The Reiki Cafe 

Hey guys,
I had a friend using sound ( voice) toning along with a very powerful woman who does drumming. The effects were very amazing. Shellie was literally shaking from the effects of the toning with the drums.

Afterwards someone she respects highly told her to watch out for being around others when drumming, that negative entities in another could jump into your body unawares.
Is this a possibility? Is this something common? He told her something about needing protecting or wanting to show her something to do to avoid this.
Is ritualistic smudging something that should be done on the participants before hand??

I"m looking for responses from folks who know a bit about shamanism.. RC? FK?
Got anything on this one?

Jahnavi

Otoharo!

I use drumming on myself. Recently, I got stuck in ego again after a long free period. I gathered up my drum and went to the beach where I could lie in the sun and drum lightly so as not to disturb others. It is amazing how quickly drumming works. during those long years of ego dominance, I spent most of my day light hours down on a river somewhere, drumming. I would say, drumming and reiki saved me this incarnation!

I simply sang, rather than toning though I know and use toning also. We had training in the shaman approach. It is very healing and satisfying. It speaks to some part of me that seemed shut away.

finality

jahnavi,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

- this business of negative entities jumping into one's body during shamanic druming is, well, a lot of non-sense.

- of what background or 'persuasion' was this person she respected? Frankly, such a statement sounds like typical 'paranoia' or certainly mis-information about shamanic work, etc.

- drumming, when done in shamanic work, is to generate strength of energy to support the shaman in his\her efforts and for journeying

- the energy generated is almost certainly going to protect - it may drive out negativity but generally not any 'entities' - entities are removed in other ways and require more skill than a bit of drumming.

>:-}}

- yes, smudging is normally done to all participants before and after shamanic healing work or ritual

- hope this helps

Reiki All Around,

All Blessings,

Firekeeper

Dear Jahnavi,
I cant reply to your question as I do not have the experience to.
I will share something with you however. When I was a young nurse recently uprooted from NY & working in Florida, I witnessed an "excorcism". I was working in a medical nursing home & walked into a room in which stood an LPN who later revealed that she was a "minister" of a pentecostal type religion. A patient with numerous mental illnesses was on the floor & as she prayed and waved her hands, he was squirming around like he was swimming in water. A housekeeper who happenned by & realized what was going on started sceamed that the demon was going to jump into him & took off screaming down the hallway, he was later found shaking in a janitor's closet. Afterwards the LPN told me she didnt know what else to do with the patient & it seemed to work so what was the harm? I was floored that she would do this to a patient with a serious mental illness thereby convincing the patient that his delusion was fact. She should have known better. And yes, he went right back to his pre excorcism persona.
What have we been taught, what do we believe, what do we fear?
On the other hand, have read of experienced religous leaders, Christian & non christian, who have dealt with negative spirits. There is a difference, in my humble opinion, between someone who has dedicated their lives to the pursuit of the spiritual as evidenced by their sacred walk & the way they live and someone who takes a seminar or a class. My limited understanding is that when the spirits are called in, it is at a time when people who are susceptible & are not prepared...they are not in attendance! No disrespect meant here but there are so many weekend spiritual advisors out there.
I look forward to the responses to this post especially from those with drumming experience.

peace & joy,
holobon

Wow interesting experience

I would like to say that from my experience
drumming makes the energy body more...fluid or elastic
which can have many effects. In many cases it allows people to journey more easily, it also makes energetic healing (especially the more subtle energy fields around the physical body) a little easier to take hold.

Also I believe that opportunistic energies of illrepute lurking around waiting for the perfect time to hop into someone who is unsuspecting is highly unlikeley. I am not saying it doesn't happen I just believe there are other factors like focus and intention that play a big part in that kind of inhabitability.

I know many reiki practitioners who use drumming particularly in the Karuna style who have had great successes in their healing practices. I believe that the drum is a tool and that it can amplify energy. So the energy, focus, and intention of the person doing the drumming would be a key factor.

I am a big fan of smudging. For me, smudging holds energies of protection, purrification, clarity and wisdom and I do it as often as I feel I need to, especially before and after healing sessions. Also I voice my intent, show grattitude and work with the energy of the smudge as I believe that makes a huge difference. Merely lighting it and having it burn in your presence although pleasant doesn't hold nearly the same power as it does with focussed intention.

