Sacred Tools: Drum Creation Ceremony

Join your Sacred Community and create your 15″ hoop drum at Breitenbush Hot Springs. This intimate, three-day, two-night gathering is open to 16 participants and will be facilitated by Desirée “Jahdaa” Rudder, a Cherokee Nation citizen, shamanic practitioner, Sacred Tools artisan, and certified behavioral health clinician dedicated to helping you reconnect with your essence.

This retreat is an invitation to immerse yourself in the holistic healing of Breitenbush Hot Springs while co-creating a drum that serves as a life-affirming tool to support your soul’s journey. 

Reflective inquiries to consider:

• What qualities do you wish to ensoul into your Sacred Tool?
• What energy are you calling into this season of your life?
• How might you foster greater inclusion and compassion for yourself?
• What are you ready to affirm as fully healed?

Everything you need will be provided, including an appreciation ceremony for the life forces that offered themselves for your drum, all building materials (hide, frame, lacing), and the use of necessary tools. Care instructions will be provided after the retreat.

Registration closes on November 15, 2026.

What to Expect:

Retreat Schedule

Friday, December 4

• 6:00 PM: Dinner
• 7:30 PM: Opening ceremony, preparing waters, and soaking hides (River Yurt)

Saturday, December 5

• 8:00 AM: Group breakfast (Lodge)
• 9:30 AM: Meditation, sharing circle, and nature walk for drum stick materials (River Yurt)
• 1:00 PM: Group lunch (Lodge)
• 2:30 PM: Drum building ceremony and construction (River Yurt)
• 6:00 PM: Dinner on your own, soaking, and personal time

Sunday, December 6

• 8:00 AM: Breakfast on your own
• 9:00 AM: Drum stick creation and drum blessing (River Yurt)
• 11:00 AM: Closing circle 
• 12:00 PM: Retreat ends
• 1:00 PM: Optional group lunch to continue connection

Preparing for Departure

As our time together comes to a close, please kindly settle out of your accommodations by 11:00 AM. You are warmly invited to continue soaking in the healing energy of the land until 3:00 PM, or as your specific reservation allows, providing you a gentle space for integration before you head home.

About Your Facilitator

Desirée “Jahdaa” Rudder is a member of the Breitenbush community and the Healing Arts Team, dedicated to weaving traditional indigenous wisdom with contemporary healing. As a citizen of the Cherokee Nation (Western Band) and a student of diverse spiritual lineages, including 25 years of Buddhist practice and teachings from medicine people in the US, Jamaica, Mexico, and West Africa, Jahdaa views her work as a lifelong commitment to service. She founded Sacred Tools Academy and Happy Spirit Healing Arts as spaces to help others reconnect with their wholeness.

Her approach is grounded in over a decade of retreat leadership and a deep professional background in behavioral health and the healing arts. By integrating her training in Reiki, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Kundalini yoga with shamanic practices and community ritual, she supports individuals in navigating life transitions and healing from dis-eases such as addiction and other life-depleting patterns. Jahdaa is currently deepening her leadership skills through studies in Business Leadership with a focus on Gadugi principles of community well-being, and she remains a committed advocate for employee wellbeing and supporting the “worried well,” those working in helping professions who are experiencing burnout and compassion fatigue. 

Facilitation and Experience

For the past 12 years, Jahdaa has been honored to guide individuals and groups in the co-creation of sacred items such as drums, rattles, medicine bags, and dream catchers that serve as life-affirming tools. She believes creating your own Sacred Tool empowers you to remember your soul’s essence, your sacred center. Her work is informed by a varied professional path that spans from music management and radio production to clinical practice and celebrity massage therapy.

She brings this breadth of experience into every circle to create a container of psychological safety, helping participants return to the primal rhythm of the heartbeat and the source of Nature. Jahdaa sees herself as a witness and a facilitator, here to help you remember your own innate wisdom and creativity in a community space of support and nourishment.