Cacao Ceremony with Maestro Manuel Rufino and Dream Seed in Celebration of Transcendental Love
Love is in the Air: A Special Valentine's Day Cacao Ceremony with Maestro Manuel Rufino and Dream Seed in Celebration of Transcendental Love - Open to All.
Amhráin as Gaeilge, Traditional Irish Folk songs with AILÍSE
In this online class, you will get the opportunity to learn about the key elements of Irish singing from both the sean nós and traditional folk style. You will be introduced to a few songs as Gaeilge (in Irish) with some notes about the stories within the songs, the history of them as well as translations and phonetics. No experience required!
Anahata Sessions
We will gather while still in the luminous halo of the supercharged New Moon in Aquarius—a powerful portal for visioning, innovation, and renewal. Across the world, cultures are honoring this moment of transition, from the Mayan Wayeb (New Year) to the Chinese New Year, alongside the regenerative energy of this New Moon solar eclipse. Together, these converging cycles invite us to pause, reflect, and consciously set intentions for what we wish to bring into our lives, as we shift from the me to the we.
World Rhythm, Song and Drumming, A 7-Hour Workshop presented by the Dream Seed Sound Healer Training Program
We will explore the complex and creative expressions of world percussion in accompaniment with drums, group singing, chanting, vocalization, and dance.
Full Moon Meditation
This Pisces season we connect with the energy of the Full Moon in Virgo. A special time of connecting to how we balance the principles of science (Virgo) and spirituality (Pisces) in our lives. Under the Virgo moon we may become very analytical of our emotions, giving us the opportunity to see why we react to things rather than being ruled by our reactions. This full moon gives us the opportunity to examine our beliefs, and realign with our spiritual truths.
African Drum Circle with Abdoul Doumbia, Mali presented by Sounds of Liberation
We welcome special guest and traditional Djembe player, Abdoul Doumbia. In this month’s Sounds of Liberation we will focus on connecting to our rhythm and to the traditional medicine of the Djembe and other drums.
Prayer Carriers - Women's Day Celebration
Prayer Carriers is a call to re-ignite this sacred ritual, bringing together women from all walks of life to share, to pray, to dream, and to find the healing prayers and actions that guide us all towards a more natural existence.
Sonic Acupuncture: Instruments as Healing Tools - A 7-Hour Workshop presented by the Dream Seed Sound Healer Training Program
Using ancient techniques, participants will learn how to apply a variety of instruments: flutes, rattles, chakapas, tuning forks, and many others to specific regions of a listener’s body to activate deep catharsis.
Spring Equinox Celebration - SAVE THE DATE!
Stay tuned for more details and save the date for our Spring Equinox Celebration in honor of our 15 year anniversary!
ARA Healing Arts School Year Long Apprenticeship & Launch
Golden Drum is pleased to announce the launch of ARA Healing Arts School, guided by community members Brooke Hamre Gillespie and Nicole Adriana Casanova. ARA Healing Arts honors and integrates the sacred traditions of humanity that support awakening, consciousness, and holistic healing. Brooke and Nicole bring over twenty years each of dedicated study and practice in traditional healing arts and spiritual lineages.
Sound and the Elements: A 5-Hour Workshop presented by the Dream Seed Sound Healer Training Program
Dive deep into the elemental healing expression of sound. This course will guide participants on how to structure a sound bath in relation to the medicine wheel and the four elements: air, fire water, and earth. Our intention is to teach sound practitioners how to create a ceremonial sound journey that draws upon the invocation of the elemental forces, weaving sonic expression into a cohesive narrative, guiding listeners towards a state of peace and harmony. We draw upon teachings passed directly to us by elders from various indigenous traditions, whose healing practices are focused on sound and music. We will also explore constructing a ceremonial four elements altar for healing work. This is a great course to understand the mythology of sound in ceremony and how modern day practitioners can work with these teachings in their own work.
Full Moon Meditation
The astrological new year is upon us! Aries season marks the beginning of the astrological calendar with the energy of the spring equinox. This is a time of tending to the soil and preparing to plant the seeds for the year.
