Bear Skin Drum

Always looking to push our work further,
we have now started birthing drums in this new style.
Made with one of our own Ash hoops, red ochred and oiled.

Hand carved Ash pegs tension the skin, and it has an Oak handle fitted into the hoop, finished with our own hand made resin...

This is a one off with Bear skin drum, but the style can be
bespoke made with Red Deer skin...

Listen to the sound of this drum by clicking here

Please contact us for prices

Drum Hoops and Raw Hide Skins

We are now supplying Hoops and Hides for drum making
Please visit our site RAWHIDE and HOOPS

Red Deer Skin

Ash Hoop

Drum Birthing days

Join Phil and Lynne and go deep into the woods to "birth" your own drum under a sacred Yew tree. This unique experience is run throughout the year on a one to one basis or in small groups.

One of the most important tools you will ever need as a shaman is the drum, the spirit horse to take you on the journey to the other-worlds. The crafting of your first drum is like the birth of a child, an experience that fills you with both wonder and love.
When asked to make a drum with someone the first step of that process is to ask them for what purpose they want to bring this “being” into the ordinary world. As an Animist I view my drums and rattles as living things, so it is important that I understand their intent.
To make a drum is easy, to make a shamanic drum that will enable its caretaker to travel outside of ordinary reality is a skill that few people possess.

I make frame drums, the skin is Red Deer or Fallow, I prefer the person I'm teaching to make the drum themselves, and often I make one at the same time. Whenever possible the drums are crafted under the Yew tree that I work with. The Yew is the Axis Mundi of my Shamanic Druidry, the tree of rebirth and ancestral memories.

The skins come from the same herd of deer, and as our drums have grown in number over time they have created a tribe, or herd. Many times, in the drum circle we run here in Kent, people have commented that they could hear the Stags calling to each other as the rhythm flowed; it's like a song beyond the drumming.

The Birthing Process

We start by soaking the deer skin in pure water taken from an ancient spring head on the marshes near were I live. The person making the drum is asked to bring with them plants and herbs that they feel connected to so these can be added to the water and the skin washed with them.

Next, the maker sands the hoop; with this process they get to not only put their energy into the frame but get to know its very bones. After this we make a paint of Red Ochre and water and this is smeared onto the hoop with their fingers; for me this symbolises the blood of the drum. So, now we have the blood and the bones of our drum. The skin is then removed from the water and thanks are given to the stag who’s life was sacrificed, holes are punched around the skins edge and the hoop is placed on top ready for lacing up. We use sinew rather than raw hide strips as these become the vocal cords that allow my drums to sing.

Then I ask the maker to put their hands back into the Red Ochre before they begin stringing the drum as this imitates the natural birthing process and they become the midwife at the birth of their drum. When the threading is done, then comes the tensioning; this is something I normally take over as it takes skill and intuition to make sure that skin and tension will work together.

When all this is finished we put the drum aside and start on the beater, the heart that makes the drum come alive. I only work with the indigenous trees of Britain so discuss with the drum-maker beforehand what tree they would like to make the beater from. I ask the person to find their beater stick before they make the drum so he or she can spend time with the tree of their choice. Making that effort is what it's really all about.

Once both beater and drum are completed they are blessed over a fire and a ceremony is performed to awaken and welcome the drum to this world. When the skin has dried (usually 3 to 4 days) it is time for the maker to journey with it and meet the spirit of their drum for the first time.

The hoop is the bone
The Ochre the blood
The hide the voice
that calls to Spirit


Yew baby artwork by Tina Swale @ www.astrocal.co.uk

Spirit of Place

Ye know us not, the growth has covered us.
Long have we been hidden from your sight.
Ye know not our names, nor natures,
And yet we are thine own.
Ye chant no invocations unto us,
Yet always are we manifest within thee.
We are the gods of hunger and becoming.
We pulse and grow between your heartbeats.
We are the pause in breathing,
Between the inhalation and the exhalation.
We live to devour and bring forth.
We live between the mind and madness.
We are the ghosts of the unborn...

