The Drum at Occupy London

The second circle at the occupied UBS building, now The Bank of Ideas took place on Human Rights Day and the day of the Full Moon Eclipse.

This time we were in a much larger room and further back, presumably so we could make some noise. My friend was already waiting for me when I arrived in the space and I laughed. On one wall there was a giant mural Banksy Style, on a small pillar was a painting of David Cameron giving the V sign and not for Victory! And on the back wall was a giant painted rainbow with the words" Change" across it. There were bits of rubble on the floor.

A Shamanic Healer had said to me in the week:" Drum and they will come". But I doubted this. It was not how I did things, waiting for something to happen. So while my friend drummed in the space, I went around the building putting up signs and telling people about the circle. Most people knew about it already from the noticeboard of course. In one room people were busy sewing and making banners. There were people playing guitar and drums and a table with someone dressed in a Santa outfit giving out hot drinks. Another room was being used as a place to sleep. Downstairs in the chill out area, people were busy working on computers. The whole building was buzzing with activity; workshops, events, gatherings, a charge. It was the first time my friend had visited and it was that charge he had noticed.

I had heard that people were also tired, with the constant pushing forward of momentum. That there were feelings of loneliness for some who were drawn to this place of community and then went back to their own lives of lack. None of this detracts from the simple Truth. People who feel strongly about change, have not sat in a coffee shop or down the pub and talked about it, they have got up and done something about it. The people who are part of this movement are a cross section. They are educated, articulate, spiritual, atheist, driven, lost, passionate, in pain, professionals, homeless......they are all of us. Except they are stepping out of the confines of the Known into the New.

The impetus for the circle came from sitting on the steps of St Pauls. Community was springing up and it needed something that can hold it strong. Circle work is powerful and multi layered. It can involve many rituals, it can involve teachings passed down. It can be about cleansings or visions on an intense level. What I am learning is that it is just what is needed at that time. At this time the Circle is showing me, guiding me, that what is needed is a strong centre, in all of us and in the collective. A true connection to that inner Truth and Power. An ability to connect with all and accept all. For what we cannot embrace in the circle we cannot embrace in the world. The person who sits next to us, who sits opposite is our mirror, our guide. We learn from each other. We heal each other. We share, we drum, we sing and in so doing we bring healing to ourselves, to the land we sit on and to those around us. It really can be that simple.In fact it needs to be that simple at Occupy. The drum, the voice, the intention, the circle. The connection and the heart led sharing. That is what is needed here right now.

Three people drifted in. I went off to get some more. I had forgotten the beauty of those words: Drum and they shall come. I was pushing. Not allowing. I came back and three people were still there. Well then the circle would involve the 5 of us and it would be just fine. We smudged the space. Drummed to clear the space. Sat in circle. Started to introduce ourselves. Ever in the background one could hear singing from the room next door and there was a steady stream of people walking through the room to get to another bit of the building. It was hard to stay focused. As we started to share a few more drifted in and joined. We smudged each person in the circle and as I sat back down, a dog came into the room, had a sniff around some of our things and then left. He was wearing a bright red jacket.

People shared why they were here. Some wanted to know more about drumming and connecting with Spirit. I explained my role was not one of the teacher, we all find our own teachers, no one can impose that on us. We were there just to hold the space and allow what need be. Others wanted to drum. Others wanted to connect with themselves deeper, to find clarity for the movement, to find energy for the work they were here in this space to do. To find healing. To find.

We focused on our purpose. Taking a piece of sage to later burn and release to the elements with the power of our intentions, we all spoke aloud our intentions for the New Year. The drumming and singing would be the energy, the fuel for our group intention of community and healing and our specific individual intentions. Which beautifully were about unconditional love, hope for those in pain, healing for those with mental and physical pain.

Just as we were about to start a film crew walked in and asked to record us. We had just had 2 photographers milling around us before this. A lesson in staying focused on the common purpose. This was a free building, people here owned nothing and it was not my place to speak for the circle and disallow anything if others did not object. This was another teaching. Group consensus. And still in the background people walked through the room, slamming doors. Yes, this was urban connecting at its' most basic. And hard. To not have the elements around you, to be connecting in the middle of a city, surrounded by steel and the energies of finance and gain. And yet if we could connect, if we could find healing and ground that in this space, how potent would that be. What a lesson for us all.

And so we drummed and sang, those without a drum clapped. Afterwards we shared our experiences of vulnerability, of connecting with Mother Earth and her birthing pains of the New, with ourselves, with each other. Of the beginnings of throwing off the shackles of Society in a large room in Moorgate, in an occupied building. Of feeling the beginnings of freedom in us. For how can we create it in the world if we have not tasted it yet in us. And we shared ideas on this Shift. The change from the mind to the heart, from ego to unconditional Love. Some of the men sharing this was harder for them, to be in the Heart Centre. They felt women had always done it. Perhaps. For we are being asked to Love to be the Change in the World. We held hands, we felt that raw, vulnerable, truthful heart led energy of our circle. 13 strong in this unlikeliest of places. Connecting and then releasing to now carry that in our hearts and into our worlds.Next time some said they would like to really dance to the music, to feel that freedom. Next time.

Change happens in many ways. Through the gentle drip drip of moments. Through a gradual awakening, while life is busy happening, And it can happen overnight. We all know our lives can change in a moment. How we respond to that wave is what empowers us. The Occupy Movement has harnessed that wave of yearning for the New that in our coffee houses, pubs and houses has been talked about. That in spiritual and guided circles has been dreamt for who knows how long. It feels forever. And as that dream starts to become what people can see to be the ever changing true reality, as the reality reveals itself to be an illusion, empowerment comes in feeding the dream of the collective and the inner with the purest essence of our soul's voice.

As the circle closed, bouyed with the beauty of what had just happenened in just under 2 hours, we were joined by someone in pain. He was high on something and he asked if he could join the circle. I had just been talking about Unconditional Love and here it was- were all welcome? Truly? He joined our circle and we held hands again and sent our prayers out again and included and held his energy too. For he had asked to be included and just like that we had done so. We had included him in the Community. I was humbled by the lesson and by the beauty of all sat in this circle. Those who believed in Spirit, those who did not, those who kept their eyes open when drumming and singing in case they missed anything and those who allowed themselves to just go where they needed to.

As I was leaving one of the older women who had sat with us hugged me goodbye. She said the space needed to be cleared here and people needed healing. To hear the drum beat. To feel that energy of  connection. And she gave me such sweet words of wisdom and guidance and strength that I was yet again overwhelmed by the beauty of what can happen when we set an intention with our hearts. Every person in that room had said they had followed a feeling/calling to be there. They had followed their hearts. And when we open ourselves to Change, to being in the moment, to being in the Truth, our Truth, to connection and vulnerability, what can we not achieve.

Occupy is a Movement born from the yearnings of the Heart, for a time when we are moving into the Heart Consiousness.It is providing free food, free shelter, free workshops, and refuge for so many. The drum for me could be the underlying heart beat of this change. Inclusive. Healing. Empowering. Political change can come about through many pathways. Focused, heart led, truth led, connected desire can be the change.

The next Circle shall be on Monday the 19th from 4-5.30pm outside St Pauls.

Till the next time.