Interviews and Book

 

"Your book is stunning, Jaime. Thoughful, insightful, practical and poetic at the same time, honest, brave, and, unlike any other book on shamanism, laugh out loud funny! Thank you!"  -Jeanne

Click the book to read an excerpt!

Thursday
Sep292011

Drumming Firday, Sept 30 - WAHOO!

Dear Drummers,

Welcome one and all to drumming this Friday, September 30, at First Universalist Church in cosmically stimulating Uptown, Minneapolis, 7-9:30ish. Drums and many other wahoo-makers are provided if you don't have one. No experience, skill or tools needed - just a desire to be open, to have fun, and if you want, to work on refining your soul-power, so that this whirlwind we call life buffets you to and fro with less ferocity.

We are all in a whirlwind life in one form or another, and the reason drumming exists is to help us at least survive the wind, but in the best case scenario, actually exit it. It's good to be in a room of drummers and spiritual seekers, and know that you are not alone in the wind.

See you at the drum!

Jaime

Thursday
Aug042011

Within singing distance of the Mississippi River, cradled among the giant trees, with both shelter and open spaces available in case of rain.

Saturday, August 13
Time: 5-9ish PM.
Hidden Falls State Park - North Gate (Map)
Water Ceremony at 6:30. Drum ceremony at 7:30. Drumming, dancing and ebullient wahoo throughout.

The intention is simple: Let us gather in gratitude to the spirit of the drum which is also the spirit of the earth and the wholly Holy Spirit of mystery, love, darkness, dreams, openness, pathwalking, beauty-making, inner courage, life-force, God/ess, shaper, unnameable, ungraspable delight-maker, healer and teacher. Bring a drum or rattle (we’ll have extra too), blanket or camp chair if you want to, wares to sell if you want, some food and drink (with a little extra to share) and a desire to commune with the larger tribe of those who love this earth and love to drum.

The feeding of the drums: With fire and incense, we ritually feed our drums - an annual ritual that honors the many gifts given to us by the drum and reconfirms our openness to the drum spirit's many teachings. If you have a drum, bring it. If you don't have one, dont worry - you can feed one of the many in the community "Mound 'O Drums."

The blessing of the waters: At the banks of the pulsing Mississippi we gather to honor this artery, this serpent of life, this winding song of the Great Mother from which we all drink and are sustained.

The sharing of the medicine: Each one of us carries medicine for the world. Big, small, subtle, obvious, it doesn't matter how your medicine comes into the world. What matters is that it does. The overall prayer of the day will be for each of us to awaken to our medicine, to find the courage and clarity to share it with the world, to say Yes to it.The world needs you to be alive to your medicine.

Selling wares: Please feel free to bring wares to sell. Tables, blankets, full-on display booth, whatever works for you. Just set up and see what happens. Of course there is no charge. Good luck. We cannot gurantee how many poeple will be there, but last year about 120 people gathered.

Questions? Comntact Jaime Meyer: drummingthesoulawake@gmail.com
http://www.drummingthesoulawake.com/

Tuesday
May312011

Summer Solstice! Wahoo!

At the Minnesota Opera Center
620 North First Street
Downtown Minneapolis
(Click for a map)
Ample free parking across the street,
paid parking all around.
7 PM (Drumming starts at 6:30.)
Ticket Price: $20
Order tickets online with a credit card: CLICK HERE
or pay cash at the door
Past Solstce wahoo events have sold out quickly!
Need more info? Email Jaime Meyer:
mailto:drummingthesoulawake@gmail.com
or visit: http://www.drummingthesoulawake.com/

Part theatre. Part shamanic ceremony. Primal, live, laughing, human reverent reverie.The entire audience drums. Drums are provided, or bring your own! Dancing and ecstasy are allowed (but not required). As he has in seven years of sold-out winter and summer solstice "Blessings" Jaime Meyer will weave storytelling, sheer wildness and sacred shamanic ceremony from Celtic and northern European traditions into an inspiring, funny, spiritually imaginative and, if you are seeking it, healing evening. Idisi (a chorus of ultra cool, groovilly gorgeous goddessy women) will chant ebullient, earthy melodies that Lutherans are not allowed to learn. Idisi expertly calls in the sonic love vibes of the Divine Feminine. Everyone who wants to can receive a blessing from the powers of sun, earth, and from the huge mound of Marigold blossoms. The general theme of the evening (or meditation, or prayer - however you wish to frame it) is "how do I live an authentic life?"

