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)