Medicine Men figure prominently in Navajo society. They are part healer, historian, priest, and seer. It will take many entries of the blog to even begin to do them justice. In 2002 the tribe started a training program for new Medicine Men as the numbers have dwindled. In the Chinle Hospital there is always a medicine man or woman (we have a woman now) who perform healing ceremonies. Beside healing they officiate over the four (once again four) sacred rites. They are: The Mountaintop Way, The Grandfather's Ceremony, The Enemy Way, and The Lightening or Big Wind Way. Each ceremony has a specialized function to address imbalances in life and nature. All ceremonies are addressed at healing. The ceremonies can last days and involve many people. As I am here and participate in them I will write more. The Enemy Way which is for warriors has been used frequently in the past ten years as so many Navajo had come back from the Persian Gulf with wounds both spiritually and physically.
The Medicine Man I met today looked at me and instantly knew my life was not in balance. He could tell that my loved ones were far, far, away. Moreover, he could see what I had done wrong recently as well as what I was doing right. It was like watching Romper Room when the teacher lady gets up wither her magic mirror and looks out to the audience and says " I see Marc in New York enjoying his birthday, I see Kevin with his grandmother, and I see Ronnie in trouble once again.... (yup, that was me). Just as I believed the Romper Room lady I believe the Medicine Man has special powers to see and heal. As I have grown as a physician I know that science only goes so far in healing and that most healing comes from, through, and for the soul and spirit. The physician or medicine man who ignores that will never be a healer but just a technician. Thank you Romper Room lady for showing me where I went wrong and how to behave and thank you Medicine Man for reminding me of the soul of the healer.
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