Customer Reviews

Sangoma: My Odyssey into the Spirit World of Africa

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James Hall takes us on his personal journey as a midwestern America who slowly gets drawn into the world of African healers. The story is personal, poignant, and very detailed. It lets us look into several windowns we don't ordinarily get to look through - everyday living in rural Africa and the world of the african healer.

From 1977 to 1980 I taught at a major university in Africa and spent 2+ years working closely with sangomas. Most of my acquaintances were Zulu or Sotho, but there are not very many differences to the Swazi that Hall talks about. What does differ considerable is whether or not the spirits are from the river or from the land, but that's another issue.

Hall gives a precious insight into the role of the sangoma and the personal issues that sangoma must face. My own work was in the urban areas, and it's very different from Hall's rural adventures.

Anyone interested in africa, african healers, and stories of personal growth will find this book very interesting and informative. It is suitable for young adults as well as adults.

Sangoma depicts the fascinating tranformation of a talented American writer into a 'second career' of a full-fledged, African traditional healer. Having visited with James Hall in person, his story becomes credible, and genuine.

A must for anyone, within and beyond the health professions, who seeks to better understand a form of alternative medicine used by millions of Africans.

Highly recommended!!

James Hall made me feel that I was an African. The view was from thse eyes.
Americans can really feel and see the people of that community.

A fine read to get a total world view and not the myopic view that we Americans have of the world and others.

Please let me know where I could find him now and get caught up on his life. His kids would be about 14 1nd 20 now. let me know bob huff
bob_huff@comcast.net thanks

Another interesting book on indigenous cultures, this book tells the story of a westerner who underwent the rituals to become a Sangoma, a Zulu medicine man. What makes this excellent is that it is easy to understand the religion of the Zulu because it is filtered through a western view yet still understood. If you enjoyed this book, I also suggest that you check out Malidoma Patrice Some's "Of Water and the Spirit" as well.

James Hall tells his story of becoming a Sangoma in Africa and trying to reconcile the white Western world he comes from with the spiritual tradition of Africa and also some of the difficulties or restrictions within African culture, politics and law. I have read a bit about the Sangoma, but not a lot so this gave me a better idea of what it is like to be a Sangoma, throw the bones and commune with the spirits. Hall's journey is through rural, not urban Africa. Hall does not try to make himself out to be a perfect vessel and frankly tells the readers of his doubts and fears even while experiencing the calling to become a Sangoma. He also recounts being visited by unwelcome spirits and communing with spirits on his spiritual journey. To be honest I can't quite reconcile in my mind why one would go the path of spirit possession and opening the door to unwelcome spirits. If you can commune with the spirits why wouldn't you just speak to them and take their direction and wisdom over being possessed? Perhaps this is just my Western point of view. There is a brief glossary at the front of the book I appreciated and overall it was a colorful read. I enjoyed On Water and Spirit and Called to Healing by Susan Campbell as well if you are interested in the Sangoma and African spirituality.

This is the first book my godmother recommended that I read to give me an idea on what African American shamanism is all about. Even though the author is a Caucasian and the system that he is being initiated into is in South Africa. He does a very good job in his presentation, which helps those raised in the west to get a more profound understanding on what African spirituality is all about. It doesn't just consist of going to church but is a gumbo of various practices all meant to accomplish one common objective or goal.

Because Hall is born and raised in the West and is a Caucasian, he spends a lot more time and effort describing and explaining the concepts and principles to the public. This is what makes this a great book. I recommend this book to anyone interested in any form of African inspired practice or tradition because it will help them to see how African inspired spirituality is all a form of healing despite what the media and filmmakers and some misguided practitioners claim.

Hope this was helpful.

This book was an honest and sensitve overview of the Sangoma training.
Anyone studying Shamanism would find this book of interest. And lucky
for me, I just happened to receive a signed copy. The book seller was
very prompt, packaged the book carefully, and was true to the rating
of the condition.

This book depicts another white man's life journey in Africa. Miriam Makeba, the famous singer, suggested to James Hall (the author of "Sangoma") that there may be more than meets the eye in his fascination with Africa and African-American women. Hall followed her advice and consulted a Swazi witch doctor ("sangoma") who declared, to surprise of all, that Hall was destined to become a sangoma himself. This book depicts his travails leading to his initiation into the circle of Swazi healers.

It was a bittersweet path, filled with encounters with supernatural (Hall turned out to possess access to many different spirits, including those of a Native American, a NY advertising executive and - wait for this - a fetus). In addition to description of his training, Hall provides valuable accounts of his interactions with ordinary Swazis (some good, some bad; there seem to be as many racially intolerant people in Africa as everywhere else) and, especially, with women. Hall shows that relationships between men and women in Swaziland are pragmatic, based on exchange of material goods and services rather than sentimental.

Throughout the book we participate in Hall's inner life, his decisions and his torments as well as in his decision to adopt a parentless child and marry the woman he fell in love with. Hall now lives and practices in Swaziland and I think Swazis are lucky to have such a courageous, dedicated, life-affirming and generous sangoma.

This book really absorbed me during the two days I read it. I could not put it down before I had finished the last page. James Hall gives a candid and vivid account of how he became a traditional African healer, a sangoma.

This is not just an outstanding adventure story but remembrance to all of us that more exists than meets the eye on the physical plane. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to further his/her horizon and enjoys a great book.

Andreas Biebl

James Hall's odyssey into the spirit world of Africa makes nearly the entire output of today's spiritualists and self-help gurus- and much of the non-fiction of the past several decades- obsolete and insignificant. His biographical portrayal not only honors the spiritual and spiritualist's history as it is and was in African culture, a giant antithetical perspective to the Newtonian/Keynesian world of the West with our comfort in the worship of material objects and the acquisition of wealth from that perspective. It honors the spiritual world in total, and in so doing redeems the human spirit via the transformational path of action, self-awareness, enlightenment and active service to something greater than one self that could not by definition fit into comfortably established forms of sensibility and recognition. Sangoma can easily be compared to Herman Heese's Siddartha and the like, and should be on the booklists of every college course in literature as well as anthropolgy, religion and Africana studies. The only drawback, however accurate, was his depiction of many African natives as deceitful, in the context of his presence and study of the rituals of the Sangoma healer, without a further mentioning of the hostilities they suffered at the hands of the Western world before his arrival. An altogether wonderful and inspiring book that leaves you feeling like something beautiful in you has been powerfully affirmed.