[ID: simple pen doodle of a three mice with triangle feet, big ears, pointy noses and little whiskers, one of which is asleep, and a rat with little feet, a pointy nose and splotches. end ID.]
rattles are painted now, i still need to do an outline on the turtle rattle. from l-r: sungska (horse), sungska, tusweca (dragonfly), keya (turtle). the blue tape is just to say what each is filled with, i used blue corn, pink beans, pumpkin seeds and pistachios.
Gen 1 Large Bone (Front and Back). I still need to test Small and Medium size but they're all the same after just scaled up/down so I think it'll be fine!
Prayer For the Rivers Rattle (Bears, Salmon, and Berries)
Isabel Rorick (Haida)
spruce roots, sun-bleached grass, iron oxide dyed grass, yellow cedar, carnelian, Haida Gwaii agates and turquoise, metal stand. 8” x 3.5” x 3.5”
This rattle is inspired by the Yakoun River. The weaving pattern displays the sky (a four strand band at the top), the water (a faint textured section below it), and the salmon (tan fish bone pattern), the bears (brown paws), and the gravel of the river (below the paws). Inside the rattle are Haida Gwaii miniature agates and turquoises, and the red salmon eggs are actually carnelians.
This rattle is a prayer for all of the organisms, fish and the animals who are sustained by the river’s health. Everything is connected like the river connects to the ocean. Life sustains life.
Since I have the leaders of my two baby SuperThings teams done, time to start trickling in the members of the teams!
Rattles
"Shake it up!"
Rhythm Rattler
Rattles has his own beat. Granted, when you're so top-heavy, you kind of have to have it! However, this keeps the others on their toes. He knows what rhythm he wants to take, the villains just need to deal with that! And thankfully for him, his superpowers let him sync his rhythm with others, which helps disorient villains, but makes it far easier for him to get on their levels.
Stackie
"I'm a tall order!"
Ring Dings
Stackie knows what order things go in, he's smart like that! He's good at distributing weight, which makes him a very brainy planner for the villains. Or well, at least as brainy as a baby can be. With his skill, he can create thick hoops to trap his enemies temporarily. The only issue is that he has to go in order of size, so he has to act on his feet to make sure the hoops work with who he needs to trap at certain times!
Drums are an essential part of shamanic work; we use them for journeying, healing and celebration, both for ourselves and for the community. The drumstick or beater is also a significant shamanic tool and has a powerful spirit and sound of its own. The best drumsticks are made of strong hardwood with a padded, leather covered head. They are usually decorated with fur, feathers, bead work or engraved with sacred symbols.
Different beaters work better with different drums to bring out the tone qualities. By using different parts of the drumstick to play on different parts of the drum, different timbres can be produced for transmitting different meanings. There are hard beaters, semi-hard beaters, soft beaters, and rattle beaters, which are simply beaters with a rawhide or gourd rattle attached to the base of the handle opposite the head. The clicking of the rattle adds not only an interesting sound effect, but also produces an offbeat, which adds a new dimension to the sonic experience.
The repetitive sound of the rattle, like that of the drum, helps induce trance states. The shaking of rattles creates high-pitched frequencies that complement the low frequencies of drumbeats. The high tones of rattles resonate in the upper parts of the body and head. The low tones of drums act primarily on the abdomen, chest, and organs of balance, while stimulating an impulse toward movement. Rattles stimulate higher frequency nerve pathways in the cerebral cortex than do drums. This higher frequency input supplements the low frequency drumbeats, thereby boosting the total sonic effect.
Furthermore, the beater has certain uses independent of the drum. In Tuva (southern Siberia), the rattle beater or orba, with its spoon-shaped head covered with animal fur and metal rings attached for rattling, is in part for practicing divination, purifying sacred space for ritual, and drawing the attention of the spirits. The rattling draws the spirit world and its inhabitants into the material world, whereas the drum carries the shaman into the spirit world. The snare sounds associated with metal, stone and bone rattlers attached to beaters and drum frames are described as "spirit voices."
When Tuvan drums were being confiscated and destroyed during the times of Soviet repression, some shamans used only their orba for rituals. Throughout history in different cultures around the world the traditional practice of shamanism has often been outlawed and driven underground. The shamanic worldview is an integral part of the shared history of all humanity, but that worldview has been deliberately stolen and suppressed. The shamanic worldview was perceived as an extremely potent threat -- to the point that possession of a shamanic drum has in almost every case been outlawed, and a policy of confiscation and destruction of drums implemented. Hence, the percussive use of the drum became impracticable in populated areas due to its distinctive sound. By using only their rattle beater in rituals, Siberian shamans found a covert way to continue their practice of the shamanic arts.
In the shaman's world, all things have spirit and everything is alive. Like the shaman's drum, the beater is imbued with spiritual purpose and becomes a living presence. Since the objects are then considered to be alive, they function as spirit helpers and guides to the shaman in their work. The first step in learning how to work with these shamanic tools is to connect with the spirits of the instruments. By journeying to connect with the spirits, each shamanic practitioner can find out what a particular drum or beater is best suited for, such as divination, journeying, extracting, etc. When you meet the spirit of the instrument, it may teach you some special ways you can use it for your shamanic work that you did not know before. It may have a specific name, purpose or type of energy. Be open to the possibilities.
[ID: simple pen doodle of a rat with little paws and little whiskers, standing in front of what is supposed to be a small toy piano with one paw raised. it is a replica of the original photo of neil banging out the tunes. end ID.]