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Ritual: Power, Healing and Community (Paperback)

by Malidoma Patrice Patrice Some (Author) "was less than three when it happened..." (more)
Key Phrases: grief ritual, indigenous world, ritual space, Earth Shrine, Ritual Sampler, The Farewell (more...)
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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Ritual: Power, Healing and Community + Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman (Arkana) + The Healing Wisdom of Africa
Price For All Three: $32.93

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Some is the ideal author for this book, which presents traditional beliefs about spirit possession and the need for ritual. He grew up in a village in West Africa and holds advanced degrees from the Sorbonne and Brandeis University, and he is also a Dagara medicine man and diviner. Some presents his own reactions to Western culture's enslavement to machine technology, which, he states, "is the spirit of death made to look like life." He concentrates on the need for grief ritual and ways of working with emotion in Western culture. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
The stories within these books have the poignancy of new discoveries as well as the unworn imagination of the ancestors. The commentary has the sharp edge of modern thought and the intricacy which results from the intellect being woven through the ritual complexities of tribal life. The purpose of constructing thresholds that bring this world together is to find the powers that can heal the rends in tribal as well as modern communities.

--Michael Meade, from the Introduction Versed in the languages of psychology, comparative literature, as well as ancient mythology, healing, and divination, Malidoma Patrice Some bridges paths between the ancient tribal world of the West African Dagara culture and modern Western society. Ritual is written with wild imagination, careful critical reflection, and intuitive insights that will force the reader to encounter the world anew.

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 112 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (December 1, 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0140195580
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140195583
  • Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #55,373 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category: (What's this?)

    #45 in  Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Customs & Traditions

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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
was less than three when it happened. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
grief ritual, indigenous world, ritual space, machine culture
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Earth Shrine, Ritual Sampler, The Farewell, The Hidden Space of Ritual
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Soul expanding, April 7, 2000
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.

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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Profoundity of experience coupled with very skillful writing, February 24, 2003
By Phil Rogers (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews
This man has considerably more skill both as a thinker and as a writer than the average philosopher, or anthropologist, or even 'New Age prophet'. He really lays everything bare, like it or not, about the advantages of living in a subsistence community (as against our modern society). And further, he explains how the rituals work which those folks use to maintain links with the spirits of their ancestors, as well as with the earth and with each other.

Malidoma's brief but cogent exposition on the reasons behind how animal sacrifice works would flay apart the average modern-day monotheist's supposedly reasoned rants against such practices.

His chapter-length analysis of the Dagara's typical 3-day funeral ceremony is probably the most cogent dissection and analysis of a societal function that I have ever read, and coming from a true insider makes it that much more accurate as well as poignant, and believable. There's not a wisp of mere speculative cogitation coming from this man.

This book opened/cleansed my eyes and my soul about African culture at least as much as Gary Snyder's 'Earth House Hold: Technical Queries to Fellow Dharma Revolutionaries' did as regards Asia, way back in 1969. I tend to think that those who approach this discussion with an open mind and heart will find themselves changed in very profound ways, not necessarily painlessly, but possibly, very thoroughly, and for the better.

I met Mr. Some and his wife, and worked with them for a couple of hours around 12 years ago at a Michigan Medicine Wheel Gathering hosted by Sun Bear and his Bear Tribe. He is all that he seems, and then some. His laughter and sense of humor have almost a madcap quality that seems to reach far into the Otherworld, maybe even stemming from there. Yet he still feels to be very localized/grounded in the world of flesh and bone, as if the two (this world and the 'next') are not all that remote from each other. He's fun to be around, in addition to being bathed with a glow of dynamic, benign power.

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Healing and Community - the power of loyalty and bonding, July 8, 2002
By JB (New York United States) - See all my reviews
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.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
If you are serious about understanding power, and healing in community. This is a good book to read.
Published on December 22, 2006 by Natural Woman

5.0 out of 5 stars What we can learn from the indigenous world...
An absolutely fabulous book, which reads like a novel. Malidoma brings a lot of wisdom, and really get's you thinking. Read more
Published on November 10, 2006 by Inge Simons

5.0 out of 5 stars A book to be savored
Malidoma Patrice Somé, author of Of Water and the Spirit, describes a broad spectrum of ways in which rituals can be helpful. Read more
Published on March 27, 2006 by Daniel J. Benor

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