The Drum Temple Experience: Durga's Spring Victory

🌹 The Drum Temple Experience: Durga's Spring Victory

Presented by Drum Temple

📍 Private Venue in St. Augustine

📅 March 28 & 29, 2026

A 3-part ceremonial drumming experience honoring ancient myth, feminine alchemy, and the first blossoms of spring.

Click here to chat with other attendees for carpooling, questions, and anything else.

**Please check the bottom of the page for all necessary parking, attire, and other info for the experience.

✨ Overview

In some terms, it is understood that Shakti is the feminine life force that creates form before we can define it.

To me, that means Shakti is magic. She is the rays of the sun, chaos in motion, the budding of life force before we see it bloom as a flower.

And in this particular case, Shakti is taking form as Goddess Durga, the fierce warrior and protector of the realms, destroyer of evil, and loving mother figure who defeats the half man, half buffalo demon Mahishasura after toppling his ego and inflated sense of false power.

We will also tap into the other side of Durga, Goddess Kali the Destroyer, as we clear the way for the new.

And it is to the beat of this reclamation that we shall drum.

So what is the Drum Temple Experience? It is a weekend of ritual and rhythmic experiences returning us to the primordial pulse within. It is a return to truth.

Through the drum, voice, and ancestral reconnection, we will flash our eyes wide open into our waking dreams.

In this particular iteration, we will follow the journey of Hindu Goddess Durga, the fierce warrior goddess, as we welcome in the true New Year and season of Spring. May we experience full bloom together as women who drum.

Join us for

• 3 Events: Saturday & Sunday 

• Drums: djembe rental available (must be reserved with ticket) (can also bring shamanic drum in addition to djembe)

• Tickets: Must be purchased in advance (not available day of event)

🌑 Saturday Night: Durga's Spring Victory

March 28 | Doors 5:00 | Ceremony promptly from 6:00-9pm

Women only

A 3-hour ceremony honoring healthy death and decay, and passage into spring and full bloom.. Through drumming, primal movement, ceremonial experiencing, and voice, we descend into our deepest inner workings to reclaim the wisdom and power hidden within.

Women's Primal Drumming Ceremonies begin with a ritual theater performance by a divine 13 women, move into cacao and meditation, activate through the voice, chanting, and intentional throat chakra exploration, and move into primal movement, wild woman drumming, and deep expression. At the end, we lay in deep opening and receive the messages that come through. Full opening and release.

We will:

• Descend into our shadow realms and shine them with prismatic LIGHT 

•  Express our primal selves through voice and movement

•  Alchemize shame/societal conditioning

•  Drum WILDLY & meditatively

•  Reclaim drumming as our BIRTHRIGHT

• Attire: Vibrant, jewel-toned, solid-colored flowy clothing to represent our multifaceted nature as women

• Doors: 5:00-6:00pm

• Bring: Water bottle, djembe or shamanic drum if you have one

**As mentioned above, this ceremony will be opened with a short ritual theater performance by the 13 Goddesses of the Garden. To Join the Goddesses in this performance opportunity, please purchase your event ticket first then read the information here and fill out the interest form. 

In this ceremony, we will be served cacao by Hannah Joy.

☀️ Sunday Afternoon: Rhythm Workshop & Integration

March 29 | 1:00–4:00pm

A spacious afternoon of rhythm learning, reflection, and integration. We will explore djembe technique, core rhythms, ancestral traditions, and how to carry drumming as medicine into daily life.

We will:

• Open the body with primordial pulse and tai chi

• Learn proper djembe technique

•  Learn how to integrate drumming into our daily lives for transformation

•  Integrate our ceremonial experience

•  Move through rhythmic embodiment of the cosmic pulse within

•  Learn breathing and movement techniques to complement

This is how we inherit the information and share it with our brothers and sisters to pass it on.

• Attire: No specific dress code

• Bring: Water bottle, djembe if you have one, journal

🌑 Sunday Evening: Trance Rhythm & Sound Journey

March 29 | 5:30-7:00pm

This ceremony is an intimate, dropped-in experience of slow, rippling activation, gentle movement, trance drumming by Katie, & sonic alchemy by Marissa Christine.

!!!We will drop into the realms of Ancient Egypt, Sumer, and Mesopotamia with the magic of trance rhythm, subtle arts, and intuitive mysticism.

We will:

    * Harness the power of the elements, our voice, and deep trance realms for healing and awareness

    * Integrate our ceremonial experience through healing sound

    * Entrain our nervous systems through ancient frame drumming

    * Drop into deep remembrance

Let us heal and integrate so we can move forward in our daily lives with purpose and intention.

• Attire: Ceremonial attire

• Bring: Water bottle

About the Facilitators

Katie Berns Lee

Katie Berns Lee is the founder of Drum Temple LLC, where she helps people open their hearts, ground in, and get in touch with their “truest and most primal selves” through deep activation, ancestral remembrance, and reconnection to the primordial heartbeat.

Through her music, Katie connects deeply to indigenous and ancient cultures from West Africa, Latin America, Mongolia, the Middle East, and folk America, and her mission encourages a return to original ways of feeling, expressing, and being as stewards of this Earth.

Katie believes that rhythm activates vibrational messages from our body and soul—so let us use it to communicate the messages coming through us during times of great responsibility and transformation.

