3rd Eye Watch January 2015 (1 yr Anniversary Edition) | Page 26

Dr. Somé did not feel that the rituals from his traditional village could simply be transferred to the West, so over his years of
shamanic work here, he has designed rituals that meet the very different
needs of this culture. Although the rituals change according to the
individual or the group involved, he finds that there is a need for certain
rituals in general. One of these involves helping people discover that
their distress is coming from the fact that they are,"called by beings
from the other world to cooperate with them in doing healing work."
Ritual allows them to move out of the distress and accept that calling.
Another ritual need relates to initiation. In indigenous cultures all over
the world, young people are initiated into adulthood when they reach a
certain age. The lack of such initiation in the West is part of the crisis
that people are in here, says Dr. Somé. He urges communities to bring
together, "the creative juices of people who have had this kind of
experience, in an attempt to come up with some kind of an alternative
ritual that would at least begin to put a dent in this kind of crisis."
Another ritual that repeatedly speaks to the needs of those coming to him for help entails making a bonfire, and then putting into the
bonfire,"items that are symbolic of issues carried inside the individuals... It might be the issues of anger and frustration against an
ancestor who has left a legacy of murder and enslavement or anything, things that the descendant has to live with," he explains.
"If these are approached as things that are blocking the human imagination, the person's life purpose, and even the person's view of life
as something that can improve, then it makes sense to begin thinking in terms of how to turn that blockage into a roadway that can lead
to something more creative and more fulfilling."
The example of issues with an ancestors touches on rituals designed by Dr. Somé that address a serious dysfunction in Western society
and in the process "trigger enlightenment" in participants.
These are ancestral rituals, and the dysfunction they are aimed at is the mass turning-of-the-back on ancestors. Some of the spirits
trying to come through, as described earlier, may be,"ancestors who want to merge with a descendant in an attempt to heal what they
weren't able to do while in their physical body.""Unless the relationship between the living and the dead is in balance, chaos ensues,"
he says.
"The Dagara believe that, if such an imbalance exists