I should mention that I have had experiences with different energies attatching themselves to me. Usually after visiting powerful geographic locations...ie... burrial grounds and places of that nature. Lots of power, and many displaced spirits.

Working in these spaces I allowed myself to be totally open and inviting to all energies for the work that I was doing (I would NOT reccomend this without proper preparation b.t.w.). So it was really no supprise when I discovered the new unfamilliar beings hanging around me, I should say that these entities had no mallicous intention or anything they just found me well...."attractive" and they were hungry. So I fed them for a few days did lots of reiki on myself then felt it was time for them to go.

To get these energies to move on took ...can you guess... focus and intention, oh and some smudge.
I focussed, voiced my intention, purrified my space and the energies quickly dissapated.

Sorry I tend to ramble on I hope this helped
p.s. I really like the idea of using mantra (voice toning) and drumming in healings...I don't care what it is ... if it works use it
...even if you have to dance around and draw thunderbolts on your naked body...er .. thankfully it hasn't come to that yet....hehe

be well
patrick

Otoharo!

After reading these meassges, I am so glad I did not know anything about drumming when I began drumming. I had no expectations. We did some journeying just to get our feet wet so to speak, then during the week I drummed and experienced without any words and descriptions to distract me from experience. Once words get in there, intellect gets in there and ego resides in intellect. Far better for spiritual work of any kind to be in feelings, knowings, beingness than to be in intellect. However, saying that does not get it across. one has to experience it.

finality

Hey there FK,
Thanks for responding.
I guess I wasn't as clear as I"d like to be. Maybe there is a difference perhaps not.

I was at a street fair and a woman was drumming. Not shamanic drumming to journey or anything. More like powerful drumming and then my friend was toning with her.

She says she would like to come and drum for us at the Triad Center some time so we would have a group gather and listen to her play.

Of course there was no smudging at the bay festival because that would have been impossible given the crowd.

So, I was thinking it was hooey too, to worry about any entities jumping from someones body into my friend who was toning. Mostly because I know how high her vibration gets when she does tone.

Thanks for all the insights,

J.

Hey Holobon,
What a horrendous story!
Its so important that people pay attention to what they are doing.
That poor housekeeper.

Thanks for relating the story. Gives one pause as to the works we do.

Love you,
J

Hey Patrick,

Thank you for your reply.
I think along the lines that you think in many areas.

I can definately tell a difference when I use more focus in my cleansing tools and my intention over all to have a specific outcome. ( anything positive!)

I didn't really think that entity jumping was too common. Specially not with both the drumming and the toning which were both high vibrational. I Didn't think that low vibr. entities would be too interested in such feelings created by the sound.

I love reading about the works you do by the way. Very sweet and heart centered. ( helping the entities)
I"ve been shocked over the things some folks do.. Saying things like I cast you into the darkest regions of ****.. Yuck. Why do that?
I wouldn't wish that on anyone much less a suffering soul.
If Great Spirit wouldn't do it why would we?

Bright blessings and thanks again for your input,

Jahnavi

Otoharo!

Jahnavi, as I read these messages today, I finally understand what you mean by spirits. We call these spooks. I think of spirit as the Holy Spirit! anyway, in the training I recieved from Fransico Coll way back yonder in the 70's and 80's, our work with spooks was a healing work for them. we helped them to go home. They each have at least one guide that stays with them. We ask them to look around and find the light. then we help them to follow that light as it will take them home. They do! There is no casting out of anything. This is all gentle on the assumption that this spook is simply confused.

finality

Otoharo!

Patrick, in our training, we learned not to allow spooks to feed off our energy. It is not good for them and certainly not good for us, either. There are spooks who are simply confused about being dead and therefore are living as though they are still alive and may be living in your dwelling with you. And there are controlling spooks who look for opportunities to control anything or anyone. Neither of these need to be where they are. Their place is home. We help them simply by helping them to go home. The light will take them there. And there always is a light.

finality

Hey Angel,
How come you call anyone (Spirits) spooks? All is holy.

I like that you helped people home by helping them find the light.
I like to speak with spirits about their holiness and goodness and the rightness of them going home.
Then I usually call on the deity that I feel they would best respond to and know.
That usually does the trick. :}

Its so important to remember there is no them and us.
We truly are blessed to remember ourselves in service to the world.

Love and blessings,

Jahnavi