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)