In the introduction to Of Water and the Spirit, Malidoma Some writes, "There is no doubt that at this time in history," Western civilization is suffering from a great sickness of the soul." "My elders," says Malidoma, "are convinced that the West is as endangered as the indigenous cultures it has decimated in the name of colonization." Malidoma comes from a little village in West Africa named Dano, located in the country of Burkina Faso. He belongs to a group of people called the Dagara, who trace their origins to the region once known as the Gold Coast, now called Ghana. The Dagara people believe as do the Yoruba, that everyone is born with a purpose and that it is essential that this purpose be known in order for one to follow their proper path. And a person’s purpose is embodied in their name providing them with a constant reminder why they have come to this world. "In my case," says Malidoma, "I was meant to get involved with other cultures in the interest of redefining relationships in a spirit of harmony." Hence the name Malidoma which means ‘he who makes friends with the stranger." Of Water and the Spirit, is autobiographical and walks the reader through Malidoma’s youth and education. At the age of four, he was "literally kidnapped from my home by a French Jesuit missionary" who had befriended his father. He was then taken to the priest’s missionary school to become "acculturated." One day after fifteen years of being harshly indoctrinated in European ways of thought and worship, "Something in me switched into a war mode," he says. A priest grabbed him, he resisted, and a fight ensued. Malidoma said that it felt as if he were avenging years of silent submission. "In a moment of excess I had inadvertently ceased to belong to the seminary." He did not wait to be disciplined by the institution, he left the seminary immediately after knocking the priest through a window and after a long journey home, was reintroduced and subsequently "initiated" into a world he had long since forgotten. Of Water and the Spirit is fascinating reading and is, as one reviewer says, "a remarkable sharing of living African traditions, offered in compassion for those struggling with our contemporary crisis of the spirit."

In The Healing Wisdom of Africa, Malidoma actually teaches ceremony and rituals to the Western reader. He "describes the power of gathering and of engaging in traditional rituals of fire, water, earth, mineral, and nature." Malidoma recounts the wisdom of a young African shaman who says that the "white man came to Africa primarily to heal himself, not to steal people from the villages." The shaman went on to say, our children are leaving us because "We Africans also believe that we need healing at the hand of the white man." "All people must heal, he concluded, because we are all sick." "It is possible," says Malidoma, "that we have been brought together at this time because we have profound truths to teach each other." "Toward that end," he continues, I offer the wisdom of the African ancestors, so that Westerners might find the deep healing they seek." Malidoma says, "Where ritual is absent, the young ones are restless or violent, there are no real elders, and the grown-ups are bewildered. The future is dim." Malidoma reminds us that we did not come to this world on vacation. "We come here for service, and we have to remember what that service is." The Healing Wisdom of Africa will help us discover the genius and gifts within ourselves and remember our life’s true purpose.

Ritual, Power, Healing, and Community, "explores the essential role ritual plays in maintaining community and examines the structure common to all ritual. By telling stories of the rituals of his native West African Dagara culture, and of his own experiences in the tribal community, Malidoma makes a convincing case that the lack of ritual in the Western world is a fundamental reason that the fabric of society is unraveling." He warns that when the modern and the traditional collide, "something happens that inevitably sets the deterioration of the traditional into motion." "The loss of initiation in the traditional culture," he says, "opens a psychic spiritual hole that is rapidly destroying the soul of my people." Malidoma suggests that the road to correcting societal ills goes through the challenging path of ritual. "I feel I can give some clue as to how to improve that which is in constant decay in this culture," he concludes.

As a Yoruba priest (Babalawo), I understand, accept, and am driven by Malidoma’s statement that, "To be attracted to an ancient way of life is to initiate one’s personal spiritual emancipation." However, I am also aware that we in the Black community have been taught to be ashamed of our African roots. Tapping into these roots has provided me the freedom to seek the truth about my Spiritual identity. This has required that I question every concept I’ve been taught. Some may find this too difficult a task to undertake. For as Yoruba priestess Sister Iyanla Vanzant says, "Some people need to believe that what they believe is right, even at the expense of knowing the truth." Africa is the home of all humanity and therefore our roots run deep into antiquity. Syndicated writer Junious Ricardo Stanton in a recent column quoted the Yoruba proverb, "The root of the tree never casts a shadow." He interpreted this to mean, "the connections, influences, properties and functional organs (both material and non-material) may be unseen, but they are in full effect." In other words, Africa is in our cellular memory, our bones, the very fiber of our being. However, we must consciously choose to search for, honor and revive these roots. Like Malidoma, we must stand up and "avenge years of silent submission." We can’t survive if we stay subservient to a self-destructive system. We must invoke the wisdom of the ancestors. The works of Malidoma Some are well-written introductions to this vast reservoir of knowledge.

Babalawo Omobowale (child returns home) Adubiifa (he that is as black/original as Ifa) is a Yoruba priest through the Imole Oluwa Institute of Nigeria. He is a student of Chief Bolu Fatunmise, The Gbawoniyi of Ile-Ife, who has Shrines/Temples in Ile-Ife, Nigeria and Atlanta, Georgia.