I watched a Dogon shaman dream a Bad Spirit

After scrambling down and down over steep boulder-filled trail, my interpreter and I entered the tiny village of Koundou Gina. We wanted to meet the most powerful shaman in the region.

A woman enters the outskirts of Koundou Gina village, Dogon tribe, Mali, Africa.

As we hiked through dried stalks of a corn field, my interpreter explained that many people came from distant villages to meet with Dugui Dugene (Medicine Man). We met the simple harmless-looking shaman just outside his stone house.

Powerful Dugui Dugene (Medicine Man) showing me how he removes doogu doogu from a person. Koundou Gina village, Dogon tribe, Mail, Africa.

After a bit of chatter, I asked about Doogu Doogu and other terrible things caused by bad spirits.

In an casual tenor voice, the Medicine Man explained: "The bad spirit is created by God. Both good and bad spirits are created by God."

Medicines Dugui Dugene (Medicine Man) gathers in the forest to heal people that come to Koundou Gina village from surrounding villages. Dogon tribe, Mail, Africa.

Medicine Man continued: "We don't see the bad spirits because they have much magic power. They could be right here right now. We just don't see them.

The shaman paused a bit, pointed at me. Then: "But they can see us."

Squating with his back against the mud wall of his one-room house, Medicine Man continued: "I can see them in my dream. When I sleep at night time, I can see them. 

"The bad spirit look like a man. They wear clothes. But some of them has a cow head. Some has only one hand. And some has one breast. Some look like men but not complete man. And always have two, three or ten heads. 

Then he pointed to his hand. "Some have kind of feet here. The feet are cow feet."

 

My visualization of the Dogon bad spirit as described by the Dogon tribe Medicine Man in Koundou Gina village, Mali, Africa.

When I asked Medicine Man if he was afraid of the bad spirit in his dreams, he replied nonchalantly: "Afraid some, a little bit, but not that much."

Janis: "I would be very afraid."

Medicine Man: "If you suppose to walk with bad spirit and you afraid, they always come to afraid you. And if you afraid of them, you can be crazy. You can become crazy. They can do you something bad." 

Janis: "Can I take a picture of you like you are sleeping, like you are dreaming?

Mother's dream brings dead son back to life

While studying with the Bedik tribe in Senegal, Chief Keita told me about a woman's dream:  

Chief Jean Keita, Bedik tribe, remote SE corner of Senegal, Africa.

"Some of the young village boys went to another place to work for money. After two years in the place, one of the boys died.

"The rest of the boys said: 'Hey, we must go back home, but let's never say to the people that our friend is dead. Let's keep the secret.'

"So they came back home and said nothing.

"That night the dead boy's mother had a dream that her son has come back. She dreamt that her son came back to the family. She didn't know that her son was died because the friends said nothing.

"The following night the dead boy came into the mother's house.

"His friends were actually expecting such a situation. When one of them heard a noise, he ran into the room and found the dead boy standing there. And he said: 'you don't need to go away. We have said nothing.'

"Then the dead son appeared exactly like all the other people. The guy lived many years, maybe another 40 years. He died only last year.

"You see, the mother's dream has become true."

Bedik tribe dilemma: tradition or religion

Keep one foot in tradition so the other foot can wander.
Thomas Merton 

Christianity presents a soul-searching conflict for the Bedik tribe hidden in the most remote corner of Senegal. A Christian cross and view of the large church with a newly-thatched roof in the background are the first things visitors encounter in the Bedik tribe village of Andyel.

Bedik tribe village Andyel (sometimes spelled Andjel). Senega, Africa.

The chief of Andyel struggles with the tribe's dilemma: follow ancient traditional animist beliefs or the teachings of the Christian missionary. 

Chief of Andyel weaves a new basket, a typical job for the village men.

On the one hand, the chief stresses the importance of holding on to traditions. In fact, when I asked him what advice he would give world leaders, he replied: "Traditions. Tell them to hold on to traditions." 

