November 2, 2018

 

 

 

Hello Dear Friends,

 

A sparkling Fall day streams through the windows as the leaves take their time changing color.  I sit here today with a warm feeling in my heart after a lovely event yesterday to celebrate my son's engagement to his beloved.  What a feeling of deep satisfaction as a parent to know that your child has made it through the obstacles and challenges, found meaningful employment, and is ready to commit his/her/their life in the pursuit of happiness with another. I am so happy for them and for the union of our families in this ceremony next Spring. Deep breath and the warmth of joy.

 

I am grateful for this brief reprieve and personal high note as elsewhere more upheaval and violence, some attempted, and other tragically completed is tearing at the fabric of our nation and families. I know that there are families across this country and globe being ripped apart by violence, political warfare and fear on so many levels.  I send my deepest and sincere condolences to those hurting right now, feeling lost, despairing and frightened. Some of you have lost your precious children to school violence an you will never see your child make these milestones. Others murdered because of the color of their skin, their religious affiliation, or their sexual or gender status.  These are the toughest times I have experienced personally in my lifetime as a conscious and conscientious adult. Even though I grew up in the South during de-segregation I was not aware enough to feel all that I am feeling now.   I lament the divisions among us while certainly being guilty at times of perpetuating them due to my own fears, biases, ideals and dreams.  Everyday I make an effort to speak to someone that I do not  know, to share a glance with kind eyes, to let down my guard enough to take the chance of making meaningful contact with someone I do not know.  All the while I feel the pressure inside from the explicit and implicit biases that haunt me despite my efforts to eradicate them. This is the stuff being human is made of.  As the synagogue in Pittsburgh was being terrorized I was in a workshop at a Counseling Conference about the impact of "historical trauma" on couples.  How many people who carry trauma from some past horrific event are now being triggered by this and will bury it in their own DNA and family story to pass on to their loved ones.  

 

I sat frozen during the Supreme Court hearings as this brave woman despite her terror spoke her truth only to be dismissed by millions as a political puppet or worse.  I have sat for my entire career with victims and suvivors of abuse, assault, rape, incest, battering and I, by the nature of my legal and ethical contracts, have kept these stories private. I quietly release them into the fire regularly so as to not keep them in my thought field and yet I know some portion remains.  I know how people suffer, for year, for lifetimes from these kinds of trauma and how their children and grandchildren pay the price on down the line for the lies, coverups, or apologies that came too late to change one's outlook on life, love and family.  I am glad that women and men who have been mistreated, no matter in what environment, are speaking up. I have told my personal stories long ago and put them too in the fire.  I find comfort in the gray ashes left behind, done, gone, released.  If you or someone you love is suffering under the weight of such stories, told or untold, know that help is just a phone call or email away.  No one should be alone with this kind of pain and sorrow.  No one should be silenced in these ways. It is too much to bear and yet each day seems to bring another unimaginable tragedy. 

 

I continue to hold hope and inspiration by the many who speak up, stand up, shout out, hit the streets, the polls, the papers, the authors, the poets, the dancers, the sculptors, the people who reach out rather than lash out.  We are many.  

We must continue to stand strong together, to keep believing in the greater good, to lean into and on one another, to ask for help and to give it.  I will never give up on humanity. I ask you to stand with me, to stand by someone who is hurting, to ask someone to stand with you.  If you need to be with friendly faces, to be able to be real and true come join us for the Day of the Dead Fire Ceremony on Friday, to honor those on the other side, to recommit to carrying what we may have promised forward of their dreams.  We each have to find our way, for me, ceremony gives me a vessel, a container within which I can both grieve and celebrate the vasitude of life's experience, the ups and downs, the joys and sorrows.  If called to join us you are invited to bring your whole being. We will brath together, laugh together, cry together and honor our loved ones together.

 

Below you will find information about upcoming offerings:  Women's Rattlemaking Ceremony and Sweat Lodge Retreat, Fire Ceremonies and circles held here.  The Shamanic Teaching Circle is based on the teachings of my longtime teacher, Cherokee Elder Will Rockingbear, who is now back in the realm of spirit; along with other medicine ways learned along my path and energy medicine teachings. This circle meets 2nd and 4th Monday evenings of the month 7-9 pm and is gender inclusive. We have had a lot of interest in this spiritual development circle.  As we settle in, our "just right" size is coming into shape.    If you feel drawn to be a committed member of this circle please give me a call and we can meet to see if it is a good fit, answer your questions, and let you know what the circle is about. We welcome interested sojourners for one visit to see in person how it feels for all.  

With heart, love and gratitude for all of creation, Miriam /Firebird

 

PS:  This list is by voluntary sign up.  If you choose to unsubscribe you may do so at the bottom. Thanks for reading this far. You and your friends are free to join this list and come to Drumsong but I request that you NOT POST events and ceremonies to Facebook or other social media.  I prefer to be a local resource here in our area. I appreciate your honoring this request. 

In gratitude, Miriam/Firebird 

 

We will sweat our prayers of release for 2018 and create medicine rattles to assist us in our dreaming in 2019 and beyond.  There will be floorspace in the house for camp pads (first come first served).  Tent camping is welcome as well. After our purification on Saturday we will have a nightime dreaming to call in our guidance and support for the New Year with the gifts and guidance we will need to enter grounded and ready for the New Year. Due to the request that was made for this weekend it is being offered as a women's only space this time. 

 

The cost for the weekend will be on a sliding scale $175.00 to $150.00, which includes the two days of ceremony, most materials, breakfast and lunch on Sunday.  I will also provide food for Saturday evening  AND the tradition after a lodge is to share food for the feast as part of the ceremony, so your food offerings will be welcome for that feast as well. Let me know your food requirements and I will do my best to meet them.  Please speak with me if monetary gifting is a challenge for you to see what arrangements we an work out to honor both of our needs. 

To secure your place, please send a deposit of $75.00 made out to: Miriam Lieberman  1920 Western Trail   Chapel Hill, NC  27516   

 

Rattles are used much like drums in shamanic healing. They can be used to scan and detect congested energy or imbalance as well as to dispel it. They are used in celebratory song and dance and to connect us to our inner knowing, our guides, helpers, teachers and protectors.  Your rattle, created of hide, and charged with your own dreamtime energy will carry the energy of all our relations and that which you (and those who "show up") are called to imbue it with. In this ceremonial creation of medicine pieces we will be in a state of gratitude for all life and the gifts of abundance in our lives.  Feel free to call me if you have any questions.  

 

Sweet sound makers from nature: small shells, salt crystals, seeds, beads small stones (no larger than corn kernel)

Stick for handle of your rattle (optional)

Heavy duty scissors or shears

Awls

Exacto knife or sharp pocket knife

Towel

Water Bottle

Low chair or cushion (optional)

Patience and open heart

Dress for indoors and outdoors 

 

 

  

Sunday Nov 4             Day of the Dead Fire      6:00 pm  potluck and ceremony     rsvp by 10/30

Friday Dec 21           Winter Solstice Fire        6:00 pm  potluck and ceremony     rsvp by 12/18  

Peace be with you, Miriam