The World Drum at Avebury, March 30th 2013

My first visit to Avebury was in the very hot summer of 1976, when I arrived by bicycle. I recall sitting with the Ring Stone that stands between the Southern Entrance and the South Inner Circle. It's called the Ring Stone because it was once a lot taller and had a hole right through it. When I leaned my head into the part of the stone that is now missing - as shown in our picture, only a short stump is left - it produced a distinct sensation of weight and solidity, as though the upper part of the stone were still there in spirit. Because a similar ringed stone in Scotland was used to conduct handfastings (Druid weddings) with the couple linking hands through the hole, we adopted Avebury's Ring Stone for the same purpose, inviting each couple to link hands at the point where they felt the hole had been. Hundreds of couples have since been joined there in love. My second spiritual experience of Avebury (I think during that same visit) was a vision of a middle-aged man's body lying on the ground next to one of the stones of the South Inner Circle. He was partly covered by an animal hide (bull I think it was). By his side knelt a grey-haired woman of a similar age who was singing a lament and wafting the man's spirit from his chest towards the sarsen that towered above them. Others stood by, some joining the keening lament. All were dressed in a combination of woven fabrics and animal hides. This convinced me that the stones of Avebury and, by extension, of other megalithic sites, are, among other things, shrines containing the spirits of our ancestors. Many years later, the archaeologist, Mike Parker-Pearson, reached the same conclusion at Stonehenge based on input from a Madagascan 'medicine man' he brought to visit the henge.In September 1993 (see picture above), I was responsible for founding the Gorsedd of Bards of Caer Abiri amongst the great sarsen circles of the Avebury henge. This resulted from an invitation to create a ceremony for a multi-faith gathering organised by the late Tim Sebastion, founder of the Secular Order of Druids. A couple of years later, the Gorsedd had become what Ronald Hutton described as "the central event of the New Druidry."
I live only about 12 miles from Avebury and it remains a very special place for me. Therefore it was a 'no-brainer' that we should take the World Drum there for the first ceremony of this year's UK trip, especially since we had brought the Drum there during its last visit to us in 2008.
When you put out a call for folk to come to a public ceremony, you never have any idea who, if anyone, will turn up. It is put into the hands of the gods, the spirits and, in this case of course, the spirit of the Drum. To say we had a good result is a whopping understatement. Our circle consisted of about 60-70 people, all of whom were thoroughly tuned in to what we were there for and put beautiful energy into our rite for Mother Earth and for world peace. I also like the fact that we artrived with only the outline of a few ideas, talked them through a few minutes before we started and made a ceremony that seemed to flow naturally and easily. One part of the rite, repeated at each subsequent ceremony, was the Speech for Mother Earth composed by World Drum Project founder, Morten Wolf Stereide for the first World Drum ceremony which took place at the Norwegian Parliament building in 2006. Part of this says: "Mother Earth is crying. Soon she will have no tears left and then it will be too late. The time has come to unite and stand together. Please, I ask you, take each other's hands, lift them high and make a prayer while the World Drum sings her song and we feel her heartbeat. It is the heartbeat of Mother Earth. It is our heartbeat, from each and every one all over the world. It is the heartbeat of life itself. Let us join together as one that this heartbeat may continue."
I love it when the natural world responds to what we are doing in sacred ceremony. In this case, we were making our ceremony during one of the coldest Springtimes on record and yet, as was to happen elsewhere, when we began to play the World Drum and our other drums along with it, the sun burst through the clouds and blessed us as shown in this picture by Elaine Wildways. For this, as for so much else, we give thanks to the spirits of the place, the people, our ancestors, the gods and the Drum!
The gentle, peaceful, honouring, loving energy of the day reminded me so much of the early days of the Avebury Gorsedd in the 1990s. It was a joy to be there once again, singing the awen, the flowing spirit of inspiration and creativity, and swearing the Oath of Peace, "We swear by peace and love to stand, heart to heart and hand in hand. Mark, O spirits, and hear us now, confirming this, our sacred vow."
Thanks and blessings to all who came, both seen and unseen. What a wonderful event to begin this journey with the World Drum. I have always had an image of Avebury as a great mother, welcoming those who come in peace and reverence with open arms of glistening sarsen stone and green earth banks. The image here shows a woman in the dress of the megalithic era seated in the 'throne' in the outer face of one of the two huge sarsen stones that flank the Southern Entrance to the henge. An unusually short woman in her 30s was buried near the entrance in a circle of small sarsens, curled in a foetal position with her face towards the West Kennet Avenue of stones that reaches the henge bank at this point. In her honour, the Gorsedd has always selected someone, usually a woman, to embody her at the beginning of our ceremonies. We presented the World Drum to the 'throne' before entering to begin our ceremony. What a perfect place to begin this journey with the Drum that calls to us with the heartbeat of our Mother Earth, calling us to honour and respect her and all her children. May we be true to her call!