I like to build my drums on significant days. And then conduct a Destiny card reading for its birth day to honor a new voice in the world. When I do this it seems many energies come from the unseen world to join in creating meanings that heighten the mystery of the drum.
This new 14" frame drum was built on December 29th, the anniversary of the Massacre at Wounded Knee on Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. Even though this tragedy happened 126 years ago, the vapours of grief in the land still feel heavy. A new drum giving voice to spirit is a beautiful way to offer solace to the earth.
When I go to the Destiny Cards book by Robert Lee Camp and look up this date, I see that the Birth card for this drum is the 2 of Hearts. The basic meaning of the 2 Hearts is "union of hearts." This speaks to close relationships of lovers, partners, close friends. When this card appears, one can be certain that she will be spending time with someone she loves.
The drum's Planetary Ruling card is the 2 of Diamonds. While the Birth card is the most important personal significator in this kind of oracle reading, the Planetary Ruling card is close behind. It acts like a second symbol of one's life and personality. The second card that shows a predilection to act like the qualities associated with the card. The 2 Diamonds signifies a money or value partnership of some kind. This could be a standard business relationship or something more out of the ordinary.
These two cards together indicate that this drum is 1/2 of a very strong pair that will be doing something that results in a financial or value-based partnership. Benefits coming to the partnership are likely because the Birth card represents a union of love, rather than of argument or disharmony.
When this dramatic, big-voiced drum was first received as a Cortes Island deer skin, I heard the message "keeping everything alive" as I gazed into the hide. Perhaps this is the reason for this drum's birthday energy: when we feed sacred drum song to the memory of sorrow, we raise the vibration of that long ago misery, and something more wise and beautiful jumps up alive in us.