Sound Healing Practitioner's Weekend: A 2-Day Retreat in the Catskills presented by the Dream Seed Sound Healer Training Program
Dive deep into the elemental healing expression of sound. This course will guide participants on how to structure a sound bath in relation to the medicine wheel and the four elements: air, fire water, and earth. Our intention is to teach sound practitioners how to create a ceremonial sound journey that draws upon the invocation of the elemental forces, weaving sonic expression into a cohesive narrative, guiding listeners towards a state of peace and harmony. We draw upon teachings passed directly to us by elders from various indigenous traditions, whose healing practices are focused on sound and music. We will also explore constructing a ceremonial four elements altar for healing work. This is a great course to understand the mythology of sound in ceremony and how modern day practitioners can work with these teachings in their own work.
Mayan Abdominal Massage Course: Balance for the Woman's Womb
From the perspective of the Mayan people, a woman's body has been considered a sacred temple, whose value lies not in its superficial appearance, but in its very essence. The connection that exists between a woman and her inner self is achieved through self-love and the support of the medicine women who are born with the mission of caring for us, helping us reconnect with our bodies, and guiding us.
Gathering of Wisdom and Sacred Community: Welcoming Maestro Domingo Días Porta and Maria Guadalupe Abundis de Días to Golden Drum
With gratitude and reverence, we welcome Maestro Domingo Días Porta and Maria Guadalupe Abundis de Días to North America for a special time of shared presence and learning.
This gathering is an invitation into sacred community — a space where wisdom is not delivered from a stage, but woven through dialogue, listening, and sincere exchange. Together, we will reflect on what it means to cultivate peace and community as a living practice.
The heart of this event lies in participation. Your questions and interactions will help shape our time together. What emerges will arise from the requests of the participants — creating space for meaningful reflection, practical insight, and deeper understanding.
May this be a time of connection, humility, and shared discovery. We invite you to join us in this circle of learning.
Suggested exchange $25; no one turned away for lack of funds.
MAESTRO DOMINGO DÍAS PORTA
The Venerable Sat Arhat, T.A-O Domingo Días Porta (Caracas, Venezuela, 18.3.1930). Graduate in Educational Sciences (Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela, 1965). Previously he studied Sociology, Anthropology, and Economics at the Universidad Central de Venezuela. He began his esoteric studies at the age of 18, and in 1950 he entered in Caracas the Gran Fraternidad Universal as a disciple of M. S. Maestre Dr. Serge Raynaud de la Ferriére and Elder Brother Dr. José Manuel Estrada.
In 1951 the Maestre appointed him Secretary General of the GFU. In 1955 he received the first Degree of Royal Initiation (Getuls, Novice). From 1954 to 1957 he resided in the Ashram of El Limón as a resident, under the guidance of the Elder Ismael Pacheco and the Mother of the Ashram, Zoila Arévalo de Pacheco, both Getuls. They were the only ones who coexisted with the Maestre SRF in that Ashram.
By direct designation of M.S. Maestre, Dr. Serge Raynaud de la Ferriére, since 1957 he has been Director of the Department of Ashrams and of the Esoteric Initiatic Service, and held the position of “Elder of the Ashram” at the El Limón Ashram in Venezuela (1957–1960). In 1957 he received the 2nd Degree, and in 1961, studying at ULA, Mérida, the 3rd Degree, both by designation of Maestre de la Ferriére.
The GFU has developed in different places under his guidance. Together with his family, he has founded ashrams in Venezuela, Mexico, and Peru in Ollantaytambo (town of the Sacred Valley of the Incas). He prepared the Kumbha Mela of 1986, as he did in that of 1974. In 1971 he received the 4th Degree of Guru, 1976, 5th Degree, and 1983, 6th Degree, Sat-Arhat, by designation of Master José Manuel Estrada V. Following the traditional Initiatic discipline, he combined his dedication to the Work and Mission of Maestre Avatar SRF with professional work; moreover, previously he worked as an insurance agent, accountant, bank employee, airline employee, in the Venezuelan Social Security, translator in the Faculty of Economics (ULA), and university professor from 1965 to 1971, when he resigned from all paid work upon receiving the 4th Degree, for his total dedication to the mission work for the New Era. He was president of the III World Conference for the Unity of Man, in Mexico, in 1975.
In 1975–76 he was the first to carry the Message of the Avatar for the Age of Aquarius to ten European countries, including the USSR, accompanied by Brothers Carlos Moisés Michán Amiga, Shaya Michán, Margarita Chávez, and Graciela Parada, founding working groups in Madrid, Murcia, Granada, and in Italy.
