back to go tie them. And at a festival, you know, there's a lot of different energies pulling in all different kind of directions. And we. It didn't really feel like it was kind of, like, meant to be.
[00:26:34] Speaker A: You could give it all the focus.
[00:26:36] Speaker C: Yeah, he couldn't give it all the focus that I was expecting him to give me.
And so I kind of had to struggle through.
And I was getting really frustrated without a lot of guidance, and ended up having to kind of put it aside and end up taking it home unfinished. And I was really in the back of my mind, like, kind of frustrated with this. This guy.
And.
I went home and tried to finish the drum, start over, and refinish it. And Harmony had left for the week. Our cat, actually, we were going to go to another festival, and our cat had got an injury, had to have surgery. So I decided to stay home with the cat for the week. And I was like, okay, perfect time to work on this drum. And I pull it out and didn't realize I was harboring all of this intense and misguided sort of negative energy. And I ended up pulling the drum and making it so tight that I actually broke the frame.
And at that moment, I broke the frame. I knew that I had actually done something wrong, you know, that I had forced. Forced it, that I forced it energetically, right? And So I actually, for about three days, sat there and just kind of like.
Kind of like beat myself up for having gone about it in this way. And Spirit showed me that.
That maybe I was taking too hard of an approach and judging, misjudging people and, you know, myself. Expectations and my expectations. Right. So I. So I took it all apart, and I asked, at that point, asked Spirit what I needed to do and said, well, you need to mend the hoop.
You need to mend the sacred hoop.
[00:29:07] Speaker A: Oh, so you had to use that hoop no matter what?
[00:29:10] Speaker C: And. Yeah, so.
And, you know, Rainbow Thunderheart is.
Talks about mending the sacred hoop. And mending the hoop within ourselves is, like, the most important thing we can do for ourselves and our family and our community.
[00:29:29] Speaker B: So the only way to mend the sacred large hoop is just to mend the tiny hoops within it.
[00:29:35] Speaker C: Yeah, all sacred hoops are. All medicine wheels are connected. And so I had to do some inner repair. And so for three days, I sat there and kind of like repaired my mental state and gave myself forgiveness and my friend forgiveness for.
He didn't.
[00:29:54] Speaker B: Living up to your expectations.
[00:29:55] Speaker C: He did nothing wrong. It was just my expectations of the situation. And so I rebuilt the hoop. And then I re.
I was like, well, who's going to teach me how to build the drum then?
And Spirit told me, the materials are going to teach you how to build them, how they want to be built, and in their time, you have to listen and feel it. And so I didn't know this.
Yes. And so I don't share it a lot because it's an embarrassing story, you know, like, I'm a fire sign, and I'm really intense, and I'm overly intense with people a lot. And this was years ago, so, like, I've.
I've changed a lot since then. I've. I've tempered. But this was an integral part of my spiritual journey. Right.
And that's why it is. I do share it with others now because of how much I've healed from it. And so I rebuilt the drum, and I built it wrong, and I had to take it apart again. But I didn't break it that time, you know, so then I. And finally when I.
After a week of this process, I finally got a good drum out of it. And.
And so each time I build a drum, there's a new thing that.
[00:31:17] Speaker B: The tool of learning that you can share with others.
[00:31:21] Speaker C: Exactly.
A new insight will come out of it.
[00:31:26] Speaker A: I was just gonna say he's a drum whisperer.
[00:31:28] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:31:29] Speaker A: And I Know you are.
[00:31:31] Speaker B: And that's the key to building the drum. And what we share in our workshops is that each drum is going to tell you how it wants to be created. Like, maybe when you came to this workshop, you thought you were going to have this pattern or draw this thing within it. A certain size or whatever size. Yeah. Certain kind of wood or certain kind of skin. But then you hold the wood and it tingles in your hands, and it tells you, this is the one.
And then you sit with it and you connect with it, and it tells you what it wants to have written on it and what tells you what it wants to do.
And if you honor that, then you're able to allow those materials to teach you. But if you try to force it to be what you thought it should be, then it's going to give you more difficulty because you're trying to force a situation, you know, so.
