Ros Simons

Resting on the drum altar this Equinox evening something a little different 😍

She’s been welcomed with Autumn Equinox Incense.

Sometimes hides wait a long time to gestate before stepping forward to the birthing table.
This beautiful grey mare who has been resting with me for many moons, galloped into my dreams earlier this week and told me it was her time.

I don’t make many horse hide drums as I only work with those that come from horses that have died from natural causes (or very occasionally from much loved horses that have been euthanised at the end of their life with a guardian)

These horse drums are very precious to me - horse was the first spirit animal who stepped forward to work with me in my earliest journeys - they take me on deep journeys during their birthing and bring through strong messages as I connect them to their future guardians as they are born.

This 18” drum with the hair left on, is laced into an Oak frame. She is now resting in the dark to take her time to dry and fully re-birth herself into her new form.

I am curious to discover what Heart Stone she calls for to be finished and excited to hear her drum song.

Altar art work from
and

Yesterday under the Super Full Moon in Pisces which was also the Hazel Full Moon in my Celtic Tree Calendar these two lovely Reindeer drums were birthed.
In ceremony and with prayers to the animal spirits and tree dryads. The wood grain in the ash frame was just stunning when accentuated with its beeswax protection ❤️

Today they sat on my drum altar for a little while to receive the blessings of water and smoke before returning to the drying room to rest for the next week in the cool and dark. Here I will visit them daily as they dry with prayers and songs as they complete their rebirth into their new form as drum.

I love working with this Shaman Incense from .seer whilst birthing my drums it has a sweetness and clarity that is just wonderful to smudge myself and tools with - and it also blended beautifully with the Moon Essence from for the blessing that I offered today.

Due to a cancellation I have just one rare space available on this very special immersive retreat to birth your very own spirit drum, at Luna Beltane 2025 in Scotland.

You will spend three days and nights together, in strongly held ceremonial space undertaking a personal journey of transformation and creation; as you weave together wood, hide and sinew to create your very own medicine drum.

As part of the retreat we will visit the ancient site of Kilmartin Glen in Argyll and connect with the ancestors of these sacred Celtic Lands gathering their gifts into the belly of your drums.

We will work deeply with the elements and the elementals and offer prayers and thanks to spirits that make up the parts of your drums.

Is your drum calling you across the ether? Read more about this special retreat here
https://ros-simons.co.uk/drum-birthing-retreat/

We are having a wonderful time here at Heart of the Rose - our third festival in as many weeks and a beautiful completion to our late summer travelling season.

Feeling really welcomed here by the land and the trees and enjoying beautiful new meetings and renewed connections with many women.

Very excited to open our stall to the public at Medicine Festival.
We’ve driven 500 miles to be here and spent three days rigging and setting up and are now ready to welcome people to experience our drums and tuning forks alongside Red Kite Flutes!

Today’s drum was birthed in the energies of the New Moon in Leo - also the Holly New Moon in my Celtic Tree Journey.

A lovely 14”Reindeer Drum on a Birch wood frame - today she was welcomed and blessed withStag + Seer Shaman Incense - one that I often work with in the studio 😍

Looking forward to hearing her song when she is dry.

I was inspired by the nature all around me whilst sitting in the garden this morning to welcome in the energies of Lammas and Lughnasadh - and so this little dancing and travelling Reindeer drum has been birthed in ceremony today.

All those pops of red appearing across the land as the Rowan comes into fruit and the Maple leaves begin their slow turn to crimson.

Clouds of Meadowsweet cover the shoreline at the sea loch edge and large Red Damsel Flys dance across the waters.

I see all of these reflected in this small yet powerful drum ❤ as it now rests drying on my Lammas Altar surrounded by beautiful artwork from dear friends and blessed by the magical Lughnasad Incense from .
-Goose .Rose.artist Tati Dennehy

I’m getting so excited as preparations are fully underway for joining for her amazing retreat in a couple of weeks time. I’m offering a very unique drum channelled especially for this retreat and the womb shaman women who will be birthing their very own spirit drums as part of the nine day experience. The photos of the prototype I birthed at Beltane are deliberately out of focus to keep a bit of mystery for the attending women!
There are still a couple of places left on this deep dive into your womanhood held in the arms of Avalon - dm for more information.
Gorgeous Diane of will be assisting me and offering a wonderful Shakti Dance Session one evening too!

