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Starbie B.'s avatar

“I'm saying it, but I'm not saying anything” reminded me of how secrecy in plain sight is something that’s common among African diasporic spiritual practices. For many of us, we can tell you every step and you can have every ingredient, but if you don’t have the cultural connection (usually by blood) or the spirits don’t recognize you, it won’t work.

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Amy Walsh's avatar

Really appreciate this exploration! I'm an allopathic MD and I've been initiated in the American branch of Dagara divination (very beginning of that path). I think you are right that there is a type of cultural/ancestral/social healing in folk medicine that is beyond the tools, training, and skill set of allopathic medicine. And similarly, there is a mechanistic view of the body (heart valve replacements, for example) that simply can't be done outside of allopathic medicine. Unfortunately, in colonialism in general and global medicine in particular, we came to other places with the arrogance that we had all the answers and severely damaged a lot of powerful healing modalities in the process. A dream of mine would be to interview traditional healers around the world, learn what conditions are the most frustrating and satisfying to treat with the skills they have and how they do what they do. This was more long-winded than I intended, but you hit an interesting intersection of my passions that I appreciate.

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