In 1977 he founded the Commonwealth of Solar Indian America (MAIS), a movement of cultural rapprochement with the traditions and native peoples of the continent. He has founded spiritual communities or ashrams, in Venezuela (Mérida and El Barquesí in Valera); in Peru, the Inti Ayllu; in Mexico: the Teopantli Kalpulli (Guadalajara), the Tonatiuh Meztli (Ensenada), that of Tepic, Nayarit, and the Maya Initiatic Monastery, M.I.M. (Zirahuén, Michoacán).
In 1998 he founded Action for World Unity (AUM), an international cultural integration movement to promote a culture of peace through dialogue, personal transformation, exchange of knowledge, and joint participation in activities and programs, both with individuals and groups. He has carried out cultural and spiritual activities in almost all countries of the Americas, in ten European countries, and Israel. Married, with children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, he currently resides in Mérida, Venezuela, together with his wife, María Guadalupe Abundis de Días, 3rd Dignity (Gelong).
In 1998 he established the Sovereign Solar Order of Chichen Itzá (SOSCI), transmitter of universal Ancestral Knowledge, especially of Amerikua, the Ancestral America. In 2001 he opened the Maya Initiatic Monastery (MIM) in Michoacán, Mexico, to train social educators. From 2010 to 2024 he has been Superior of SOSCI and President of The H. Academy of Ancestral Knowledge (LHASA), with the mission of restoring the Initiatic Colleges of the Aerosomic Scale of Major Initiation, Ascending Path, following the Somatic Scale, Minor Initiation, Horizontal Path, publicly opened at the beginning of the Age of Aquarius in 1948 by M. S. Maestre Dr. S. R. de la Ferriére, Avatar of the Age.
In 2023 he opened the Workshop “Toward a New Humanity” to prepare candidates to present themselves before the Portal of the Aerosomic Scale. In 2024 he has decided to open the Universal Initiatic College C.I.U. in South America, to serve the brotherhood on that continent, so neglected by those of the North; he will attend exclusively to this College, withdrawing from other public and internal activities, which he delegates to his disciples, due to his advanced age.
MARÍA GUADALUPE ABUNDIS DE DÍAZ (LUPITA)
MarÍa Guadalupe Abundis De Días has dedicated her life to the Sacred Initiatic Tradition for her own spiritual and human evolution and for the benefit of those who surround her. She graduated with a Masters Degree in primary education in 1982 and she entered the Initiatic path and became a student in the lineage of Dr. Serge Raynaud De La Ferriere In 1998. She currently works with many women's groups and has helped organize many women's gatherings at both the national and international levels, having lived in the United States, Mexico, and Venezuela. Lupita is a member of “Insignias Aztecas”, a non-profit organization promoting and preserving the tradition and teachings of the Aztec dance.
She has participated at the Shoshone-Kumiai Ghost Dance in Escondido, California and has participated in the “Magos de La Tierra” seminar with Jose Arguelles in Chile and Portland, Oregon. Lupita is currently a member of S.O.S.C.H.I. (Sovereign Solar Order of Chichen Itza), an organization promoting peace and the spiritual development of individuals for the benefit of all humanity and L.H.A.S.S.A. (the Academy of Ancestral Wisdom).
Prayer Carriers - Heart of the Earth
Prayer Carriers is a call to re-ignite this sacred ritual, bringing together women from all walks of life to share, to pray, to dream, and to find the healing prayers and actions that guide us all towards a more natural existence.
Prayer Carriers - Women’s Cacao Circle
Prayer Carriers is a call to re-ignite this sacred ritual, bringing together women from all walks of life to share, to pray, to dream, and to find the healing prayers and actions that guide us all towards a more natural existence.
Prayer Carriers - Women’s Cacao Ceremony
Transcendence: An Invitation to be Guided by Love
Prayer Carriers is a call to re-ignite this sacred ritual, bringing together women from all walks of life to share, to pray, to dream, and to find the healing prayers and actions that guide us all towards a more natural existence.
Doña Leova: Medicine + Healing in the Mexican Tradition
As a part of Golden Drum’s 15 year anniversary celebrations, we welcome Doña Leova, a healer and community leader from the Nahuatl Indian Tradition of Mexico.
