Openness and Honesty: Chief Fama's Path to Spiritual Fullfillment

With great pleasure I welcome, Chief Fama, one of the leading voices of Yoruba spirituality and culture, to the Sacred Journey podcast series. Chief Fama is an Iyanifa, an initiated diviner in the Ifa tradition; she's also a colleged-educated business woman.

In this podcast, we talk about the sting of colonialism and the fullfillment that comes from honoring and following the ways of the ancestors. We also discuss the misconceptions people have of Yoruba spiritual practice.

Please join me in welcoming this important voice to the Sacred Journey Worldwide forum.

James
email: James@sacredjourneyworldwide.com
www.sacredjourneyworldwide.com

James

email (James@Sacredjourneyworldwide.com)

Sacred Journey: January Journal Entry

In this episode of the Sacred Journey podcast series, I journey home to St. Croix, Virgin Islands to talk to my life-long friend, kindred-spirit, Randall Macedon.

Physically, at least for the moment, I live in Oakland, California. Emotionally and spiritually, however, I live in the Caribbean and Africa. When Randall saw the 2008 Sacred Journey Calendar for the first time earlier this year, he said he could easily offer an entire workshop on every image and every journal entry in the calendar, and that comment intrigued me. I wondered what I might learn from his insights into my work.

We discuss some of the symbolism in the 2008 Sacred Journey Calendar cover, and then we discuss part of the January entry which says: "A sincere attempt to understand the world around us requires us to stretch and stretch and stretch. Embrace new languages, friends and ideas. Slow down. Allow time to ferry us in to the deepest regions of culture and soul."

Stretching refers to emotional, spiritual and intellectual growth. Embrace new languages is a reference to the global language crisis. Embrace new friends -- sounds easy. It's not. Many people have difficulty forming lasting friendships/relationships, and this has an adverse impact on our health, sociologists say.

Embrace new ideas -- we're not nearly as open to new ideas as we think we are. Even more tragic...we're not open to new ideas about ourselves and our potential.

Slow down. Allow time to ferry us into the deepest regions of culture and soul -- there's no quick way to understand the worldview of another culture. Patience is the key that enables us to glimpse not only the divine, but the visions that emanate from another cultures.

Join me as I welcome Randall Macedon to the Sacred Journey forum.




James

email (James@Sacredjourneyworldwide.com)

Surrendering to the Divine: a Conversation with Yeye Olomitutu

So far in the Sacred Journey podcast series, we've heard from men. That's not by intent; I want to hear balanced viewpoints from both women and men, and I hope to achieve this going forward.

My guest is Yeye Olomitutu, an Orisa priestess, social worker and grandmother who now resides in Atlanta. I don't have a photo of her yet, so momentarily, I'm using one of the images that appeared in my 2008 Sacred Journey calendar.

Yeye and I discuss respect for the elderly, her childhood in Nigeria, colonialism and her spiritual journey and transformation.
She says she's learning to trust Ifa, the orisa, or divine spirit of wisdom. I can relate to that; I think we all can. Do we trust our fears....or do we trust our inner voice and/or the light that's being cast by Spirit?

Growth -- that's the challenge before us.

Join me as I welcome Yeye to the Sacred Journey forum.


James

email (James@Sacredjourneyworldwide.com)
www.sacredjourneyworldwide.com

Spirit-based Healing: Understanding African Medical Science

In the sixth podcast, Sacred Journey Worldwide's distinguished lecture series, presents Dr. Charles S. Finch, author, board-certified physician and former director of International Health, Morehouse School of Medicine.

A 1971 graduate of Yale University and a 1976 graduate of Thomas Jefferson Medical College, Dr. Finch also has expertise in African antiquities, comparative religion, anthropology, and ancient science. Finch spoke to Sacred Journey Worldwide about his life-long passion for medicine and the extensive field work he conducted among the Serrer people of Senegal.

He also gives an overview of African healing systems, which, he says, is Spirit-based. Much of his research focuses on healing traditions of two Senegalese ethnic groups: the Lebu and the Serrer. Although some view them as separate and distinct systems, Finch insists both ethnic groups share similar cosmological and spiritual beliefs.

