| The Heartland Spirit - Festival Issue 2011 |
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Arthur C. Clark the great science fiction writer once stated, “Magic is science that has not yet been understood.”
I see our drumming experience as a science that is very old indeed but is not understood by our current mainstream culture. That is about to change though. Mainstream culture is finding the drum to be an important tool for survival in this new age.
Why? The mechanical effects on our system is only one blessing. When the grooves are steady the body reads the environment as safe, the body lets down its fight or flight responses, tension reduces, sense of well-being comes over those experiencing the trance drumming. Of course this is not just any kind of drumming. More than a few people have had to leave the drumming circle because it made them uncomfortable. The speeding up of tempo, the aggressive angry banging, or the egotistical posturing. All these are forgivable sins in the long run-It’s just a drumming circle- but there is a form of energy that is being generated that has a lasting effect.
This energy can be called Magick. Or whatever you want to all it. Words don’t matter in the rhythm universe where patterns and grooves define realities that are unexplainable with words. So by developing our rhythmic vocabulary, we develop our language of magick. This is a tool that will shape reality. It has shaped reality since the first drum was played. It will continue to shape reality even as we become more and more digitized and virtual. The grooves that get our bodies to move are essential to survival in a world where everyone sits at computers all day.
The danceable grooves are the simplest grooves. These are frustrating for the egotistical drummers, but if we can get into the subtle nuance of a simple groove our mind turns itself off and floats downstream. Which is a good thing. Our body can heal and our spirit can download the necessary wisdom for the unfolding jump in consciousness. Our insights are coming fast and furious now. Many people feel like they can’t keep up. But drumming realigns our gyroscope and we can get comfortable with the new level of energy that is coming through everything around us. The whole scene is evolving, not just human consciousness. So the tools of the drum keep us balanced but also generate life force that we take up into our bodies and minds in a unique way that only happens with a good drum beat. How is this “usable” to the mainstream culture? It generates the beat of life that we all move to as we go through our daily routines. Repetition of our activities is one main ingredient of the human experience. The grooves of our lives play out every day. We repeat them, then we must improvise at some point. This is when we need the flexibility that is gained by improvising with the drum.
The blessing that comes through the drum that affects our heart and mind is a different energy than the dance groove but they are compatible. We are learning to distinguish the effects of different trance grooves. A slow three beat trance played at the same tempo for twenty minutes will have a different effect than a four beat trance at a rock n roll tempo. We learn these different rhythmic ingredients and we control more magickal power that will enable us to fashion the world in our own desires. The magick is within our sense of rhythm.
Drumming as Magick
by Russell Buddy HelmArthur C. Clark the great science fiction writer once stated, “Magic is science that has not yet been understood.”I see our drumming experience as a science that is very old indeed but is not understood by our current mainstream culture. That is about to change though. Mainstream culture is finding the drum to be an important tool for survival in this new age.
Why? The mechanical effects on our system is only one blessing. When the grooves are steady the body reads the environment as safe, the body lets down its fight or flight responses, tension reduces, sense of well-being comes over those experiencing the trance drumming. Of course this is not just any kind of drumming. More than a few people have had to leave the drumming circle because it made them uncomfortable. The speeding up of tempo, the aggressive angry banging, or the egotistical posturing. All these are forgivable sins in the long run-It’s just a drumming circle- but there is a form of energy that is being generated that has a lasting effect.
This energy can be called Magick. Or whatever you want to all it. Words don’t matter in the rhythm universe where patterns and grooves define realities that are unexplainable with words. So by developing our rhythmic vocabulary, we develop our language of magick. This is a tool that will shape reality. It has shaped reality since the first drum was played. It will continue to shape reality even as we become more and more digitized and virtual. The grooves that get our bodies to move are essential to survival in a world where everyone sits at computers all day.
The danceable grooves are the simplest grooves. These are frustrating for the egotistical drummers, but if we can get into the subtle nuance of a simple groove our mind turns itself off and floats downstream. Which is a good thing. Our body can heal and our spirit can download the necessary wisdom for the unfolding jump in consciousness. Our insights are coming fast and furious now. Many people feel like they can’t keep up. But drumming realigns our gyroscope and we can get comfortable with the new level of energy that is coming through everything around us. The whole scene is evolving, not just human consciousness. So the tools of the drum keep us balanced but also generate life force that we take up into our bodies and minds in a unique way that only happens with a good drum beat. How is this “usable” to the mainstream culture? It generates the beat of life that we all move to as we go through our daily routines. Repetition of our activities is one main ingredient of the human experience. The grooves of our lives play out every day. We repeat them, then we must improvise at some point. This is when we need the flexibility that is gained by improvising with the drum.
The blessing that comes through the drum that affects our heart and mind is a different energy than the dance groove but they are compatible. We are learning to distinguish the effects of different trance grooves. A slow three beat trance played at the same tempo for twenty minutes will have a different effect than a four beat trance at a rock n roll tempo. We learn these different rhythmic ingredients and we control more magickal power that will enable us to fashion the world in our own desires. The magick is within our sense of rhythm.
Comments
Loved It!!
Neico
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