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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
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1. Native Americans
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1. 1. Back in time
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1. 2. Contemporary times
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2. Role of Spirit & Connection
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2. 1. The Body
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2. 2. Herbal Plants
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2. 3. Rituals
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3. Medicine men
3. 1. Shamans
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4. Today
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Conclusion
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Bibliography
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Introduction
Although called Charlatans, these wise men are able to cure 'incurable' diseases with the
only use of plants opposing to modern medicine which is incapable of finding cures for 'deathcalling' diseases like cancer, AIDS, leukemia, etc. These people were the Native Americans
which will be presented in the first chapter of the paper.
Another interesting presentation will be the many ways of healing a disease without any
advanced medicine which will be discussed in the second chapter of the paper named ‘Role of
Spirit & Connection’. The Native Americans could be named ‘geniuses’ for the simple fact that
hundreds of years ago they were able to cure a sickness using herbs and their inner power of
connecting with the spirits.
‘Medicine Men’s healing methods were the beginning of a prosper life. Being able to
cure a disease by only using a plant and a belief, was, is and will always remain a mystery for
today’s medicine men. Although, there have been made researches on their lifestyle and secrets
in different domains, the Native Americans remain an enigma in the eyes of the discoverers.
Furthermore, my paper will be presenting today’s medicine techniques, medicine men
and their evolution in the final chapter of the paper from plants to medication, from spiritual
beliefs to realistic thinking, from shamans to medicine men.
Let me take into a journey in the wonderful and charming world of the past Native
Americans, in the time when there was no electricity, sophisticated machines or hospitals. A
world in which, herbs and spirits where the ones sick people depended on.
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Chapter 1. Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America
within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the
island state of Hawaii.
The term “Indian” may be used in an ethnological or in a legal sense. Ethnologically, the
Indian race may be distinguished from the Caucasian, Negro, Mongolian, and other races.
If a person is three-fourths Caucasian and one-fourth Indian, it is absurd, from the
ethnological standpoint, to assign him to the Indian race. Yet legally such a person may
be an Indian. From a legal standpoint, then, the biological question of race is generally
pertinent, but not conclusive. Legal status depends not only upon biological, but also
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upon social factors, such as the relation of the individual concerned to a white or Indian
community. . . . Recognizing the possible diversity of definitions of “Indianhood,” we
may nevertheless find some practical value in a definition of “Indian” as a person
meeting two qualifications: (a) That some of his ancestors lived in America before its
discovery by the white race, and (b) That the individual is considered and “Indian” by the
community in which he lives. (Cohen, 2)
The first Native Americans lived in many different regions. The way they lived depended on the
land around them. “Each Native American tribe can trace its culture and history to the area, or
region, where its ancestors first lived.” (Cipriano, 2).
1. 1. Back in time
The American Indians have a large history beginning from the pre-Columbians, going
through slavery and wars. Although going through hard times, they survived the many dangers
which they have encountered.
Several million people lived in North America before the arrival of the Europeans. These
people believed that the land was for everyone to use and share. Some of the people were hunters
and others were farmers. The hunters moved across the land killing only the animals that they
needed for food, tools, clothing and shelter.
The Native Americans called themselves by the name of their tribes. There were
hundreds of tribes in America when Christopher Columbus arrived and thought that he was in
India. He called all of the tribes “Indians” even though the people that he referred to, were
scattered all over the country, spoke different languages and had different customs.
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The history of the Native Americans following the European’s discovery of America is a
story of hardship. The Europeans brought many sicknesses with them that the Native Americans
had never seen. The Europeans wanted to take over and claim the new land as theirs. So, in order
to do that, some of them wanted the Native Americans to change their lifestyle.
When the United States became an independent nation, the government started moving
the Native Americans off their land and giving it to the white settlers. By the late 1800’s most
Native Americans were forced to live on reservations.
1. 2. Contemporary times
Today, there are hundreds of reservations located in thirty-four states. Many Native
Americans live on these reservations. They proudly hold onto their tribal customs and teach the
history of their people to their children. They are refusing to let their civilization die.
Other Native Americans live in cities and towns across the United States. In 1924, the
Snyder Act made all the Native Americans citizens of the United States. So today, Indians are
members of two groups. As citizens of the United States, they vote, pay taxes and serve in the
military. As citizens of their tribal nations, they take part in their tribal government and can
choose to live on or off their tribal lands.
