October 2010
E-Village News
Responding to the Call of the Ancestors


Greetings!


This issue features Part II of the interview Holding Our Power.  Part I was featured in last month's newsletter!  If you missed Part I, you can view it on our website in the archived newsletters section.  Enjoy!




Malidoma's Pen

light

"The fundamental principle of ritual is that visibility threatens because visibility enslaves.  When power comes out of its hiddenness, it shrinks the peson that brought it into the open and turns that person into a servant.  The only way that overt power can remain visible is by being fed, and he who knows how to make power visible ends up trapped into keeping that power visible.

What I am suggesting here is that power, as it is displayed here in the West, is extremely stressful to those who must work to display it.  Western culture derives its power from machines or machine-like processes that are part of a Machine culture.  This is a culture that gives names to corporations and treats these corporations like living beings.  These machine-beings display incredible power over workers and citizens in Western society . . . To display power is to become servile to it in a way that is extremely disempowering. This is because the service is fueled by the terror of losing the fantasy of having power.  ('It is the king who is ruled by the kingdom')
."

Ritual:  Power, Healing, and Community
pgs. 44-45
 
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Poetry

Photo of
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
1850-1919



I Am

I know not whence I came,
I know not whither I go;
But the fact stands clear that I am here
In this world of pleasure and woe.
And out of the mist and murk
Another truth shines plain -
It is my power each day and hour
To add to its joy or its pain.

I know that the earth exists,
It is none of my business why;
I cannot find out what it's all about,
I would but waste time to try.
My life is a brief, brief thing,
I am here for a little space,
And while I stay I would like, if I may,
To brighten and better the place.

The trouble, I think, with us all
Is the lack of a high conceit.
If each man thought he was sent to this spot
To make it a bit more sweet,
How soon we could gladden the world,
How easily right all wrong,
If nobody shirked, and each one worked
To help his fellows along!

Cease wondering why you came -
Stop looking for faults and flaws;
Rise up to-day in your pride and say,
"I am part of the First Great Cause!
However full the world,
There is room for an earnest man.
It had need of me, or I would not be -
I am here to strengthen the plan."


 ~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~


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_______________________



Not the power
to conquer others,
but the power to become one with others, is the ultimate power.

~Sri Chinmoy~

* * *

MAN is a born child, his power is the power of growth.

~Rabindranath Tagore~

_______________________
_______________________

 
The Hidden Power of Ritual



"Initiation is the longest ritual one ever gets involved in within the village.  In it there are things that can be talked about between initiates and things that can be revealed to non-initiates.  But there are several specifics about certain rites or secrets that can never be disclosed.  To do so is not just forbidden, it can be lethal to the discloser.  One reason, is found in the sacred, hidden and silent space of ritual itself.  It is there where things native to that space have no intention of being brought into the surface world so they don't lose their power or so they don't lose their ability to act the way they are expected or needed to act.  It is like taking a fish out of water and expecting the fish to demonstrate its ability to swim.  To prevent disclosure from occurring, the elders do something secretly to every initiate so that divulging these secrets will make the initiates dizzy, or suffocate, or go numb.

Language in itself does not create or provide a space in which the natural and the supernatural world can safely migrate into this world.  Sometimes, the words into which we want to put certain sacred spirits are a deadly virus to those very spirits.  So, rather than let themselves be damaged by us, these spirits damage us instead.  I will have a greater opportunity to dwell on this topic of the danger of human language when I speak about initiation of the elders.  For the elder who is usually officiating, hiding the nature of his relationship with a spiritual force is the way to keep this relationship alive.  The relationship draws more strength, more power, and even gets more momentum within its hiddenness.

We call spirits into a circle of people in order to help achieve goals that cannot be achieved in any other way.  This calling needs to remain in safe containment, the way a baby remains hidden prior to being born.  Safe containment means keeping the space away from any impurities, any unwanted intrusions.

I still remember the funeral of my stepbrother that I talked about in the beginning of this book.  Why was Grandfather insisting that everybody entering the ritual space be marked?  This helped save the ritual space from being a grooming place for more evil happenings.  The marking was for security reasons but could have also been for reasons of secrecy, even though funerals are obviously a public rite.  The implication is that what you see is not what you get.  What was contained in this funeral was a secret mechanism destined to produce a counterforce against that which triggered the death of my stepbrother.  It worked.  For the traditional person, hiddenness is effectiveness.  Hiddenness is power."

