Post by Senbecc on May 3, 2006 23:07:02 GMT -5
The scent of atsin (cedar) is rich in the air. A soft song accompanied by a small gourd rattle - a gantsedi is being sung by didanawisgi - a medicine man. He kneels over his patient, lays down his rattle and gives the patient a sip of a potion he has prepared from certain plants and herbs known to have a healing for this sickness.
You might think this is a scene from years ago but it isn’t. This scene with slight modifications due to tribal traditions and ceremonies is being performed for patients all over the country. Why? Simply because it works. Here the goal is to first help the patient recover - to cure the sickness - to help the patient find his or her balance - the harmony of our living. The ceremony is as important as the potion or salve made from the plants or herbs. This is what is now known as holistic healing - a healing of the complete person.
She was only 19 and the rare soft part sarcoma, which attacks soft tissue, had spread and formed 50 or 60 lesions in her lungs. The lump on her left thigh, which she first thought could be an injury from soccer or cheerleading, was diagnosed as an incurable form of cancer. She had her thigh tumor removed and underwent six weeks of radiation therapy on her leg. The doctors said it was likely too late to treat her lungs. They told her she could die within months and probably not live to 30.
Nothing conventional could treat her lung lesions. So she looked for alternatives. A co-worker at Chili’s told her about an all-night Native American healing ceremony near by in Coquille, Ore. She decided to give it a try. “Basically, we sat up for 12 hours singing with a drum and rattle,” she said. “It was the most incredible experience I have ever felt in my entire life.”
Want to see the rest?
www.cherokeenationmexico.com/cherokeemedicine.html
You might think this is a scene from years ago but it isn’t. This scene with slight modifications due to tribal traditions and ceremonies is being performed for patients all over the country. Why? Simply because it works. Here the goal is to first help the patient recover - to cure the sickness - to help the patient find his or her balance - the harmony of our living. The ceremony is as important as the potion or salve made from the plants or herbs. This is what is now known as holistic healing - a healing of the complete person.
She was only 19 and the rare soft part sarcoma, which attacks soft tissue, had spread and formed 50 or 60 lesions in her lungs. The lump on her left thigh, which she first thought could be an injury from soccer or cheerleading, was diagnosed as an incurable form of cancer. She had her thigh tumor removed and underwent six weeks of radiation therapy on her leg. The doctors said it was likely too late to treat her lungs. They told her she could die within months and probably not live to 30.
Nothing conventional could treat her lung lesions. So she looked for alternatives. A co-worker at Chili’s told her about an all-night Native American healing ceremony near by in Coquille, Ore. She decided to give it a try. “Basically, we sat up for 12 hours singing with a drum and rattle,” she said. “It was the most incredible experience I have ever felt in my entire life.”
Want to see the rest?
www.cherokeenationmexico.com/cherokeemedicine.html
