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

by Malidoma Patrice Some

Hardcover, 1994

Status

Available

Call number

291

Collection

Publication

Putnam (1994), Edition: First Printing, Hardcover

Description

Maliodoma Patrice Some was born in a Dagara Village, however he was soon to be abducted to a Jesuit school, where he remained for the next fifteen years, being harshly indoctrinated into european ways of thought and worship. The story tells of his return to his people, his hard initiation back into those people, which lead to his desire to convey their knowledge to the world. Of Water and the Spirit is the result of that desire; it is a sharing of living African traditions, offered in compassion for those struggling with our contemporary crisis of the spirit.

User reviews

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"I still often suffered from being a man of two worlds", 9 November 2015

This review is from: Of Water And Spirit (Paperback)
Malidoma Some was born into a village in Burkina Faso when it was still under French rule. He describes his first four years, focussing particularly on his close relationship
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with his grandfather, an elder and shaman. As he recalls his grandfather's funeral - spirit voices, and the dead man walking - I thought perhaps these were the confused recollections of a small child.
At four, the author was 'stolen' by the local priest, and compelled to live in a Catholic boarding school. Forced to communicate in French, he soon forgot his native tongue. And Catholic dogma replaced tribal rites. But while he was persuaded by the religion, to the extent of wanting to become a priest, he was also repelled at the sexual and physical abuse he witnessed, and at the colonial attitudes towards the African people.
At twenty he ran back to his village; much of the book now tells of (parts of) the month-long initiation ceremony he underwent. And here the reader must decide for himself what to make of the author's otherworldly experiences, as he enters other dimensions, communes with spirits and much more. Was he drugged? hypnotized? Was it Satanism or is there really a way into other universes? The descriptions are very vivid and persuasive, and I never realized initiation rituals included all this.
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LibraryThing member streamsong
Malidoma Patrice Some was born into a Dagara village in Burkina Faso in 1956. Hi s grandfather was a well respected elder and shaman. His father followed the Catholic teachings.

Although it is not clear if his father had arranged his ‘kidnapping’, when Malidoma was four he and other youngsters
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were seized by the Jesuits and removed to their orphanage where they were taught French, Latin, and European ways. Eventually after several years there, Malidoma was transferred to the Jesuit seminary. It was planned that he would become a native Jesuit priest; but after enduring years of what Malidoma called outright abuse, he escaped and made his way back to his village as a man of twenty.

By this time, he had missed all the boyhood initiations into Dagara manhood and had been thoroughly indoctrinated in the white man’s world. He met with great skepticism when he expressed interest in going through the Dagara initiation rites as the elders believed his intrinsic tribal spirit had already withdrawn and was replaced with a white man’s spirit. They believed it would be dangerous and perhaps impossible for him to complete the thirty day travels in the spirit world. Nevertheless, Some persisted and successfully completed the initiations.

The latter half of the book is a detailed account of his spiritual journeys during the initiation. Visiting other realms during spiritual journeys has never been a favorite topic of mine, ever since I read the Carlos Castenada books many decades ago. Others may find these journeys the most intriguing parts of the book.

Recommended for those with an interest in French Colonialism and the Jesuits in Africa or those interested in alternative spiritual journeys and African shamanism.
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Language

Original publication date

1994

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