December 9, 2018
Hello Dear Ones,
The forecasters were right. We awoke to snow covered trees, birdfeeders, bushes and rails. The wind is blowing in big gusts and the trees are dancing, shaking off their wintry veils of white in wispy sheets and slippery clumps. On days like these having a wood stove is the best! Foreseeing the snow day I treated us to some fresh homemade sweet potatoe doughnuts from the Yee Haw Doughnut Company in Saxapahaw yesterday while taking in the Holiday craft fair (always a festive time supporting local talent). We heated them on the woodstove this morning, oh so good with a hot cup of mate tea. I will venture out for a walk when the wind settles a bit. It is the perfect day to slow down, read a good book, write a letter like this, watch a movie (if your electricity is humming), and have sweet family time, maybe play a game or do a project together. I just roasted our Fall pumpkin to make some delicious holiday treat with once it cools enough to mash up. Jay is now roasting the pumpkin seeds with red chili from New Mexico and the house smells divine. Mr. Midnight and Butterfly are curled up on the bed dreaming kitty dreams. A truly perfect winter day.
My top pick so far this year in terms of books is "Belonging, Remembering Ourselves Home" by Toko-pa Turner. I just finished it and already want to read it again. This is her first book and hopefully not her last. She has a Jungian inspired dream school and shares teachings from the Sufi tradtion as she works with archetypal imagery, initiation, grief, ritual making, eldership, the power in paradox, and how to work with our grief, pain and isolation; as an alchemist, to mine the gold and shimmering from the deep and dark. This book speaks to the truth of our mutual humanity in an equalizing and respectful manner. None of us is too small or too big to be included in the journey. Each of our voices and perspectives is needed to maneouver the times we are in and facing ahead. Toko-pa writes poetry with prose, using language like exotic spices in a savory stew. I am grateful for her journey, her life and her rendering of it all in this book.
If you are interested in the end of year Women's Rattlemaking Ceremony and Sweat Lodge Retreat Dec 29-30 (see below), please let me know by December 17, as we are in the planning stages. The Winter Solstice Fire Ceremony is scheduled for Friday evening December 21 at 6:00 pm beginning with shared food so bring an offering if you wish. We will be indoors by the woodstove if the weather is not suitable to be outside but bring warm clothes so we can enjoy the almost full moon if possible.
Below you will find information about upcoming offerings: Women's Retreat, Fire Ceremonies, Oracle Card Readings to call in the New Year on Monday December 31, 6-10 pm 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.
May you feel some peace in your day, may you pass it on to another, may your heart be able to give and receive, may your eyes soften their gaze upon a loved one, may a friend find you, or a pet grace your lap, may you be loved,.May there be Peace, Love, Respect, Truth and Wisdom a plenty to guide us through these times....
With heart, love and gratitude for all of creation,
Miriam /Firebird
Women's Sweat Lodge and Shamanic Rattlemaking Retreat
Saturday December 29 (Lodge) and overnight with Sunday December 30th (Rattlemaking).
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 provide a dish 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 by December 17, 2018 made out to: Miriam Lieberman 1920 Western Trail Chapel Hill, NC 27516 . I will need to get things rolling in terms of food, supplies and set up right after Christmas. We also will need to ready the land more by carrying stones (so generously offered by RJ Dobs), wood, and more down the hill before the lodge. Perhaps on the 28th if anyone is free then for a few hours.
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.
For Rattlemaking please bring any of these that you have :
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
Annual Tradition of Oracle Card readings for the the New Year:
Monday December 31st 6-10pm please rsvp by December 30th .
As it is the 5th Monday and NEW YEARS EVE, we will not be holding regular circle, if you are looking for a Spiritually nourishing way to spend New Year's Eve come join us and the oracle deck of your choice. We will begin with some light refreshments potluck style and share some Sparkling Cider. We use a variety of decks: Animal Cards by Jamie Sams and David Carson, Sacred Pathwway Cards by Jamie Sams, Path of the Red Road Cards by Joseph Rael, Tarot of the Spirit by Pamela Eakins and others to map our year in advance, seeking guidance and trail markers to follow. Bring the decks that you have. We will have fun and ready ourselves for the ride that we will be embarking on in 2019. Suggested donation is $20.00 to $25.00
Fire Ceremonies 2018
Friday Dec 21 Winter Solstice Fire 6:00 pm potluck and ceremony rsvp by 12/18
Come bring your inspiration or find some here for yourself. The fire is where we lay down our fears and excuses and take responsibility for what we are willing and able to do to make this world a better place right now! Take strength, courage, love, light, growth, resilience, clarity, innocence, playfulness, and joy away with you. You will have the opportunity to release beliefs, grief, feelings, thoughts, relationships or anything else that is hampering your ability to be fully and completely who you are by offering them to the fire. We will witness each other as we make new agreements with spirit and dream our lives into being. We will feed the holies and ask their assistance in co-creating ourselves, our thoughts and our lives as we wish them to be. If your health and circumstance permit you to stay for the entire ceremony we appreciate that greatly and it is always ok to take care of yourself and your children so please plan accordingly. This is not about rules or permission, it is about respecting ourselves and others,witnessing and being witnessed in sacred community. The choice is yours! Call my cell phone for last minute updates or info: 919 618-4919
Bring a chair, flashlight, drum, rattle, closed water bottle and dress for outdoors (if super cold or heavy rain we'll be indoors by the woodstove). Feel free to bring some healthy food to share if you are so moved. If you are drawn to be here please call or email Miriam at (919) 304-5754 or melieber@mebtel.net so I’ll know how many people to expect and give you directions if needed. Come prepared for both indoor and outdoor conditions weather depending. I invite all women to wear a skirt or sarong over pants to honor our sacred grandmothers and the circle of life. There is never a fee for ceremony but Gifting is appropriate and appreciated to support the life and work of the elders who dedicate their lives to keeping the old ways available and for wood and supplies needed for ceremony and the upkeep of the land.