Studies made, show that tribal nations have a more powerful judgment than the American
one.
It is critical that tribal government is a tool, not a toy. Tribal sovereignty should be
exercised responsibly, for history shows that Congress and the courts have little patience
when such powerful rights are abused. I urge tribal governments to exercise their
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sovereignty, carefully and responsibly, so as to avoid additional loss of rights and
jeopardizing tribes’ sovereign status. (Wilkins, 255)
However, they have only recently been accepted as a legal court, after centuries of suffering. To
continue with that, several people with Indian origin have been employed in the American
government. Nowadays, Indians are being treated equally by the Americans, with full American
citizen rights and responsibilities.
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Chapter 2. The Role of Spirit and Connection
To Native Americans, health is a continual process of staying strong spiritually, mentally,
and physically.
Modern medicine seems to be limited to powers of the physical and the material. I
believe in the so-called primitive way that recognizes power beyond the visible and
beyond man’s so-called smart thinking. The modern material world studies and analyzes
mainly what can be seen. The ancient recognized the unseen source of what is seen and
this is what most people today have been trained not to see.
(Jordan, Lewis, 118)
This strength keeps away or overcomes the forces that cause illness. People must stay in
harmony with themselves, other people, their natural environment, and their Creator.
2. 1. The Body
The body is an expression of the spirit to Native Americans. Each person is responsible
for his/her own health. All thoughts and actions have consequences, creating harmony or
disharmony. Disharmony can cause illness.
Although Native American healers claim to have cured victims of heart disease, diabetes,
thyroid problems, skin rashes, asthma and cancer, as well as emotional and spiritual problems,
there is no scientific evidence to support these claims. Practitioners of Native American healing
believe illness takes root in the body because of spiritual problems, that a psychologically
disturbed person may not be receptive to healing or cannot be healed, and that diseases target
individuals who are unbalanced, embrace negative thinking and lead unhealthy lifestyles. Many
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Native American healers also believe that birth defects and other hereditary conditions result
from the parents’ immoral behavior. Native American healing practices attempt to restore
balance and wholeness in an individual in order to retrieve physical and spiritual health.
2. 2. Herbal Plants
What is an herb? Well the answer depends upon whom you ask. To a botanist, an herb is
a plant that meets specific criteria for growth and regeneration. To cooks, herbs are plants that
are used to add interesting flavors to foods. Herbalists, or herbal healers, consider that numerous
everyday foods such as pineapple, mushrooms and cooked greens fall into the category of herbs,
along with plants that are widely recognized for their medicinal properties such as aloe and
feverfew. A massage therapist sees herbs as plants whish are primarily valued for their aromas,
especially when their relaxing, stimulating or soothing effects are combined with skilled human
touch.
These definitions have one thing in common-herbs are plants that have special talents for
enhancing the quality of our lives.
To Native peoples, foods and herbs were used interchangeably for both, medicine and
nutrition. Most herbs are very sustaining in their own right providing the body with essential
vitamins, minerals and enzymes.
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Herbs were of particular benefit in clearing the mind and soul and warding off evil spirits.
When used in this way, herbs were often burned in smudges, bundles of herbs that are burned
much like incense. Some of the most popular purifying herbs used to please the spirits and the
human senses were aromatic, including cedar, juniper, mesquite, pinion, red willow, sage and
sweet grass. Herbs were also smoked for pleasure, as well as for fighting respiratory disorders. A
few herbs used for these purposes include angelica, bearberry, corn silk, coltsfoot, dogwood,
dears tongue, mullein, sumac, valerian and yerba santé.
2. 3. Rituals
Native American thought places great emphasis on wholeness and wellness. Human
health, for both the individual and the group, depends on proper actions and interactions with the
spirit world. Well-being comes about through walking in harmony with the forces of nature and
the universe. By contrast, illness is a sign of having fallen out of step with those forces. Curing
takes place through rituals that restore the sick person to balance and harmony.
Many Native American celebrations have a curing or healing component. World renewal
ceremonies, which call on the higher powers to restore the Earth and to bring health and wellbeing to the tribe as a whole, may also be times of individual healing. The Lakota Sun Dance, for
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example, includes a time when people who are sick can enter the sacred circle and receive its
power for healing. Dancers often dedicate their participation to physical or emotional healing for
themselves or someone close to them.
