“I was too exhausted to make it to the drum circle last night,” says Sangoma, a Firefly matriarch and custodian of the Ancestors; “but I was listening as I lay there in my tent. Those drums carried me away so beautifully from this world into my dreamtime.”
As she speaks, Sangoma’s bare feet are inches from where my knees had surrendered to the earth not more than eight hours earlier. With my next breath, I silently whisper, We need to talk.
“There is power in those drums beating and those feet hitting the earth,” Sangoma says. “It’s a power that carries one who is laid up in the hospital, hooked up to tubes and machines. The harder they drum and the faster they dance, the more it will call you back home.”
The resolute strength and youthful sparkle in her eyes hide the fact that she is talking about herself. She was almost taken from this mortal earth in recent months. And yet here she stands before the ashes of last night’s fire, with striking beads on her wrists, ankles and neck, a white headwrap, and a long dress that cascades in infinite hues of pink, red and black. I am awestruck. It is as if — in the flesh — I am witnessing the intense strength and beauty of the phoenix rising from the ashes.
This 70-year-old spiritual midwife is kin to Firefly, having attended its birth nearly two decades ago. I catch up with Sangoma later that day, after she completes a workshop. She clutches my arm as we cross a rugged patch of ground, to a chair in the shade where I can sit at her feet and drink deep from her well of wisdom.
“You spoke this morning about the drums calling you,” I said. “Tell me more.”
“Most people don’t know that three-fourths of the Atlantic slave trade came from the Yorùbá tribe in West Africa,” Sangoma said. “Yorùbá is a tonal language that literally came from the drum. The drum beats are like words, depending on how you tune the drum and strike it. When I hear that language, I hear drums. And when I hear drums, I hear Yorùbá. It speaks to me.
Westerners tend to have a clock tower in the middle of town. In African tradition, the drums are the center. There’s an hour drum and a half hour drum. There’s a drum that says ‘We’re about to begin.’ There’s a drum that says ‘There are strangers in the town,’ and the language goes on and on. You hear that from as early as you remember and it becomes the norm, every day of your life.
In our culture, words are the norm. But in the African tradition, it’s both words and drums that do the talking. The two are interchangeable. That’s why when I hear the drums talking — like I did last night in my tent — I try to figure out what they are saying. Once you learn that language, you begin to hear it in other places. You hear it in nature. I have a granddaughter who heard it in the flowing of a river. You hear it in the beating of the heart.”
Déjà vu.
Continuity.
Synchronicity.
“I’ve heard it said that drums can be a connection between the physical and the spiritual realms,” I say.
“The drums are literally praying,” says Sangoma. “There is medicine in the drums. They are a bridge to the ancestors. I have been at funerals with pianos and even a harp, but nothing matches the power of the drums. They are literally speaking and praying. I remember a funeral a woman had for her father. They had a real high energy procession, with folk dancing and climbing Jacob’s ladder and putting all their prayers into the drums. When I go, that’s what I want. I came to tell you there’s power in those drums.
“Back on the plantations, it was illegal for black people to play drums. White folk knew and sensed the power so they would never allow drums on the plantation. They would whip a person to death if they ever had one. They could sense something very ancient and deep and threatening in the drumbeat. There is also a profound healing power in those drums, which is something you can learn at earthskills classes, workshops and events. I have experienced powerful drum circles with a rich diversity of healing from grief and much more. It’s the older, more experienced practitioners that are passing that knowledge and those skills on to the younger learners”
“When you are lying down on the ground, listening to those drums and that rhythm in the night, where does it take you?” I ask. “What are you thinking and feeling?”
“You are asking me to describe the pictures in my head,” Sangoma says. “You want to feel what I am feeling.”
“Exactly!”
“Well, I’ll tell you. First thing you need to know is that I’m not listening to these drums on the phone or watching them on TV. As I lie there on Earth, I am in the feeling of the drums that are being played in my proximity. Now, I’ve had kin folk and friends alike ask me, ‘Why you be out there lying on the dirt?’ Here’s my answer: ‘Because I want to place my heartbeat on the heartbeat of the Mother.’ That alone is good enough reason to lie there, whether drums are present or not.
I want to place my heartbeat on the heartbeat of the Mother.
“If I had not had that need for sleep, I would have been out there dancing. Some people call it dancing, but I call it praying on the Earth. Indigenous people understand that…The movement of the feet on Earth is indigenous prayers. It’s a holy thing. There is a certain activation between Earth and body by dancing barefoot on the ground.
“Catholics like communion, but I like praying to Earth. Last night, they were sending their prayers down into Earth and I was feeling it. This communion creates a fullness of so many essentials: the Mother’s heartbeat against mine; the prayers of the dancers; the drums reminding me of the heartbeat of the Mother. I need these things like I need breath. When all these things come together, there’s a huge energy and a huge re-energizing that I know I’m taking to the dreamtime. I know I’m going to rest well when I’m carrying the drums into my dreamtime. I know I’m gonna wake up real good.”
“What final thoughts do you have that people might find helpful?” I ask.
“There’s so much trouble with our humanity today,” Sangoma says. “People are held back and lying to themselves. They allow other people to lie to them and sell them a false narrative. If all you see on the monitor is a flat line, you can’t live a healthy life. Last night with the drums, I was in sync with that heartbeat. That heartbeat brings truth. If you are trying to find your way back to the truth, don’t over-complicate it. Don’t get embarrassed and try to save face. Just put your hand on your heart. Hear the drumbeat of your life and drop into what’s true. Find ways to get in touch with the heartbeat of the Mother. If you are not comfortable with what somebody else is saying, and you aren’t sure if they are telling the truth, put your hand on their heart to remind them, ‘Hey, you got a drumbeat in there.’ Don’t walk to the beat of another’s drum. Your heart is enough. You have your own drumbeat right in here; so learn to walk and dance by the beat of that drum.”
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This is the second of a two-part series from Firefly 2025.
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Written by James, author, ghost-writer, suburban farmer, musician (www.peacedudejames.com) and Firefly worktrader. This is the first of a two-part series from Firefly 2025.
