Earthstar Magic 2 Day Medicine Drum Crafting Workshop

Join Helen from Earthstar Magic and Nicki from Sacred Rhythms Wellbeing for this two day non-residential workshop where you will birth your own Medicine Drum and Drum Beater in sacred ceremony.

Held in a beautiful bush location just 15 minutes from Ballarat CBD, this workshop is held over two separate days. This is a non-residential workshop, meaning that you will return home or to your own booked accommodation on Saturday evening. Perfect for those local to the Ballarat area or individuals not keen on camping.

We ask that all participants bring along their own lunch for both days. We will provide nourishing and delicious snacks for morning and afternoon tea, along with a range of naturopathically formulated herbal teas. All dietary requirements will be catered for.

We will be gathering in early Autumn, under a waxing crescent moon, two weeks after Lammas. This is a wonderful time to plant seeds for the new you wish to call into your life, but also to examine your harvest. What gifts from 2025 are you now carrying in your Medicine Basket?

When we birth a drum, we have the opportunity to work shamanically with the elements - as above so below, as within so without. Weaving together threads of the plant and animal kingdoms, the earth cycle and lunar phase, as well as the stories present in our own bodies.

DETAILS:

✨ DATES: Saturday 21st February 10am - 5pm & Sunday 22nd February 9am - 5pm

✨ LOCATION: HOPE Haven, Navigators. 15 mins from Ballarat CBD, 90 mins from Melbourne, 1 hour from Geelong

✨ ACCOMMODATION: All participants to return home or to their own booked accommodation (at own cost) overnight,

✨ FACILITIES: Beautiful indoor space with full access to kitchen, bathroom and outdoor space

✨INVESTMENT: $650 per person.

✨FOOD: Please BYO lunch each day. We will provide delicious snacks and nourishing herbal teas.

Arrive at 10am on Saturday for a day of ceremony where you will learn all about the Medicine Drum and its herstory. You will set your intention, select your hoop and hide in ritual space and begin the drum birthing process, before soaking your hide overnight and returning to your accommodation at 5pm.

On Sunday you will arrive at 9am for a full day of drum birthing. Includes breathwork activation and guidance and support from both Nicki and myself as your birth your sacred tool into the world.

The workshop will conclude at 5pm on Sunday, and you will leave with your completed Medicine Drum, plus instructions on drying and caring for your new sacred tool.

“It is often said that the first sound we hear in the womb is our mother's heartbeat. Actually, the first sound to vibrate our newly developed hearing apparatus is the pulse of our mother's blood through her veins and arteries. We vibrate to that primordial rhythm even before we have ears to hear."

(Layne Redmond, When The Drummers Were Women: A Spiritual History of Rhythm.)

This relationship with rhythm and the drum began in the womb. Each cell of our body has been created with this pulse, this rhythm of sound, this beat of the drum.

The drum is a universal instrument, not owned by any culture. Played for thousands of years across all continents; by Celts in Europe, Native Americans in the USA, and all through Africa, South and Central America, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. Each of us has the ancestral memory of long ago playing the drum. This cross-cultural instrument and Shamanic tool is the call of the heartbeat, the wild self, and the song of Mother Earth.

It's the sound of coming home.

We will be working with your birth imprint in this workshop - the story of how you came to be in this world and how that shows up in creative process, and in your relationship to 'other'.

Birthing your own drum is a deep experience. By approaching the process with awareness and intention you will not only craft yourself a personalised shamanic tool, you will also have a shamanic experience, connecting with the animal of the hide you are using, the wood of the frame and observing the way you show up during the creative process.

We are excited to be offer four different styles of drum crafting with full instructions and illustrations, and yet we are skilled in holding space for you to find your own unique way of birthing this powerful sacred tool. Guiding you as we walk the line between having a deep shamanic experience and birthing a beautiful and resonant sacred tool.

This workshop includes everything you will need to birth your own Medicine Drum:

✨ A choice of either Willow or Ash Hoop (14" or 16", please make your selection at checkout)

✨ Wild Goat rawhide

✨ Teaching around the origins of the Shamanic Drum and the lineage of this work

✨ All instructions, templates and tools required to create your medicine drum

✨ Ceremony and ritual

✨ Shamanic Drum Journey to connect with the animal of your hide and the wood of your hoop

✨Naturopathically formulated herbal teas & yummy snacks

We will be working with Wild Goat in this workshop.

Goat Medicine reminds us that we can conquer any terrain. That we are adaptable, fearless and grounded and may find sustenance where other struggle.

Goats were first domesticated between 6000 and 7000 BC, and since then have given generously their milk, their wool and their hides. They are abundant, and working with Goat Medicine reminds us of our blessings and our potential for prosperity. Often associated with independance, vitality and fertility.

Goats represent the Earth Element, and the phrase 'Salt of the Earth' comes to mind. Deeply connected to the natural world; animal and plant kingdoms, waterways and mountains. Goat spurs us on with the spirit of adventure. Always striving for something new, reluctant to be tethered and never stagnant.

"Goat Dreaming represents survival instinct, determination and the quest for advanced knowledge. It epitomizes drive and the determination to push ourselves to greater heights. It encourages us to set ourselves free of unreasonable expectation and bondage of any sort." From Animal Dreaming by Scott Alexander King

You will have a choice of either Ash or Willow frame

Selection to be made at checkout

Medicine of the Ash Tree - 16" or 14" frames available

Ash is the World Tree. It spans both the outer world of the universe and the inner world of ourselves. Ash shows us that by knowing ourselves, we will know the universe.

Ash brings us into connection with All that Is. It brings strength and endurance and can help unlock the door to inner wisdom and knowledge.

Medicine of the Willow Tree - 14" frames available

The Willow is associated with the moon, water and the goddess.

She is the tree of dreaming, intuition and deep emotions.

She belongs to the beginning of spring and the first stirrings of life after the winter, the shooting of the first leaves. When used in a drum, it helps with the release of emotions and assists us in expression.

More details on what to bring and how to prepare will be provided once you have booked your place.

With love & gratitude

Earthstar & Nicki

Meet your facilitators: