Deconstructing Dr. Sebi for the Next Generation

If a picture is worth a thousand words, there’s a  takeaway with this book cover. A pensive Dr. Sebi. A teaching Dr. Sebi. A Dr. Sebi who said to me a few years back, and the right bottom photo seems to suggest, “My relationship with people, whether male or female, I’m not going to have a relationship with you unless that relationship is based on love and affection.” And that includes children, his most cherished comrades—I was surprised to learn—who watched his carefree persona and antics that the pursuit of understanding and health ignited. It has me laughing now and being happy, doing all kinds of acrobatic stupidness. That’s why the children come around here and they don’t want to leave, because they found a grownup that is as stupid as they are.  And they enjoy that, and I enjoy it too because they accept me as their peer.” Needless to say, the beam in his eyes confirmed that shared love and affection, something he’s more likely to exhibit in private moments. 

Dr. Sebi posed for the cover’s photos in 2014 in his Los Angeles office. They capture a patient man, an accommodating man, a man perhaps less known for his childlike awe and love of life.

His hard-lined exterior expressed in public talks—and even in one of the photos on the book cover—masks that deep-rooted love, and not exclusively love for black people or black culture. You might know from reading other books about his merchant seaman days, Dr. Sebi traveled the world on cargo and passenger boats—the sea and a multicultural mix of people his neighbors. That environment helped shape his love and respect for all cultures and ways of life, and it certainly molded his articulate, open-minded and intelligent worldview. But long before those trips, the love trait had already set in. His grandmother, Mama Hay, saw to that. “I was blessed to have Mama Hay, who demanded nothing but integrity of me at all times,” Dr. Sebi shared at his home in Honduras. “She was uncompromising.  She didn’t care how big or how small you were.  In her eyes you were the same.” The top right photo on the cover hints at a sublime reflection of Mama Hay.

But what of the other photos? Do they help deconstruct Dr. Sebi and, like other book covers, tell a story before any page is turned? Today’s covers are vivid, art-filled, sensory, far more than covers created a couple of centuries ago, when the only thing that enticed a read of a story was the book title or author’s name. Less color and flash than 21st century covers, Dr. Sebi Speaks of Dembali’s billboards a double agent: a poised confident thinker, comfortable in the presence of others, and then, in a plot twist, a superhero driven to save the world from itself.

In her article for Publishers Weekly, “Judging a Book by Its Cover,” author Terry Newman wrote, “I can’t say that all books would benefit from pictures, but a book’s cover is the first engagement many have with the author, and what’s on that cover is crucial. It needs to communicate what’s inside.” 

The story that lies in the cover of Dr. Sebi Speaks of Dembali is a journey to the gateway of its multilayered main character. “Why all the emoting when he speaks?” one could ask when taking a quizzical look at the sedate, unassuming photos at the top of the cover. On the other hand, when he drives his point home, as he does in the bottom photos, one wonders, “What does he offer that resonates with me? Should I open the book?”

Read on for the answers. Each photo on the cover is matched with quotes from Dr. Sebi Speaks of Dembali. At the end, decide if the pairings offer value and wisdom and a new interpretation of this gentle giant.

“As I look at this arrangement of life, I find myself being very extremely careful, careful because I have  not ever or do I remember wanting to be anything in my life. I want to be me. In the me, in the wanting to be me, I find that a whole lot of things came out of that, such as the healer.”

“Unlike other therapies, the African Bio Mineral Balance specifically benefits the nutritional needs of the African gene structure. But the beauty of the African Bio Mineral Balance is, because of its highly electrical nature, it has ample capacity to accommodate the nutritional needs of the entire human species. Over the years, we have treated people from all walks of life. In our early years, the bulk of our clientele were Mexican and Caucasian.”

