DRUM-MAKING WORKSHOP CEREMONIES
Infastructures of Ceremony, as Maker Space!
Drum-Making led by Holden Madagame.
NEXT CEREMONY DETAILS:
10.10.2026
Holographic Healing Nest, Berlin
︎︎︎Link to Info and Booking details HERE
First Iteration:
17th July 2025, as part of BIPOC community-building relational research, supporting Holden Madagame, Ufer Studio’s, Berlin.
WHAT ARE WE DOING, & HOW?
This ceremony is about creating a drum, an ancient tool of generative resonance. These ancient tools are closely interwoven with the building blocks of our shared consciousness, the formation and viewpoints from which we understand all systems we live within.
In this ceremony we offer participants to have their own direct experience with sound-led altered-state practices. When the drum beat is sustained, an innate ability, termed ‘shamanic state of consciousness’, promotes powerful journeying and healing. This trance-state is beneficial for the body. It grounds our energy, lowers anxiety, and brings relief from emotional, psychic and physical pain.
We will locate a starting place by ‘mapping’ into our own cosmologies, accessing a channel in order to go about seeking ancestral guidance, especially in relation to our new drums.
The drum is an incredible tool of somatic regulation, especially for neurodivergent folks whose energy often moves upwards and into the crown & third eye chakras. Drumming helps us to pull this energy down and ground us again.
We begin our existences echo-locating within heartbeat of the womb’s waters. The drum beat, in reminding us of our watery beginnings, brings us back into resonant relation with the heartbeat of Mother Earth and great cycles of Grandmother Cosmos.
The drum is a divinatory tool, a journeying tool. In practice, the drum is a device which enables us to mediate between worlds.
Imbued with the Spirit of the Animal whose hide we use and whose life has been given for the drum, the drum brings the instincts, traits and talents of the animal. Our drums are characters who have the potential to become teachers and companions for us on our spiritual path.
Direct experience offers each journeyer agency and direct contact with spiritual guidance. The reason we include journeys in the drum ceremony is to open up each participant’s access to their own direct ancestral experience.
The journey we are taking you on is not complicated, it’s simple, but it’s very challenging. You could choose to buy a drum, but you are choosing to come on this journey to conceive and birth a drum together in community.
The way we will do this is through ceremony, inviting and acknowledging our ancestors and spirits, inviting and acknowledging ourselves, looking into ourselves to find why we are here making drums together.
The materials that we will use are wooden frames and animal hides. The wooden frames are personally made by Holden, and the hides are sourced in Germany from farms and breeders. We choose to use animal hides instead of vegan materials, because it is important to connect to the spirit of the animal, and most vegan drum heads are made from plastic or mylar, which is also made of polyester. In the end, we believe using an animal hide is more sustainable and spiritually connective.
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WHO IS THIS FOR?
This workshop is for anyone interested in exploring their spirituality through the journey of birthing a drum. For those who are seeking your own tools, this is for you.
A drum is a companion for spiritual exploration and ancestral connection, and made in ceremony, we also charge the drum with ancestral power.
This ceremony is a practical container, held in sacred space in order to open a doorway to and invite ancestral wisdom in. We do this through discussing ritual frameworks, taking two altered-state journeys with theReady to book your spot? guidance of drumming and fostering a collaborative initiatory space as we make our drums.
Whether you already have a spiritual practice or not, please feel warmly welcomed to this space. We are all eternally learning and can learn from each other.
Intersectionality of the Praxis
This ceremony will be offering an intersectional, queer feminist, de-conditioning, de-colonialising psychic framework, informed by multiple, overlapping kinship-based worldviews and esoteric spiritualities.
We enter this space self-aware of our own position and privileges – that means understanding that some of us are here to witness, support & listen to others, especially anyone who has dislocated or lost ancestral roots of diaspora; those who consider themselves BIPoC or a Body of Culture, and those in fluid spaces with identity/gender expressions. The ceremony space is also centralising of FLINTA bodies.
With our intersectionality praxis we know there is no such thing as perfection, only curiosity and humility!
Through the ceremony we are also able to have open discussions, so if you are unclear about how to go about deconditioning or lineage work, feel free to ask us about it.
INFORMATION FOR PARTICIPANTS
Preparation
The day of the workshop, it’s important to bring supportive energy for yourself and for others & be ‘as rested as possible’ in relation to current capacity. For each of us that looks different, you will not be judged if you show up exhausted, enraged, or grieving. Emotionally: Come as you are. All of you is welcome here.
