This article was originally written as part of a booklet produced for the FireDance festival, "The Alchemy of the Fire Circle."
The Magic of Rhythm
by Morwen Two Feathers
In addition to the Western mystical tradition of Alchemy, the transformational work of the Fire Circle also draws upon the ancient magical technology of Shamanism. In Shamanism, journeys are made to the realm of Spirit to seek assistance and information to facilitate healing of persons and communities. All over the world, a primary tool for this work has been the rhythm of the drum. Indeed the drum is widely understood as a "horse" or vehicle that offers a ride to the ecstatic realm, the world between the worlds where thoughts, intentions, and spirit actions manifest as changes in the world of form. How does this work?
In looking at how drumming works as a magical tool of transformation and alchemy at the Fire Circle, there are two levels to consider.
The Rhythm itself. Audible rhythms are expressions of the underlying matrix of existence, which is made of vibrations. Rhythm is a Key to the Mystery.
Sustained rhythmic stimulation (gained not only by producing but also by listening to a sustained rhythm) has been demonstrated to alter consciousness and induce trance. This is an area where scientists are "proving" something that shamans of many different cultures have known for millennia. Because magical and/or shamanic healing work uses altered states of consciousness to travel between the worlds, drumming and rhythmic movement (i.e. dance) have always been among the shaman’s tools.
Further, as Hans Jenny demonstrated in his investigations of the visible patterns created in physical matter by various frequencies of audible vibration, rhythm creates a field, and different frequencies create different patterns. Because the human body is composed of matter, we can understand from this that rhythm has an effect on us that is not just mental but also physical. This insight leads us to the concept of "circuitry" in which certain combinations of patterns create predictable neurological and emotional effects. These relationships have not (yet) been codified but investigation is active – including data-gathering at our own Fire Circles! You may have noticed that certain songs and rhythms evoke certain feeling-states, that particular polyrhythmic grooves stimulate awareness in specific ways, or that a slight change in tempo or the dropping or adding of a single note in a rhythmic pattern can shift your experience significantly. These are all indications of the complex relationship between rhythm and reality that suggest the pivotal role of rhythm and drumming in shaping our magical work at the Fire Circle.
In addition to being both a consciousness altering tool and a shaper of physical reality, rhythm is a carrier of intention and information. In speech as well as in music, rhythm is a core organizing principle that invokes meaning. (Remember that tone is also rhythm at its foundation, as tones are simply higher frequencies of vibration.) While meaning is arguably a quality of mind rather than a quality of rhythm itself, the drive to assign meaning and to make correlations between particular patterns and meanings is universal among humans. Although meaning may be created by us, we experience it as being a quality of words, songs, or rhythms. Thus a rhythm that is commonly understood by the members of a group takes on a life and meaning of its own, albeit a culturally bounded one.
This insight points to the next level of the magic of rhythm.
The collective/community. Synchronization or entrainment in a group amplifies the effects of rhythm. The Collective is a Key to accessing All That Is.
"Entrainment" is a term borrowed from physics, where it refers to the tendency of rhythmic systems to synchronize for greater efficiency. In the language of the drumming world, the term entrainment invokes a sort of force that pulls rhythms into resonance with each other. We know from experience that entrainment is not inevitable, for sometimes rhythms remain stubbornly out of synch (perhaps especially at large community drum circles!). Yet we also know that when entrainment happens and a large group of people fall fully into the groove together, there is a tremendous feeling of elation and a release of energy. This can be seen as related to the "greater efficiency" of entrainment, that is, when the group is entrained, individuals are carried by the group rhythmic field and can release energy that would otherwise be used to maintain their own personal rhythms. This collective energy release may be also used as a magical tool, especially in combination with the meaning embedded in a shared rhythmic vocabulary, and when the intention of the group is focused.
This suggests a sort of "formula" for group rhythmic magical work:
(Entrainment à Energy) + Meaning + Intention = Magical Transformation
Community-created rhythm (compared to that of a single drum or a small group of professional players) is notoriously difficult to keep cohesive for long, but it can be very powerful. Stable rhythms and relationships, with few and simple interlocking parts, support cohesiveness and thus are the foundation for collective groove-trance. This is why we encourage everyone who wants to drum at the Fire Circle to learn root rhythms and practice drumming while opening awareness to the group, to maximize the potential for entrainment. In this way we create a strong rhythmic container for each participant to do the magical and alchemical work of healing and transformation for themselves and for the whole community.
c. MTF 2004
return home