[00:32:23] Speaker C: Exactly. And it's like life, spiritual connection, or any guidance that you're seeking is that, you know, a good teacher is basically just a conduit for that information to come through.
And so, yeah, a good teacher points
[00:32:41] Speaker A: you in a direction, doesn't tell you everything to do. Which is exactly what your initiation with your drum was about.
[00:32:48] Speaker B: Yes, exactly.
[00:32:50] Speaker A: So it was a richer experience as a result.
[00:32:54] Speaker C: Exactly. And so I feel.
I feel like that.
Excuse me. Has been just a good lesson for me to carry.
[00:33:04] Speaker A: Do you feel like when you're teaching people to make drums, that they're tapping in a similar manner?
[00:33:11] Speaker B: Absolutely. Well, and that's why when we do our drum workshops, it's a ceremony. You're creating a ceremonial tool.
So from the very beginning, from the very start of those seeds that you're planting, it should be very ceremonial. That's why we cleanse our energy, and we connect, and we release worries and regrets, and we, you know, project our intentions into that ceremonial space so that when we start, we're in a place where we can receive those messages better. We're in the moment. We're clear, we're an open vessel.
And then we allow and we remind people, you know, to connect with those materials. And it does. It allows them to really tap into that process. It's kind of like when you go to a mentor and you ask them a question and they tell you the answer.
People don't always listen to that answer. But when you go to, you know, a monk and they just. You ask a question, they're like, okay, well, you need to go on this journey. You need to go up to the mountain and Da, da, da. Because you're going to tell somebody how to do something that you did, the journey to get there may be different for the other person. So. So if they go up the same mountain, maybe they'll experience, you know, their own journey and their own, you know, lessons so that they can find the insight to their question.
So for us, that's what it's just
[00:34:34] Speaker C: being given an answer.
[00:34:35] Speaker B: Yeah. For us, that's what we try to help people. You know, we're like, well, this is what worked for us, and this is what didn't work for us. And what really is going to work for everyone is to really tap into your own personal guides and your own personal mentorship with. With this drum, you know, because the drum is going to teach you what it wants to be. And that's one of the coolest things that I've learned from the drum making process.
[00:34:58] Speaker C: Yeah. And I always tell participants that they're gonna. They're gonna struggle, they're gonna get frustrated, and that's perfectly normal. And that's actually part of the process.
[00:35:09] Speaker A: It is part of the process.
[00:35:12] Speaker C: It's a birthing process. And, you know, laboring is not comfortable.
And when we put together a drum with a single long thread of lace, and the reason we do that is because life is one long, continuous journey. And it can get tangled and it can get knotted, and sometimes you have to go back and untangle things and rework them, and sometimes it can even
[00:35:43] Speaker B: break and you just retie it in, you know.
[00:35:45] Speaker A: Yeah. That's one thing you're very good at. You guys are so patient. Because I've made drums with them and I've witnessed them help others as well as me. And there is a point where it's. It can be quite intricate, how to wrap the drum with the sinew and make the patterns on the back. And I didn't succeed at first. And then you guys come in and you're so patient about it, and it's like, oh, yeah, let's just start over again. And so if you've ever been curious about making a drum, not only do you offer people that opportunity, but you're very kind and understanding about how we do get frustrated along the path. So I'm glad you brought that up. The first drum I ever made was Buffalo, and it was so hard for me just to make a hole because the skin was so thick. It was so frustrating.
[00:36:35] Speaker B: And that's part of the experience is giving yourself grace through those frustrating moments. Because those frustrating moments are what's teaching us you know, so that's. That's the cool part about it is, you know, really tapping into that.