But then there is the helpful generosity of the missionary. "He has helped build a school, and provided a machine to peel rice," reports the chief. "And with his own money and car, he takes our sick people to the hospital in Tambacounda and even Dakar."

So the Bedik balance on a tightrope between traditional beliefs and the new Christian teachings. And all of this cultural and spiritual battle in a very Muslim country, Senegal. (More about how Muslims attacked the Bedik to convert them in a future post.)

All photographs and text © 2015 Janis Miglavs

www.jmiglavs.com

janis@jmiglavs.com

Did cattle dreams found in Bible, Quran and Ethiopia's remote Konso tribe really predict the future?

As I listened to the elders of Ethiopia's Konso tribe tell me about their dreams, one nocturnal story really stood out. They explained that when they dreamed of red cattle, they would have a good harvest that year. A number of the elders reported this Red Cattle dream.

On several trips to the Konso tribe in Ethiopia's Omo region, the elders told me that when they dreamed of red cattle, they would have a good harvest that year. This is my illustration of the Konso Red Cattle dream. Konso tribe, Omo region, Ethiopia, Africa.

As the Konso elders described their Red Cattle dream, I couldn't help but recall the Bible story of Joseph interpreting the Pharaoh's seven cattle dream.

Pharaoh had two bad dreams. In the first, seven fat cows are devoured by seven lean cows. In the second seven thin ears of corn eat seven full ones.

Joseph, who was the Pharaoh's prisoner at the time, interpreted the dreams to mean that Egypt will soon have seven years of plentiful harvest followed by seven years of very poor harvest. 

This woodcut artist Hans Holbein the Younger did in 1538 shows his interpretation of  the Bible story of the  Pharaoh's seven cattle dream.

So is this coincidence? Both the Konso and Bible cattle dreams predict future harvest.

While the Bible story confirms the truth of Joseph's interpretation, I cannot scientifically confirm if the Konso Red Cattle dream works.

While I'm not a scholar of the Quran, I found the same seven cattle dream story there:   Surah Yusuf (Joseph) beginning with Verse No:43

This is part of my 15-year Project which is looking for a definitive name. Now I call the Project:
We All Have Five Fingers 
One seeker's journey to find Modern Man's First Stories






Here is the Bible's predictive cattle dream story found in the book of Gensis:

The king told Joseph:

I dreamed I was standing on the bank of the Nile River. ¹⁸ I saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river, and they began feeding on the grass. ¹⁹ Next, seven skinny, bony cows came up out of the river. I have never seen such terrible looking cows anywhere in Egypt. ²⁰ The skinny cows ate the fat ones. ²¹ But you couldn’t tell it, because these skinny cows were just as skinny as they were before. Right away, I woke up.

²² I also dreamed that I saw seven heads of grain growing on one stalk. The heads were full and ripe. ²³ Then seven other heads of grain came up. They were thin and scorched by a wind from the desert. ²⁴ These heads of grain swallowed the full ones. I told my dreams to the magicians, but none of them could tell me the meaning of the dreams.

²⁵ Joseph replied:

Your Majesty, both of your dreams mean the same thing, and in them God has shown what he is going to do. ²⁶ The seven good cows stand for seven years, and so do the seven good heads of grain. ²⁷ The seven skinny, ugly cows that came up later also stand for seven years, as do the seven bad heads of grain that were scorched by the east wind. The dreams mean there will be seven years when there won’t be enough grain.
²⁸ It is just as I said—God has shown what he intends to do. ²⁹ For seven years Egypt will have more than enough grain, ³⁰ but that will be followed by seven years when there won’t be enough. The good years of plenty will be forgotten, and everywhere in Egypt people will be starving. ³¹ The famine will be so bad that no one will remember that once there had been plenty. ³² God has given you two dreams to let you know that he has definitely decided to do this and that he will do it soon.