African Ritual and Initiation with Malidoma Patrice Some

This video is a special release from the original Thinking Allowed series that ran on public television from 1986 until 2002. It was recorded in 1995.

Malidoma Patrice Some is a shaman of the Dagara tribe from the west African nation of Bakiri Faso (formerly Upper Volta). He is author of Ritual: Power, Healing and Community and Of Water and the Spirit. Here he describes his childhood among the Dagara people, focusing on their use of ritual as a means of establishing an ongoing relationship with the worlds of their ancestors and of the spirits. Now you can watch all of the programs from the original Thinking Allowed Video Collection, hosted by Jeffrey Mishlove.

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I highly recommend Malidoma's book "Of Water and the Spirit", very different world view and experiences.

I highly recommend Malidoma's book "Of Water and the Spirit", very different world view and experiences.

Ordered!  

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The Spirit World and Legendary Creatures

Esnala Banda 

Perhaps Fidelis Igbege Ajah and Dr. Utre Eno Iwara explain it best in their paper Spirit Being In African Indigenous Religion: The Mbembe Perspective. The paper states that the concept of spirit occupies a vast space in African indigenous religion. “It comprises the Supreme Being, the divinities, ancestors and other innumerable lesser spirits. African traditional religion had absolute dominance in the African soil before the advent of foreign religions particularly Islam and Christianity into Africa, though, this trend has changed.”

Dr. Christa Clarke from The Metropolitan Museum of Art detailed, “Most traditional religions in Africa have developed at the local level and are unique to a particular society. Common elements include a belief in a creator god, who is rarely if ever represented in art, and directly approached by worshipers. Instead, the supreme deity is petitioned through intermediaries, or lesser spirits. These spirits may be related to the natural world and have control over powerful natural phenomena.” Clarke added that religious practice in Africa centres on a desire to engage the spiritual world in the interests of social stability and well-being.

In discussing The Holy Spirit and the African Spirit World, A. Anderson adds to this philosophy by stating, “For this reason the traditional person turns to someone nearer home, someone more easily related to, more easily understandable, someone one can argue with, plead one’s case with, and even scold. And so the African turns to the ancestors, and sometimes to nature spirits.”