From The Book of the Forgotten Ones

Sacred River Drums

Sacred River Drums are 18 inch frame drums
with "Star " bindings on the back.

Stag skinned drum





Fallow deer skinned


All our drums come with a beater in the wood of your choice ....

Spirit bags

These are Spirit pouches hand carved from leather
with your Totem animal Spirit on the face





They are made with a pouch to add
your own offerings or medicine tokens


Please visit
Shamanic Druidry
shopping online

Boar design with Boar tooth closer


BESPOKE DESIGNS

The Song of the Land

Shamanism to me is all about working with the Spirits of place, Ancestors, plants and animal teachers. Being an Animist, this is where the roots of my path are formed, and I follow my instinct when working with all of these things.
There is a kind of synergy that forms, a feeling that your intent joins with the natural world and starts to craft what you want to happen, like when a potter takes a lump of clay and puts it on his wheel, then what seems like nothing begins to flow with the finger tips and an object of beauty is formed.
It's this kind of wholeness and truth that we look for as we work with the land to enlighten others to a way of living that has been all but forgotten, this for me brings a sense that my intention is honorable, and that those who cross my path will leave with their hearts and souls enriched not by me but by the very land that I love.
I am nothing but a gatekeeper,
I am just there to facilitate the connection,
I am just there to shine the light.
This is where the Shaman and the Druid both blend into each other for me, working with stories, energies and sound to weave the natural Magic of this ancient Island we live on, and in so doing the Healing is found deep within all of us, from the Birch to the Oak, from the Hawthorn to the Yew.

We all at sometime in our journey feel disconnected, or unable to connect to a path we feel drawn to, this leads to frustration, or questioning ourselves and our beliefs, doubts begin to creep into our minds. This is a natural reaction that we must overcome, we live in a world with faster and faster ways to get what we want and so we are conditioned to think this way about all we do, but this is not the case when we work with the Earth and her spirits.
Nature grows at its own steady pace and accepting this is the first lesson we have to learn when working with Spirit, whether you are Wiccan, Druid or any of the paths that come under the Pagan umbrella.

Intuition is an observation, an awareness of the subtlest of energies, inside and outside of you. Know that whatever is happening outside of you; your body is mimicking and/or duplicating it inside at the same time. Trust what you perceive. You do not have to understand it.
Judge none of it; just observe it.
When we judge it as right or wrong, we begin to dilute our perceptions.
Slow down, listen with all of your senses. Slow down to the speed that you can comprehend. Feel what the energy is like.
All living and non-living things have a vibration. Be open to the sensation of all of them. You are discovering and building a vocabulary of energetic frequencies. When you live in this kind of reality, you are no longer totally dependent on what you hear and see for information.
Perceiving the energy gives you so much more. Everyone’s abilities are different. Do not try to be like someone else. Trust your own information. Trust your own process in getting there.
For me Nature is the greatest guide there is. When I want guidance in a decision, contact with the souls of my ancestors, or solace in suffering, I wander the hills and woods of my land where I am held, rooted in the very soil, finding inspiration in the patterns of tree bark, the pebbles in a river, or the dawn mist.
Sitting inside the womb tombs, the temples of the dead, for me, is a meditation with the living Earth and the spirit of the ancestors, this is where I find inspiration.
Working with the spirit of the Yew tree is where I am remade, shattered then put back together.
Working like this, trusting in your own perceptions of events leads you deeper and deeper, till the day comes when you break through and you feel a change in that connection.
You then have a profound shift inside of yourself, you find that your awareness changes and this brings a change in reality, a kind of shift in your perspective on life. Work with this, learn to flow with the energies, draw their healing powers into you.
This is “connection”, this is what we yearn to achieve......

