American Indian Medicine

American Indian Medicine PDF Author: Virgil J. Vogel
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806189770
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
The purpose of this book, says the author, is to show the effect of Indian medicinal practices on white civilization. Actually it achieves far more. It discusses Indian theories of disease and methods of combating disease and even goes into the question of which diseases were indigenous and which were brought to the Indian by the white man. It also lists Indian drugs that have won acceptance in the Pharmacopeia of the United States and the National Formulary. The influence of American Indian healing arts on the medicine and healing and pharmacology of the white man was considerable. For example, such drugs as insulin and penicillin were anticipated in rudimentary form by the aborigines. Coca leaves were used as narcotics by Peruvian Indians hundreds of years before Carl Koller first used cocaine as a local anesthetic in 1884. All together, about 170 medicines, mostly botanical, were contributed to the official compendia by Indians north of the Rio Grande, about 50 more coming from natives of the Latin-American and Caribbean regions. Impressions and attitudes of early explorers, settlers, physicians, botanists, and others regarding Indian curative practices are reported by geographical regions, with British, French, and Spanish colonies and the young United States separately treated. Indian theories of disease—sorcery, taboo violation, spirit intrusion, soul loss, unfulfilled dreams and desires, and so on -and shamanistic practices used to combat them are described. Methods of treating all kinds of injuries-from fractures to snakebite-and even surgery are included. The influence of Indian healing lore upon folk or domestic medicine, as well as on the "Indian doctors" and patent medicines, are discussed. For the convenience of the reader, an index of botanical names is provided, together with a wide variety of illustrations. The disproportionate attention that has been given to the superstitious and unscientific features of aboriginal medicine has tended to obscure its real contributions to American civilization.

American Indian Medicine

American Indian Medicine PDF Author: Virgil J. Vogel
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806189770
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
The purpose of this book, says the author, is to show the effect of Indian medicinal practices on white civilization. Actually it achieves far more. It discusses Indian theories of disease and methods of combating disease and even goes into the question of which diseases were indigenous and which were brought to the Indian by the white man. It also lists Indian drugs that have won acceptance in the Pharmacopeia of the United States and the National Formulary. The influence of American Indian healing arts on the medicine and healing and pharmacology of the white man was considerable. For example, such drugs as insulin and penicillin were anticipated in rudimentary form by the aborigines. Coca leaves were used as narcotics by Peruvian Indians hundreds of years before Carl Koller first used cocaine as a local anesthetic in 1884. All together, about 170 medicines, mostly botanical, were contributed to the official compendia by Indians north of the Rio Grande, about 50 more coming from natives of the Latin-American and Caribbean regions. Impressions and attitudes of early explorers, settlers, physicians, botanists, and others regarding Indian curative practices are reported by geographical regions, with British, French, and Spanish colonies and the young United States separately treated. Indian theories of disease—sorcery, taboo violation, spirit intrusion, soul loss, unfulfilled dreams and desires, and so on -and shamanistic practices used to combat them are described. Methods of treating all kinds of injuries-from fractures to snakebite-and even surgery are included. The influence of Indian healing lore upon folk or domestic medicine, as well as on the "Indian doctors" and patent medicines, are discussed. For the convenience of the reader, an index of botanical names is provided, together with a wide variety of illustrations. The disproportionate attention that has been given to the superstitious and unscientific features of aboriginal medicine has tended to obscure its real contributions to American civilization.

Red Medicine

Red Medicine PDF Author: Patrisia Gonzales
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 0816599718
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Patrisia Gonzales addresses "Red Medicine" as a system of healing that includes birthing practices, dreaming, and purification rites to re-establish personal and social equilibrium. The book explores Indigenous medicine across North America, with a special emphasis on how Indigenous knowledge has endured and persisted among peoples with a legacy to Mexico. Gonzales combines her lived experience in Red Medicine as an herbalist and traditional birth attendant with in-depth research into oral traditions, storytelling, and the meanings of symbols to uncover how Indigenous knowledge endures over time. And she shows how this knowledge is now being reclaimed by Chicanos, Mexican Americans and Mexican Indigenous peoples. For Gonzales, a central guiding force in Red Medicine is the principal of regeneration as it is manifested in Spiderwoman. Dating to Pre-Columbian times, the Mesoamerican Weaver/Spiderwoman—the guardian of birth, medicine, and purification rites such as the Nahua sweat bath—exemplifies the interconnected process of rebalancing that transpires throughout life in mental, spiritual and physical manifestations. Gonzales also explains how dreaming is a form of diagnosing in traditional Indigenous medicine and how Indigenous concepts of the body provide insight into healing various kinds of trauma. Gonzales links pre-Columbian thought to contemporary healing practices by examining ancient symbols and their relation to current curative knowledges among Indigenous peoples. Red Medicine suggests that Indigenous healing systems can usefully point contemporary people back to ancestral teachings and help them reconnect to the dynamics of the natural world.

