Of Water & The Spirit Paperback – Deckle Edge, 28 September 1995

Most incredible book if you are open minded and love magic and spirituality.

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 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.

Upside down binding , bad paper quality . Bad printing quality .