The African Bio Mineral Balance addresses disease on two levels:  one, it cleanses the body, an intracellular cleansing.  Not only do we concentrate on cleansing the organs, we concentrate on cleansing the cells that make up the organs. . . Now, we go into the revitalizing of the cells.  As we cleanse the body, we now have to replenish the minerals that have been lost by the presence of the acid that caused the diseases in the first place.  That means the African Bio Mineral Balance comes into the picture.  The African Bio Mineral Balance is the family of 102 minerals.  Why?  Because we are talking about organic food.  We are talking about cell food.”

“You listen, Beverly. You listen. How did I do my first consultation? I wasn’t trained. I let the patient talk.”

“Right. So, you just recommended things for the patient to take?”

“No. I already knew what to recommend because I make  one treatment. I don’t make treatment special for AIDS or diabetes. It’s the same treatment.”

“Just one thing.”

“It’s one thing. It’s one disease. So, I didn’t have to go through psychoanalyzing anyone. No. People came here that were schizophrenic. People came here with delirium tremors. People came here that were paranoid. And people came here with Parkinson’s, and they all left cured. Well, how did that happen? How did it happen? The African Bio Mineral Electric Cell food.”

“I’ve had the negative thrown to me by some of them because they were negative. But I’ve had beautiful things thrown to me because they were beautiful. Just like the old man in the village. The old man is living on the edges of the village. And the traveler came to the village and asked the old man,

‘Old Man!  What kind of people live here?’ 

‘Why?’ 

‘The village I just left, they are cutthroats!’ 

The old man said, ‘The same kind of people live here.’ 

So he turned back. Another traveler next month came.

‘Old man, what kind of people live here?’ 

The old man said, ‘Why?’ 

‘Because the village I just left?  They beautiful. They nice.’ 

He said, ‘The same kind of people live here.’ 

“I used to get angry. I used to go on stage in D.C. You don’t want to see my lectures in D.C. They were volatile! They were explosive. ‘Dr. Sebi, you said we shouldn’t drink carrot juice!’ I would go off on you. I would go off on you. I would practically insult you. I may cuss you out. Why would I do that? I used to wonder why was I so volatile against the people that’s in front of me. Why? Because what one gorilla knows, all gorillas know. So I want to know how come I know this and you don’t. I didn’t like that. I felt insecure. I felt very insecure. I used to get angry at you when you didn’t know. They interpret it like I  was angry. No, I was very much disturbed because you didn’t know, and you are my sister and my brother. The more of us that knows, the safer it is for all of us.”

Pinched by curiosity to delve within Dembali’s pages? IngramSpark has her, as well as Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

Remembering An African Herbalist

He was more like George Washington Carver than anything else. He absolutely, totally, undeniably loved plants — real, Mother-nature created plants.

“The blue vervain is a plant that digests potassium phosphate. And she grows right here in the village, and she’s a pretty plant. If you want your nerves to be treated properly, just think about the blue vervain, the root and the flower,” Dr. Sebi said.

And he felt no shame being a descendant of that region of the world called Africa. He appealed to it and the “cosmic arrangement of life” for tips on how to be an effective alkaline herbal specialist. These are the reasons why I miss Dr. Sebi. This month, August 2021, marks the fifth anniversary of his transition.

The following passage is taken from the Epilogue of Dr. Sebi Speaks of Dembali.

Occasionally, when Sebi was alive, well, and retired in Honduras, rumors about his death would spread like California wildfires among his supporters. I felt the heat from some of the embers one morning in 2015, when I received a call from Sebi’s former assistant, Annette Thomas. I assured her everything was fine — I suppressed all other thoughts — and to prove it, I volunteered to drive to his office on La Cienega Avenue in Los Angeles, to get confirmation from his staff. About five minutes into the trip, Annette called me back to say a friend had heard from Sebi. Another rumor quashed. And just as I dismissed news of his death then, I did it again on August 6, 2016, when friends and relatives offered me condolences in text messages for the passing of my friend Dr. Sebi.

