SHAMANISM & THE DRUM · LESSON 9 OF 12 · 12 MIN
The Coat, the Mirror and the Rattle
The shaman's tools and what each was for — the iron-hung coat, the drum ridden as a horse, the Mongolian toli mirror worn as armour, the Amazonian leaf rattle, the itako's beads of jawbones — and how to make a kit of your own without copying anyone's.
The shaman's kit was never only equipment. Each piece did something — kept spirits off, carried the shaman, housed the helpers, made the sound-world of the séance — and each piece was also a statement about who was wearing it. This lesson goes through the kit piece by piece, and then asks what a modern practitioner should and should not make for themselves.