Hannah Joy

Cacao Ceremonialist

Hannah is a guide through inner thresholds within sacred and somatic space. Emotion, energy and spirit moves freely and is experienced fully in my signature Soul Weaving ceremony. Rooted in Ceremonial Mothering and Ancestral Reclamation, I blend EFT/tapping, the medicine of Ixcacao, meditation, breathwork, intuitive movement, Ayurveda and more for support during deep healing and remembrance.

Together, we co-create a safe landing place to return home to the body, release inherited patterns, reclaim the truth flowing in blood and bones, and reconnect with the divine within.

Alethea Searcy

Featured Visionary Artist

Alethea Searcy is a watercolor and oil painter whose work honors the living patterns of the Earth—spirals, fractals, symmetry, and the fertile dance between order and wildness. Her paintings arise through an intuitive process that mirrors natural growth: images revealed through organic lines, layered pigments, and color gradients that echo rivers, roots, and cosmic forms. Each piece becomes a prayer of remembrance—an inner map encouraging viewers back into their own body wisdom and connection to the natural world.

Drawing since the age of two, Alethea’s early work lived in black and white until her studies at Valdosta State University opened the gates to color. For over twenty years, she has tended her art as both personal medicine and community offering, sharing it in healing spaces, festivals, and wellness events.

Her current collection lives within her therapeutic massage practice, where her art holds a gentle, restorative field. Alethea also leads community art collabarations that invite others to awaken their creative breath, access emotional alchemy, and rediscover the joy of intuitive expression.

Amanda El-Tobgy

Co-Producer and Ceremonialist

Amanda Soleil is a somatic practitioner, ritual space-holder, and embodied artist whose work centers presence, rhythm, and the intelligence of the body.

Drawing from over a decade of body-based healing, ceremonial practice, and creative inquiry, Amanda supports individuals in returning to direct experience through movement, voice, rhythm, and sensation. Her approach emphasizes nervous-system attunement, grounded leadership, and ritual as lived practice rather than symbolic interpretation.

She is especially devoted to practices that restore trust in the body, deepen relational presence, and invite simplicity after complexity.  Amanda offers embodiment sessions, seasonal ritual containers, and a living body of written and creative work devoted to nervous-system restoration, grief tending, feminine embodiment, and art as a pathway of integration.

FAQs

1. What is the difference between Saturday's ceremony and Sunday's workshop and sound journey?

   1. Saturday evening is the Women's Primal Drumming Ceremony. This experience opens with a short ritual theater performance by 13 divine goddesses, and the entire evening is themed after Goddess Durga's Spring Victory. This is a ceremony, not a class or workshop. We will be embodying the essence of the myth of Lilith, moving through ancient song and dance, and activating with the instructions of the ancients.

   2. Sunday day is a rhythmic embodiment workshop that helps us return to our primordial heartbeat through meditative drumming, proper djembe technique, and inner pulse. This will be for men and women as it is a lighter, more playful class. We will learn through flow and ceremony, but in a different way than the Saturday evening experience. This is how we learn to incorporate rhythm into our daily lives.

   3. Sunday evening is the integration for this experience. We will gently activate in trance state through primordial rhythm played by Katie, then we lay down to receive from Katie and Marissa. This is how we seal the deal into our DNA.

2. Do I need to know how to drum?

   1. No experience is necessary. This experience is meant to be felt.

3. What if I don't have a djembe drum?

   1. Make sure to choose the ticket with the djembe drum rental.

4. What should I wear each day?

   1. Saturday evening we ask that the women wear

   2. Sunday is a more casual day. Wear whatever you feel comfortable in, even if that is still ceremonial attire!

5. Is this only for women?

   a. Yes. This experience is only for women due to the intimate and ritualistic nature of this and the energies we are calling upon.

   
   

6. What do I need to bring?

   1. Please bring water and a snack for both days.

   
   

7. Will there be food and drink?

   1. We will have a food vendor after Saturday's ceremony and between Sunday's experiences.

Here's what you need to know to be fully prepped for the experience:

1.  Saturday Night: You are welcome to start arriving at 5:00. We ask that you arrive by 6 so we have time to get everyone checked in. Ceremony begins promptly at 6:00.

    

   Weather permitting, we will have everyone gather in the outdoor space before the ceremony begins. The grounds are beautiful and there are places to sit as well as hammocks. Since autumn has finally arrived, make sure to have a warm layer.

2. Please wear ceremonial attire, vibrant solid colors (black also works), and gold jewelry if you have.

3. Sunday Day: The workshop is 1-4. You are welcome to come a few minutes before as this is a more casual experience. Wear comfortable, casual clothing.

    

   4. Sunday Evening: The activation and sound journey is 5:30-7. If you were at the workshop, you can stay and relax or go to get a snack. Please arrive early if you did not attend the earlier workshop. We begin PROMPTLY at 5:30. Wear comfortable, casual, or ceremonial clothing based on what you desire.

DETAILS FOR SAT & SUN:

5. Please bring a bottle of water, any necessary changes of clothes, a layer of warmth in case you want to go outside.

For the Sunday evening sound journey, also bring a yoga mat to lay on and blanket if you’d like an extra layer.

If you’re staying for both Sunday events, we highly recommend a  snack for between events. You will get hungry with all this drumming!

6.  Parking: TBA

7. Carpool: Please check the carpool thread in case you might be able to help any sisters in need of a ride. Here is the link.

8. Ritual Performance Goddesses: Be sure to arrive a few minutes before 1. We only have from 1-2pm for rehearsal and have to make sure everything is shared.

We are beyond excited to greet and hold you through this experience. Big love and a warm hug till we see you!

See you in ceremony,

Katie, Hannah, Amanda, & Alethea