 
Ritual:  Power, Healing and Community
pgs. 38-39



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_______________________


The Power of an Indigenous Elder



"In my own village I have seen medicine men speak things into disappearance or drastic transformation.  I was still a little boy when I first saw it from my grandfather.  It was one hot and sunny afternoon.  We were both sitting under the only shade tree in the front yard of the compound.  Grandfather was carving a hoe.  A vulture that was sitting in the tree crapped on him.  The bird's guano fell on Grandfather's bald head and splattered all over it, including his face.  He spoke a funny vocalic language while trying to clean up the mess with this hand.  The bird came crashing down and fell a few feet from us--dead.  I leapt up to grab it.  At the time, I didn't know that we didn't eat buzzards.  The bird was like ash.  When I touched it, it disintegrated into some kind of porous substance.  It felt as if there had never been a bird in that tree.

This power was bestowed upon my grandfather and others like him as part of their status as elders and healers, verified by their outstanding nature, their track record.  Seeing this power, my young ego felt that if I were to possess such a skill I would almost worship it.  But such power is not for worshipping, it is for reaffirming one's linkage with the divine.  Industrial cultures are like a nursery of youthful exuberance too eager for immediacy of power.  Consequently, powers are being acquired too fast, and as a result, those kinds of powers make victims of those who use them.  The buzzard was killed because it did not honor the old.  There is a point in indigenous life when the respect owed to a person does not just come from other people but from the natural world as well.  Grandfather's status as an elder meant that he could order respect.  He was in alignment with his title, which as it was fouled, restored itself as the bird died.  In addition, unlike children, who would take a buzzard shitting on them as a blessing or as a joke, an elder cannot because he has traveled the road that a child is yet to embark on."
 
Ritual:  Power, Healing and Community
pg. 60



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The Healing Power of Nature



"How can modern society accept that the power and vitality in something so apparently inanimate as a tree could touch us deeply and bring about a transformation so profound as to  be healing?  How do you open people to the possibility that nature has this sort of power and vitality to offer them?  In order to realize the power in nature, we must bring a willingness to consider that something has had its hand in the design of the natural world.  What if the appearance of the natural world is the result of something more than historical accumulation of random geological and natural phenomena?  From my own experience I have found that appreciation of the power of nature is increased by inviting people into a ritual space that is directly linked to nature.

After the experience with the green lady, I couldn't get myself to cut a live tree, because I never knew what I was cutting, what sort of spirit might live in the tree that I would be cutting.  Every time I walk in nature, especially among trees, I have this feeling of the presence of spirits watching me, similar to the feeling I had after meeting the kontombl� with the rabbit.  It is almost as though the trees have eyes that follow me in what I am doing and where I am going, and so I have to humble myself.  I cannot but wonder about what is the real nature of trees, if they are not simply a source of lumber.  What kind of window to the Other World do they represent?  Are they really as immobile as they seem to be?  Do they have some vitality aside from their physical form that we need to grapple with?  What is it that they are conscious of that we need to connect with?"
 
The Healing Wisdom of Africa
pgs. 48-49



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Quick Links

Malidoma's Website

Malidoma's
Email Address


East Coast Village

Asheville Village

Ask Malidoma!
 


Holding Our Power :
(Part II)

An Interview with

Malidoma Patrice Som�


Excerpt from SUN Magazine, August 1994
by
D. Patrick Miller



Miller:  It seems to me that the modern world is interested in virtual reality, computer linkups, and high-speed electronic communication because it's trying to do a kind of soul traveling.


Malidoma:  That's right!  It wants to jump to "warp sped" and get there fast.  I'm watching what's going on with virtual reality and CD-ROM; the hidden spirituality of science is an attempt to return you to your ancestors.  It's a return to the primal way of living, where you are connected with the cosmos.  For now, it's represented by the telephone, the television -- tele means "contact from a distance."  The truth is, there's not much difference between you watching television and my grandfather sitting in his room watching a bunch of antelope eating in the field many miles away.