SHAMANIC TEACHING AND HEALING CIRCLE
CIRCLE MEETS THE 2ND AND 4TH MONDAYS 7-9 PM, CALL TO EXPRESS INTEREST AND/OR TO GET MORE INFORMATION. I WILL NEED TO MEET WITH YOU IN PERSON PRIOR TO COMING FOR A VISIT.
The Shamanic Teaching circle meets on a regular basis (bi-weekly) to deepen our relationship with our guides and helpers, to heal ourselves, to dream to the sacred beat of the drum, to share wisdom teachings and step out of the frenetic pace of life, to be authentic clear channels for spirit. I will be sharing teachings from the elders I have had the privilege to sit with, from my fifteen years of annual pilgrimage to vision quest in sacred community (as quester and supporter) and as one whose life purpose it is to serve and feed the people on this path with heart. I invite you to bring your wisdom teachings, healing gifts and spirit of love. The drums are calling to be played and for their medicine to be shared in the service of humanity.
If you too feel this call, please let me know your intentions, needs, desires and willingness to commit to holding sacred space together. I can be reached at 919 304-5754 or 919 618-4919.
A suggested donation for the holding of the space and facilitation of the circle: $20.00-25.00.
As always the amount of your gift is between you and spirit as we do not charge for ceremony itself.
Little Boys and Girls Sweat Lodge
( Available by request unless specific dates are listed herein and/or in addtion to dates listed.)
Sweat Lodge Saturday December 29 (this will be a women's lodge as part of a retreat)
Workday Friday December 28 1-4 pm (or by private arrangements as you can make some time).
The lodge is poured by Miriam / Firebird in the tradition passed down to me by my beloved Elder Sharon Mitchell. This is a beautiful teaching lodge that has the strength and heat for those with experience and the gentleness and ease for those who will join us for the first time (which is how it came to be known as the Little Boys and Girls Lodge). It is not a lodge specifically for children as some have asked, but supervised children are welcome to attend ceremonies here unless otherwise specified. Please notify me if spirit is calling you to join us, so I can let you know how to prepare and know how many people are coming. Please know that we need at least 8 people to pour a lodge due to all the preparations involved so let us know if you would like to join us in ceremony.
People always ask me "how long does a sweat lodge take?" My first thought is how much we need these ceremonies to take us back to soul time where it is the experience, the prayers, the being together in community, the work as worship that really matter and not the construct of time that we are forced to run our lives by. I have learned for myself to not schedule anything else on lodge days as I step outside of "time" to be present to what is, the stones, the fire, the people and their prayers, the feast and then basking in the richness afterwards. Please take care of yourselves however you need to with "time". You are welcome to join us for the time you can be with us and if you need to leave due to other commitments that is yours to keep track of. My wish for you is that you can be timeless with us and sink into the ceremony as it unfolds organically. If for some reason you need to leave during the lodge please be sure to let me and/or the firekeeper know ahead of time so we can assist you.
We usually light the fire around 9 am and close the ceremony with a feast in the afternoon after cleaning up the ceremonial grounds. It is tradition to leave a place better than you found it. Please bring a dish to share for the feast following the lodge.
Workdays : I'm looking forward to hearing from those of you who want to build this community, be you newcomers, or those who have been here often to share in the love of lodge from beginning to end. We can always use help with gathering or purchasing, and splitting and moving wood, raking, moving blankets, etc. We are in need of stone people if you can bring some stones that have not been in an active creek bed (cantalope size) If you have a truck and/or chain saw and want to help gather some wood between lodges please let me know so we can find times to work together, it is an ongoing need. The preparations are part of the ceremony and are a labor of love and communion with the land, the tall standing ones, the stone people, mother earth, the water and help deepen one’s experience of the ceremony as we joyfully prepare the grounds together.
Contact Miriam/Firebird at 919 304-5754 or melieber@mebtel.net if you are called to attend. Please RSVP with contact info if you would like to join us. I will let you know what to bring, how to find us and how to best prepare once I know you are coming. Feel free to call with any questions as well. Checking in the day before lodge to verify last minute information or changes due to weather, illness or attendance is strongly encouraged as we have to have a certain number of people to hold this particular ceremony.
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.
Thanks for reading! Remember who you are, what you came here to do and have fun sharing your gifts with us all ! Shine your light brightly with love and gratitude.
Miriam Lieberman
(919) 304-5754 or melieber@mebtel.net
(919) 304-5754 or melieber@mebtel.net
1920 Western Trail
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
www.drumsongsanctuary.com