That energetic of the. The learning process. And not only are we teaching you how to make a drum, but if you're able to retain that, you. We're teaching you how to teach other people how to be drum makers. And, you know, we're teaching you to teach other people to tap into that lesson and learning experience that you can receive from these materials, you know, and that's. I think, one of the most rewarding parts about it is just knowing that more people are being. Are making drums, More people are teaching others how to make drums. And that legacy is not forgotten because like anything, if enough people forget and enough people don't do it, we lose that ability to create, you know, these sacred tools, these amazing beings. Because, you know, even though the tree is dead and the hide is a dead animal, when you bring them back together, you're re. You're rejoining the forces of, you know, multiple. To create a new life. And I believe that drums are alive. I believe they're a portal. They are a medicine wheel within themselves.
[00:37:57] Speaker A: Talk about the medicine wheel more, because that's something that we hear in the spiritual community. We heard that term bandied about, But I'm not even sure I fully understand what a medicine wheel is. So how would you describe it?
[00:38:11] Speaker B: I believe it's a sacred circle that is created by honoring not only the four elements, the four directions, but then the sacred, as above, so below the seven sacred directions of the center.
But you'll see it in symbology in many cultures all around the world, but especially in Native American cultures. You'll see it's a circle with a cross.
And each quarter of the cross is a different color. Red, white, yellow, black. And that not only symbolizes the four seasons, the four directions, the four sacred nationalities, the four seasons. It's the template of the numerology of four. But then there's also the oneness of coming together and the spirit within the center. So it's embodying the five as well. And the template of the human body, of the pentagram within that as well, because of the sacred five elements. And then it also embodies the connection, that interconnection within us all, within all nationalities, within all people.
How without the earth, the air, the fire, the water, you can't have life.
So it's the symbology of, like, the division and the cross corners that create the wholeness within. Exactly. And so that has, you know, as we see throughout culture, and the world, it's been broken, the medicine wheels for a long time were shattered and broken and fragmented. And so I believe that we're in a time right now. And, you know, many wisdom keepers, like Blue Thunder, Rainbow Thunderheart, received the message, it's time to create those medicine wheels and heal the medicine wheels, heal the mend, the sacred hoop. And that's where, you know, creating medicine wheels all over the planet was part of his journey. And they're all interconnected. Every single medicine wheel in the world is interconnected. So when you work with one, you're working with all medicine wheels. And so that's why what Todd was saying, mending that sacred hoop within himself, now he's able to see that the sacred hoop is mending outside of himself as well.
[00:40:43] Speaker A: This is the perfect segue. Thank you for bringing up Rainbow Thunderheart, because this is how I knew you guys beforehand, tangentially. But the reason that I became better friends with you, especially with Todd, was because of Rainbow Thunderheart, who was an Earth keeper, very famous, went around the world creating medicine wheels, babado healing, ley lines.
He went by several different names, but he changed his name legally at the end of his life, toward the end of his life to Rainbow Thunderheart because of what we were talking about, how he wants to incorporate all cultures in ceremonies.
And the reason that I bonded with Todd is because I am a temporary keeper of one of the drums that Rainbow Thunderheart created.
And I was asked to do so by someone and she asked me to do it with quite a lot of reverence.
And when I was given that opportunity, I said, well, of course I will take this drum and I will care for it. And my job is to pass it on to the next keeper.
When I received the drum, and it's believed to be a drum he made in his study teen years, it might even be the first drum you made. It's made out of a tree rather than a hoop cut down tree.
It was in bad shape. It had been in an unheated trailer for at least I think a decade.
And it needed repair.
And so I put out on Facebook that I had this drum and that I was hoping that one of my friends who's familiar with repairing drums or working with drums would be interested in contacting me if they, they felt called to do this.
And I put that Facebook post out and then I crossed my fingers and even though I didn't know him well, I kept going. I hope it's Todd. I hope it's Todd. I hope it's Todd.
And Then for a couple days, there was no answer. And I understand because it was a big project, and most of my friends who work with drums, they work with hand drums. And this is. This is a medicine drum, my mother drum, like Harmony was talking about.
So I was kind of like, okay, maybe nobody's going to feel like that. That maybe that's too much of a job. And then, lo and behold, who did I hear from?
[00:43:10] Speaker C: Take it well.