Miller:  Is virtual reality the only way the West can get back to this power?

Malidoma:  No, it's one of countless ways.  Right now, it's the fashionable way because you can meter it and bill for it.  This contrasts radically with the indigenous world.  People there don't measure how much time they spend connecting with the spirit world.  I don't think the West will be ready to connect with spirit until someone can find a way to bill for it.

Miller:  Why is the West obsessed with billing?  Is it simply a survival issue?

Malidoma:  Not really.  It has to do with accumulating power.  Some people think that if they get rich and powerful enough, they will jump right over to the other side of reality and be able to connect and be able to connect with the real power of the ancestors.  But this is just an illusion, an endless cycle of accumulation that doesn't get you any nearer the other side.

Miller:  In Western religious traditions we have long been convinced that the other side -- heaven, or paradise -- is very, very far away.  Thus, we think it must take a lot of money or power, or even suffering to get there.

Malidoma:  But it's not far away, really.  It's right here.  That's like thinking your shadow is very far away.  Actually you can never get away from it.

     When you believe that the other side is distant, you have to think about  transportation -- a means to get there.  You need interstate highways, airlines, shuttles in orbit.  You think about speed all the time to figure out the fastest way to get there.

Miller:  What are some ways to reestablish a more direct contact with the other side?

Malidoma:  It's not complicated.  You can go for a walk in nature and listen.  Someone asked me how to hear what nature was saying, and I told him, "Just go out there, put your hand into a creek, and pull out a stone and listen.  You'll hear something."

     The important thing is not to panic when you do start hearing something and don't know whether or not it's for real.  Give yourself the benefit of the doubt.  That is what most people fail to do.  They have a magical experience, and then they surround it with resistance, with questioning.  They will come to me and say, "I think I heard something, but I would like to know for sure."  I say, "What do you mean, for sure?"

     Let me tell you, that stone is for sure.

Miller:  When I sit beneath a tree and get some kind of feeling or message, the problem is that it's not verbal.  I am always struggling to use words to figure out what it means.

Malidoma:  You are trying to bring it into this world.

Miller:  But I can't be sure of what the tree is saying if I can't put it into words.

Malidoma:  When the message resists being put into words, it is very important to respect that.  There are many realities that die the moment they are wrapped in words.  Verbalization is a massacre of these realities, and that upsets the other realm.  That realm is asking you to recognize it by respecting its wordlessness.  Sooner or later, you'll realize that your experience by the tree constitutes an entirely different type of communication.  With practice you'll be able to enter that realm as comfortably as the worded world you are used to.

Miller:  When I look at the big addictions of our culture -- drugs, violence, money, sex -- they all appear to be thwarted forms of yearning.  It's as if addicts are trying to get to the other side through these substances and experiences.

Malidoma:  If only they could stop and look at the tree.  It's right there.  They could reclaim their right to get to the other side, instead of killing themselves slowly.

     The addict misses community.  He or she misses home, the village energy that makes one feel whole.  That's why people can't quit these things on their own; it's utterly impossible.  The overeater, the smoker, the alcoholic -- they are all using different means to communicate the same message:  "If you don't bring back my village, I might as well die."  People with addictions take in more and more of the same substance, imagining they can become their own village.  But it won't work.  They remain lonely individuals.

     We need to shift our point of view on this.  The addict is not having a personal problem; he or she is communicating a problem we all have.

Miller:  That makes sense when I think of our rise in violence and crime, and our approach to criminal justice.  We try to lock away all the people we regard as violent, as if their violence were strictly their own problem and responsibility, rather than our responsibility as a whole community.

Malidoma:  The driving force behind violence is twofold:  there is an absence of adequate community, and also an unanswered need for initiation.  Violence is a force that is trying to open up what I call an individual's "black box" -- all the information that was stored within a soul on its journey to earth.  Unless we recover that information, it's very difficult to know what our purpose is on this planet.  The individual will do anything and everything to open that black box.  Without a proper initiation, this drive can become a very wild energy with the power to kill other people as well as the person caught up in it.

     We want to put it away because it's scary.  But our fear should be a reminder that we're in the proximity of something magical, something very powerful.  Violence is an expression of the proximity of magic.