African Drum Circle with Abdoul Doumbia, Mali presented by Sounds of Liberation
Together we will cultivate the consciousness of joy, love, gratitude, dignity and peace in ourselves to radiate throughout the world.
Full Moon Meditation
This Aquarius Season we align with the energy of innovation. Aquarius is an air sign yet it is symbolized by the water-bearer. The water-bear pours down to all the wisdom, knowledge, and visions to elevate the collective consciousness. With the moon in opposition to the sun at this time in the sign of Leo, we reflect on how we as individuals show up in the collective. This is a time to focus on cultivating our authenticity, creative self-expression, and releasing old patterns to embrace your unique role within the larger community.
Anahata Sessions
Across many wisdom traditions, there is a shared belief that humanity’s origins arise in the Pleiades. On this day, the Pleiades conjunct the Moon, offering a window into benevolent cosmic energies that support collective healing and awakening. We will gather in a sacred movement practice to embody and connect with our shared prayer for peace. We will close the dance practice with a Pleiadian Lightwork collective meditation accompanied by live sound.
CANCELED * Annual Cacao Ceremony In Honor of Dr. Serge Raynaud de La Ferrière with Maestro Manuel Rufino
With gratitude in our hearts and minds for all of humanity's great teachers, those who came to share transcendent and universal teachings and become catalysts for awakening, we will share in wisdom, sound, and meditation!
Prayer Carriers - Women’s Cacao Ceremony
This January, under the steady and wise influence of Capricorn, we’ll gather in circle with sacred cacao, held in the warmth of sisterhood. Through prayer and shared presence, we’ll invite courage, strength, and grounded determination into the year ahead - so that our steps in 2026 may be renewed, empowered, and peacefully aligned with our truth.
Afro-Roots Rhythm & Song with Kevin Nathaniel - Presented by the Dream Seed Sound Healer Training Program
Tap into the African music tradition, filled with inspirational songs, sounds and rhythms that have spread across the globe and influenced many other genres of music. Kevin’s approach to teaching is an experiential, collaborative, and group experience where participants will literally be feeling, moving, and singing the rhythms they are learning -- the class is a ritual in itself.
Full Moon Meditation
Align your energy with the powerful influence of the Capricorn season and the Cancer full moon. This is a beautiful time to ground in the structured and focused energy of the Capricorn season under the nurturing and intuitive Cancer full moon.
Sounds of Liberation
Together we will cultivate the consciousness of joy, love, gratitude, dignity and peace in ourselves to radiate throughout the world.
Dream Seed x Anahata Sessions
Dream Seed invites you for an immersive evening of healing and transformation in a collaboration with Anahata Sessions. Participants will create intentions for the coming New Year, we will have a candle meditation and vision practice to begin our sonic journey with Dream Seed, and Dream Seed will provide transcendental sound while participants receive personal healing, designed to foster deep relaxation, expand consciousness, and support personal growth and renewal.
Winter Solstice Cacao Ceremony
Honor and celebrate the shortest day and longest night of the year with song, dance, prayer, and community!
Wind Instruments For Sound Healers, A 5-Hour Workshop presented by the Dream Seed Sound Healer Training Program
Learn to play many different types of healing wind instruments including flutes, jaw harps, om wands, the didgeridoo, and the harmonica. The majority of the wind instruments used in this workshop are of an intuitive nature so no prior music experience is necessary to attend this program.
Prayer Carriers - Forgiveness Prayer
You are lovingly invited to gather in a sacred circle on the day of 8 Ajmak, a potent moment to honor the spirit of forgiveness, restore harmony in our relationships, and offer prayers for healing across time and lineage. Ajmak reminds us that to err is human - and to forgive is divine. It is the thread that weaves compassion through our stories, allowing us to release burdens and walk forward with grace.
MESA: Marketplace of Ethically Sourced Arts - Pop-Up Market
Immerse yourself in the beauty and power of traditional indigenous ceremonial arts, jewelry, clothing, tapestries, rare sound healing instruments, herbal apothecary and wild-handcrafted products. M.E.S.A features local artisans as well as ethically sourced, and fair-traded indigenous arts & gifts.
Full Moon Meditation (Sagittarius/Gemini Full Moon)
This moon invites us to reflect upon and recommit to our spiritual learning. This event is an opportunity to practice that learning and orient ourselves towards higher levels of communication with the divine and spiritual aspects of life.