Yeah, interestingly enough, even before you had made the post, I think it was the night before you made the post, or that a day or so before, I had a strong vision, dream where a powerful being came to me in my. In my dream and asked me if I was ready to start a new chapter, a new part of my journey. And I kind of didn't necessarily know exactly what he was talking about.
And he said, you know, if you're.
If you want to be a medicine man, you have to act like a medicine man. You're going to have to.
How do you put it?
Make your heart like a rose.
And so I. Then I, you know, it was a powerful dream. So I marinated on that for a while. And then your post came through.
It was the very first one that I saw in the morning. I opened. As soon as I hit Facebook, it came up, and I immediately felt like, oh, I want to. I want to answer this as a yes, because I was getting a strong yes.
But I hesitated because I still had reservations about just.
I didn't want to disrespect anyone who felt like maybe I wasn't.
I wasn't qualified to do such work.
I, you know, didn't want to. I have a strong reverence for my elders and the indigenous community here, and I just.
I know a couple of other drum makers, and I didn't want to be that guy, you know, and so I hesitated. And.
That night, I got another meeting from Rainbow Thunderheart, and I.
At that point, I knew it was him because he kind of, like, introduced himself and he said, you're going to be.
You're. You're going to be doing this, and I'm going to show you how to do it, and I'm going to help you through it.
And so.
So then I, you know, when I responded to you, I kind of knew that it was. It was going to happen.
And then when we connected and I got the materials, I, you know, he even came through again for a third time and basically showed me how to set up a crystal grid that was gonna work for the drum. And he showed me what he wanted me to do with the piece of wood and how to work with the hide itself, because we were gonna save the hide and reuse it.
And so he really just kind of walked me through all the steps and also shared with me some of his teachings on the medicine wheel. And.
And. Yeah, and just when I found out, I watched a few of his videos after that. And he talks about making your heart like a rose. And so I knew that was him even before I got the drum. So.
Yeah, just an amazing way to validate some of my apprehensions or, you know, just not believing in myself. And.
Yeah. So I kind of just took the ball and ran with it and.
So glad that I did, you know.
[00:47:45] Speaker A: Yes. And the drum looks beautiful now.
And when I delivered it and it wasn't in great shape, I. I said, because Rainbow Thunderheart. Now, let's go back. Yeah. He used to be called Blue Thunder, so some people might know him under that name, bovado or Benny LeBeau. He had many different names, but he legally changed. I always call him Rainbow Thunderheart because that's the name he chose at the end of his life.
Okay, so the drum looks great. And when I delivered it, I had had a vision the night before I brought it to you about having bear paws painted on it.
And so I mentioned that to you and you.
[00:48:28] Speaker B: You.
[00:48:28] Speaker A: And then we started talking about bear, because Rainbow Thunderheart was Bear Clan.
But also my spirit animal is. Is actually the white spirit bear, but they're not polar bears. They're spirit bears. They have them in Canada. That is my totem. People have seen me on the astral plane walking with my bears, so I have a connection to bears. And then it turned out you have a connection to bears.
Right, Todd?
[00:48:55] Speaker C: Indeed, yes.
[00:48:58] Speaker B: His whole life.
[00:48:59] Speaker C: Yeah. Growing up in Alaska, the bear energy is very prominent in my life. I grew up in Denali national park, and.
And so, yeah, the golden eagle and the bear have been animal guides of mine.
And being able to bring the bear energy through the drum for you was special.
[00:49:30] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's interesting how he kept giving us these messages about resurrecting this drum.
And so now I love the bear paws painted on it.
I bring this drum to my drum circles, which are now going to be every second Sunday of the month in Arlington. If anybody wants more information about that, you can go to my website, which is www.lolasinger.com, if you want to find out more about where we're at.
And it's always a pivotal piece right in the middle. And I Love it when you guys come because then I get to tell people how wonderful you are and how you, you helped with the drum. Because it is so magical to have people not only around the mother drum, you know, any mother drum, but this one in particular because it was such a magical experience to not only for me to receive it, but then for you to transform it.
[00:50:32] Speaker C: Yes, it was, it was such an honor and such a blessing.