I've had a very relaxing couple of weeks in Devon with my beloved and have returned to work today to discover one of the lovely participants of my upcoming private drum birthing is now unable to come along.
Are you waiting to birth your sacred spirit drum with me, is your drum calling you right now?
I can offer this space on a first come first served basis.

Join us on the 17th and 18th May at the very special in Wales for two unique days weaving together wood and hide to create a very special ally for your life journey. Also included is an evening Sound Bath with the very talented Jenny!
You will need to find your own local accommodation for any nights you need to stay in the area.
Click here to access the private page on my site that gives you all the details https://ros-simons.co.uk/faraway-drum-birthing/

On this the Travellers Moon, the Snow Moon and the Rowan Full Moon in Virgo it felt like an appropriate time to share some wonderful travelling shamanic tools that I have been working on recently. Particularly given this moon is quite petite in itself (the smallest full moon of this year)

Over the last five months I have been birthing a series of Travelling Drums. Small 12' powerhouses each with their own unique sounds and energies ideal for carrying with you when away from home or living in tighter accommodation!

And also a series of Solstice Neck Rattles, birthed at the Winter Solstice and completed at Lunar Imbolc. These small jewellery sized rattles, can be worn daily as portable shamanic tools - I'm never without mine for clearing space and myself whenever I need. You'll have to be quick as they go like hotcakes 😆

Take a look at the shop on my website - they are all listed now - https://ros-simons.co.uk/shop/ although the drum tracks are still to be uploaded and I will get to that over the next couple of days.

Can’t wait for this fabulous weekend.

I will be sharing two of my experiential workshops during the event!
“Forking for Health” how to use tuning forks for self care and well-being and
“Call of the Drum” an opportunity to drum together and to journey with the elements.

I will also have a stall where you can try and buy my tuning forks and handmade ceremonial tools.

Scotlands Wild Medicine Festival - Skye Our first ever Wild Medicine Festival on the spectacular, misty island of Skye! ...

I’ve had a wonderful Lunar Imbolc day birthing these two beauties.

Each year (except by private request for a commission) I make just four of these ‘egg’ drums - two at Lunar Imbolc and two at the March Equinox as I really feel these seed energies coming through these unique shaped drums during this period of transition from winter and into spring.

So today I have been loving weaving together Birch wood and Reindeer hide in the energies of the Rowan moon, the new moon in Aquarius

This evening after a small initial blessing with Imbolc Incense from Star Child Glastonbury on my Imbolc altar they are now resting and drying out in the workshop awaiting their final touches.

As I received some gorgeous Reindeer antlers before Christmas that I’d been waiting for for months they will form the saddles (handles) of these two drums once they are dry.

Altar is decorated with personal made totems for the Rowan moon and the lovely artwork of -
Artwork of Suzi Edwards Goose - Inkwitch & Danielle Barlow

Yesterday saw the first full moon of 2024 and with it the arrival of these two Reindeer hide beauties.
As we have moved through this Birch moon of the Celtic Tree Calendar I have been called by the small travelling drums, creating a couple of 12" drums at the New moon and today a 12" and 14".
This full moon is also known as the Wolf Moon or Rising Moon and passes through the astrological sign of Leo.
The association with the Wolf comes from a time of year when our ancestors would have heard the wolves howling their hunger songs during the long winter nights and can be seen as a time to connect to your own inner wildness.
These drums carry the energies of this time calling in the energies of new exciting beginnings and connections through community, as well as deepening personal intuition and instinct.
I look forward to sharing more of them when they have dried and are have had their finishing touches completed!

The newly curated and updated "Journeys in the Sacred Grove" has just opened for enrolment with a Solstice special offer of £10 off making the entire self-guided 13 moon pilgrimage yours for just £87.
Use the code FBSOLSTICE when you enrol before 31st December.

You can read about it and sign up here https://ros-simons.co.uk/journeys-in-the-sacred-grove/

Solstice Blessings everyone. I thought I’d share with you my Solstice altar with beautiful artwork by and fragrant with the gorgeous Winter Solstice Incense.
Held by this powerful anchor two new Solstice Reindeer Drums have been birthed into the world over the 24hours of the longest night and shortest day. Birthed with the hides from my previous new moon post, they are now resting and slowly drying awaiting their finishing touches in the New Year. I was not expecting to dye either of these hides but the first drum had ideas of its own! Another birthing story for the tales of the drum road. Unexpected and unplanned and working with what was available in the workshop in that moment, it completely echoed the colours of the dusk sky as the sun set at the beginning of the longest night - the point of its birthing - perfect synchronicity 💙

Welcome to the Samhain Crystal Resonance Drums.