Phil /|\

Fallow Deer Drums

The Fallow Deer is a gentle teacher, introduced to the U.K. in the first century BCE and in Europe since the Paleolithic period it is a species that has been used in a shamanic way for a long time. Through working with its Spirit I have come to a deeper connection with the land and found it to have shamanic links to the Fly Agaric mushroom.
I now have skins in stock, the hides are thick and create a deep sounding drum, and I can highly recommend working with these drums both for healing and journeying.

Bison Rattle

These beautiful Rattles are for healing work, after a recent encounter with a European Bison I crafted these specifically to hold that gentle healing energy of abundance and selflessness. Filled with Snow flake Obsidian to absorb negativity they give a soft sounding rattle.......

Sacred River Rattles

We now have a new range of rattles for sale
these are Spirit rattles,
and are very organic in their forming.







Sacred River Rattles Gallery

Alder with Runes 

Yew with Henna design

Oak and Rowan with Jay feathers and Henna designs 

White Fallow deer head on Ash rattle 

Yew with Henna design and Chalk inlay Ogham 

Oak with Magpie and Woodpecker feathers 

The birthing of a Drum

One of the most important tools you will ever need as a shaman is the drum, the spirit horse to take you on the journey to the other-worlds. The crafting of your first drum is like the birth of a child, an experience that fills you with both wonder and love.

When asked to make a drum with someone or for someone the first step of that process is to ask them for what purpose they want to bring this “being” into the ordinary world. As an Animist I view my drums and rattles as living things, so it is important that I understand their intent. To make a drum is easy, to make a shamanic drum that will enable its caretaker to travel outside of ordinary reality is a skill that few people possess. When making drums for myself I travel to all three worlds at different stages of the crafting. First the Lower World to meet the Stag and the tree, to honour their sacrifice. Then the Middle World to ask my guides what designs or symbols need to be on the drum . Finally, after the skin has dried and the drum is ready to sing for the first time, I travel to the Upper World to meet the spirit of the drum and find its purpose.

I make frame drums, the skin is Red Deer or Fallow, I prefer the person I'm teaching to make the drum themselves, and often I make one at the same time. Whenever possible the drums are crafted under the Yew tree that I work with. The Yew is the Axis Mundi of my Shamanic Druidry, the tree of rebirth and ancestral memories.

The skins come from the same herd of deer, and as our drums have grown in number over time they have created a tribe, or herd. Many times, in the drum circle we run here in Kent, people have commented that they could hear the Stags calling to each other as the rhythm flowed; it's like a song beyond the drumming.

The Birthing Process

We start by soaking the deer skin in pure water taken from an ancient spring head on the marshes near were I live. The person making the drum is asked to bring with them plants and herbs that they feel connected to so these can be added to the water and the skin washed with them.

Next, the maker sands the hoop; with this process they get to not only put their energy into the frame but get to know its very bones. After this we make a paint of Red Ochre and water and this is smeared onto the hoop with their fingers; for me this symbolises the blood of the drum. So, now we have the blood and the bones of our drum. The skin is then removed from the water and thanks are given to the stag who’s life was sacrificed, holes are punched around the skins edge and the hoop is placed on top ready for lacing up. The sinew is then measured out and threaded on to a Fox bone needle which I make from Fox ribs. We use sinew rather than raw hide strips as these become the vocal cords that allow my drums to sing.

Then I ask the maker to put their hands back into the Red Ochre before they begin stringing the drum as this imitates the natural birthing process and they become the midwife at the birth of their drum. When the threading is done, then comes the tensioning; this is something I normally take over as it takes skill and intuition to make sure that skin and tension will work together.

When all this is finished we put the drum aside and start on the beater, the heart that makes the drum come alive. I only work with the indigenous trees of Britain so discuss with the drum-maker beforehand what tree they would like to make the beater from. I ask the person to find their beater stick before they make the drum so he or she can spend time with the tree of their choice. Making that effort is what it's really all about.

Once both beater and drum are completed they are blessed over a fire and a ceremony is performed to awaken and welcome the drum to this world. When the skin has dried (usually 3 to 4 days) it is time for the maker to journey with it and meet the spirit of their drum for the first time.