In an effort to carry on their heritage, many native Americans have web pages dedicated to traditional herbal medicines and uses. Many herbs which people assume are new ideas have actually been used by Native Americans. Purple coneflower (echinacea), willow and goldenseal are just a few examples of the many herbs used. This was a way of life for them which kept them in accordance with nature.
Medicine Men
Young braves who wished to be medicine men would go through mentally and physically demanding ceremonies and training. Nineteenth-century doctors regarded native American medical technique to be inferior to their own practices, but also were intrigued by tribal medicine. The Medicine Man was regarded as almost immortal.
"From the west, you have given me the cup of living water and the sacred bow, the power to make live and to destroy. You have given me a sacred wind and the herb from where the white giant lives - the cleansing power and the healing. The daybreak star and the pipe, you have given from the east; and from the south, the nation's sacred hoop and the tree that was to bloom. To the center of the world you have taken me and showed the goodness and the beauty and the strangeness of the greening earth, the only mother - and there the spirit shapes of things, as they should be, you have shown to me and I have seen. At the center of this sacred hoop you have said that I should make the tree to bloom."
- From the vision of Black Elk,
Sioux warrior and medicine man
Women's Medicine
Native American women used certain herbs as a woman's medicine for a variety of purposes. They would gather plants to stimulate and promote normal female cycles, easing of childbirth, alleviating menopausal symptoms and other gynecologic problems. Stop by Paula Giese's page about Katsi Cook, Akwesasne Mohawk, for more information.
Web Pages
Browse through Syhawk's Native American Herbal Remedies page for a list of maladies, remedies and a little history of which tribe used them.
Backyard Gardens and Herbs has big medicinal herb table with botanical names, parts used and applications.
Herbs used mostly by Anishinaabeg people will be found at this site. The site lists a few plants and also has related books and links.
MI'KMAQ (MICMAC) medicines, foods and teas contributed by Laurie Lacey has a small list of plants, uses and pictures.
Cherokee Braves Trading Post has many books and herbs that can be ordered here.
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