"Meyer's writing is enormously seductive...farfetched whimsy with thickly textured thoughtfulness..." - Star Tribune

"It takes you safely into the Spirit world to romp, grieve or be healed, and then back out again..."-Past audience member

Tuesday
Apr262011

Smudge

Dear Drummers,

Welcome one and all to the previously unscheduled drum, this Friday, April 29th in the basement womb of First Universalist Church in cosmically kinky uptown Minneapolis!

Why the unscheduled drum? Because of the dream I had Monday night.

I have kind of ritualized practice in terms of how I serve the Spirit and our drumming community. On the Monday before the next drum, I send prayers for the community out, and I send an open-ended question out to the otherworld “What do the people need from Friday’s drum?” Often a clear answer comes, often none at all, often blurry mixed messages that make me grumble and mutter all night long.

Last Monday, with no drum this week, I had a powerful dream. I woke up with a clear message that what was needed this Friday was smudging (cleansing with aromatic smoke). The smudging has a clear purpose: to reshuffle inner energies so that you may trust your visions, trust your love, and trust your power.

I waited for a couple of days to make sure I wasn’t making stuff up, and also that this dream wasn’t just talking to me, but to anyone who shows up on Friday. That voice had not gone away this afternoon, so I called the church to ask if our usual drumming room was available, and it was. So: Wahoo. Drum this Friday!

As usual, for about 90 minutes we’ll drum up some sweet-spicy-syncopation that I hope will coax open your fragrant magnolia blossoms and radiant tulip petals! We’ll fill the room with grooveliciousness that will massage away the small cares and curse of this world (and some large ones) and open your soul space to the cleansing of the four winds: the wind of mystery, the wind of love, the wind of trust, and the wind of endurance.* Then all who wish to are welcome to stay for a cleansing from Spirit, delivered in the form of smoke and birds wings.

Please feel free to bring a few snacks for people to share.

*Please don’t in any way think these four winds are some traditional schema. I just completely made up those categories while typing really fast. But I will say, these are the four winds we’ll invite into the room.

If you have read this far, I’d like to take this opportunity to say that I have about 8 spots left for the weekend drumming-shamanic-wahoo-weekend May 20-22. If you check my web site and say “Hey! That’s definitely for me!” please email me soon to reserve a spot. Discounts are still available and if money is a big obstacle, just talk to me and we can likely work something out.

See you soon,

Jaime

Tuesday
Mar292011

Be - longing

Dear Drummers,


Welcome, oh air-blown wanderers, oh, pilgrims seeking some inner dawn! Welcome, oh you winged creatures circling over this gorgeous earth, welcome to the drum this Friday in the friendly basement otherworld of First Universalist Church, 34th and Dupont, in Fairy-kissed Uptown, Minneapolis. Welcome, all! No need of drumming skill or experience, no need to own a drum. Only one requirement: show up. Spirit will take it from there.

Below is a meditation on "belonging" - the general theme for this Friday's drumming. But first I want to announce two items that may interest you. 1) It is time to make your reservations for the Annual Earth Ecstasy Spring Wahoo Drumming Retreat, May 20-22 (Friday evening to Sunday noon). Honestly, this weekend is so fun, freeing, relaxing and cleansing for the spirit - and it's an unbelievable price ($250 includes accommodations at what the Star Tribune calls "one of the five best resorts in Minnesota). Go to my web site for more details! 2) Saturday May 14th you have the opportunity to release and transform grief through a ritual facilitated by Terrileigh Schmidt. Click here to see a flyer. Contact Terrileigh directly with any questions.