     A dysfunctional society instinctively suppresses magic.  That society locks up people who are violently trying to understand their own hidden purpose.  And it tends to treat illness in the same way:  "Just put it away.  Put it out of our sight."  The belief is that hiding the symptom will cure the illness.

Miller:  Does this explain why the death penalty is not an effective deterrent to violent crime?

Malidoma:  The energy of violence is not subject to death.  You can kill a container of that energy, but the energy goes on and finds another.  And there are so many containers available in a dysfunctional society!  We lay the blame on the container without studying what is contained.

Miller:  So how can our society understand its violence in a useful way?

Malidoma:  First, understand that it is a message about illness of the social body.  Then try to trace it to its source and go about making peace with that source.

Miller:  Some would say the source is racial and class discrimination, unfair distribution of resources and employment opportunities, and so forth.

Malidoma:  In a sense that's true because there is an industry of inequality that some people profit from, and they don't want to give up their profits.  It's the historical struggle between rich and poor.  But the underlying ailment is spiritual -- the disconnection from the ancestors and the spirit world.  Inequalities inevitably arise in a society that is alienated from the cosmos, from the grand scheme of things.

Miller:  So you're suggesting that we're too busy fighting each other to realize that the access to what we ultimately want is all around us.  We fight over little bits of power on this side of reality, when the power of the other side is immense.

Malidoma:  It's so huge we can't even fathom it.  But we cannot own it or control it; we can only serve it.  To do that one must constantly ask:  How humble am I when I approach power?  We must be careful not to overinflate our egos, because the West is a showoff culture.

     To hold on to power, you must guard against self-inflation or ego-tripping.  Constantly envision yourself as servant, not proprietor, of the powers around us all.  Honor their mystery.  And let them use you.


 

DCDagaraWheel2
Be a Host for Divinations!
As some of you have experienced, receiving a divination from Malidoma is a fascinating and powerful encounter with Spirit!  Unfortunately many people are unable to receive divinations from Malidoma due to faraway locations or transportation challenges.

Many have inquired about how to bring Malidoma to their area.  One way to accomplish this is to host Malidoma for divinations!  In order to provide the best opportunity for Malidoma to connect and share the wisdom of the Other World, get 20+ people committed to receiving a divination, and he will come to your area.  Hosts receive a free divination!  For more information and details, write to info@malidoma.com


Burkina Faso in December 2010!
In the Kitchen --- Photo by Sheila Evans
Making Beer

Malidoma has scheduled a general trip to his village in Burkina Faso, West Africa on December 8th through December 21st.  The fee is $2,250 per person.  The focus of this trip will be to introduce participants to the rhythms and flow of daily, indigenous village life.  If you are interested, there is still time to sign up!  Write to info@malidoma.com to receive more information and details.

Upcoming Radio Talk Show Interviews featuring Malidoma:

Friday, October 1st
"The Way Forward
" Talk Radio Show Interview, Live.  KPFK Radio 90.7 FM, 2 pm PDT, Los Angeles, CA area.  Archived the following week at http://archive.kpfk.org/parchive  Host: Eisha Mason

Monday, October 25th
"Inner Vision Monday
" with Meri Ka Ra & Brother Yaw Talk Radio Show Interview, Live.  KPFK Radio 90.7 FM,
1-2 pm PDT, Los Angeles, CA area.  Archived the following week at http://archive.kpfk.org/parchive 
Host: Meri Ka Ra


Sunday, November 14th
"A
Call to Consciousness" Talk Radio Show Interview, Live.  K-Talk AM 1150, 9:30 am PDT, Los Angeles, CA area
Outside Los Angeles area, go to http://www.ktlkam1150.com.  Archived the following week at http://www.universalflag.com/av.html
Host: Brian McClure

Archived Radio Talk Show Interviews featuring Malidoma:

"Expanding Awareness" Talk Radio Show Interview, with Malidoma Som�.  Archived from the August 28th show at http://www.innerexplorationprocess.com/victorvenckus/WZBC.html  Host: Victor Venckus