Today I’m sharing with you the finished drums that were featured in a previous post back at the end of October – you may remember the story of the bat we rescued and set free that day, after it flew into the window next to where I was preparing the materials for these drums.
The energy of the bat was woven into those two drums through symbols on teh frames when they were birthed at Samhain, and they were joined by a third larger drum, birthed at Luna Samhain two weeks later.

These three Samhain drums are created in a style that is unique to me.
This design came through many years ago, during my early steps on the drum road, when undertaking a journey with my drum guide. They are in part also inspired by the resonance drums of the Northern Shamans, but are unique, in that the resonators held between the frame and the hide are crystal tumble stones, rather than pieces of wood.

These drums are a perfect marriage of crystalline energies and drum song and have a wonderful resonant tone even in their smallest sizes. A synergy of more than their individual parts - each with different numbers of crystal resonators and different crystals.
I love their unusual shape and unique song, and the way the hide easily stretches, during its rebirthing, to incorporate and safely enclose the crystals within its new drum form.
The smaller drum has already called in its guardian, the other two will be up in the shop in the new year. https://ros-simons.co.uk/shop/

Sitting in prayer at my hearth this new moon eve.

This beautiful Reindeer hide arrived this week and I’ve been welcoming it in with smoke and blessings.
Tonight I have measured and cut with gratitude and prayer and next week on the Winter Solstice these pieces will come together and be birthed into two new drums.
For now they will rest feeling into their new forms - waiting for their rebirth.

Did you know I have another bespoke business supplying high quality sound instruments for personal and therapeutic use?

Jonathan and I created Sacred Notes together several years ago but we've not got around to sharing much about it with you here 😅
Here is our introductory post for our page here on facebook and you can also find us over on instagram https://www.instagram.com/sacred.notes/ we'd love it if you could follow us here and there if you can.

Also do take a look in our shop https://www.instagram.com/sacred.notes/ as there are lots of wonderful sound healing goodies there that would make great presents to support your friends and family's well being this winter.

We’d like to take a moment to introduce ourselves and our sound offerings to you all.

We are Ros and Jonathan Simons, and we are the founders of Sacred Notes an online and occasional face-to-face shop offering a variety of sound tools used for personal well-being, and also by professional therapists for sound healing.

We have created Sacred Notes to supply high quality sound instruments, for use by both individuals and professional sound therapists. Our range of products continues to expand and currently includes high quality tuning forks and chime bars manufactured for us and sound pipes that we make and tune ‘in house’ as well as a select range of synthetic Remo drums.

Ros Simons has been working for over 40 years firstly as a holistic therapist, originally qualified in bodywork, she expanded into other modalities as a Reiki Master Teacher, Crystal Therapist, NLP Practitioner and Hypnotherapist, Sound Therapist and Shamanic Practitioner.

Later Ros began to specialise in offering experiential workshops and retreats. Her love is to combine sound and the natural world and she has created a unique range of workshops and longer journeys that are offered both in person and online.

Ros also creates bespoke Shamanic Ceremonial Tools, including unique drums and rattles – you can find out more about Ros and her work on her personal website at www.ros-simons.co.uk

When Jonathan came into her life some twenty years ago, he also took his first steps on his healing journey through Reiki, later becoming a Reiki Master, NLP Practitioner and Hypnotherapist, Crystal and Sound Practitioner.

Together they choose only the highest quality tuning forks and chime bars and have been working closely with the same manufacturer for nearly a decade.

Beautiful bronze anodised sounds pipes are made and tuned by Jonathan; and the felt pouches for the tuning forks and fleece ‘socks’ for the pipes are made by Ros and also by another occasional member of our team – our dear friend Diane Oliver of Woodland Elements who provides unparalleled support at our exhibition events and behind the scenes.

Jonathan also creates all the bespoke handle additions both our Special Edition Range of tuning fork sets and for the very unique Tree and Elemental Notes.

We are lucky enough to now live on the beautiful West Coast of Scotland, eight miles from the nearest village – and post office! – where we caretake a small piece of land and are guardians to a trio of rescued felines.

In our spare time we can be found out and about in this magical landscape enjoying the natural world and sometimes sharing experiences of that with others through workshops and retreats.

