This earth ritual facilitates the release of not-yet-manifested energy and the birth of a new vision. Earth energy in this cosmology is about nurturing, abundance, welcoming, and home.

As you do this ritual, allow yourself to freely ask for the nurturing that you need in your life. Ask the great mother to provide the abundance needed, regardless of what that is: for some, the abundance is primarily financial, while for others abundance is love, community, friends, good health, or a sense of well-being.

Allow yourself to expand the definition of each of these intrinsic energies! Welcome yourself into your own life! Welcome your perceived successes and your perceived failures as wisdom-building, energizing, and fueling aspects of your life! Welcome yourself home to a place of welcoming, a place of nurturing, and a place of abundance!

Invite the Energy of the Earth

Begin the ritual by finding a place in your home where you feel safe, secure, and held. If this place does not exist where you live, it is a key that modifications need to be made in order to create this space. This would be ritual preparation. As you create this space, realize that the ritual has already begun.

Light a candle, preferably one golden or yellow in color. Call on the energy of earth—the energy of the great mother, the great nurturing one and provider of all things—to be present. Then, write in your journal or on a tablet the aspects of each of the intrinsic energies you would like to manifest. Really focus on the creation of what you desire as opposed to the things that are contrary to these intrinsic energies.

Each day this month sit with your list and meditate. Visualize each aspect materializing in your life. It is not your job to know how, it is only your job to focus on its completed state. As you tune your vibration to the manifestation of these things, you create the electromagnetic field that will begin to attract these things.

Focus & Trust

If you would like to energize your meditation in a more profound way, you can drum the energy of your creation into the list, sing the energy of your creation into your life, play your guitar, your flute, your violin . . . whatever it is that you enjoy, whatever activity fills your soul! Dance around the list vigorously, calling in the energy! This is a potent way to amp up the energy of creation! Most of all, have fun doing it.

Remember: what we focus on, we feed! By writing down the things you desire to create, you actually take them from the dream world, or the world of thought, and bring them into physical form in this dimension. This is the first step of manifestation.

Trust the ancestors that they hear you and are responding to your plea. Trust the earth, the great mother, knowing that she hears your voice and is creating the synchronicities “effortlessly and delightfully” to occur in your life.

The more joyful energy that you put into this, the more attractive it is for these things to be around you. May good fortune and the fulfillment of your dreams manifest for you!

My friend Kathy Sampeck and I have been talking a lot about flutes lately. Native American-style flutes, bamboo flutes . . . for some reason, their beautiful sound and rich melodic tone have been tapping me on the shoulder as though I needed deeper connection with this energy.

During my last trip to the Washington, DC area, Kathy attended an event at which people were selling flutes. She bought one, brought it home, and begin playing. In just a few days she was very proficient, expressing beautiful melodies through this instrument.

When I arrived in Hawaii and reconnected with my friend John Dumas—who happens to make amazing flutes—I talk to him about the possibility of acquiring one of these majestic instruments. After a couple of performances with John, I realized that both a high register flute and a lower register flute in a harmonic key would be amazing for the new CD that I’m going to surprise you with soon!

Custom John Dumas Flutes

New instruments for my new CD

As John and I talked, we decided on the key that I preferred for the flutes and begin construction. Interestingly enough, after talking to Kathy, I found out that the flute John is building for me will harmonize perfectly with the flute that she acquired! I think there may be a new musician playing with my on the upcoming CD.

It’s amazing how things synchronize so perfectly in the world. Last night when John was over for an event we had here at the house, he presented me with these two flutes. They are so beautiful and sound amazing. And the most important thing is they are very easy to play.

So, I have some work to do! All day today—other than taking a break to post this blog—I have been practicing the flutes! I have not figured out how to play the flute and drums simultaneously, but I’m working on it. Now all is I need is a didgeridoo, and I can officially complete my one-man band! I think I have my hands full with these two new additions to my sound healing arsenal.

New Sound Healing Instruments for Upcoming Tour

I’m heading out for an East Coast tour as soon as I get home at the end of September. I will be in Washington, DC; Charlottesville, Virginia; Alexandria, Virginia; Berkeley Springs, West Virginia; and Bluemont, Virginia. Following those events, I’ll be in Miami, Cincinnati, and Seattle. I’m really looking forward to getting back on the road. All the latest details about my upcoming schedule can be found at www.healingdrummer.com/schedule.

For those of you who are going to participate in some of my events or have booked private healing sessions, get ready! The island has charged up the drum! With the addition of the flutes, there are places we will be going where we have not gone before! A huge thanks to my brother John for creating these beautiful instruments, and great thanks to my friend Kathy for inspiring me to follow through with my desire to have my own  flute!

Handcrafted Indigenous Flutes by John Dumas

Custom John Dumas Flutes

If any of you are interested in ordering a flute from John, please contact me, or go to Johndumas.com to contact him directly. If you have been toying with the idea, now is your time to respond to the inspiration! These two flutes are made from Hanalei bamboo, found here on the island of Kauai. They are completely handcrafted and finished with a heating process that infuses the bamboo with beeswax for a very durable, yet indigenous, finish. As far as the tone, one word: fantastic! On my upcoming CD you will hear these very flutes and you can judge for yourself. In the meantime, visit John’s website.

