OF WATER AND THE SPIRIT, ritual, magic and initiation in the life of an Africa shaman

310pp., map, paperback, New York, 1994

"Somé walks in two worlds, and his autobiography is a rousing account of his adventures in both. A scholar as well as a shaman, he takes his readers into the belly of African wisdom, providing a rare account of divination, ritual, and the ordeals of his own initiation." Stanley Krippner, Professor of Psychology, Saybrook Institute, and co-author of Personal Mythology

"Malidoma has kept the faith with the ancestors and with his own heart. His journey is a shimmering 'missing piece' in the story of the earth." Alice Walker, author of The Colour Purple

"Somé stands on the threshold between the tribal world of magic and living ritual and the modern world of facts and linear logic. He writes as a diviner, seeing clearly into the wounds of these opposing realms. The knowledge, compassion and sincerity of the writing reveals the broken heart in each world and insists on mutual healing and understanding." Michael Meade, author of Men and the Water of Life

Malidoma Patrice Some, born in Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), is initiated into the ancestral traditions of his Dagara tribe, and is a medicine man and diviner. He holds two doctorates from the Sorbonne and Brandeis University and has taught at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is the author of Ritual: power, healing and community, and lives in California.