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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Soul expanding,
By Christine Bearse (Vernon, CT USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ritual: Power, Healing and Community (Compass) (Paperback)
I first read Of Water and Spirit,5 years ago, and was moved and totally absorbed by Malidoma's account of his most amazing life journey. And I just recently read his third book, The Healing Wisdom Of Africa, and now this, his second book.There are similarities you will find in this book and The Healing Wisdom Of Africa. But this book, has many more personal accounts of his experiences with Ritual,and with his Grandfather, a powerful influence in his life. He gives a very in depth description of the Death ritual, which caused me to reflect upon the funerals I have gone to, and the vast difference. I found myself wanting to attend a Death ritual,with the Dagara, if only to participate in the togetherness of such a moving and human ceremony. He shares with us the depth and detail of a culture that has so much to share and to teach everyone. I for one, feel blessed to have been exposed to such wisdom and beauty through Malidomas writings.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Healing and Community - the power of loyalty and bonding,
By JB (New York United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ritual: Power, Healing and Community (Compass) (Paperback)
I cannot stop reading Malidoma Patrice Some's accounts of his life and the lives of the Dagara people of Burkina Faso. The strong linkages between community, spirit, rituals, and individual growth are compelling and very engrossing. I first read "The Healing Wisdom of Africa: Finding Life Purpose Through Nature, Ritual, and Community," with awe and a realization of the connections that my own people lost when my ancestors were transported from this part of the world by slave traders.However, Malidoma, through works like this one, opens our eyes to the possibilities that all is not lost to us, and that even in this modern westernized culture, there are ways in which we can begin to make some of those connections again, through the way we relate to community and our loved ones. I found the chapter titled "a ritual sampler:The funeral and language of grief especially interesting and thought provoking. I can hardly wait to read more of your books Malidoma. Thank you.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book to be savored,
By
This review is from: Ritual: Power, Healing and Community (Compass) (Paperback)
Malidoma Patrice Somé, author of Of Water and the Spirit, describes a broad spectrum of ways in which rituals can be helpful. His perspective is that of a shaman trained in the West African Dagara cultural tradition, now living and teaching in the US. He eloquently shares his experiences of powerful shamanic healing practices.
For Somé, rituals are potent interventions on many levels. At the social level they are forms for expression of religious beliefs, or communal celebrations. Rituals affirm our connection with our community. A healing ritual may draw together relatives from the immediate and extended family, as well as from the community at large. "Where ritual is absent, the young ones are restless or violent, there are no real elders, and the grown-ups are bewildered. The future is dim." (p. 12) Industrial society has lost much of its awareness of rituals. "Indigenous people are indigenous because there are no machines between them and their gods. There are no machines barring the door to the spirit world where one can enter in and listen to what is going on within at a deep level, participating in the vibration of Nature. Where machines speak in place of gods, people are hard put to listen, even more hard put to vibrate with the realm of Nature." (p. 17-18) Healing rituals, properly performed, are tools to achieve specific healing effects. People performing the rituals may enhance the power of the rituals through their innate gifts for healing, through their learning in apprenticeship the ways of a shaman, and through the assistance of various natural energies and spirit assistants. This is a book to be savored, rich in healings on many levels.
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