Tag: Shamanism

Archives Issue #84: Altruism, Healing and Sufism in West Africa

FROM THE EDITORS

In this Issue of SUFI, Dr. Alireza Nurbakhsh tells us altruism is fundamental not only to our spirituality but to our identity as human beings. Examples of this are found in the powerful healing combination of Sufism and shamanism embodied by Shaikh Rahmi Oruç Güvenç and in the ancient Blessing Way chants of Medicine Woman Sheila Goldtooth. Readers will also find in this Issue a fascinating exploration of Sufism in West Africa through the eyes of a contemporary Sufi Shaikh in Senegal.

DISCOURSE, ARTICLES, NARRATIVES AND INTERVIEWS

CARING FOR OTHERS Sufism and Altruism Discourse by Dr Alireza Nurbakhsh | Read entire discourse >

SHAMANIC TRADITIONS AND SUFISM Oruç Güvenç and the Healing Power of Music by Azize Güvenç and Yousef Daoud | Read more >

SUFISM IN WEST AFRICA by Zachary Wright

BLESSING WAY SINGER A Visit with Navajo Medicine Woman Sheila Goldtooth Interviewed by Chara Nelson, Photography by Alex Cowie

SENEGAL, SUFISM & POLITICS A Conversation with Seydou Diop Interviewed by Annie Stopford and Eugene Ulman | Read more >

THE ENORMITY CLUB Narrative by Jan Shoemaker | Read more >

CULTUREWATCH

MERCAN DEDE Turns the Tables on Sufism by Michele Rousseau | Read more >

HELIOFANT PRODUCTIONS I, Pet Goat II by Sholeh Johnston

JESSIKA KENNEY Singing from the Heart by Sholeh Johnston

FILM REVIEW Beasts of the Southern Wild by Peter Valentyne

BOOK REVIEWS by Peter Valentyne
Seven Thousand Ways to Listen
(Mark Nepo)
The Divine Flood (Rudiger Seesemann)
Saracen Chivalry (Pir Zia Inayat-khan)
In this Forest of Monks (Daniel Skach-Mills)

POETRY

From Him by Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh
Prayer of the White-Tailed Tropical Bird by Eve Powers
Attendant Spirits by Mark Nepo
Silence by Alex Cowie
We are all Born Naked into this World by Robert Sternau
To Love by Roger Loff The Obedience of Iblis, the Devil by David Sulivan

FEATURED POET

MARK NEPO Poet & Philosopher(marknepo.com)

FEATURED ARTIST

YARI OSTOVANY Painter (yariostovany.com)

(front cover artwork: Bear Bull Shaman, Blackfoot Medicine Man by Otto Rapp)

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I Pet Goat, II

For Issue #84 of SUFI we spoke to Louis Lefebvre, artistic director of Heliofant productions, the animation outfit behind the short film I Pet Goat, II which created a viral whirlwind of speculation when it was released online last year.

Shamanic Traditions and Sufism

Oruç Güvenç and the Healing Power of Music

by Azize Güvenç with Yousef Daoud

Most of us know first-hand the transformative power of music and sound to create a profoundly calming or emotional experience, and readers know our previous issue of Sufi was dedicated to sacred encounters through music.

In their carefully researched essay Shamanic Traditions and Sufism, authors Azize Güvenç and Yousef Daoud take us into the amazing life and work of Dr. Rahmi Oruç Güvenç, a Sufi shaikh and master musician of Turkey who provides healing to the sick through music therapies that fuse Sufism with ancient shamanic practices from Central Asia.

Güvenç and his musicians combine music, movement and dhikr to awaken body, mind and soul. And researchers in Europe, the United States and Turkey are studying the positive effects of Güvenç’s sound and movement therapies on patients suffering from cancer, bone fractures, depression and other maladies.

(Photo courtesy of Azize Güvenç)

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