Prep-Detox & Rest
The days before the workshop, be mindful of what substances you consume. Come sober to the workshop itself (no micro-dosing please). We advise not to drink alcohol, consume excessively processed sugars/caffeine (energy drinks), psychoactive or chemical substances for at least 24 – 48 hours prior. It is a good idea to plan to get enough sleep.
Intentions
Take some time in the week(s) prior to reflect on why you are making a drum and to envision your drum into being. We ask this question in the registration form, but please continue to think about this. Having clear intentions and supportive energy to put into the drums will shape our drums’ power and medicine. It is important to start vibrantly!
Psychic Health & Stability
This session is for psychically stable folks. If you feel you are not psychically in a stable place, please let us know in advance. While we will do our best to adapt the practices to be healthy & stabilizing for the folks who are coming, group work is not safe for folks who are dealing with psychosis. We are each responsible for ourselves, to ground our own energy & communicate current capacities.
What do I bring?
- Notebook, pen
- Blindfold/scarf or Keffiyeh to cover your eyes
- Wear comfortable & warm clothing, with fresh socks – we will be shoes off.
- If you like, a blanket to sit on, or cover yourself with.
*There will be yoga mats and cushions at the space.
- Some snacks (to share, if you like) & bottle of water.
*Some snacks will be provided too.
- Power objects, medicine bag.
*Maybe you have your own drum, your own rattles, your own crystals, that assist you building your own power or calling ancestors. Please feel invited to bring them.
︎︎︎Image credit; Holden Madagame, Rage Sessions
WHO IS LEADING THE DRUM MAKING?
Holden Madagame (pronounced ma-DA-ga-mii) is a proud Odawa (Anishinaabe) indigenous, queer, trans artist and research-based performer originally from Michigan, USA, now residing in Berlin. His work weaves together ancestral healing, artistic expression, and community empowerment, drawing from his heritage and contemporary experiences.
Rooted in the traditions of Daniel Foor’s Ancestral Medicine and guided by mentors Shannon Willis and Annie Blackstone, Holden offers ancestral lineage healing that honors Indigenous knowledge and spiritual practices. Alongside Anna Hoffmann, he has co-facilitated ancestral healing circles in Berlin.
Central to Holden’s practice is the transformative power of drumming, which is inherently connected with ancestral healing and spirituality. He leads “Rage Sessions,” somatic workshops designed to help people express anger communally through body and voice, using this energy as a path toward liberation and healing. His artistic research at Hogfish Maine and Uferstudios Berlin explores these themes, investigating how ancestral expression manifests through embodied voice, movement, and drumming.
In summer 2025, Holden organized a BIPOC-only drum-making workshop at Uferstudios Berlin, funded entirely by donations to ensure it was free for participants. Six individuals came together to build drums from boar hide, fostering community and cultural exploration.
Holden also contributes to “the village – a grief ritual” in Berlin, where he co-facilitates and is a core member of the musical ensemble which supports these rituals.
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Credits:
Holden Madagame: Project Lead, Concept, Materials, Build Research, Workshop design
Sarah Martinus: Supportive Infastructures, Text copy, Spiritual Ethic/Ethos and Ceremonial Support
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Practical Information
Date: October 10th, 2026 (10.10.2026)
Time: 13:00-20:00+
Schedule
- Arrival: 13.00-13:30
- On the day please feel welcome to come in at 13:00 and take some time to settle into the space before we begin. There is an outside area with plants and seating.
- Ceremony: 13:30-20:00 (with breaks)
- +Wind down, downtime, and snacks
Please note that at 13:30 we will be closing the door and turning off the buzzer. If you are running late yet still coming, make sure you inform us in advance.
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The day will look roughly like this:
- Open the space and introduce ourselves
- Share stories and reflect on questions
- Go on a drumming journey
- Find our intentions and pray
- Choose our materials (frames and hides)
- Make our drums together
- Go on another drumming journey
- Share our experiences and close
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Location
Holographic Healing Nest
Eisenbahnstrasse 11, 10997 Berlin
Accessible via public transport line U1, U-Görlitzer Bahnhof or Schlesisches Tor.
Enter through the double doors, and walk through the first building into the hof; walk through the charming courtyard to the back building. Enter the factory building, and go down the (12) stairs on the right at the end of the hall, the door is the right one.