The Lebu spiritual healing system is called ndepp, whereas, the Serrer tradition is known as Loup. Both systems are comparable to that of the Fon of Benin, and the Yoruba of Nigeria.

Rabs are the ancestral spirit guides of the ndepp's. "There are innumerable rabs, but seven major ones guide human destiny. Healing is carried out in the ndepp system by communing with and invoking the intervention of the rabs to alleviate personal and communal suffering. One communicates with the rabs through the drums, dances, songs, invocations, offerings and sacrifice," says Finch.

In our interview, Finch also pays tribute to the late Maam Adji Fatou Seck of Senegal, one of the countries most outstanding and successful spiritual healers, who visited the U.S. on several occasions with her delegation and performed authentic healing ceremonies. "The most skillfull of healers seemed able to accomplish near-miracles in their ability to restore, physical, psychic and spiritual health to afflicted persons."

Finch witnessed Fatou Seck heal a man suffering from Turrets Syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by involuntary body movements and vocal outbursts. We also discuss remote healing -- a characteristic of African medical science. Many Africans who live abroad routinely call home to have healing work performed on their behalf.

Finch says there's a growing interest in alternative healing systems. "A large segment of the patient population is seeking alternative modalities of health care outside organized medicine. There seems to have emerged an implicit recognition that healing, sought by so many, goes beyond the curative paradigms perfected by modern medicine."

In Africa, 85% of the population still consults traditional healers, particularly since poverty puts expensive modern health care out of the reach of the masses. In addition to championing African healing and spiritual traditions, Finch's organization, Coumba Lamba USA, also collaborates with Native American medicine people and their spiritual traditions. He briefly discusses a water purification ritual that was performed by Richard Dalton, a medicine man in Hoonah Alaska.

Dr. Finch has lectured more than 500 times in the U.S., Senegal, England, Switzerland and Egypt. He is the Vice President of the Senegal-based Association for the Promotion of Traditional Medicine and has published more than a dozen articles including: The African Background of Medical Science, Nile Genesis: The Birth of Christianity, Race and Evolution in Prehistory, Science and Symbol in Egyptian Medicine and Pharmacotherapy in Therapy.

For more information on Finch or to make a contribution to his organization, Coumba Lamba USA, please contact him at:
http://www.charlessfinch.com/.

On behalf of the Sacred Journey Worldwide team, I extend a very warm welcome to this accomplished scholar and health professional that must be heard.



James

email (James@Sacredjourneyworldwide.com)

A Message From Dr. Wande Abimbola: The Awise of Ifa

With great honor and pride, I welcome Dr. Wande Abimbola, one of the worlds foremost authorities on Yoruba culture and spirituality, as the Sacred Journey Worldwide podcast series continues.

Professor Wande Abimbola is the Awise Awo Agbaye (world's spokesperson for Ifa and Yoruba religion. He is also an author as well as babalawo, or Ifa diviner and priest.


In this podcast, Dr. Abimbola, speaks of Ifa as an emerging global philosophy. And in addition to discussing his childhood and training as a diviner, we also discuss colonialism, which unfortunately, is very much alive and well in the Motherland.

Throughout Africa, he points out, there's not a single holiday for those who practice indigenous religions......but there are holidays for Christians and Muslims. African belief systems are still ridiculed, he says.

I admire Wande's response when I inquire about the misconceptions people have of Ifa. "I'm not concerned about misconceptions," he says. In other words, that's their problem. This comforts me because those of us who practice indigenous spirituality are often made to feel apologetic. We have nothing to apologize for.

As Bob Marley sang..."from the very first day we left the shores of the Motherland, we've been trampled on......and taken for granted."

I love the Ifa verse that he chants and later translates. The cadence and richness his voice is so "ripe" with the authority and wisdom that comes from being an elder, that just listening is somewhat of a spiritual experience for me.

"Those who make a pact with the ancestors become immortal," he says. I like the implications of this proverb. When asked what he values, he says friendship, respect for the elderly, humility, hard-work and dedication.

