Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman (Compass)
Reviews (387)
READ IT!!!
This is the best book I have ever read in my entire life and anyone that knows me knows I've read LOTS of books. This books takes you on a truly magical journey. I don't doubt anything written in this book because I can feel the it's the truth within my soul. This book was so well-written and truly amazing. My soul couldn't get enough of it. I recommend this book to everyone i know. I wont give a description but if you're starting out on your spiritual journey, curious about the ways of some of your African ancestors, a lover of nature, or even if you're third eye is WIDE open, read this book. It's just a blessing.
Great Book
One of the best books I've read this year. I'm also spiritual and I know that African magic is real. I noticed that someone said that this guy was lying about these events. I don't know if he was lying about the event but I do know the magic works. The problem with some people is the magic may not work for them because it is not meant for them. Some of us don't have Afrikan ancestors meaning that there not of African descent. The magic is ancestral so unfortunately for some people who learn our magic, they will never be able to use it because we share the same ancestors. There was someone who mentioned >"if the magic really worked why couldn't he do more like become a millionaire. "Because there are rules to Magic and that's not how it works. Magic is spiritual not physical so those who are not spiritual will never understand how it works. (meaning those born without souls) Again this is a great book. I do recommend it to people of African descent and those who are just curious will live reading about the Magic we process. Ase' to the writer. Thanks for a great book. 👍🤗
African spirituality,
This MUST BE ADDED IN EVERY BLACK PERSONAL LIBRARY. Every Black person MUST read this book. Beautifully written! So much hidden gems within this book. As a young woman who is embarking on her spiritual journey, I recognized (some part of ) myself within this book. "It was all in me. I was the room and the door. It was all me. I just had to remember. " Malidoma Some.
what i dont get
What I don't get is, if the tribe's elders can do magic, such as telepathy, teleportation, getting information from someone's aura, and manifestation, why are they scraping by? Why does he take airplanes to get around? Why don't they just manifest gold, diamonds, etc. instead of needing him to send them $600 every month? I like the book, have read multiple times, but can't find it applicable to my life. It doesn't seem like the tribe uses magic to solve basic problems, which leads me wondering why not? Something doesn't add up. And for what it's worth, I've worked with shamans in real life.
Astounding
I had the chance to meet Malidoma after reading his book. I was amazed by some the events depicted in book and had to track him down to see what this man was truly like. He did a divination for me that was astounding and I even wrote about in my own book - Pathless Path: God, Grace, Guru
So relatable to me!
This book is so relatable....I'm the complete opposite though...I was born into a lie and now having to untangle myself from the lies and the false history...this book has been a great help!
A book that changes the reader
Malidoma, born in what is now Burkina Faso, West Africa, was his shaman grandfather's shadow until age four. That year his grandfather died, and Malidoma was kidnapped from his home by a French Jesuit missionary. For the next 16 years he suffered almost every kind of abuse as he was trained in Western culture. He escaped at age 20 and, walking 300 miles from the seminary, found his way back to his tribal village, where he now was an outsider. The elders offered him the opportunity to participate in an intensive six-week shamanic initiation with younger tribal boys which, if he survived, would reestablish his connection to the tribe. After undergoing the initiation, Malidoma learned that his destiny lay in being a bridge between Western civilization and indigenous culture. Studying in the Sorbonne and Brandeis University, he now holds three master's degrees and two PhDs. Though he returns regularly to his tribal home for renewal, he makes his home in the U.S. where he has taught at the University of Michigan and now leads seminars, intensives, and rituals. Malidoma's open, vulnerable, detailed stories of his experiences in the Jesuit school and in his initiation are riveting. I noticed two major lessons that his culture can teach ours. One is to connect our bodies to our minds. When Malidoma first came to the U.S., he saw with the spirit eyes of his elders that people's heads were not connected to their bodies. There was a blank space where the neck should be. One aspect of this is that we place great importance upon words. Malidoma says: "The speech of silence is achieved when words, and their potential ability to hurt meaning, are done away with. Words entrap meaning, torture it, slice it into pieces the way a butcher cuts the meat of a slaughtered animal and serves it to us. . . In silence, meaning is no longer heard, but felt; and feeling is the best hearing, the best instrument for recording meaning." The second lesson is the importance of wise elders. In Malidoma's words: "Elders and mentors have an irreplaceable function in the life of any community. Without them the young are lost -- their overflowing energies wasted in useless pursuits. The old must live in the young like a grounding force that tames the tendency toward bold but senseless actions and shows them the path of wisdom. In the absence of elders, the impetuosity of youth becomes the slow death of the community." This is a book that changes the reader.
What an adventure!
What a book! What an adventure! I am sorry it is finished. I've ordered another. This book brings the magic of childhood back to life. The possibility of possibility. I could not put it down. The story-telling is perfect. The story, incredible. Read with an open mind and allow abundance to fill your inner life with wonder at all that is possible.
A must read.
I can't even collect my thoughts in a coherent manner. This is an excellent book, and although it sometimes reads like science fiction, do not write it off as such. This is Some's true experience. Beautifully written. I think many of the other reviewers have said enough (and much better than I can), but I could not leave the five star review without saying anything. I have recommended this book to everyone I know.
Wow
It's hard explain the feelings I got as I read this. A kind of rollercoaster ride into another's experience of the matrix we've been living in and the possibilities that exist beyond what we are lead to believe. BTW experiencing his words in his own voice (audible) took it to another level.
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