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Chapter 3. Medicine men
The term ‘medicine man’, used to describe a shaman, is a European label. French
explorers described native healers with the French world ‘medecin’, meaning ‘doctor’. Native
peoples later extended the meaning to mean ‘spiritual power’, because according to their
understanding, the individuals the French called medicine men were those who were in touch
with the higher powers of the universe and could bring them to bear on a problem.
Indians normally relied on those with special powers to communicate with unseen spirits.
These medicine men were healers who used medicinal plants and magical chants to cure illness.
They also interpreted dreams, guided vision quests and other ceremonies, invoked war or peace
spirits, and figured prominently in community councils.
3. 1. Shamans
A shaman is a person who receives-or finds within himself-a supernatural power. The
term is not derived from any Native American language but has found its way into the English
from either a Sanskrit term for an ascetic or from a Manchu term with a meaning similar to its
current anthropological use.
A shaman can be either male or, less frequently, female. The scope of a particular
shaman’s status within his tribe or village is dependent upon the type of supernatural power the
shaman possesses and the extent that he, or she, uses that power.
Among some groups, a shaman was known ‘to receive a helping spirit who would guide
the shaman’s thoughts, words, and actions, for a specific purpose, such as finding a cure for a
disease or locating game animals for the hunters’(Dawn, Judy, 171).
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Villagers used to ask for a shaman’s help in order to rid their bodies of the bad spirits.
The shaman knew special rituals. He or she also knew good plants to clean diseases from the
body. A paste made of flax helped treat pain in the body’s joints, for example. The shaman made
herbs and roots into drinks or into pastes. The sick also took sweat baths. These are made while
being in a closed, hot space. Sweating helped get rid of fevers. However, it could not fight off
serious diseases. Shamans also used to make medicine bundles to help cure diseases.
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Chapter 4. Today
In the United States today there exist a great variety of traditions of healing. Some of
these have the relief of physical disease as their primary goal; examples of such systems are
modern conventional medicine and homeopathy. Others focus primarily on the prevention of
disease, for example, conservative chiropractic; and others on the enhancement of health, for
example, health foods and organic farming. Still others have a completely different primary goal:
most religious healing practices exist within traditions in which salvation is the primary goal,
while the healing of physical and mental disease is prominent but clearly of secondary
importance.
However, scientists are taking a second look on herbal remedies. Particularly in the past
twenty years, a growing body of research has pointed to the therapeutic potential of numerous
herbs. But a lot of work remains to be done; only about 15 percent of the estimated plant species
on earth have been investigated for possible medicinal uses.
Today’s renewed interest in herbs reflects increasing concern about the side effects of
powerful synthetic drugs, as well as the desire of many people to take charge of their own health,
rather than merely submitting themselves to a sometimes-impersonal health care system. We are
also rediscovering the healthful benefits of tasty herbs for cooking and aromatic herbs for
enhancing and helping to balance mental, spiritual and physical health.
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Conclusion
As it has been said in the introduction, the medicine ways of the Native
Americans remain a mystery to us all. Trying to define their unusual healing processes, I hope
that I have opened a path of new acknowledgments and this way helped at the better
understanding of the Americans ancestors.
Many have called them charlatans, although their odd methods of healing
sicknesses were mostly successful. Being related to spirits, shamans were mostly feared by their
co-villagers. Even so, they were asked for help when someone in the village was getting sick.
Odd methods you might think? Today’s medicine is trying to copy the ancient one
because of its efficiency. More and more people are searching for old remedies related to any
kind of disease, from fever to cancer or even AIDS. Nowadays it is thought that old medicine is
the key to all future medical problems.
After finishing reading this paper, there will be less doubts remaining on the
unusual way of the Native Americans related to their lifestyle and ways of healing. Shamans will
keep being ‘geniuses’ of the ancient medicine, which will always come back in any shape
regarded to medicine. Their knowledge will never fade away.
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Bibliography
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3. Cipriano, Jeri S. Native Americans. Canada, Benchmark Education Company, 2003. Print.
4. Cohen, Felix S. Handbook of Federal Indian Law. LexisNexis, 2005. Print.
5. Hartz, Paula R., Martin Palmer. Native American Religions. Infobase Publishing, 3rd ed., 2009.
Print.
6. Lewis Jr., David, Ann T. Jordan. Creek Indian Medicine Way: The Enduring Power of
Mvskoke Religion. University of New Mexico Press, 2002. Print.
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2003. Print.
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