I find it intriguing that friendship is the first value he mentions, and I'll explain why in a later posting. Friendship in Ifa, he says, is considered to be the pinnacle of all human relationships -- it is considered to be higher than the relationship between husband and wife, or mother and child.

I welcome you to this invigorating discussion.




James

(email: james@sacredjourneyworldwide.com

Photo credit: Reginald Jackson

Sacred Leaves of Candomble

In the fourth podcast, we shift our attention from the global language crisis momentarily as we talk to Dr. Robert Voeks, author of Sacred Leaves of Candomble: African Magic, Medicine and Religion in Brazil.

Dr. Voeks is an ethnobotanist, a scientist who studies plants and people. Yet, it's important to realize the interconnection between all things. The authors of Vanishing Voices say there's a "link between language survival and environmental issues, they argue that the extinction of languages is part of the larger picture of the near-total collapse of the worldwide ecosystem."

Indeed, the authors of Vanishing Voices "contend that the struggle to preserve precious environmental resources -- such as the rainforest -- cannot be separated from the struggle to maintain diverse cultures, and that the causes of language death, like that of ecological destruction, lie at the intersection of ecology and politics."

It is interesting that Dr. Voeks begins Sacred Leaves of Candomble by noting that the "earth is in the midst of a biological cataclysm of unprecedented proportions." He adds that "as the last native forest and fields are bulldozed or burned, the potential contribution of native plants to the development of new foods, fibers, and medicines is forever eliminated. As the last traditional societies are seduced by the Western worldview, the accumulated plant knowledge of unknown millenia is forever forgotten."

Sacred Leaves of Candomble focuses on the use of plants in the spiritual and medicinal practice of Candomble, an African religious and healing tradition that spread to Brazil via the Yoruba of West Africa during the slave trade. Dr. Voeks draws on various disciplines including history, geography, culture, botany. He also presents an overview of the orixas, or orisas, the divine spirits in the Yoruba spiritual or philosophical system that are known in Brazil as Xango, or Sango, Ogun, Oxala, Oxossi, Omulu, Ossaim, Iroko, Yemanja, Oxum, Iansa, Nana and Oxumare.

In this interview, Dr. Voeks discusses how he first became aware of Candomble while doing research in Brazil. He also discusses common misconceptions about medicinal plants. Most people, for example, think of the rainforests/jungles as being a treasure trove of medicinal plants, when in fact, many medicinal plants can be found all around us as common weeds and shrubs that we routinely ignore.

Dr. Voeks insists we cannot understand the dynamics of the healing traditions of Candomble without understanding the "subtle interplay between history, geography, culture and political economy." Some 135 million years ago, he points out, Africa and South America were once joined as a supercontinent. Therefore, "there are considerable floristic similarities between the continents."

We also discuss biopiracy. Biopiracy, in a nutshell, is the stealing of indigenous knowledge/healing systems by pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Voeks believes that biopiracy doesn't occur as often as people think it does. I disagree. I think that bio-piracy is a very real threat that indigenous people face and should not be taken lightly. India and other third world countries are actively taking steps to combat biopiracy.

I welcome you to join our conversation:

James (email: james@sacredjourneyworldwide.com)

From Words to Medicine

In the third podcast, Chief Dayo Ologundudu,a native of Ile Ife, Nigeria, speaks of powerful incantations that the Yoruba utilize to invoke the elements of nature and transform them into medicine.

I love the richness of his voice as well as the poetic and philosophical richness of the incantation to water that he later translates: "Coolness is the way of water. Calmness is the way of water. Clarity is the way of water. Purity is the way of water."

"Water has no enemies", says Dayo, who speaks with reverence about our ancestors and our tradition of communicating with the rivers, the hills, volcanos and other forces of nature. He also discusses his upcoming book on Yoruba history, spirituality and culture and talks about traditional songs for the orisas, or divine spirits, that survived in Cuba. I enjoyed his renditions of songs for Esu Odara and Ogun and Yemonja, the divine spirit of the sea.

