A two-part body of work which will include making sacred objects and using shamanic principles for healing, empowerment, engaging with natural beneficial energies and connecting to spirit guides.
Part 1 — 12 to 16 May 2027, Sollia, Rondane, Norway
Part 2 — 14 to 18 July 2027, Sollia, Rondane, Norway
Total course fee (for both Part 1 and Part 2), including materials, tuition, 2 meals per day (not breakfast) and accommodation: 29000 Norwegian kroner.
Accommodation: Rooms or huts near to the venue. Usually rooms are shared, single rooms have an extra charge.
Food: Simple, vegetarian food is provided during the course.
Creativity, Expression and the True Self
Creativity works well when the imagination is given freedom of expression.
Expression happens when inner feelings take outward form. Shamans know that free expression promotes healing and wellbeing.
Some shamanic ways are available to anybody and, with guidance, can be surprisingly easy to work with.
In this course, you can experience blending feelings, imagination and shamanic principles towards outward expression. With this blend, your soul, your True Self will find well needed and well deserved nourishment.
What Are We Creating?
You are invited to create new possibilities, new opportunities and more pathways to help deepen your knowledge of and relationship with your True Self. Your soul has a lot to express and we aim to create the freedom for that expression in this course.
You will be guided to make a number of objects: A Sacred shaman´s drum; sacred clay objects, and a shamanic rattle. The true nature of their beauty and power is beyond physical form, and we will show you how they can embody powers of healing, connection and positive transformation.
The objects you will be guided to “birth” will become living symbols of expression, connection to the Universe and your own sovereignty. For some, this may become the creation of a new way of being.
You will be invited to participate in powerful healing ceremonies based on some shamanic principles, as well as empowerment activities you can use outside of the course, in your everyday life, work and relationships.
We aim also to create spaces that strengthen the union between “head” and “heart”, for balance and a deeper personal relationship with your True Self .
The Shamanic Drum
The drum is the most ancient instrument dating back thousands of years and has been the working companion of shamans, ceremonialists, healers and mystics the world over. Whether it is ceremonial work, rituals, healing work, sacred dancing, or movement between realities and worlds, the drum can be an extremely powerful ally for you. When you make a mystical drum in the right ways, you are facilitating the birth of a truly sacred object.
The drum hoops we make or acquire are high quality and embody strong positive energies which will reflect the relationship between you and the final drum. Hand made drum hoops bring Spirit, whether made from oak, ash, birch or pine. A good start with a good energy from the start, or the birth, of your sacred drum.
The skin for your drum comes from red deer who either lived on our land, or close by. Each year, deer are counted and there are careful calculations done to try to encourage sustainable lives for the population as a whole. Deer populations are managed according to these considerations, so some are hunted and culled.
We know each of the hunters personally and we are very satisfied they are as respectful and compassionate as possible in the process. Skins (hides) are then hand processed by Simon using no chemicals or aggressive processes. The resulting hides are top quality and, more importantly, what we consider the best possible energy for your drum.
During this course, you will be working with deep practices, including:
Birthing your own deer skin shamanic drum and drum stick.
Understanding and experiencing why the process of “making” a drum is referred to as “Birthing” the drum to acknowledge the animism based principle that the drum is alive and sacred.
Empowering your drum and stick and beginning the process of building a meaningful relationship with them.
Learning and practicing a number of methods or techniques the drum can be a healer for yourself as well as others.
Engaging in some powerful and rarely available ceremonial work with drums that can promote strong well-being and assist in processes of inner work.
Understanding, practicing and experiencing the drum as a vehicle capable of transporting you if you wish to work or communicate within the realms of spirit.
Deep levels of communication between you and your drum.
Giving your drum intentions or asking it questions.
Like the shamanic drum, the rattle can be used as a “sonic drive”, capable of encouraging pleasant states of consciousness from which we can ask for powerful gifts such as healing and transformation.
The rattle you will be guided to make is from deer hide (skin) bound onto a wooden stick. The deer hide is from red deer that has been hunted in the forest on our land here on the west coast of Norway. You will be invited to select the stick yourself and guided through this process.
NOTE: Crafting of your rattle will take place over both parts of the course, so will be ready for use at some time during Part 2.
One aim of shamanism is to become more whole, to embrace all our aspects and uniqueness. In doing this, we can move ever closer to who we really are, our True Self. Practices related to shamanism are excellent for creating new pathways to the True Self, for empowering those pathways and for nourishing them.
There can be great fulfilment when we feel proper pathways have opened up for us. Ups and downs of life are still there, but along with realisation that being in the human condition naturally entails feeling all the richness of life.
There is great sovereignty in walking one´s true pathways and rediscovering right relationships. One becomes empowered and nourishes the soul. Walking on our true path, a person is most able to meet challenges and find balance in life.
The elements Fire, Air, Water and Earth are essential for life and are gifted to all worldly inhabitants by the Earth Goddess, Gaia. Shamans have long known that each element houses unseen beings (or spirits), these are sometimes called elemental beings. Elemental beings support Gaia´s gifts to take form, for example, plants, trees, waterways, mountains. Nature, then, can be said to be the visible face of spirit. Elemental beings can also be said to be co-creators of our world.
Although elemental beings and Nature spirits have been pushed aside, they have not gone away. They still work hard to co-create and nurture the natural, visible expressions of Gaia, upon the Earth. They are happy to work with well-meaning human beings when called to do so. Interaction with elemental beings is not restricted to shamans, any one of us can, with guidance and openness, connect with helping, co-creating spirits.
Elemental beings easily find expression in materials closely associated with one or more of the elements. In partnership with our imagination and physical crafting, our objects will be truly co-created and hold very special energies.
Practical Skills
For the crafting work, we call upon our hands, fingers and thumbs for the physical processes. If anyone has limited use of these and is unsure of other ways to make the objects, we can call upon our group to find ideas to support you in creating and expressing in your own unique ways.
If you think you are not creative or lack skills for this kind of work, come anyway. Sometimes an answer is letting go to enjoy the process. If you sometimes have a harsh inner critic, ask it to relax for a few days and let the rest of you have a good time. We are not in a competition and there are no judges.
Your Facilitators
Simon Chamberlain is a shamanic practitioner, drum maker, teacher and founder of the Nordic School of Shamanism. His qualifications, training, experience and teaching cover a wide range of subjects including shamanism, psychology, neuroscience, mentoring, hypnotherapy, counselling, and martial arts. He taught psychology, criminal psychology and neuroscience for many years as well as mentoring victims of crime.
Originally from the UK, Simon now lives in Norway on a small farm overlooking the magnificent Sognefjord. His focus has turned towards deeper dedication to Nature and integration of shamanic principles to align with his lifestyle. He believes shamanic education can be available to many people and a shamanic way of being can bring great benefits to individuals, modern society and the world.
Mar Gjelstad is an awareness facilitator, carrier of the Sacred Drum and passionate creative artist.
“My work as an awareness facilitator unfolds primarily through 1:1 sessions, often including Human Design analysis and/or divination. Since participating in The Mystical Drum at the Nordic School of Shamanism, a beautiful journey unfolded with many wonderful opportunities to share the medicine of the Sacred Drum with nature, individuals, friends and communities. Through clay, drawing or nature art my artistic expression takes many forms: from ceramic altar pieces to stone spirals in the woods. My clay practice deepened after learning how to craft clay instruments from multitalented artist Vianney Lopéz.
As a course facilitator, I bring optimism, encouragement and enthusiasm. I strive to explain in diverse ways to ensure you feel confident with each step. My aim is to empower you to let your creativity flow and enjoy the process!”