Sounds of Liberation
Together we will cultivate the consciousness of joy, love, gratitude, dignity and peace in ourselves to radiate throughout the world.
Freeing the Voice, An 8-Hour Workshop presented by the Dream Seed Sound Healer Training Program
In this workshop we will guide participants on how to use the medicine of their voice through singing, chanting, mantra, toning, overtone vocalizations, and other vocal techniques, with and without instrumental accompaniment.
The Mayan Worldview: Introduction to the Mayan Calendar with Nana Marina Cruz
The Tzolk’in, the central Mayan calendar wheel, cycles through 20 days repeated 13 times, totaling 260 days—matching human gestation. Its 20 nawales represent fingers and toes, and 13 tones correspond to major joints. Each Ha'ab year (365 days) sees a new nawal rule.
Prayer Carriers - Remembering the Sacred Ways
As part of Golden Drum’s 15-Year Anniversary, Prayer Carriers is deeply honored to welcome and present esteemed elders from the Haudenosaunee and Lakota traditions. These wisdom keepers will share sacred stories, ancestral experiences, and the ceremonial practices their traditions use to honor the cycles of life.
15 Year Anniversary Celebration + Cacao Ceremony
This November 14th and 15th we celebrate 15 years since the Golden Drum first opened its doors to New York. Born from a community vision that was guided by our elder, Maestro Manuel Rufino, we gathered collectively to create an oasis where indigenous elders and their wisdom can unite together.
15 Year Anniversary Opening Ceremony: Wisdom Keepers & Elder Council + Concert
This November 14th and 15th we celebrate 15 years since the Golden Drum first opened its doors to New York. Born from a community vision that was guided by our elder, Maestro Manuel Rufino, we gathered collectively to create an oasis where indigenous elders and their wisdom can unite together.
Heart of the Earth Drum Making Ceremony
The drum is a sacred instrument that speaks a universal language. Its rhythmic heartbeat is at the center of ceremonies held by people all over the world. The shamanic drum is used to communicate with the Spirit and to connect our hearts with the heartbeat of the Earth. It is a powerful medicine that heals the body, heart, mind, and spirit. In this workshop, we will come together in a sacred space to create our own ceremonial hand drum and learn a hand drum-tying technique.
Dream Seed: A Journey Through Sound
Dream Seed is a sound healing ensemble created by members of Golden Drum, Sacred Arts Research Foundation, and Didge Project. Shamanic chanting, mantras, overtone singing, Native American songs, indigenous music, didgeridoos, crystal singing bowls, bells, gongs, harmoniums, tuning forks and other overtone-emitting instruments are used to create an environment conducive to deep relaxation and inward investigation.
Tobacco & Massage with Tania Montahuano Ushigua (Sapara Nation)
Join Tania for a unique opportunity to experience these traditional healing practices and to learn directly from a keeper of the living tradition from the Sapara Nation.
Full Moon Meditation (Scorpio/Taurus Full Moon)
Join us to take a moment to honor your growth, soften into your becoming, and be present the transformations you may be moving through with an astrological conversation, sound bath and guided meditation, integration circle and more.
Day of the Ancestors Cacao Ceremony with Dream Seed and Golden Drum
Come and harmonize with your ancestors, heal old relationships and make peace with the ones that came before us. Our annual Day of the Ancestors ceremony is an opportunity to forget, forgive, and let go. Together we will build a beautiful flower mandala altar celebrating those that came before us, and we will pray with the sacred medicine of cacao and allow the transcendent music of Dream Seed and the Golden Drum community to carry us into our hearts.
Sacred Song School Presents: Heartsongs with Guitar featuring Shola & Brooke
In celebration of Golden Drum’s 15 year anniversary, Shola & Brooke dive into their favorite repertoire of songs for this special 3 hour workshop! Experience the unifying force of a group singing and playing guitar together. This class is available In-person and on zoom! 100% of the proceeds will be donated to support fundraising efforts of our 501-c3 Non-Profit Organization, M.A.I.S.C
Sounds of Liberation
Together we will cultivate the consciousness of joy, love, gratitude, dignity and peace in ourselves to radiate throughout the world.
New Moon Meditation (Libra Season)
Join us in mediation as we discuss more about the astrology of this time, enter a sound bath and guided mediation, and more to connect with, realign and harmonize our inner and external worlds.