“This is nothing new. It’s not true,” I replied. But this time, I was wrong. Look on Instagram, they said. Sebi’s 21-year-old daughter, Saama, had announced his death there. She was posting from Honduras, where Sebi died.

A few days after the devastation hit me, I drove to Sebi’s office, placed my flowers among others under his portrait and sat for a while. I watched what I presumed were customers and mourners flow in and out of the building, the same building I entered for the first time in 2005.

What I gleaned from my relationship with Dr. Sebi is his courageous support for and homage to African resonance: his muse, his guide, his blueprint for existence, his culling from the past to drive his healing journey. And it seems that on the path, dembali is the lens through which he viewed the human experience. He coined the term to help fill a void not only in black communities — his message speaks volumes for all — but for communities where races and cultures intersect, commingle, and interrelate in matters of health, race, family, and culture. Yet he felt dembali helps black folks most, keeping us grounded, balanced, healthy, and true to Self in the intersection and in our relationship with others. Dembali reminds us to draw from ancestral examples of resiliency and appeals to the cosmos for direction in crossing over back to a state of ease. More often than not, Dr. Sebi said with a roar, “What one gorilla knows, all gorillas know.” And when he roared that message, I’m sure Earth nodded, smiled, and rumbled right along with him.

Summertime Sale on eBooks, 25% off, 50% off, Free

Now that Covid-19 lockdowns in the US have eased—cruise ships and air travel up from a 97% drop last year—vacationers are on the road again, with books and tablets in tow. Summertime 2021 is a good time for post-pandemic discounts. Maybe not for airfares or hotels, but definitely for eBooks.

Thanks to eBook distributor Smashwords and its annual summertime sale, eBooks are discounted 25%, 50%, 75% and even free. Authors applaud the opportunity to pass these summertime savings to readers. From July 1-31, Smashwords’ annual summer sale includes hundreds of eBooks, such as nonfiction narratives about the late natural healer Dr. Sebi: Seven Days in Usha Village: A Conversation with Dr. Sebi, Sojourn to Honduras Sojourn to Healing and Dr. Sebi Speaks of Dembali. According to Smashwords, the catalog gives readers access to “top-recommended books across different themes,” like bestsellers. A summertime win-win opportunity for authors, readers and publishers.  Summer sale on eBooks. 25%, 50%, 75%, Free. https://www.smashwords.com

Goats and Cows in Our Bloodstream. Deficit or Benefit?

Deficit, says natural healer and alkaline herbal medicine specialist Dr. Sebi. His reasons cover two pages in the new book Dr. Sebi Speaks of Dembali. An excerpt from Chapter Five: On Matters of Food and Health.

When I open the wooden screened door of Sebi’s cabin, I grin and watch a surprising scene:  Dr. Sebi—curer of diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer; herbalist to celebrities; advocate of alkaline food—eating cookies with Matun. I sit down and join them. Every now and then Sebi falls off the wagon. I couldn’t help thinking that the renowned healer was cheating on his die-hard alkaline diet. Sebi sees it another way.

“We call it cheating instead of a conditioning,” he says. “It’s not a cheating. That doesn’t exist, because the gorilla never cheats. The gorilla eats exactly what he was designed to eat throughout his lifetime. So why is it that the gorilla, when he finds himself in a zoo, he too begins to cheat?  Because they feed him bananas. Gorilla does not eat bananas in the forest. But in a zoo he eats bananas. When we were in the forest, we didn’t eat rice and beans. Goats and cows, that represent poison, because there isn’t any nutritionist or biochemist that could show scientifically the benefits of animal blood in the human body. Blood represents disease. Blood is the carrier of disease. And the liver is the filter. So how could ingesting the blood of an animal be useful in my nutrition?  So cheating is a conditioning. It’s not a conscious, deliberate act.”

“What we’re doing now, we’re eating cookies,” I say, chewing what tastes like a gingersnap.

“Well, we are what you would call cheating.”

“We are cheating then?”