"Awakening Value:  Shamanic Technologies of Consciousness & Success" Web Radio Show Interview, Archived from the September 9th show at www.awakeningvalue.com  Host: Marti Spiegelman

light Ask Malidoma!
Q:  What is the purpose of learning about the other worlds?  I've always been drawn to other worlds and dimensions, and have only felt happy on this earth when I started to work as a medium.  Why would one visit other dimensions?  Is just "wanting to" a good enough reason?  Is there any obvious benefit other than expanding one's horizons?  In my work I see a lot of ancestral places.  I asked for a dream for help, and I saw a tall African.  He was walking and then bowing to kiss the earth, then walking, then bowing to kiss the earth.  He had a name, but I couldn't pronounce it in this world.  Does a deepening knowledge of other worlds make us more fit to live in this one?
 

A:  Deep inside the human psyche resides a seemingly unstoppable beacon of longing for the other world that is simply undeniable. In fact everyone longs, or has the capacity to long for something so liberating, so expansive, so exhilarating that it makes everyday living in this dimension seem quite claustrophobic sometimes. I remember my first encounter with the other world as an innocent child. I was fascinated by the little old Kontombl� man sitting inside a circular gateway. My mother on the other hand was terrified, partly because she was reacting as a mother and partly because she was not sharing my experience. So why is it that the other world scares some people like my mother while others can't wait to get out of this world and enter the other? There is both a natural fear and an attraction to the "world of wonder" in another dimension. The fear comes from the unknown while the attraction is driven by the human sense of adventure. Without experiencing both, we miss out on something fundamental about our humanity.  Humans are not meant to go through life in a state of bovine serenity; they are to experience life fully with the trepidation, yet exhilaration that comes from new encounters with the unknown.


Now the purpose of learning about the other world could simply be explained in terms of, say, attraction or curiosity. The human craving to know is an unstoppable force. We do not know enough about what we call the other world, and that beacon of longing to expand our consciousness demands that we reinvent the notion of the human frontier "to boldly go where no man has gone before." The stuff we humans are made of seems to have roots in, or have a strong connection to the other world.  Our spirit  often goes there while we are sleeping and therefore  is less guarded and more open to the concept of what is reality. We go to other dimensions to learn  more about ourselves and about the dimension we're  already in. Sometimes "distance from the ground of our existence" gives us a better view and  allows us to see better and clearer about who we are.


But it is also useful to keep in mind that how we go to the other world matters. The other world cannot be so important that it doesn't matter if we endanger ourselves trying to get there. In my experience, I have had many teachers whose methodology for getting me to the other world threatened my responsibility in this world. Knowing that there is more than one way of achieving the same result, common sense dictates that we self-reflect before going down any "rabbit hole." I have had to say no to this sometimes because I have the right to decide how I go to the other world. Knowing that there are several ways to get there allows for choices that are right for each particular individual.

 

Moreover, it is true to say that the pull to go to the other world may not be as personal and "self-generated" as we think. What if we have a friend or a family member in the other world to whom we are so connected that we are pulled toward each other for our mutual healing? What if a being in the other world likes us so much that the being is pulling us there while we think it is us just feeling drawn. The story of seeing a tall African in a dream "walking and then bowing to kiss the earth, then walking, and then bowing to kiss the Earth [who] had a name, but I could not pronounce it in this world" is the same as what happens when you look into the mirror and see yourself in the past, relating intimately with the Earth. This is why we all must take our attraction to the other world seriously and reflect fully before deciding how and whether to enter it at any given time.


To have no interest in the other world is to show contentment with life in the "prison house" of this dimension and this reality. It is denying an elemental capacity that humans have been given to seek knowledge and also have awareness of our own spirit.  We all know this world does not fulfill us spiritually; we all know it is missing something. We do not know what it is missing, but we are damn sure something is missing! The ultimate freedom is trans-dimensional citizenship. It is the capacity to belong everywhere, to feel comfortable in this world as well as in the other. So knowing that there is more to this life than meet the senses is the first and most crucial step toward that freedom. Also of great important is to leave expectation out of our minds while attempting to fulfill an irresistible quest such as this. We cannot posit pleasure and fun as the prerequisite for experiencing the other world. I have never gone to the other world to have a party (although, if it happens, I will take it too). But expecting fun to be the prerequisite of otherworldly commuting is showing how conditioned by our entertainment culture we are. Let us just embrace the fact that knowing the other world is like knowing ourselves. We become more anchored in this world because the other world helps us understand why we are in this one. Knowledge is freedom and power. Dimensional knowledge affords inner peace that comes with greater compassion and love for this world, more respect for the Earth and for the life on it.  That knowledge bestows an overwhelming sense of freedom and a feeling of power that sustains and strengthens us in this world.  That is the purpose of learning about other worlds . . . we learn an enormous amount about ourselves!


