1,151 152 27MB
English Pages 320 [324]
,
OF WATER AND THE SPIRIT RITUAL, MAGIC,
AND INITIATION LIFE
IN
THE
OF AN AFRICAN SHAMAN "Malidoma Some's
vision
0? °"jB encompasses two worlds and weaves the lessons
of both
into a fine tapestry."
Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D.
author of
WOMEN WHO RUN
WITH THE WOLVES and
THE GIFT OF STORY
MALIDOMA PATRICE SOME
Digitized by the Internet Archive in
2013
http://archive.org/details/ofwaterspiritritOOsome
Of Water and
Praise for
"Some
stands
on the threshold between the
and the modern world of clearly into the
facts
and
world of magic and living
tribal
linear logic.
wounds of these opposing
and sincerity of the writing
the Spirit
reveals the
He
ritual
writes as a diviner, seeing
The knowledge, compassion broken heart in each world and insists on realms.
mutual healing and understanding."
—Michael Meade, author of Men and
"Inspirational
the
and deeply moving
human need
lives.
new
.
.
.
[this]
to 'be a friend to strangers
Malidoma reminds
We
for the old.
us that
we cannot
must learn
to
the
Water of Life
autobiography powerfully
illustrates
and enemies' in our contemporary
sacrifice the old for the
new; or the
walk the 'braided' way and bridge different
worlds without losing our ancestral roots and spiritual integrity."
—Angeles
Arrien, author of The Four-Fold
"This vivid autobiography takes readers into spirits,
walking dead people, force
fields,
a
Way and
Signs of Life
world of black magic, palpable
transdimensional journeys
—
a
world
as
strange as anything in imaginative fiction."
—
Publishers Weekly
Reading Malidoma Patrice Some's story we experience the working of a myth authentically and fully lived. Westerners can thank him for bringing to us his Africa sound vision. Once you experience his story you cannot see your world ever again in the same way." Marion Woodman, Jungian Analyst "Unforgettable.
.
.
.
.
.
.
—
"Some walks
in
two worlds, and
adventures in both. belly of African
ordeals of his
—
A
this
is
a rousing
account of
his
scholar as well as a shaman, he takes his readers into the
wisdom, providing
own
autobiography
a rare
account of divination,
ritual,
and the
initiation."
Stanley Krippner, Ph.D, Professor of Psychology, Saybrook Institute
co-author of Personal Mythology and The
Spiritual
Dimensions of Healing
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Malidoma
Patrice
Some, born
in
Upper
Volta
(now
Burkina Faso), West Africa, is initiated in the ancestral traditions of his tribe, and is a medicine man and diviner in the Dagara culture. He holds three masters degrees and two doctorates from the Sorbonne and Brandeis University, and has taught at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is also the author of Ritual: Power, Healing and Community. He currently devotes himself to speaking and, with his wife, Sobonfu, conducting intensive workshops throughout the United States. They live in Oakland, California.
Magic, and Initiation the Life of an African Shaman
Ritual, in
MXLIDOMA PXTWCG SOM£ Al
PENGUIN COMPASS Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, Penguin Group (Canada), 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Published by the Penguin
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20 Copyright
© Malidoma Patrice Some,
1994
All rights reserved
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGUED THE HARDCOVER AS FOLLOWS: Some, Malidoma
Of water
and the
spirit: ritual,
Patrice, date
magic, and initiation in the
shaman/Malidoma
Patrice
life
of an African
Some.
cm.
p.
"A Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam book." ISBN 0-87477-762-3 (he.)
ISBN0 1.
3.
Shamans
14 01.9496 7 (pbk.)
Dagari —Biography. —Burkina Faso—Biography. Dagari People) — Dagari people) —Rites and ceremonies.
Some, Malidoma
5.
Patrice, date.
(African people)
2.
Religion.
(African
4.
(African
I.
DT555.45.D35S667
Title.
1994
960'.049635'0092—>
peated brutality. There came a time when I rebelled
God. In spite of all my prayers for him to ( come and help me, nothing happened. As I grew / older, I found it more and more difficult to rely on