Brant Secunda is a shaman, healer and ceremonial leader in the Huichol Indian tradition of Mexico. He completed a twelve-year apprenticeship with Don Josй Matsuwa, the renowned Huichol Shaman who lived to be 110 years old and who adopted Brant as his grandson. Alongside other dignitaries including President Jimmy Carter, Brant cofounded the Peace University in Berlin, and is a founding member of the American Herbalists Guild and has taught at the American Holistic Medical Association Annual Conference He is a world-renowned shaman and healer in the Huichol Indian tradition.
My guest this week is MALIDOMA SOME, a West African Elder, author, teacher, diviner, and healer. His life path has been difficult to say the least; from being born in an obscure village in West Africa; kidnapped at age 4 by a Jesuit Priest and sent away to be schooled in Christianity; escaping at age 20 to return to his homeland; having to learn his native language again; being trained to be a shaman; then on to higher education to earn three Masters Degrees and two doctorates at the Sorbonne and Brandeis University; and finally to teach at the University of Michigan.
SELF-MASTERY, POWER, & JOY, these are the topics Caroline will discuss today. Self-mastery is important for all people who want to evolve into better people, but it is especially important for a Shaman. It is imperative in doing Shamanic Journey Work that the Shaman be able to get their mind, their ego, and their Self out of the way so that they are truly a hollow reed open to receive what the spirits are showing them without imposing their viewpoint, perspective, or rationalization on it.
HANK WESSELMAN has been a Shamanic Practitioner for 30 years, but he is also a paleo-anthropologist with a Masters Degree in Zoology, and a Doctoral Degree in Anthropology. Over the past 40 years, he has conducted research with an international group of scientists exploring Eastern Africa's Great Rift Valley in search of answers to human origins. His fieldwork has allowed him to live among indigenous tribal people who have rarely had contact with outsiders and to encounter their traditional Shaman.