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New Lightning Drum!

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"And when I breathed,

my breath was  lightning."

                                --Black Elk

Exquisite Hummingbird Lightning Drum_edited_edited.png
Lightning Rider Drum photo

Ride the Light

Ride the Light

The
Lightning Rider Drum

Ride The Light

19 Lightning Rider Drum nameplate

Inside the Frame: Nameplate signed by Bob and mounted over the Lightning Rider's heart space, which contains small embedded emerald chips.

Be sure to listen as Bob shares insights about the Lightning Rider Drum, located under the Media heading below.

Like all of its kindred Lightning Drums, the Lightning Rider is imbued with mystery. It has secrets and gifts to share. You can see many of them, but some you cannot, at least with your physical eyes. You will need to experience them instead, by riding the light. And then you will see... in a different way.

 

The Cherokee refer to this as "chante ishta," seeing with the eye of the heart, that moment when you break through the veil of the ordinary to behold the Greater Reality of existence, that place of spiritual helpers, healing and visioning. For sure, it takes hard work to earn such sight, for there are no shortcuts available to the seeker of Truth who must first subsume the ego and put aside the self.

The Lightning Rider earned the gift the hard way. It lost all the moment a searing bolt of lightning turned a once living tree into an inanimate and scarred hulk of wood. But in the destruction came creation of something new, a shamanic healer's medicine drum, transformed by lightning, reborn to sound the thunder.

Are you ready to ride the light? Let the Lightning Rider show you how, and then you will see with your heart that this companion is as sacred and alive as you or I.

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

a totem of power
closeup photo of drum

Closeups of a few Lightning Rider Decorations:

Photo Above: The Lightning Rider Drum's totem animal. Below: The Great Wheel of Life symbolically depicted around the drum with reverence for the Four Sacred Directions.

Lightning Rider Spirit Totem

The Lightning Rider Video & Voice

Accessories / Decorations:

Drum Stand:

  • Exclusively designed and made by Bob from reclaimed 100-year-old cedar farm posts.

  • 16 ½” square when open

  • Legs fold closed at bottom to about 3" square.

  • Height: 13 ¾”

  • Drum Pad (where drum rests on top of stand): 13” square

  • Decorations include four bright tassels affixed with rings over select artisan-made pottery beads. (Extra replacement beads included.)

  • Handmade Copper Lightning Bolt affixed to top crossbar.

  • Hand finished with bees wax and natural oil.

Shaman Bob Plays Lightning Rider Drum

Shaman Bob Plays Lightning Rider Drum

Play Video

Drum Ornamentation:

  • Artisan-made round and flat glazed stoneware pottery beads feature copper mixed with glazing.

  • Copper, pipestone, gem, glass beads

  • Several yards of select braided, flat and mingled deer suede lacing and field leather

  • Copper studs and rings

  • Copper crests

  • Bob's handmade tassels

  • For more information about lightning wood and Bob's extensive use of copper in his shamanic drums, please read the free downloads on this page

Media

lightning cutout illustration

Ensemble Includes:

  • Rare Handmade Lightning Drum

  • Exclusive Drum Stand

  • Extensive Decorations including artisan-made pure copper animal totem and specially crafted ceramic beads

  • Shell and Smudge Stick

  • Drumstick: 12 ½” long

  • Polishing Cloth for copper ornaments and totems

  • Leather medicine bag

  • Additional beads & decorative materials

  • Small additional quantity of Bob's smudging mixture

horse illustration

Drum Vitals

  • Made from a lightning-struck hardwood cherry tree in Kentucky.

  • Weight: 3 lbs. 15 oz.

  • Girth: 35”

 

  • Diameter: 10” (varies)

  • Height: 4”

  • Frame Thickness: 1 – 1 ½”

  • Slightly sloped top facilitates playing.

PDF File: featuring Drum Specs and Bob's Thoughts about the Lightning Rider Drum.

Audio: Bob Shares Insights About the Lightning Rider Drum.

Bob Shares Insights About The Lightning

Music Credits:

1. "Deliberate Thought," Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com

2. (Early Recording) Big City Indians BigCityIndians.com

Audio: Video soundtrack.

Soundtrack from Lightning Rider Video.mp
running horse totem

More Photos Below

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Photo Gallery

20 Lightning Rider Spirit Totem.png

Click / touch any image to start slideshow

Lightning Rider Drum by Bob

Lightning Rider Drum by Bob

Bob does not know who he made this one-of-a-kind drum for. That is up to Spirit and the person who is now sensing it, either strongly or just as an inkling. So far, a pair has never failed to find each other over time. Bob trusts Spirit to lead the right person to the drum.

Lightning Rider's Birthing

Lightning Rider's Birthing

Bob's work on the the Lightning Rider Drum spanned two years, with long periods between stages that finally came together for the birth of this sacred helper drum.

Bob's prelim sketches

Bob's prelim sketches

Bob often sketches designs before making a rare lightning drum. Here are a few examples of the anticipated Lightning Rider Drum prior to its birth.

Details

Details

Closeup image of the intricate detailing featured on the Lightning Rider Drum.

Color and Motion

Color and Motion

Rich colorful leathers and an exclusive animal totem sculpture blends with artisan beads and decorative flourishes to enliven the Lightning Rider Drum and drum stand.

Decorations & Totem

Decorations & Totem

Bob combined several beautiful leathers into many forms and colors to surround one of several commissioned lightning totems featured on the Lightning Rider Drum.

Drum stand etc.

Drum stand etc.

The drum stand, drumstick, decorations and smudge shell for the Lightning Rider Drum. The purchaser will also receive a Leather Medicine Bag and other accessories.

Lightning Rider Drum Nameplate

Lightning Rider Drum Nameplate

Bob has signed and dated the nameplate, located inside the frame of the Lightning Rider Drum. The plate protects the drum's heart space containing small emerald chips embedded in the frame.

The Bottom

The Bottom

Bob used top quality thick hide for the drum head, which is stretched over the frame and tightly laced and nailed on the bottom while it dries and matures. Some nails remain.

Lightning Rider's Totem

Lightning Rider's Totem

Having interacted with Lightning Rider Drum's spirit over two years during shamanic journeys and in dreamtime, Bob learned that a wild horse was one of Lightning Rider's totems. He later located a metal sculptor who had produced an image similar to what he had envisioned during his time with the drum. This resulted in the commissioned pure copper sculpture you see now on Lightning Rider. Lightning totems were also included.

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