The Drum Circle is facilitated by Shokti - a long term AIDS survivor, Shokti grew up in Suffolk, studied history at Cambridge University and rushed to London looking for love after coming out in 1986. In 1995 as his health deteriorated he experienced a shamanic awakening, discovering the well hidden association between queerness and the spirit world, then after recovering from AIDS (which he calls his Accelerated Individual Discovery of Spirit), going on to seek others exploring that - at Queer Pagan Camp, Radical Faerie sanctuaries and Edward Carpenter Community retreats. He is one of the founders of Folleterre Rad Fae sanctuary in France, of the AlbionFaerie community and of Queer Spirit Festival. He also writes about the spiritual history of queerness on his blog sites.
The Queer Spirit Drum Circle, hosted by London's clan of Radical Faeries, has been meeting since 2005, firstly in a squatted Victorian maternity hospital in Stockwell, and since 2012 at the Wheatsheaf Hall in Vauxhall. We gather for an evening of drumming, dancing and socialising at full moon - this is one of the few long-running LGBTQ+ drum circles in the world and is a portal of connection to Rad Fae gatherings in UK and abroad, and to Queer Spirit Festival, a 5 day camping festival where we celebrate nature and the natural spirituality, creativity and healing gifts of LGBTQ+ people. The next festival will be August 2026 at Bridwell Park in Devon.
Around the world gender fluidity and homosexuality have, since ancient times, been associated with magic, priestcraft, shamanism, divination, ritual – especially with ecstatic ritual that lifts the human mind into states of union with spirit/higher consciousness. This is the part of our history that the modern Gay Liberation movement has not yet embraced – through this journey of discovery, at Radical Faerie gatherings, at Queer Spirit Festival and associated retreats, and at the Full Moon Drum Circles we reclaim and remember this aspect of who we are. At the Faerie Drum Circle the queer warriors, scouts, shamans and flute players gather.
- Any links to websites/social media for lead/group
queerspirit.net
albionfaeries.org.uk
Shokti – Medium
rainbow messenger – shokti on the awakening