Malidoma Patrice Some

Currently reading parts of a book by Malidoma P. Some called THE HEALING WISDOM OF AFRICA. I am admittedly fairly ignorant of the belief systems and spiritual perspectives of most of Africa, and really enjoying learning more about the approach to shamanism by the indigenous peoples of Africa... especially the Dagara people to which Malidoma Some belongs.

I am delighted to see the similarities and intrigued by the differences of approach to healing ways. Been really inspired by some of the what Malidoma has said so far in the book. Here is one quote that struck me as wonderful...

Indigenous people see the physical world as a reflection of a more complex, subtler, and more lasting yet invisible entity called energy. It is as if we are the shadows of a vibrant and endlessly resourceful intelligence dynamically involved in a process of continuous self-creation. Nothing happens here that did not begin in that unseen world. If something in the physical world is experiencing instability, it is because its energetic correspondent has been experiencing instability. The indigenous understanding is that the material and physical problems that a person encounters are important only because they are an energetic message sent to the this visible world. Therefore, people go to that unseen energetic place to try to repair whatever damage or disturbances are being done there, knowing that if things are healed there, things will be healed here. Ritual is the principal tool used to approach that unseen world in a way that will rearrange the structure of the physical world and bring about material transformation.