 
Donations for The Dagara
Cultural Youth Festival, 2011

Photo by Theresa Thomas

The Dagara Cultural Youth Festival this year February 2010 was a tremendous success!  The monetary support Malidoma received through donations for the festival--without a doubt--played a major role.


Because of this achievement, Malidoma has indisputably become the leader in the safeguarding and promotion of Dagara ancestral traditions.  In the past, UNESCO, a division of the United Nations was co-sponsoring this government program.  Suddenly in 2009, both UNESCO and the government dropped any support and the Ministry of Culture told Dano that it was on its own.  The High Commissioner of Dano, upon learning through the grapevine of what Malidoma had been doing in the West, asked him for help.  This was the beginning of Malidoma's highly visible leadership role in his own country (he was featured on T.V. several times in Burkina Faso--never before had this occurred).

The Dagara Cultural Youth Festival is an attempt to interest youth in the values of the traditions of their ancestors so that they can preserve it in themselves amidst the sweeping changes of modernity.  UNESCO had shown interest in it for reasons of its own and then dropped out when these interests dried up.

Again we need your help! 

Photo By Theresa Thomas
Playing the Balafon

If you have ever been moved by the values of the Dagara culture in the West, this is a wonderful opportunity and--we believe--an invitation from the ancestors to step up to the plate and show the extent of our appreciation of the wisdom that is now endangered in its place of birth.

The goal is to raise $15K or more for this week-long event which is scheduled to happen again in February of 2011. Exact dates are not yet set. Your tax-deductible contribution can be sent directly to Aviela Inc., c/o Robert Walker, P.O. 82, Cherry Plain, NY 12040.

Once again this is a call to rise, for it is now our time to shine!

ASHE!



Upcoming Events

DCDagaraWheel2

Kontombl� Renewal:  Assessing & Celebrating Our
Relationship with Kontombl�, Led by Malidoma Som�
East Coast Village, Cherry Plain, NY
October 6-8
For more information about the Kontombl� Renewal event see newsletter above and/or please contact Robert Walker at robertdwalker@taconic.net or 518-658-2508 or Peggy Zamierowski at waterbluegrief@yahoo.com or 518-733-513


Beyi Ritual @ East Coast Village (ECV)

Cherry Plain, NY
October 8-10
for more info see newsletter above and/or contact
Sheila Evans at
sheilahhhhhh@yahoo.com

Lecture, Q&A and Book Signing at Unity South---
Unity South Church
7950 1st Avenue South
Bloomington, MN  55420 (off 494 & Nicollet)
Cost:  $25
October 13, 7-9pm
for more info write to info@malidoma.com

Private Divinations---
Minneapolis/St. Paul area

October 14-17
for more info write to info@malidoma.com

Stories, Drums & Wisdom:  Remembering & Relearning
Eldership & Initiation For Men, Women, Elders and Youth
--Two Evenings with Malidoma Som�________________

This two-evening event is open to all men, women, elders, & youth.  Please join us as we share wisdom and create a sacred space of rhythm, movement, intention, and teaching.  Explore ancient traditions together to face common challenges.  Each night will present with different stories, discussion, and music, so please attend both nights and enjoy the many blessings.