I look forward to providing a new experience for those of you who are coming for private sessions. The addition of this vibration is peaceful, soothing, and powerful.

There is always something you can do to change your life, to bring about the life you’ve always wanted. I’ve found following rituals central to the West African culture to be quite powerful in bringing about change. These rituals can help you realize how to bring your dreams to fruition and how to live by your intentions.

Transformative Change with a Fire Ritual

The second ritual for renewal I will talk about relates to the element of fire. The ritual is as follows:

Write down 10 things that you would like to see happen over the next year year. You can put them in consecutive order-like what you’d like to see for this month, then next month, and so on. But that’s not completely necessary, for many of the things that you want to achieve may not have this particular kind of sequence.

As you write them down, feel into them. Feel what it’s like when these things come to fruition. Feel the joy of accomplishment. Feel the joy and satisfaction of creation.

Sit with this list for three days. At the end of three days, build a small fire. For those of you who live in cold climates—like my maiden Park City where it was -3° this morning—you can build your fire in your fireplace. For those of you who have the ability to create an outdoor fire, build one somewhere where you can be alone.

Once your fire is going, sit with your list while feeling that each one of your dreams and desires are being actualized. Call in the help of the ancestors, spirit guides, angels, and all of the otherworldly beings working on your behalf. Ask these beings to create the synchronicities to effortlessly and delightfully have these things manifest in your life. As you do this, gently place the list in the fire. Ask the element of fire to light the path for your actions that will help to create these things in your life. Watch the paper burn until it is completely consumed by the fire.

Manifesting Your Dreams

Sit for a few moments and enter a period of reflection while you watch the fire burn. Be sure to ask yourself, “What is the first thing I need to do or to take action on in order make these things come into being?”

Now you can begin your journey having the element of fire to light your path while bringing new vision and a deeper connection to the spirit world—which is rallying on your behalf to fulfill the things you wrote on your list.

Be aware that over time some of the things on your list will become less important than they might be the day you do the ritual. Also, new vision may come. Part of connecting to the element of fire is a renewal of vision. Be aware! Let your vision grow and expand.

Amazing Reunion is a series of stories that honor old friends that have profoundly affected my life. It is a series that acknowledges the influence of those who have helped me become who I am today. I am grateful for these people and want them to know. 

Have you ever thought about old friends? Have you ever wondered… where is _______________(fill in the blank)? Well I have. In my youth there was a group of guys who were like me. We were boys who connected to our gifts early. While our other friends were playing kickball, soccer, or tag, we were in my parents basement or in Guy’s garage ( you will learn more about the amazing Guy Johnson in my next entry) playing Jimi Hendrix, Mountain, Led Zeppelin, and James Gang. I loved these guys with all my heart. In many many ways we were the “odd balls” and in another way we carried a sort of celebrity status. In the next few entries I would like to pay tribute to my old, new friends. I hope this inspires you to reconnect as well. We are not always aware of the impact we have had  on others and reconnecting with these amazing men that has helped me realize that even the simplest acts of kindness or spontaneous moments can have an unbelievable impact and inspiration on those around us. 

I searched for them from time to time but with no luck. For decades I thought about them. One of my favorite musical artists is the great Frank Zappa. My friend Terry Kingen and I used to go to his concerts when he came to Seattle. Sometimes waiting 6 or 7 hours at the door of the Paramount Theater to be the first ones in! Every time I hear a Frank Zappa song I think of Terry. I have since I was 14 years old.  I searched his name and was never able to find him. Then through a series of phone calls and synchronistic occurrences, which I will get to in future entries, I reconnected to Terry Kingen. Even though it had been 30 some years since we had seen each other, when I saw his trade mark Terry Kingen smile and heard his cheerful voice, it was as though no time had passed at all.  

Although back in the day, he had long dark hair, which has been replaced by short grey hair, the youthful and mischievous sparkle in his eyes has not dimmed. Terry was always the best musician of us all. While we were playing blues riffs and figuring out what the heck chords were in a song, Terry was taking lessons and practicing his Mixolydian Modes, Phrygian Scales, and his Dominant flatted 2nd what-evers! 

Over the years, he has developed into one of the greatest guitar players I have ever heard and has become a prolific songwriter whose style is somewhere between Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash. Whether he is on his pink paisley Telecaster or his deep rich acoustic guitar, Terry plays with a driving rhythm and sings with a soulful tone. His music reaches deep into you and gently extracts the goodness of life that sometimes hides beneath the rough waves and tumultuous currents of the everyday goings on; sometimes with a hint of mischievous sarcasm. 

But this is not all that makes Terry Kingen great. What to me makes him a very amazing human being is his humility, willingness to help a friend in need, and his complete lack of judgement. Terry is an example of finding the best in each person he meets. He is quick to set aside differences to find the common ground of connection. When you have a conversation with him you can feel the authentic interest he has in knowing who you really are and hearing what you have to say.

I am so fortunate to have re-connected with Terry. Sometimes it seems that life passes us by and the rich joy of the past is all we have to hold onto. I am here to say that sometimes that rich joy of the past comes around and makes another pass through life. 

Thank you, Terry.