Introduction
Native American herbalism involved the use of many North American native herbs and plants.
Hundreds of plants have been used as medications by the Native Americans.
For an American Indian, the significance of the word medicine is quite distinct from that which contemporary cultures usually hold.
Medicine implies a variety of ideas and principles to most American Indians, rather than treatments and diagnosis alone.
Healing techniques vary from tribe to tribe and various cultural areas. There are, however, specific approaches that are almost universal.
Prayer, singing, music, herbalism, therapy, and ceremony are common forms of treatment.
Native-American Healers
Herbal Medicine
Native American healers were herbalists with a variety of principles combining physical healing with spiritual healing.
Native American healers thought the spirit and intelligence of crops, trees, shrubs, flowers, and herbs and handled them appropriately.
It is thought that the herbs used by medicine men derive their power from the executed rituals to render them strong.
"Like cures like" was the essence of their herbal belief.
Yellow plants are suitable for jaundice; red ones are good for the blood.
They have used the doctrine of signatures for centuries. Every part of the plant resembles a body organ supposed to be healed.
Because of its slippery consistency, the use of worm root for worms, snakeroot for fits, elm bark is used for bleeding lungs, and bloodroot is used to prevent bleeding.
The Indians also frequently thought that the scheme benefited from individual seeds or herbs because they are distasteful and harmful to the demons that cause disease in the host body.
Herbalism practice enabled indigenous Americans to handle, clean, and purify the body without damaging side effects.
The natural herbs and plants used in herbalism aided the Shaman control and normalized the tasks of the body.
Herbs are potent in vitamins and minerals, and their use in herbalism methods has the added advantage of increasing energy levels,
enabling the body to have additional energy for healing itself and stimulating the immune system.
Herbalism's crops and crops and medicinal herbs are natural remedies and were the Native Americans'
natural drugs that resided on the natural goods generated by humans in their surroundings.
The herbalism of the Native American type allowed the Shaman to handle the person's healing and also to influence the mood or soul.
The Shaman required an in-depth understanding of the herbs' characteristics, when they were best grown and how to use the crops and herbs, and how to prepare them for treating tribe members.
It was thought that the Shaman had presents or abilities that enabled him to use herbalism in a way that was concealed from the average person.
Throughout North America, there are more than 20,000 herbs, and in Native American plant herbalism, about 2000 were used for cures.
However, we shall present only the most common herbs used by the Shamans
- Bearberry - Barberis genus - Anthropologists believe in a ritual practice or
- sacred object, primarily by Native Americans that it works as a supernatural power or as preventive or the remedy of illness.
- It is the most widely used drug in the Homeopathic system of medicine for kidney pain and removal of kidney stones
- Candle Bush - Cassia alata - Leaves or sap are used to treat fungal infections such as ringworm. They contain a fungicide, chrysophanic acid. Besides skin diseases, it is also used to treat a wide range of ailments from stomach problems, fever, asthma to a snake bite, and venereal diseases (syphilis, gonorrhea).
- Horsemint - Monarda genus - Long history of use as a medicinal plants by many Native Americans including the Blackfeet, Menominee, Ojibwa, Winnebago, and others.
- Used for skin infections and minor wounds infections caused by dental caries and excessive gingivitis flatulence.
- Cascara Buckthorn - Rhamnus Purshiana - The dried, aged bark of this tree has been used continually for at least 1,000 years by both native and
- European settlers as a natural laxative medicine.
- Cinchona - Cinchona sp. - The bark of trees in this genus is the source of a variety of alkaloids, the most familiar of which is quinine, an anti-fever agent especially useful in treating malaria. Native Americans used it for fever and chill, that may be associated with malaria.
- Juniper - Juniperus sp. - American Indians used juniper berries as a herbal remedy for urinary tract infections as well as a female contraceptives.Western tribes combined the berries of Juniperus communis with Barberis root bark in a herbal tea to treat diabetes.
- Willow - Salix sp. - Native Americans across the American continentrelied on it as a staple of their medical treatments.The leaves and bark of the willow tree contain salicylic acid, the precursor to aspirin.
- Dogwood - Cornus florida - Native Americans used dogwood bark for a variety of illnesses.A drink can be made from the bark, flowers, and fruit to reduce fever and relieve chills.It can also be used as a remedy for colic.
- Geranium - Geranium sp. - Geranium roots has astringent effects.It was used to treat thrush, a contagious disease caused by a fungus, affects mostly infants and children.
- Ginseng - Panax quinquefolium - Native Americans used ginseng root for cramps, menstrual problems, headaches, and stroke.It was taken as a tonic to increase mental powers, prevent shock, and treatment for asthma and emphysema.
