Atwood - Spirit healing: how to make your life work

INTRODUCTION

Inspiration to write this came from the hologram of my existence, and includes research findings, personal experiences, observations, teachings from Native Americans, and institutional data derived from my own experiences as a contemporary medicine woman. The list is incomplete unless mention is made of knowledge given from sources not easily named as they come from other planes of existence.

When European settlers arrived on the continent of North America, they found Native Americans healthy and robust. Smallpox, tuberculosis, bubonic plague, syphilis, and other horrible diseases were unknown to them. The early white settlers believed bathing to be abominable and used no soap. They considered native customs, such as bathing, sweating, and fasting, barbaric.

The religious colonial settlers were frightened by the animal totems, chanting, rattling of charms, burning of herbs, and use of song and prayer to cure illness. The pilgrims and those who followed had little knowledge of the strange plants and environment they encountered in North America, and any who showed too much interest in learning from the Native Americans risked persecution for witchcraft.

Native American medicine healers were actually advanced in their holistic approach to healing. Methods used included assessment of personal problems, family or tribal intervention, and dream interpretation to uncover hidden needs and fears. Shamans burned sacred herbs, called for help from powerful spirit guides, and dispensed necessary energy through their hands, totems, or prayers. For serious physical problems or community conflicts, the whole family or tribe gathered together to be included in the healing process. Secret medicine societies of respected elders met together to solve problems affecting the tribe.

In addition to physical illness or damage by accidents or in battles, there were the potential dangers of unconscious or unexpressed wishes and needs; healers recognizerd that when anger or negative energy forces attacked a tribal member, they could cause illness. Medicine healers looked into the unseen world of the bodythe thoughts or dreams of the patientto deduce the cause of sickness. There, the offending spirit or personal problem was located. Sometimes the medicine man or woman traveled astrally to the land of the ancestors to obtain necessary information. Prophecies, often for the benefit of the tribe, came from powerful guides.

Such concerns disconcerted white settlers, because they made little connection between the mind and the health of the body. Unfortunately, in many modern health clinics, mental state and environment are still ignored! One might ask which medicine, old or new, is the most primitive?

Lack of knowledge of chemical properties of herbs didnt lessen the medicine man or womans effectiveness. If a plant or object appeared to cause pleasant or healing events, it was good medicine. If a plant or totem had medicine, it had power. Trial and error undoubtedly contributed to the acquired knowledge. Modern analyses of the chemical composition of plants document the healing qualities of herbs used by the Native Americans. Today, natural herbal compounds and synthetic duplications account for numerous over-the-counter and prescription medicines.

What treasures of medicine may not be expected from a people, who although destitute of the lights of science, have discovered the properties of some of the most inestimable medicines.Dr. Benjamin Barton 1798

A drunken man who had fallen into a fire was burnt in such a manner I did not think he could recover; yet they cured him in ten Days, so that he went about. I knew another blown up with Powder that was cured to Admiration. I never saw an Indian have an Ulcer, or foul Wound in my life; neither is there any such thing to be found among them.John Lawson 1714

Now, five centuries after the pilgrims arrival, research studies reveal that more people seek alternative health practitioners using natural remedies, holistic approaches, or spiritual methods than visit standard medical doctors. The percentage continues to grow as awareness increases about healing from the use of natures bounty and energies not always explained by known physical laws.

We wish to know more about the ways of the medicine men and women who recognized these forces. As the Grandmothers and Grandfathers watch us from the Path of Souls, they, no doubt, are pleased with the wonders of modern medical science. Perhaps they wish for a combined joint effort of old and new to heal ourselves and our planet. We only hope the Native American ancestors who guide our knowledge and wisdom show us the patience and honor not accorded them.

In my attempt to capture the sacred nature of Native American philosophy, so rich in spirit and soul, an overlap will be noted with other religions or ways of life. Native Americans, not unlike followers of Eastern religions, believed that all animal, mineral, and plant life contained a spiritual essence or living force. Current research on DNA of modern Native Americans suggests that North and South American Indians came from one culture in Asia that migrated across the Bering Strait. This could explain similarities between the Eastern religious philosophies and those of the Native Americans, both of which stress the importance of human soul growth as the reason for existence, and the divine spark as an energy shared by other forms in nature. To destroy the other life forms on the planet is to invite our own destruction.