“No, but remember, we are only submitting to that part of us that has been so conditioned throughout the years,” he clarifies.

The story continues in Dr. Sebi Speaks of Dembali.

Available now in bookstores.

Related links: https://www.sojourntohonduras.com/dembali

https://www.sevendaysinushavillage.org

New Project Features Dr. Sebi

Author Beverly Oliver collaborated on two books with alkaline herbal medicine practitioner, Dr. Sebi. Before he passed in August 2016, he started a third book, one with a theme he called dembali. It is currently in the pre-publication phase with Oliver and will be available November 2020 (Dr. Sebi Speaks of Dembali: Crossing Over from Dis-Ease to Ease in Matters of Health, Race, Family, and Culture). But for anyone new to the late healer’s life, a remarkable and controversial one that includes his cures for AIDS, cancer, diabetes, lupus and sickle cell anemia, we encourage you to begin your journey with Dr. Sebi in the two previous books: Seven Days in Usha Village: A Conversation with Dr. Sebi and Sojourn to Honduras Sojourn to Healing: Why An Herbalist’s View Matters More Today Than Ever Before. You’ll find samples of both books in the following link, as well as a preview of the upcoming Dr. Sebi Speaks of Dembali.

https://www.sojourntohonduras.com/single-post/2020/06/17/Past-Present-Coming-Soon

An Innovation in Alkaline Herbal Medicine

How Do We Reverse Disease and Heal Our Electric Body?

The answer? The African Bio Mineral Balance. Until his autobiography is published, Dr. Sebi’s best representation in publication, besides Sojourn to Honduras Sojourn to Healing (yes, we’re a bit biased here), is Aqiyl Aniys’s book Alkaline Herbal Medicine: Reverse Disease and Heal the Electric Body. In 118 pages, Aqiyl explains in simple but effective words the African Bio Mineral Balance, a natural healing method Dr. Sebi created to reverse disease. Aqiyl accurately writes that the African Bio Mineral Balance is a treatment for all races because “the African genome has been determined to be the foundational genome of all Homo sapiens or modern people. The healthy expression of the African genome present in all people is achieved in a specific way . . . and a good way to better understand this process is to better understand how an ecosystem works.”

Alkaline Herbal Medicine has six chapters about herbs and food that readers will find easy to understand and apply to their lives to prevent disease and to eliminate disease already present in the body. There’s even a chapter on how to prepare the herbs Dr. Sebi used to treat disease for more than 40 years. A treasure trove of natural health information.

So far, I found only one instance where I disagree with the book. In Chapter 2, page 25, it says Grade B maple syrup has been removed from Dr. Sebi’s nutrition guide because “Some manufacturers of maple syrup and sugar often use formaldehyde to keep the hole open in the maple tree to extract sap.” Actually, it’s illegal — and has been since the 1980s — to use formaldehyde to keep the tap holes open in maple trees. Maple syrup production receives approval and organic certification when it is guaranteed and proven formaldehyde is not present in maple trees. So, maple products, especially organic maple products, are healthy natural foods to eat.

Other than that one disagreement, I recommend reading Alkaline Herbal Medicine because it’s one of the best ways to know how and why herbalist Dr. Sebi heals people. Alkaline Herbal Medicine: Reverse Disease and Heal the Electric Body is available at Amazon.com. Sojourn to Honduras Sojourn to Healing is also available at Amazon.com.

Dr. Sebi’s legacy of teaching an alkaline approach to food and health continues in these books, and you’ll find one of the best paths to reverse disease and heal our electric body is found within their pages. An open mind while reading them and even a moderate change in diet will help.

https://www.sojourntohonduras.com/about

Welcome to JBDavid Communications

We’re on a journey.  Information.  Insight.  Collaboration.  Art & Humanities.  The Healing Arts, especially where the renowned natural healer Dr. Sebi is concerned.  All of this is why we’re here.  Head on over to the About Page for more reasons why.

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