One of my most favorite things is to dance to live drums. I haven’t always known this about myself. I discovered it, quite by accident, about a decade or so ago when I attended my first drum circle at Liberty Park. I fell in love, immediately, with the earth rumbling beneath my feet as the rhythms pounded through the atmosphere and my veins. The first time I entered the center of a drum circle to dance, I was transformed. (I write about this event in great detail in my book, Above the Clouds) And, ever since, whenever I hear of a drum circle, I do everything in my power to be there.
Last night, I had the opportunity to attend a full moon goddess shamanic ceremony on the top of a hill, drumming the moon into existence. I felt worshipful and ritual, so I dressed as though I was going into ritual… flowing skirts, curls, face paint, fairy dust… and my body longed to really move to celebrate the Divine. While it was an inspiring experience, it wasn’t the drumming style for which my body was yearning. The shamanic drumming of last night’s experience was each drummer drumming to their own inner rhythm and most of that time it was not in sync, nor was it the deep, earthy rhythms of the African and Brazilian beats I’ve come to love. It was just a bomp-bomp-bomp sound coming at different rates from each person’s drum. Which, for me, was sadly dissatisfying.
I felt as though I had not fully paid homage to the divine when the moon was fully visible in all her glory and the women declared the drumming ritual complete. I stood to gather my stuff, frustrated that I hadn’t experience the full body honoring and wishing that I had. As I started to fold up my chair, I heard my name whispered on the wind.
I stood straight and still as my hair stood on end. The sound of it went straight into my heart, stopped my breath and filled me with such love. I could feel the masculinity in it, but it sounded like it had come from within me. With eyes closed, I waited to see if it would come again. When it did, it was a little louder and although I recognized the voice as that of my best friend, I couldn’t figure out why he would be there. I had mentioned it to him but because it was a women’s circle with shamanic drumming, instead of the fabulous Congolese drumming he specializes in, I only mentioned it in passing and didn’t think anything else of it.
I turned slowly around, my eyes searching the darkness, unable to find the source and still not quite believing that he was there.
“Angie, here.” I turned to the feeling of the energy to see Kett laying on the down-slope of the hill with another of our dear friends whom I hadn’t seen for five years. I had noticed the two bodies lying there, stretched out on the grass, soaking in the goddess energy as the moon rose, but I had no idea who they were.
I think I shrieked when I realized they were both lying there on their bellies grinning up at me and I ran to them, hugging them both before they could even rise and feeling tears in my eyes as the love and joy overflowed. In that moment, I thanked the Divine for urging me to stay, even though I had wanted to leave the circle because it wasn’t matching me. God knew that what was coming toward me was my match and it would all be worth it so the answer to “stay” had grown bigger than my thought to leave.
I sat down between them and they both immediately rolled over and gently laid their heads upon my knees. Suddenly the three of us were enveloped in this delicious cocoon of intimate connection as we talked quietly. I had the opportunity to caress their hair, touch their faces, infuse them with love and, at times, each of them smiled or made small sounds of contentment and nuzzled in closer until they were each eventually holding my hands and all was still. The air reverberated around us with this sacred gentleness and then Sylvia, the originator of the monthly full moon goddess dances, came over and offered Deeksha blessings to each of us, which only added to the reverence.
We sat there quietly entwined for a long time, until the chill in the air crept into our bodies and we needed to move. But, the fun was not going to end there. Kett asked me to join them to go to a nearby club for a performance of… wait for it… SAMBA FOGO!!! There was NO WAY in the world that I would turn down that opportunity so we all headed over to Urban Lounge just in time to see them take the stage at about 11:30pm. They regaled the crowd with their reverberating Afro-Brazilian rhythms, Samba dancers and the like for two hours and I danced the entire time. It was my opportunity to really move my body as I had been yearning to do and with those rhythms filling the small club and my body, my body took over and I moved!
I was grateful for the opportunity to honor myself, this life and my Creator by finally having the opportunity to dance to drums that were sending energetic, exotic, sensual rhythms thundering through the space. It was the greatest gift. But the greatest gift of all was the magical appearance and the brilliance of the beautiful men who smiled up at me from the grassy hillside and with whom I co-created the most tender, loving and intimate connection for several hours.
I am, indeed, so very grateful for this life I am creating!
