Impact

APPRECIATING THE BEAUTY OF NATIVE HEALING

Native American cultures all practice spiritual nourishment and healing. It goes way beyond just physical health, reaching the soul, and has a profound impact on the ability to both prevent and treat illness or disease.

Many different tribes share a common belief, that in order to be healed, one must obtain harmony and balance within body, mind and soul. And that before you can heal your body, you must heal your spirit.

Native Americans developed a deep pharmacopoeia of natural remedies, for both physical and spiritual healing.

Plants and herbs used in spiritual rituals included Sage, Bear Berry, Red Cedar, Dogwood, Witch Hazel, Marijuana, and many others.

For example, tea or syrup, made from the dried inner bark of Wild Black Cherry (Prunus Serotina) has been used by Native Americans to heal everything from coughs to colic.

The Mohegan tribe has used fermented wild black cherry juice to cure dysentery. The Meskwaki tribe found that tea, made of the root bark, works well as a sedative.

Cattail has been another popular Native American herbal medicine ingredient. Some species were used in poultices applied to heal wounds and infections. Some were taken internally to relieve everything from abdominal cramps to kidney stones.

The Cheyenne used cattail leaves in their Sun Dance ceremony.

Important remedies became rituals, with ceremonies to bring people into harmony with themselves, their tribes, and their environment. Song, dance, body paint, mind-altering substances, and sacred objects, might each play a role in spiritual healing.

Spiritual cleansing removes negative energies and unwelcome spirits, both from people themselves and from the environments in which they live.

Smudging, is one practice used, for example, to adjust the emotional environment of a home, a place of worship, a hunting or gathering space. Special herbs are tied together in bundles, called smudge sticks, then set to blaze, then to smolder, filling the place with healing smoke.

Sage has been used, for thousands of years, in smudging rituals to establish positive energy, clarity of thoughts, and healing. Feeling angry, unwell, depressed, or resentful? Smudge some sage, and you will feel better.

Marijuana, also known as the “sacred weed,” is another multi-purpose remedy, soothing both body and spirit. Native Americans were recently granted the legal right to grow, market, and use marijuana on their reservations, independent of state law.

Here is one comprehensive list of native remedies you might want to consider.

Want more stories like this? Sign up for our weekly BN Newsletter, Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr. Join our BeautifulNow Community and connect with the most beautiful things happening in the world right now!

Do you have amazing photos? Enter them in this week’s BN Photo Competition. We run new creative competitions every week! Now, it’s even easier to enter with the new BeautifulNow App!

Plus check out the rest of our App’s beautiful features. It’s free to download here.

IMAGE CREDITS:

Image: by stuart anthony. Bear Berries.
Image: by Forestwander. Dogwood Tree Flowers.
Image: by Fritz Flohr Reynolds. Juniperus virginiana, Fruit.
Image: by Sten Porse. Arctostaphylos uva-ursi. Bear Berry.
Image: by Rasbak. Prunus serotina.
Image: by liz west. Summer Marsh.
Image: by Erin Whittaker. Courtesy of Grand Canyon National Park. Grand Canyon Mather Point Landmark Dedication.
Image: by Guru6. Smudging. Native American Cleansing and Protection.
Image: by wilB. Sage.
Image: by Missy Corley. Parsley, Sage…
Image: by Brian Stalter. Plant - Sioux City, IA. Wild Cannabis. Cannabis sativa
Image: by Alex B. Marijuana.
Image: by Kristine Paulus. Witch Hazel.
Image: by Chuck Coker. Navajo Medicine Man.
Image: by BN App - Download now!
Image: by CameliaTWU. Waxy blue berries. (Juniperus virginiana)