You can find out more about Ros on her website or follow her on facebook Ros Simons or instagram https://www.instagram.com/ros.simons/

Jonathan is also a talented Wildlife Photographer you can see what he gets up to by following him on facebook Jon Simons Photography and instagram https://www.instagram.com/jonsimonsphotography/

I'm sharing a chapter from my drum road journey with you this evening.
Around every two years we have an occurrence of a true blue moon, this year it was across the 30th and 31st August. I honour these unique moons by creating just two Indigo dyed blue moon drums.

This year I took myself to a place very special to my heart, cared for by two dear women whom I have known for nearly 20 years, to create a series of very special drums in this energy. Here is the story of the two blue moon shamanic drums birthed at that time.

Red Deer hide - a by product from the culling of Scottish wild deer herds - was taken to the pool in the mountain stream. With care and caress they were rested into the waters overnight beneath the full supermoon's gaze. The next day they were then dyed with Indigo dye before being laced onto Ash wood frames and birthed in ceremonial space.

Many prayers were sung and offerings made, to the four legs, the standing ones and the stone people who have been woven into this pair of special drums.

Since then they have rested and are now looking for their forever guardians and you can find them listed in my shop with full details and a recording of each of their songs. https://ros-simons.co.uk/product-category/drums/

I’ve been working hard on the little things this week 😁 this collection of lovely neck rattles will be up on my website next Monday - exclusively to my subscribers for 48hrs and then open to everyone. (Look out for the link coming via an email tomorrow) My unique Ocean rattles are already up on the site now ❤️

Yesterday was all about preparing the materials for the two Blackthorn Full Moon drums that will birthed this weekend - across the lunar eclipse and full moon in Ta**us on 28th October.

The magic that weaves into these drums from beyond my imagination never cease to amaze me.
As I was attaching the crystal resonators onto the frames, holding in my heart the upcoming energies of the eclipse, the Blackthorn and Samhain, there was a loud bang at the window, I went outside thinking a bird had hit the glass to find a BAT on the path in the middle of the day??!!

With Jon’s help we rescued this little beauty who was stunned, shaking and panting and quite distressed. We brought it it inside and placed it in a box. Asking for the highest good, we both gave the bat some Reiki before putting the box on top of the boiler to warm up.
Half an hour later we looked in, thinking it might have passed on - but no it was well and very ready to fly. Outside it flew off its wings powering it more strongly with each beat.

A simple pencil representation was added to both the frames, nestled between skin and frame in the power place of the drum, invisible, but bringing in the energy of Bat and Rebirth into every song these drums will sound.

These two reindeer hide beauties have been resting gently but just had to be taken outside this evening to sit for a while beneath the owls calling in the trees here!

Both were birthed in ceremony on the Blackthorn New Moon in Libra and in the energies of this weekend’s Solar Eclipse.

I’m looking forward to adding the finishing touches when they are ready one at least awaits a Reindeer Antler handle as you can see!

What a beautiful sharing from one of the new Red Moon Drum Keepers - reflecting on the powerful experience she had birthing her Red Moon Drum 🙏🏻❤️

I am still buzzing after a truly wonderful Equinox weekend being drum doula for this amazing group of women who came to birth their Red Moon Drums with me.

We were blessed by all the elements over the three days but walking the labyrinth on frosty grass under a blue sky and the golden early morning sun was a real highlight! Particularly as a flock of migrating geese flew over us too!

These womb honouring drums are unique and carry totems and medicine reflecting an empowering our individual life journeys.
I am always astounded that beginning with the same raw materials produces such a beautiful variety of magical drum allies and how the deep bonds of sisterhood grow within the group as we labour together.

The next Red Moon Drum Birthing will be held at the Autumn Equinox in 2025 I have extended the retreat to be three full days for that year and bookings are now open with an early bird offer (The retreat can be paid for in instalments to help spread the cost for you)

You can read more about this unique retreat here https://ros-simons.co.uk/red-moon-drum-birthing-retreat/

I am so happy and soo excited to be setting the space for my first Red Moon Drum Birthing since I’ve I moved to Scotland.
This really is a powerful weekend of women’s magic and medicine birthing sacred womb drums and birthing our gifts out into the world.

This very unique and special retreat runs just once a year at Mabon - the Autumn Equinox - the next one which has some availability will be in September 2025 and is already booking up! So if you are interested secure your place now through my website. (Link below and in the bio)

I look forward to sharing some more photos after our weekend ❤️

https://ros-simons.co.uk/red-moon-drum-birthing-retreat/