On Belonging

On the Celtic wheel of the year, we are now firmly in the mythic direction East, the direction associated with spring time, dawn, the element air and with "abundance." Abundance is a loaded topic for me and maybe for you too. Maybe like me, you pine and cry out for just a little more abundance, maybe you are nervous or ashamed of abundance, maybe you long for it and fear it at the same time. Maybe you yearn for a different kind of abundance than you have. Maybe you are blind to the abundance in your life. All of this happens to me constantly.


Last week I was on a family vacation on Isla Mujeres ("Woman's Island") near Cancun, Mexico. We rented a house that gave us privacy and our own winding path down to a secluded beach. I spent much of the week thinking about abundance in its many forms.


I stood in the water watching the smallish waves roll around me. I saw that a bright line of silver light rides the wave crest until it crashes on the sand, where that silver explodes into golden shards of glittering light. It was hypnotic, calming, beautiful. I lost track of time and identity as I watched this sight over and over. I thought I heard the voice of the Sacred (perhaps it was the Mayan Goddess Ixchel, the goddess of this island, of the sea, the moon, of medicine, art and of new life) saying, "Look, human! You are awash in silver and gold at each moment, if you only you have the eyes to see the abundance." At that moment, I was swimming in gold and silver; the richest man who ever lived.


The voice said something else to me: "You belong to me." I took that to mean I belonged to this lovely earth, these roiling waves, this light dancing on the sand, the breeze dancing through the trees, all of it - all that Ixchel is, and all that she guides and creates and protects, I belong to. But perhaps Ixchel was laying claim to me directly, I don't know.


Later, in the middle of the night, after all on the island were asleep, even after the parties in Cancun, four miles across the water, had sputtered into Tequila-dizzy silence, unable to sleep, I wandered out under the full moon, to the edge of the quietly shushing sea, where I sang prayers for you to Ixchel.


Yes you: Each of "my tribe," you who come to drum all the time, you who stopped by once four years ago but remain on this email list, you who have not yet come to the drum but still receive emails, even you whose spam folder I live in permanently. I prayed for abundance for each of you - whatever abundance you really need. Rumi says "There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth" and I prayed that each of you recieve the kiss you need.


The abundance we need may not always be the abundance we think we want, Ixchel said to me. I turned to go back into the house.


A sudden, startling, immense wave crashed up on the rock behind me, spattering sea-and-moon-drenched diamonds all around me into the luminous night air. I took it as a sign to stay for awhile longer. I stood silent for awhile and perhaps it was Ixchel again who said: To belong is the greatest abundance of all. "


Belonging" is the marriage of "longing" and "being." The human heart is naturally restless, but also naturally seeks a home. It wavers endlessly between wanting to wander and wanting to belong. We live in a time where belonging has devolved into simplistic, often cruel litmus tests of identity. Many of the traditional institutions of belonging - family, church, marriage, career, political parties - have crumbled for us. False belonging is sold to us again and again. False belonging rises from being connected to (one of my favorite phrases from philosophy:) "bad infinity." Being connected to a bad infinity creates false belonging. So, belonging is difficult for us. And yet in some crucial way, we understand that we are made "real" by what we belong to, and if we belong to nothing, our realness is damaged. John O'Donohue, the great Irish scholar, says that where he comes from, the traditional phrase for people first meeting one another is not "where are you from?" but rather "to whom do you belong?" This is an excellent question, and it will form the the focus of this Friday's ceremonial and shamanic half.


But before that we will drum up silver, gold and diamonds with one another in a treasure trove of sonic abundance. Wahoo, tribe, Wahoo, indeed. See you soon,

Jaime

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