Hosts:  Boys to Men Mentoring Network,Table of Sages Eldership Project, Mankind Project
Harriet Alexander Nature Center
2520 Dale St. N, Roseville MN 55113
(just 3 blocks North of Hwy 36 on Dale)
$65 for one night, $95 for both nights
October 18-19, 6-10pm
Music & Meditation begins at 5pm
Stories & Teachings 6-10pm

To register, send your payment, name, e-mail address &
phone to Registrar c/o David Stewart, 2549 Cedar Hills Drive,
Minnetonka MN 55305.
Make check payable to: Table of Sages

For general info & all other registration concerns, write or call Dan Gorbunow, Event coordinator at thunderbird@live.com or 612.987.0324


Inner Vision Monday
with Meri Ka Ra & Brother Yaw
Talk Radi
o Show Interview, Live.  KPFK Radio 90.7 FM,
1-2 pm PDT, Los Angeles, CA area.  Archived the following week at http://archive.kpfk.org/parchive  Host: Meri Ka Ra
Monday, October 25

The Power of Ritual & Community---
Lecture in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Sponsored by Institute of Traditional Medicine (ITM)
for more info write to info@malidoma.com or

see www.instituteoftraditionalmedicine.com

October 29

Private Divinations---
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
November 1-3
for more info write to info@malidoma.com


Ancestral Light--The Healing Wisdom of Africa:
A Public Talk with Dr. Malidoma Som�________
The Michener Institute, Auditorium
222 St. Patrick Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1V4
(1 block N of Dundas & 2 blocks W of University Ave.,
close to St. Patrick Subway Station)
Tuesday, November 2 @ 7-9pm (Registration @ 6:30)
Advanced Tickets:  $25 Regular, $20 Seniors & Students
Buy On Line at http://malidoma.eventbrite.com 
or cash at Wonderworks Book Store (79 Harbord St.
Toronto, M5S 1G4)
At the Door:  $30 (Cash only)
For info/questions contact host:
Leslie Fell,leslie.fell@gmail.com or 416.231.4815

Private Divinations---
Santa Barbara, CA
November 9-11
for more info write to info@malidoma.com

An Evening with Malidoma Som�:  A Public Talk
$15 advance, $20 at the door
in the Council House @ The Ojai Foundation
Thursday, November 11, 7:30-9:30pm
For reservations go to www.ojaifoundation.org
or call 805.646.8343
The Ojai Foundation is in Upper Ojai.  Take HWY 150.
Go past Besant Hill School.  Take next RIGHT (opposite
Old Walnut Road).

The Gender of Magic:  Men & the Other World

A Men's Gathering_______________________
Ojai, CA
November 12-14
Cost:  $455 (includes meals)
$250 deposit by Oct. 15th to secure placement
Payment in full by Nov. 1st
Make check payable to Tudor Marinescu & mail to
2128 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405
Bathrooms, camping & sleeping in a yurt are available
for more info write to info@malidoma.com and also see
info flier

"A
Call to Consciousness" Talk Radio Show Interview, Live  K-Talk AM 1150, 9:30 am PDT, Los Angeles, CA area
Outside Los Angeles area, go to http://www.ktlkam1150.com
Archived the following week at http://www.universalflag.com/av.html  Host: Brian McClure
Sunday, November 14

Private Divinations---
Ojai, CA

November 15-19
for more info write to info@malidoma.com

Ancestor's Ritual
Ojai, CA
November 19-21
Cost:  $455 (includes meals)
$250 deposit by Oct. 15th to secure placement
Payment in full by Nov. 1st
Make check payable to Tudor Marinescu & mail to
2128 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405

Bathrooms, camping & sleeping in a yurt are available

for more info write to info@malidoma.com and also see
info flier

Journey to Village of Dano, Burkina Faso, West Africa

December 8-21
for more info write to info@malidoma.com

Malidoma Som� at Jackie's on the Reef, Negril, Jamaica, W.I.
Ritual & African Spirituality Workshop___________________
For those seeking to revitalize their connection with nature, magic, and community.

Cost:  $1,500 (does not include airfare)
Contact:  Claudia at 973.336.5226
January 14-18, 2011
Email:  tbny3000@gmail.com
To schedule a private divination session at this retreat, write to
info@malidoma.com

Lecture at Augsburg College, Minneapolis, MN
February 11 & 12, 2011
Stay tuned for more details!

Private Divinations
Minneapolis, MN
February 13-17, 2011
Divination appointments will be scheduled
beginning the 2nd week in January, 2011

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"Today I use my power to stop what is
no longer good to me."

~Iyanla Vanzant~
 Acts of Faith, January 5th