The Convergence drummers are just one of our drumming groups at Beltane Fire Festival who contribute to the massive wall of rhythm that resounds around Calton Hill. We serve as a representation of the Sun, standing as a symbol of the light and heat it brings in Summer and the energy it provides so that life may flourish. We pay tribute to its cycle, embodying its distant, low, and dark Winter characteristics and exploring its subsequent journey into its strong, bright Summer form. With each cycle we acknowledge the elliptic movement of the Earth around the Sun, a motion as timeless to us as the mountains and the sea are key to our seasonal celebrations.

We also serve as an embodiment of the Earth’s core. It is our planet’s natural energy source, its heat and magnetic engine, without which tectonic cycles would not occur, mountains would not build, and our world’s chemistry would fall out of balance. Our planet would not host life without it.

We have the Earth’s core to thank for the geomagnetic field which surrounds us, whose presence protects us from the Sun’s intense power. The forces of the Earth and the Sun converge to such a point of equilibrium that we can exist. We acknowledge this, and we seek to share this acknowledgement.

We come together to pass on our ancient, esoteric understanding of the mysteries and motions of the Earth and the stars through our drumming and voices. Our rhythms reflect the complexities of the world we know, the thundering power of earthquakes, the intricacies of starlit skies and the perfect, improbable convergence of all the aspects of our universe which allow us to exist. Eager anticipation of Summer drives our rhythms, but we bring with us a recognition and memory of all of the world’s past cycles and seasons, and an appreciation for their continuation in times to come.

Featured image by Martin McCarthy for Beltane Fire Society. All rights reserved.