Customer Reviews

Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman

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With this book, Malidoma Patrice Some opens the door to a whole new way of looking at the world; one in which spirits (ancestor and otherwise), magic, wisdom and community come together as one. I was mesmerized by this story and by the possibility it presented for a deeper understanding of this life and how it can be lived. Hold on to your hat!

Malidoma's life alone was a mini-representation of our entire experience as Afro-americans. He was kidnapped as a child from his Dagaran village and raised in a Christian missionary school. His own father was somewhat responsible for his kidnapping, because against the will of the elders, his father became friends with a Christian pastor and allowed him into the village (sound familiar?). One day, the pastor came and grabbed Malidoma without a word and took him to the missionary school (he was stolen, but he had access to the village...who's to blame? Sounds like the current debate :). Malidoma was subjected to all types of abuse as he was force to think as a European. There were European AND African teachers taking part in the brain-washing (sound familiar?). He was put into quarters with African boys from all over...many didn't even speak his native tongue (sound familiar?). As he and his new friends became older...they started to become more aware of their situation and the oppression. They remembered the pain and suffereing of the past and became rebellious. Although they had a small union, most of the other boys were too afraid to fight and some were even convinced that the Euro-education they received although through force, was a blessing that placed them above their "inferior" past (!). One day Malidoma struck out against a preist during class and ran away from the mission. He managed to walk nearly 300 miles back to his village that he wasn't even sure existed anymore. I was a long and HARD journey (!) and he finally arrived...only to realize just how "white" he had become (!). He was no longer a Dagaran...BUT fortunately his elders decided to give him a chance. He was allowed to risk his life in Dagaran initiation (VERY interesting part of the book) and he survived, reborn as a Dagaran. He still retained the European part engrained in him...he couldn't help this, but his wise elders saw usefulness in this. They ordered him to live outside of the village in the white world and to serve as a bridge of knowledge between the two worlds. Malidoma currently holds a Ph.D. and lives here in America. He holds many seminars and his life mission is to "fight" the battle between the Old and New world by teaching New-worlders the importance of ancestors and rituals. Malidoma literally means "To befriend the enemy".

This book is a must-read. Although I have written a summary here...it does not even scratch the surface. I just touched upon the most memorable parallels..there are many more.

A wonderful book!!! Even from the introduction, Malidoma Patrice Some engages the reader with compelling observations on the limitations of the "Western" worldview, but does not do so in a derisive way. He conveys, in a very moving life story, his role in the current world and tells how he has lived up to the mission foretold in his given name. What I especially liked, having read several other books on various spiritual traditions, was how the rituals and beliefs of the Dagara resonate with the wisdom found in traditions from Wicca to the "new age" ideas put forth in books like The Celestine Prophecy and Conversations with God. I was sad to come to the end of this book, because I wanted to learn more. I hope Some' will write a sequel that continues his story, as well as those of his father, Guisso, Nyangoli, and others he has encountered on his path through his adult life. This book reaffirms the truth of our divine nature; and powers that we in the West need to accept and "understand" without needing scientific "proof". Everyone should read this book -- it's good for the soul!

Things Malidoma experienced as a young boy around the time of his grandfather's death and subsequent funeral make Carlos Casteñeda's and Lynn Andrews' 'accounts' seem rather sanitized, maybe even contrived (especially evident in the case of Andrews). Plus the man is far more of a poet, a seer and a deep philosophical thinker than these others. You'll not find a better writer on matters mystical and religious probably anywhere, at least not in the 'confessional/autobiographical' literature.

Then again, herein are so many quotable passages that you could meditate on to form the beginnings of a new personal philosophy, it's really quite stunning. And it all seems like it equally extends from your own body and heart. This is in contradistinction, say, to a well-written but rather dry and compartmentalized account such as J. S. Danquah's 'The Akan Doctrine of God'*, which is more meant for those who enjoy the scholarly treatise, but might never wish to imagine themselves venturing into village life.

Malidoma was kidnapped by the local priest a couple of days after his father was installed as clan leader, soon after his grandfather's death. He was only 4 years old. He does not pull any punches in detailing the horrible physical and emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of these churchly personages, who made him and other young kidnapees and orphans total slaves to their colonialist/catechumenical education system. After over 16 years of this, the young man escaped and managed to walk back to his village over a hundred miles away. The remainder of the book is a very detailed and intense re-telling of selected experiences he was party to during his subsequent clan initiation. This constitutes the last 100 pages or so of the book. I can't begin to express how astonishing are the experiences, the images, emotions etc. represented on these pages.

Suffice to say that the man is an absolute wizard at using the English language. Carlos Casteñeda and especially Lynn Andrews seem like comic book literacy after you've dipped even a little bit into Malidoma.

I met Mr. Somé briefly at a Sun Bear Medicine Wheel Gathering a number of years ago; his personality is every bit as engaging as is his writing. His was a kind of quiet charisma, extending from which is an amazing, almost madcap sense of humor. You feel that his energy is entirely sincere, and that there's far more there than meets the eye. You can feel it, and yes, 'almost' begin to see into it, and with it.

If Nick Black Elk had written his own book rather than having his texts filtered through John C. Neidhardt, it likely would have approached the book-length intensity we find here. Then again I read 'Black Elk Speaks' over 30 years ago; Neidhardt's account might seem much greater at this point of my own life journey.

