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Folk Medicine
Faith healing or medical belief This form of folk medicine involves the use of religious folk objects or items and prayers to cure illness. One example of this is exorcism, involving the use of holy water, the bible, the cross and prayers to cast out demons from a victim. Ritual healings were also performed by voodoo priests and by Shaman’s. Many of us still believe in the use of charms for protection.
Irish fairy beliefs Well into the early half of the twentieth century Irish fairy beliefs were grounded in Christian etiology and influenced how individuals and communities constructed understanding of illness. Many believed that illness was attributed in some way to the supernatural with communally shared stories about local features of landscape, Iron-age forts, mounds, lone trees etc. and to this day are still delineated as fairy abodes which should not be destroyed for fear of retribution. The fairies were depicted as fallen angels that needed to be placated and explained the blighting and decay of livestock, the untimely death of infants and mothers in childbirth and it was believed that paralysis was the result of fairy possession.
Irish lay healers were said to have some kind of interaction with the fairies and were known as wise men-or women, herb doctors, fairy men etc, and were often said to be ‘away with the fairies’. They performed rituals and provided remedies mediating between fairies and humans.
Because of religious opposition, sometimes even those who believed in the power of folk healers did not use them as priests forbid them to take their cures – for ‘it must surely be the work of the devil’
Medicinal plants have been used in virtually all cultures as a source of medicine. The widespread use of herbal remedies and healthcare preparations as those described in ancient texts such as the bible have been traced to the occurrence of natural products with medicinal properties.
Medicine in several developing countries used local traditions and beliefs, is still the mainstay of healthcare. The practice of traditional medicine is widespread in China, India, Japan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand etc.
Traditional folklore medicine bequeathed from generation to generation is rich in domestic recipes and communal practice. However, the use of medicinal plants is being threatened by complacency concerning their conservation and their commercialization by the large pharmaceuticals, but their first and foremost concern is profit.
Fossil Folklore – Resemblances between particular kinds of fossils and the appearance of medical afflictions of the body or affected organs have led to the fossil being used as folklore cures, following the principles of sympathetic medicine. Devils Toenails: shells of the Jurassic oyster Gryphaea, were used in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to cure pain in the joints, the basis of this therapy was thought to be their contorted shape which is suggestive of painful joints.
The club-like spines of the Jurassic echinoid Balanocidaris, known in folklore as ‘jewstones’, have a bladder-like shape. Consequently, ingested in powdered form, they were used to treat ailments of the urinary system such as kidney stones.
Natural folk medicine also known as herbal medicine or home remedies: an example of herbal medicine or home remedies:
· Fresh stakes, and poultice for treating infected wounds. · Molasses – for treating sore throats and babies teething problems. · Fresh cucumber and wet bags of tea- for treating eye problems. · The juice from nim leaves for curing Malaria. · Chinese acupuncture - for treating blood clots and migraines. · Leaves from the plant Symphytum for ‘knitting broken bones’. · Dandelion leaf – for fluid retention.
The above are just a few of the old remedies passed down through time and many others are still used today.
Below is a Miscellany of Healing prescriptions passed down from the Ancient Egyptians:
Cure for Diarrhoea
1/8th cup figs and grapes, bread dough, pit corn, fresh earth, onion and elderberry.
Cure for indigestion
Crush a hog’s tooth and put it inside of four sugar cakes. Eat for four days.
Cure for burns
Create a mixture of milk of woman who has borne a male child, gum, and rams hair. While administering this mixture say, :Thy son Horus is burnt in the desert. Is there any water there? There is no water. I have water in my mouth and a nile between my thighs. I have come to extinguish the fire.
Cure for lesions of the skin
After the scab has fallen off put on it: Scribes excrement. Mix in fresh milk and apply a poultice.
Cure for cataracts
Mix brain of tortoise with honey. Place on the eye and say: There is a shouting in the southern sky. There is an uproar in the northern sky. The hall of pillars falls into the waters. The crew of the sun god bent their oars so that the heads at his side fell into the water, who leads hither what he finds? I lead forth with what I find. I lead forth your heads. I lift up your necks. I fasten what has been cut from you in its place. I lead you forth and drive away the god of fevers and all possible deadly arts.
May seem a little crazy today, but all of these recipes are authentic and were taken from the Papyrus Ebers.
Folk medicine is a significant source of Ayurvedic, Unani, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Medical Herbalism. Folk medicine incorporates crude medicinal herbs, decoctions and infusions and syrups. Folk medicine is still practiced in many countries and remote areas, and their preparations are of surprisingly high curative value. Today, herbal medicine is making a dramatic comeback and scientists are turning to natural products for answers to ailments like cancer, Aids, hepatitis and rheumatoid arthritis etc.
all copyright belongs to Lynne Wheatman, Natural-Homeopathy
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