Apr 18-20, 2008
This transformational and soul-invigorating workshop is designed to break through our cultural barriers to grief. There is a need to periodically feel and express grief in order to purge the soul of hurts and pains. The suppression of emotion in general, and grief in particular, is linked to spiritual drought, emotional confusion, and illness.
To begin to regain a serious and lasting sense of connection with ourselves and with spirit, we need to find a place to release our grief – grief about the loss of loved ones, the loss of our dreams, and the loss of our connection with our ancestors.
Ritual is a technique for transcending the mundane so we can connect with our souls. The soul is the core part of the self while the spirit is active in the world. It is as though the soul is the sun and the spirit is the rays coming out of the sun.
In the West, we’ve lost many of our rituals and mourn the loss of connectedness that ritual offers us. Rituals create community and intimacy, invite the spirits to help us nourish ourselves during the healing process, and help us achieve a lasting sense of peace.
In the traditional world of the Dagara of Burkina Faso, West Africa, the ritual of grief, conducted almost daily in different parts of the tribe, is their way of releasing the tension caused by loss and of restoring continuity in relationships.
Sobonfu speaks of tribal and transcendental experiences in down-to-earth, Western terms that are nonetheless startling, original, and urgent. We will enter into the ritual space of grief following the traditional model of the Dagara. It is our hope that these rituals deepen our connections to life, nature, and the earth; heal family and ancestral wounds; bring a deep sense of release; and help put an end to pain.
Renowned teacher and mentor Sobonfu Somé is one of the foremost voices of African Spirituality to come to the West, bringing insights and healing gifts from her West African culture to ours. She was born in Burkina Faso, a remote West African village of about 200 people. The Dagara people have preserved the old ways of the African village life, with family structures, spiritual practices, and a way of life that has been in place for over 10,000 years. Sobonfu’s name means “the keeper of the knowledge.” She began her initiation at the age of five when the elders discovered she was speaking a language from the spirit world and foretelling important events. She’s an instinctive and intuitive healer who teaches from the deep well of knowledge of womanhood and Spirit, traveling the world to offer her native perspective on community, healing, intimacy, rituals, and the sacredness of everyday life. A graceful and eloquent woman, Sobonfu possesses a charm and modesty that enables her to touch people deeply. Her message rings with an intuitive power and truth that Alice Walker said “can help us put together so many things that our modern western world has broken.” She has written two remarkable books Welcoming Spirit Home: Ancient Teachings to Celebrate Children and Community and The Spirit of Intimacy. We welcome her return to Rowe.