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by Dave Cumes, M.D.
 
The Source
Tshisimane
The Story of an Indigenous Healing Center in Remote South Africa

"'The Source: Tshisimane is the thrilling account of surgeon David Cumes’ encounter with the indigenous medicine of South Africa, his birthplace. Initiated as a sangoma or native healer, Cumes learned to integrate ancestral insights with modern medicine. I know of no more fascinating personal journey among modern medical practitioners than this—a blend of courage and wisdom that are rare in any age. Cumes is
equally at home with leopards stalking his wilderness retreat, and the halls of a modern hospital. David Cumes is a modern hero—someone who has ventured into unknown territory, faced great challenges, and who returns to share his hardearned wisdom. For anyone interested in psychological and spiritual growth, this is a must-read. But it should come with a warning: This book may change forever your idea of how the world works."
 
Larry Dossey, M.D.

$18.00
Available at fine bookstores,
Amazon.com and through Dave's office at 805-964-6771

 
The Spirit of Healing
Venture Into the Wilderness to Rediscover the Healing Force

"'The Spirit of Healing' is a compelling book that demonstrates how nature is a profound teacher of our own nature."
 
Angeles Arrien, Ph.D., author of
The Four-Fold Way and Signs of Life

"Dr. David Cumes has studied healing around the world. He writes wisely about the most basic elements of health and illness. This book is a return to ancient wisdom seen through the eyes of a skilled surgeon, and a penetrating glimpse of the medicine of the future."
 
Larry Dossey, M.D., author of
Prayer is Good Medicine and Healing Words

The Spirit of Healing is out of print, though recycled copies are still available through Amazon.com and other sources.
 
This revised edition below can be downloaded as a PDF by
clicking here.

Healing Trees and Plants of the Lowveld

by David Cumes, M.D., Rael Loon & Dries Beste
Struik Books,
South Africa
"This book describes the medicinal properties of many of the trees and plants in this incredibly biodiverse area."

Dave Cumes
Inner Passages Outer Journeys
Wilderness, Healing, and the Discovery of Self

"This is an important book with fresh and powerful insights into human nature, and the vast lattice of nature that embraces all beings."

Joan Halifax, author of
The Fruitful Darkness; Reconnecting with the Body of the Earth

"Inner Passages, Outer Journeys
adds another level of healing wisdom to the merging paradigm of health. (The author) reminds us that the environment is our extended body and that when given the opportunity, Nature is the ultimate healer, returning us to wholeness."

David Simon, M.D., Medical Director of the Chopra Center for Well Being

"We have preserved wilderness areas, like books in a library--but 'reading' them will require more spiritual sensitivity. This book will help."

Roderick Frazier Nash, Professor Emeritus and author of
Wilderness and the American Mind

Inner Passages Outer Journeys is out of print, though recycled copies are still available through Amazon.com and other sources.
 
This revised edition below can be downloaded as a PDF by
clicking here.

Mpofu's Grandmother's Loving Lessons:
and the wisdom of her ways

As told to David Cumes, M.D. & Maryellen Kelley
These stories come from the "other side" of the veil between the worlds. The teller of the stories is Mpofu, a woman who lived many years ago in South Africa. Mpofu was a sangoma (Zulu word for shaman). Sangomas use divination, trance and dreams to heal those who come to them for help. They are the medicine men and women, prophets and priests of the Bantu people. The lessons were taught to Mpofu by her grandmother when she was a child to help her along life's path. Mpofu is now a special guide to Dave Cumes.
$11 (add tax for CA)
To purchase:
call (805) 964-6771
Africa in My Bones
A surgeon's odyssey into the spirit world of African healing
"This is a thought-provoking book written by someone who walks along two roads, who is on the one hand a surgeon of note and on the other a sangoma. The world needs such people who see Africa through two eyes, the African eye and the Western eye."

Vusamazulu Creda Mutwa: Zulu High Sanusi
"This (book) shows the interconnectedness of life, balancing modern and indigenous, people and nature, the physical and the spiritual. His testimony turns the so-called African 'superstition' into reality as his devotion and trust allowed him to surrender to the uncertain initiatory process of sangoma. Everyone should read Africa in My Bones with respect and reverence."

Malidoma Patrice Somé, PhD, West African diviner of the Dagara people of Burkino Faso, author of Of Water and the Spirit, The Healing Wisdom of Africa

Out of print
May be available through Dave's office at 805-964-6771, or amazon.com

For further video information on Dave's journey into the world of African indigenous healing
click here.

Messages From The Ancestors:
Wisdom For The Way

As received and compiled by Maryellen Kelley & David Cumes, M.D.*
The teachings in this little book embrace love, compassion, joy and gratitude. They express the oneness - though not the sameness of us all. They celebrate diversity and heal divisiveness. They discuss spiritual principles that include the power of love, the nature of free will, the significance of surrender, the play of light and dark and the dynamics of joy. They also offer insights as to who we are, encouragement for aspiring and help with becoming. The messages give assurances as well as guidance.

*The real authors of this book are the ancestors. Above all, the text celebrates the wisdom available to us from the other side of the veil between worlds, and how we as sentient beings can benefit from spirit guides or ancestors.
$14 (add tax for CA)
To purchase:
call (805) 964-6771
 

Chapters contributed to other books:
1. Voices Of Integrative Medicine - Conversations and Encounters. Bonnie J. Horrigan.
Chapter 39. Page 387. South African Shamanism and The Tree Of Life - David Cumes M.D.
Churchill Livingstone 2003

2. Religion And Everyday Life And Culture - Religion in the Practice of Private Life.
Richard D. Hecht and Vincent F. Biondo. Volume 3.
Chapter 25. Page 811. Indigenous Healing (In Southern Africa.) David Cumes M.D.
Praeger. 2010

3. Spirited Medicine - Shamanism in Contemporary Health Care. Cecile Carson M.D.
Chapter 15. Page 197. South African Indigenous Shamanism: How it Works. David Cumes M.D.
Otter Bay Books. 2013


4. ARTICLE: YOGA JOURNAL
"Medicine Man"


5. INTERVIEW: DEEPAK CHOPRA'S INFINITE POSSIBILITIES FOR BODY MIND & SOUL

6. REVIEW: INNER PASSAGES, OUTER JOURNEYS
"Wilderness Rapture"



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