- Wormseed - Chenopodium ambrosioides - For centuries, the Maya of Central America used Wormseed to expel worms, and hence its name. Aztecs used the plant to treat asthma and dysentery. The Catawaba peoples of the US used the plant for poultices to detoxify snake bites and other poisonings.
- White Hellebore - Veratrum viride - It is a highly toxic plant that was widely employed medicinally by several native North American Indian tribes who used it mainly externally in the treatment of wounds and pain.
- Elderberry - Sambucus canadensis Native North American tribes used it to treat a wide range of complaints like cold, consumption, headache,indigestion etc.All parts of the elderberry plant are considered to be a valuable healing plant in many folk medicine traditions.
- Angelica - Angelica atropurpurea Native to eastern North America. Angelica was held in high esteem by Indians in Arkansas, who always carried it in their medicine bags and mixed it with tobacco for smoking.
- Witch Hazel - Hamamelis virginiana - Although eastern American Indians have used witch hazel to treat a variety of conditions, the Chippewaused it specifically to treat sore, inflamed, or infected eyes.After colonists learned its importance from the Indians, its use for healing spread to Europe.
- Pipsissewa - Chimaphila umbellata - Close to a dozen native tribes are documented to have used Pipsissewa as medicine.The use ranges from treating backache, sore eyes, gonorrhea, blisters, sore muscles, leg and foot swelling, etc.It is regarded as a blood purifier and to aid internal healing.
- Balsam Fir - Abies balsamea - North American Indian tribes used it as an antiseptic healing agent applied externally to wounds, sores,bites etc.It was used as an inhalant to treat headaches and was also taken internally to treat colds, sore throats, and various other complaints
- Arrowwood - Viburnum dentatum - The Ojibwa and Menominee Indians use the inner bark in a decoction for cramps. Ojibwa also mixes arrowwood and the bark of the alder (Alnus incana) in preparing a tea to drink to induce vomiting.
- Bloodroot Sanguinaria canadensis - The red juice from the root was a prevalent remedy among Plains Indians for sore throats, respiratoryproblems, and growths on the skin.
- American Indians used the root for rheumatism, asthma, bronchitis, lung ailments, laryngitis, and fevers.
- Wintergreen - the leaves of the Wintergreen are used to treat AsthmaRheumatism Headache
- White Mustard - The seeds of White Mustard are used to treat Rheumatism, sciatica, peritonitis, neuralgia
- Spearmint - The Leaves, oil, and flowering tops of Spearmint are used to treat Headaches, heartburn, indigestion
- Gentian - The Leaves and roots of Gentian are used to treat Backache, liver complaints and as a tonic
- Comfrey - The Leaves of Comfrey are used to treat Colds, flu, coughs, fever, headaches, pain
- Snakeroot - The rootstock of Snakeroot is used to treat Inflammations, rheumatism, 'female ailments'
Native American Shamanism
Shamanism is not a particular religion, but a doctrine centered on the faith that in the individual of a shaman, physical nature could be taken under the command of man. It is thought that the Shaman has a religious link with livestock, supernatural beings, and all-natural components.
The shaman enables tribal leaders to recognize private animal totems that are spiritual guides who travel with them through lives and sometimes appear in dreams or vision quests or on a spiritual journey.
Appropriate phrases, items, and ceremonies were used by the shaman to safeguard people from the evil spirits-his function are that of the adversary of evil forces and protector of an average person.
The Shaman's function varies from tribe to tribe, as Shamanism has some national and tribal differences in its convictions.
However, there are several widespread functions that every Shaman shares.
In many tribes, including the Cheyenne and the Sioux, the Shaman also had the role of the head warrior or war chief which made him the most powerful and influential man of the tribe.
A Shaman was a healer, communicator, educator, prophet, and mystic.
The Shaman's function varies from tribe to tribe, as Shamanism has some national and tribal differences in its convictions.
The Shaman played a significant healing role.
Most American Native tribes claim that a contrite spirit took away or came into him when a man is sick. Therefore, it is not shocking that Native Americans want to gain power over these spirits.
The restorative role of the Shaman was critical. Many Native American Tribes assume that while a man is ill, a contrite spirit has taken away his soul or has entered into him. It is therefore not surprising that the Native Americans would wish to gain power over these spirits. The shaman was the one endowed with knowledge of the spirits and the supernatural. A shaman should learn calming terms and rituals and appreciate artifacts that would disarm evil spirits and protect their owners if kept. Such knowledge is what the Native Indians mean by “medicine” or “mystery.” The Native Americans who spent their lives in trying to gain such understanding are referred to as medicine men, medicine people, mystery men, or Shaman.