* the Akan peoples, actually a different cultural group, lived a hundred or so miles southeast, in Ghana.

This book brought me to places of wonder that I vaguely remember as a child. Even though my upbringing was western and dramatically different, there were times where I found myself strongly identifying with his experiences. I look to his story as a model of how to function in the world with integrity. A beautifully written story of bringing one's soul fully into incarnation. I was deeply touched and moved.

In the recent years there has been a surge of interest in indigenous tribal life and practices, as Western peoples start to feel the stirrings of their own indigenous tribal souls and go looking for answers to those who still possess the connection with the Land and the Spirit. While a lot has been published about Native American (both North and South), Tibetan, Altaic, Celtic etc. tribal life, rather little is known about Africa. Malidoma Some's book therefore provides a welcome and highly inspiring contribution.

With this book Malidoma ('Be Friends With the Enemy') creates a bridge into a world where a person's life is linked inextricably to the breathing of his village and where his destiny interlocks with that of his ancestors, his children and the rhythms of nature. It is a world imbued with meaning; the Dagara share it with tree and animal spirits, with supernatural entities (the kontomble, the "star people") and with ancestors who provide guidance and support. Malidoma also addresses topics of universal importance to all of us. What is a complete human being? Why does one need to be "initiated" into living in order to be "real"? How do we awaken and use all the resources stored in the "inner museum of our being"; what is the role of mystery and awe in the unfolding of our destinies and how does one learn to become available to them?

The book is written along the lines of ancient storytelling, and in a flowing delicate prose which radiates human warmth and respect for life. MS does a great job in depicting the Dagara as a spiritually aware people still attuned to their roots and their land. I understand that now, after his father's death, Malidoma has returned to Africa (temporarily abandoning his privileged and lucrative position within the Western "shamanic circuit") to assume his duties as a leader of his clan and as a mediator between the worlds that his people still remember and give homage to. He is a savy man who demonstrated to us all that befriending the enemy brings gifts to all involved in the process as it combines and integrates different yet complementary pools of knowledge. Myself I listen with deep appreciation and respect as the Dagara sing:

I want to be what I know I am,
And take the road we always
Forget to take.
Because I heard the smell
Of the things forgotten
And my belly was touched.

There are many of us in-between Africans for whom the mindless runaway train of Western living has failed. After shunning our pasts, our land, our blackness and our ancestors, no matter how hard we may have tried to lose ourselves in foreign ideaologies, there's still an emptiness inside. Thank God that Malidoma appeared. When I read this book a few years ago, whatever complexes lingered in me about my African-ness flew out the window. I have grown tired of en vogue directionless movements that exist almost only for the purpose of allowing individuals to feel good - in the guise of spiritual growth - without the necessary psychological catharsis. Thank God I'm an African woman, albeit an angry one. My anger and consternation increases everyday when I see the continuous exploitation and decimation of my people and our continent. But more than that, I am angered by the fact that so many Africans seem oblivious to the status quo and aren't interested in finding out what role we have played in the destruction of our race and home. A people will always be what they have always been. We Africans need to realise once and for all that spiritual awareness will never come from losing ourselves in another's ways. Find out who you are and where you come from. Go back to your source. Because surely, what have we gained from the West that is so much more meaningful than the knowledge of who we really are? May Malidoma keep helping us.

Any westerner who has ever wanted to know how an African thinks should read this book by Malidome Some. Because he was kidnapped out of his own culture and brought up in a Catholic seminary (where the priests wanted to turn out Black Christians prepared to go out and convert their fellows), Some was given the tools he needed to make an African sensibility understandable to a westerner. When he ran away from the Catholics and returned to his tribal home, he found that his family and fellow villagers saw him as so contaminated by his exposure to White ideology/learning that he was a danger to them. They gave him the option of undergoing the rite of initiation which boys usually go through in their 13th year. Some was 20 and he had to overcome his foreign-implanted mindset in order to survive the ordeal and become an initiate in his own tribe. The story begins with his close relationship with his grandfather, a tribal elder, when Some was only four years old. His earlier exposure to his grandfather's wisdom helped him survive the initiation. Some now straddles the two very different worlds and is living and teaching in California.

Kidnapped from his home by white Christian brothers who brutalise him as part of his 'training' to become a priest, Malidoma describes his amazing journey back to his home village in Burkina Faso, West Africa. The only way he can be truly accepted as one of his people - the Dagara - is to undergo a dangerous and possibly deadly initiation. The second half of the book illustrates the poetic, mythical and very real ordeal Malidoma undergoes in order to truly return home. This powerful, moving book illustrates how African traditions are under threat and how we must learn to live harmoniously with people who are different from us - even the 'stranger and enemy'.

I just finished this book and I am hungry for much, much more. Malidoma Some's deep wisdom, wide vision, vulnerability and honesty stirred my soul so deeply. This book has awakened my yearning to re-connect with Nature and the Spirit world like no other I have read. I found his vivid, well-paced storytelling and the wisdom of his people utterly fascinating. I wish to thank the Dagara for being so generous in sharing their wisdom through this man. If I could give this book 20 stars, I would!!