It's kind of hard to sometimes wrap your head around how much non physical interaction there actually is.
A lot of us, even myself, as spiritually connected as I am, I, I still kind of, it's, it's easy to be drawn into the physical world and just kind of think that that stuff is woo woo and doesn't exist. But it's kind of undeniable when it just, it's happening over and over.
The messages are being received by multiple people.
[00:51:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:51:23] Speaker C: And they're coming together in ways that are just kind of unexplainable. I mean it's fascinating first of all. And it's just proof that the unseen world is really having a powerful effect and impact on our day to day lives and the shaping of the world that we're trying to create. And so really just listening to what our guides and our hearts are saying and doing our best to live that and enact it and share it with others. You know, when we get teachings, the worst, one of the, one of the worst things you can do is to receive the blessing of a teaching and not share it. You know, and so I've been called to share it.
I know that some people don't agree there's, there's, you know, a large, I wouldn't say a large portion, but there is a portion of, of every community that doesn't, doesn't resonate with the unifying of all tribes. And, and I, I believe in the Rainbow Prophecy. I see myself as a bridge maker and a connector. And I do this work to unify my brothers and sisters. I call myself Brother Todd so that I remember that we're all family and it's just a serious part of my mission here on Earth now.
And I feel that there's like no real stronger way for me to, to share my gifts and to, to bring what spirit, what our Mother Earth knows and sees in us as our possibility, our highest possibility for life.
[00:53:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:53:29] Speaker C: And to carry that through the drum, it just is, it's just really apparent and no brainer for me, you know.
[00:53:39] Speaker A: So yeah, we just have a few minutes left. And by the way, if you heard noises. That was the cat waking up.
In those last few minutes, can you talk about how magic it is for the people experiencing the circles?
[00:53:53] Speaker B: Yes.
I mean, for myself, it's one of the most pivotal experiences of my life. Creating drums and playing drums and singing and being in community like that. And I've heard so much feedback from other people that it's life changing that, you know, they have had profound experiences, not only creating these magical portals, but stepping into the magical portals and playing with them or connecting with them. I had a friend just recently who told me that she was having a moment and sat with her drum and I gifted her a song. And she's, you know, it brought her to tears and it shifted the way that she is interacting with her life now.
And there's been other people that, you know, are able to step deeper into their own spiritual practice because of this tool that they've been able to connect with on this very deep level. And, you know, it's. It's a rebirth. It's. It's a very profound experience.
[00:54:50] Speaker C: And we have people at every work, at every ceremony, you know, really just, I mean, breaking down and, you know, having the deepest connections and for them to come out as an empowered prayer warrior.
Like, we're growing this spiritual community of people who are living their intentions and sharing their magic with the world, whether it's, you know, by themselves in a. In a ceremony with the drum or in a group setting.
Yeah, it's a rich experience.
[00:55:35] Speaker B: Yeah. I believe people are getting out what they put in. You know, it's just like anything in life, the deeper you allow yourself to go into the situation at hand, the deeper the truths are that you're going to receive from that. So we allow people and provide a space for people to really go deep, to really connect in and. And they receive a very deep level of connection.
[00:55:58] Speaker A: I agree. And it's so at a fundamental core of our humanity that it bypasses words, it bypasses cultures.
It's just like you said, unifying.
Unifying. And the drumbeat does that?
[00:56:18] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:56:19] Speaker A: Okay. Wow. We probably could talk for another hour about this with these two, but we don't have another hour. So thank you for listening and please share the podcast.
And if you're interested in any of the workshops, once again, easiest way to reach you on Facebook.
If you had to give them one address to reach, what would that be?
[00:56:43] Speaker B: Yeah, go to Harmony, Lorraine Frenterhouse or Todd Dalton on Facebook.
[00:56:49] Speaker A: And if you're interested in my drumming circle, go to www.lolasinger.com Shout out to Bruce and shout out to Bruce who's mixing our sound. Thank you. We recommend him highly. If you are a musician or you are a podcaster, he can help you out too.
Thanks. Bye.