Dayo was my first Yoruba language instructor more than 12 years ago. He believed then and still believes that the language is the root of Ifa, the ancient philosphy of our ancestors. I remember quite clearly how it would frustrate him when he couldn't find committed students. "Nobody cares about perfection anymore," Dayo would grumble.

The drive to understand languages is a fundamental part of who I am. Yet, there's no secret to learning a new language or any new skill for that matter. We must incorporate our aspirations into our day-to-day lives and apply ourselves with dedication, perseverance and determination. It's the only way forward.




James Weeks (email: james@sacredjourneyworldwide.com)

Lost Words/Lost Worlds

In the second podcast, we shift our attention from the global language crisis as we focus on the Yoruba language, which scholars say is also threatened. The Yorubas inhabit Southwest Nigeria. In this interview with Chief Aikulola Iwindara, we zero in on the sacred texts of Ifa, an ancient philosophy and culture that has been transmitted orally for thousands of years.

As language erosion continues, scientists say we're losing priceless knowledge in virtually every field imaginable because the collective knowledge of humanity is encoded in language and many languages have not been adequately documented.

"The next great steps in scientific development may lie locked up in some obscure language in a distant rainforest," say the authors of Vanish Voices. Indeed, as we lose words, we lose worlds.

As a student Ifa priest and a speaker of Yoruba,
I often wonder how much deep ancestral knowledge has already been lost as Christianity, Islam and the forces of globalization dominate Africa. Vanish Voices haunts me. It always has, and I suspect that it always will.

I was pleased to interview Chief Priest Aikulola Iwindara (pictured on the left). I sometimes say that we're twins because we're both from the Caribbean (Puerto Rico, St. Croix, Virgin Islands), and we've both learned to speak Yoruba fluently. In this photo that appears on his website, he's sitting next to the Iya Osun, the highest ranking priestess of the orisa, or divine spirit, Osun.

In this podcast, Chief Iwindara shares some of the insights he's learned about the divine spirit, Obatala, by closely studying the sacred Ifa texts. He chants several verses, gives advice to those who wish to learn this language, and talks briefly about the time he's spent living in Yorubaland.

James Weeks (email: james@sacredjourneyworldwide.com)

The Earth's Vanishing Voices

"The world's languages are dying. Ninety percent of them are expected to disappear in the next one hundred years."

Join me as I interview anthropologist Dr. Daniel Nettle, the co-author of the book Vanishing Voices to find out why.

Many of the journal entries that appear in the 2008 Sacred Journey calendar are kernels of larger issues. In fact, to expound on some of these issues, I'll be drawing on the insights of leading scholars. I'll also bring the Yoruba and other ethnic groups to center stage to further enlighten us. Plus, I'll also share my own insights.

The authors of Vanishing Voices assert that the "extinction of languages is part of the larger picture of the near-total collapse of the worldwide ecosystem." In the first of Sacred Journey's podcasts, Dr. Daniel Nettle talks about his field work in Africa, indigenous knowledge systems, and the detailed information that's encoded in language.

We also discuss ecology. "The extinction of languages is part of the larger picture of worldwide near total ecosystem collapse," say the authors of Vanishing Voices. "Despite the increasing attention given to endangered species and the environment, there has been little awareness that peoples can also be endangered. More has been said about the plight of the pandas and spotted owls than about the disappearance of human language diversity," they add.

"While the loss of most of the world's languages and cultures may be survivable, the result will be a seriously reduced quality of life, if not the loss of the very meaning of life itself. Allowing languages and cultures to die directly reduces the sum total of our knowledge about the world, for it removes some of the voices articulating its richness and variety. With the passing of each voice, we lose a little more of who we were and are, and what we may become."

Daniel Nettle received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from University College London. He is also the author of The Fyem Language of Northern Nigeria and Linguistic Diversity. He joins us live and direct from his home in London. On behalf of the Sacred Journey Worldwide team, please join me in welcoming this distinguished scholar as we discuss one of the most critical, but underreported issues of our time.

James: (email: james@sacredjourneyworldwide.com)