Big Medicine From Six Nations
ISBN: 9780815654230
Platform/Publisher: Project MUSE / Syracuse University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Chapters; Download: Chapters
Subjects: Healing; Shamanism; Traditional medicine; Tuscarora Indians; Tuscarora Indians; Tuscarora Indians;

Native American healer Williams (1930-2005) shares incredible stories of vision quests, songs of power and the healing abilities of Indian Medicine in the follow-up to his much-lauded 1976 title, The Reservation. A member of the Tuscarora Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, Williams gives the unitiated a fascinating glimpse through the Longhouse door into Iroquois history and spiritualism. The reader learns of the Peacemaker, who founded the Iroquois Confederacy; of Hiawatha, who cured all psychological illness; of the Great Law of the Great Peace; and of the Thanksgiving Address that starts and ends each ceremonial event. Williams explains how Indian Medicine is a cross-discipline ability-at once physical, spiritual and psychical-to tap into and use the energy of the universe. Many of these short tales involve the supernatural world: witches, ghosts, scrying, shape shifting, energy spots and healing by hands; for instance, Williams relates the time he healed his own back-broken in an encounter with a falling tree-with energy from his hands. Williams provides many such compelling, campfire-story glimpses into everyday events of Iroquois society that modern Americans would consider something close to miraculous. This enjoyable read will prove both challenging and heartening for those with an open mind. (Apr.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

The son of a Turtle Clan sachem chief and respected medicine man, Ted Williams grew up on the Tuscarora Indian Reservation near Niagara Falls, New York, in the 1930s and l940s. He is the author of The Reservation .

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