Honoring the Medicine

Honoring the Medicine PDF Author: Kenneth S. Cohen
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 1984800418
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
For thousands of years, Native medicine was the only medicine on the North American continent. It is America’s original holistic medicine, a powerful means of healing the body, balancing the emotions, and renewing the spirit. Medicine men and women prescribe prayers, dances, songs, herbal mixtures, counseling, and many other remedies that help not only the individual but the family and the community as well. The goal of healing is both wellness and wisdom. Written by a master of alternative healing practices, Honoring the Medicine gathers together an unparalleled abundance of information about every aspect of Native American medicine and a healing philosophy that connects each of us with the whole web of life—people, plants, animals, the earth. Inside you will discover • The power of the Four Winds—the psychological and spiritual qualities that contribute to harmony and health • Native American Values—including wisdom from the Wolf and the inportance of commitment and cooperation • The Vision Quest—searching for the Great Spirit’s guidance and life’s true purpose • Moontime rituals—traditional practices that may be observed by women during menstruation • Massage techniques, energy therapies, and the need for touch • The benefits of ancient purification ceremonies, such as the Sweat Lodge • Tips on finding and gathering healing plants—the wonders of herbs • The purpose of smudging, fasting, and chanting—and how science confirms their effectiveness Complete with true stories of miraculous healing, this unique book will benefit everyone who is committed to improving his or her quality of life. “If you have the courage to look within and without,” Kenneth Cohen tells us, “you may find that you also have an indigenous soul.”

The Medicine Man of the American Indian and His Cultural Background

The Medicine Man of the American Indian and His Cultural Background PDF Author: William Thomas Corlett
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781258050047
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description


Native American Medicine

Native American Medicine PDF Author: Tamra Orr
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1422288609
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
Native Americans have an incredibly rich store of knowledge when it comes to using herbs and plants to heal illness, treat injuries, and cure disease. In fact, some of their traditions have found a place in the modern medicines we use today. This book discusses the nature-based approach Native Americans took towards healing. It also examines important figures, such as shamans and medicine men, and explains some of the remedies and rituals that were conducted.

The American Indian Medicine Dreambook

The American Indian Medicine Dreambook PDF Author: Brad Steiger
Publisher: Red Feather
ISBN:
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
In this remarkable book, Brad Steiger shows how to enter a dimension of reality between the physical and the nonphysical, between the world of spirits and the world of humans. Drawing upon information relayed to him by shamans from many tribes during thirty years of research and study, Steiger teaches easy-to-master techniques of entering Dreamtime and receiving valuable personal guidance. He explains how to identify one's totem animal and spirit guide, how to project healing energy in dreams, how to travel in astral dreamscapes, how to guard against disruptive entities, and how to receive prophetic glimpses of the future.

A Different Medicine

A Different Medicine PDF Author: Joseph D. Calabrese
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199927839
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Drawing on two years of ethnographic field research among the Navajos, this book explores a controversial Native American ritual and healthcare practice: ceremonial consumption of the psychedelic Peyote cactus in the context of an indigenous postcolonial healing movement called the Native American Church (NAC). The NAC arose in the nineteenth century in response to the creation of the reservation system and increasing societal ills, including alcoholism. The movement is the locus of a cultural conflict with a long history in North America and stirs very strong and often opposed emotions and moral interpretations. Joseph D. Calabrese describes the Peyote Ceremony as it is used in family contexts and federally funded clinical programs for Native American patients. He uses an interdisciplinary methodology that he calls clinical ethnography: an approach to research that involves clinically informed and self-reflective immersion in local worlds of suffering, healing, and normality. Calabrese combined immersive fieldwork among NAC members in their communities with a year of clinical work at a Navajo-run treatment program for adolescents with severe substance abuse and associated mental health problems. There he had the unique opportunity to provide conventional therapeutic intervention alongside Native American therapists who were treating the very problems that the NAC addresses through ritual. Calabrese argues that if people respond better to clinical interventions that are relevant to their society's unique cultural adaptations and ideologies (as seems to be the case with the NAC), then preventing ethnic minorities from accessing traditional ritual forms of healing may actually constitute a human rights violation.

Medicine Ways

Medicine Ways PDF Author: Clifford E. Trafzer
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742502550
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
In Native cultures, health is often expressed as a balance between body, mind, and spirit or soul. At a philosophical level, physical wellness is related to cultural, political, and economic well-being. This is a philosophy that is frequently ignored, however, in theoretical perspectives and applied programs that attempt to address Native American health problems. This collection of essays examines the ways people from many indigenous communities think about and practice health care within historical and sociocultural contexts. Chapters explore solutions to the prevalence of medically identified diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, as well as Native-identified problems, such as forced evacuation, assimilation, and poverty. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

Creek Indian Medicine Ways

Creek Indian Medicine Ways PDF Author: David Jr. Lewis
Publisher: UNM Press
ISBN: 9780826323682
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
In Creek Indian Medicine Ways, Jordan traces the written accounts of Mvskoke religion from the eighteenth century to the present in order to historically contextualize Lewis's story and knowledge. This book is a collaboration between anthropologist and medicine man that provides a rare glimpse of a living religious tradition and its origins.

Survivor's Medicine

Survivor's Medicine PDF Author: E. Donald Two-Rivers
Publisher: Norman : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 9780806130927
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Exploding the stereotypical image of the stoical Indian, a Native American poet and playwright presents a gritty, sardonic collection of short stories that focuses on the battle of American Indians against racism and poverty and their will to survive. UP.