The Four Sacred Medicines

The origins of Native American healing practice and ceremony are as diverse and rich as each of the hundreds of American tribes themselves. Nature has provided gifts that have been an important thread between native people and their spirituality. The Four Sacred Medicines (Tobacco, Cedar, Sage & Sweetgrass) have a historical and continuing cultural value to the spirit, physical & emotional well-being of native peoples.

Here is a brief history of The Four Sacred Medicines significance, application and value to Native American culture.

Tobacco

Tobacco is shared as a gift, an offering to elders, healers and creator. Tobacco has a long-standing cultural history among native people, recognized as the first gift the creator bestowed upon the native people. As a ceremony in the sharing of the sacred peace pipe, tobacco symbolizes harmony & peace among those that share it with each other and their creator. Tobacco is an essential sacrament of Native American spiritual ceremony.

However, commercial tobacco used habitually is a carcinogen when consumed as a cigarette. As a result native people have sought to use naturally grown tobacco as part of spiritual sacrament. As the tobacco industry has historically engineered cigarettes to deliver nicotine as an addictive agent, tribes have looked to discourage the consumption of commercial cigarettes and nicotine for it’s addictive properties. “Nicotine has a pharmacological effect that crosses the blood-brain barrier intact.”*

It is believed that the movement to distinguish the use of Nicotiana Tabacum (commercial) versus the use of Nicotiana Rustica (traditional) began when native peoples sought to have traditional ceremonies with traditionally raised tobacco. Before the American Indian Religious Freedom act of 1978 it had been illegal to perform public native ceremonies with tobacco. As the commercial use (and abuse) of tobacco consumption became an abusive habitual culture, the need to appropriate traditional tobacco use in ceremony became greater.†
*Source: Dr. Jeffrey Wigand. †American Indian Community Tobacco Project.

Cedar

Cedar wood has antioxidant, antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties and can be used to purify your home. It has restorative uses when mixed as a tea, where it can aid in fighting infections. Cedar is used in sweat lodges and is often used in smudging. Western Red Cedar leaves have long been a popular internal and external medicine for painful joints among Coastal Native Peoples. They have also been infused for cough medicine, tuberculosis and fevers. The leaves make wonderful incense and are used in smudging for purification.

Cedar is a powerful antimicrobial. Reflect on where it lives: cool wet forests where fungi and molds thrive. When you scratch cedar leaves or cut the wood, strong essential oils are released. These oils are cedar’s medicine to repel insects, molds, fungi, bacteria and viruses. Our ancestors discovered this long ago and used cedar’s medicine in and on themselves to ward off external forces.

Cedar leaf is a useful anti-fungal for skin and nail fungus. The tincture, infused oil or salve can be used topically and should be applied 2-3 times a day until a week after the fungus disappears. Fungal infections are pernicious and need to be treated aggressively. You can also soak your feet in cedar tea by steeping a cup of dried cedar leaves in about 10 cups of hot water. Let the tea steep until it is warm, and then place it in a bowl or basin large enough for your feet. Soak your feet for 10-15 minutes – a nice activity when you are reading or watching television.

Cedar promotes immune function through helping white blood cells to work better. By stimulating our immune cells to fight infection, clean up debris and denature cancer cells, we are keeping our tissues healthy. Doing several cedar steams a day can help to clear respiratory infections. You can also drink cedar tea by steeping a tablespoon of fresh or dried chopped cedar leaf per cup of water. Many herbalists prefer to steep cedar in cold water and let it sit for several hours or overnight. You only need to drink 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 cup twice a day to get a medicinal effect.††
††Source: www.portlandherbalschool.com

The Origin of Cedar, The Grandmother Medicine • An Anishinaabe Aadizookaan (Sacred Story)

Long ago gete-Anishinaabeg lived in a time where the breath of forever life stopped. People got sick, at this time Nanabush was grieving the loss of his friend, and it was Nanabush doing that with his door way open. In another village, a grandmother loved her people and cared for the sick. She did everything she could for her community and help them recover, but she too became ill. In her fasting state the creator spoke with her about her love for the people. She returned and died that morning, then her body was placed in the woods. Her body grew out of the ground as medicine. The wind spirit blew her medicine into the air and the rain covered the people. The people remember this smell and medicine. Cedar, the grandmother that loved her people.
Story told by: Ogimaa Wab

Sweetgrass

Sweetgrass is the sacred hair of mother earth. It can be used as a purifying herb, as incense in smudging. Herbal tea made from the leaves has been used to treat coughs, sore throat & fever. Sweetgrass is a perennial that grows in the northern hemisphere of North American, Asia & Europe. The dried leaves are also used medicinally in herbal teas and essential oil can be distilled from the plant which is then used as a seasoning in foods and alcoholic beverages.

Sweetgrass has a vanilla scented aroma and contains coumarin, which gives the plant its characteristic scent. Coumarin has blood-thinning properties and some research has shown that coumarin and related compounds can be effective in reducing high-protein edemas, especially lymphedema. Though Coumarin in high doses is considered a carcinogen and is used as a flavoring agent in pipe tobacco, but is banned by the FDA as an additive to cigarettes.***

It is said that the sweet-smelling smoke cleanses the spirit and brings sacred messages to the higher planes of existence. It is said that “Wakan Tanka” (Great Spirit) understood messages better if delivered by smoke than those said with words.**
**www.mcgill.ca***The Herbal Resource (www.herbal-supplement-resource.com).

Sweetgrass

Sweetgrass is the sacred hair of mother earth. It can be used as a purifying herb, as incense in smudging. Herbal tea made from the leaves has been used to treat coughs, sore throat & fever. Sweetgrass is a perennial that grows in the northern hemisphere of North American, Asia & Europe. The dried leaves are also used medicinally in herbal teas and essential oil can be distilled from the plant which is then used as a seasoning in foods and alcoholic beverages.

Sweetgrass has a vanilla scented aroma and contains coumarin, which gives the plant its characteristic scent. Coumarin has blood-thinning properties and some research has shown that coumarin and related compounds can be effective in reducing high-protein edemas, especially lymphedema. Though Coumarin in high doses is considered a carcinogen and is used as a flavoring agent in pipe tobacco, but is banned by the FDA as an additive to cigarettes.***

It is said that the sweet-smelling smoke cleanses the spirit and brings sacred messages to the higher planes of existence. It is said that “Wakan Tanka” (Great Spirit) understood messages better if delivered by smoke than those said with words.**
**www.mcgill.ca***The Herbal Resource (www.herbal-supplement-resource.com).

Marty Stomping-Elk
The elders tell us that it takes longer for us to heal today and the reason is because the old trails our ancestors used to find us have been destroyed….
So now our ancestors are having a hard time finding us to help us heal.

We are also told that was the first plant to grow on Mother Earth
When we harvest Sweetgrass,we get three bunches of seven strands. So there will be 21 pieces of grass,
We do not pull it, this is the hair of Mother Earth.
We braid the three strands of seven pieces right there on Mother Earth . Then we gently cut it
If we want to state our intentions, we can bring tobacco, to show the Creator in our words, how we will use the Sweetgrass
We can offer something the plant can use, like water to the relations around it, it’s brothers and sisters, mother and father and so on, give them a gift of water.

When we burn Sweetgrass, remember these things:
Its a kindness medicine… with a sweet gentle aroma when we light it. Its symbolic…
There are 21 strands used to make a braid… The first 7 strands represent those 7 generations behind us. Our parents. Our grandparents. Our great grandparents and so on for 7 generations behind us – Who we are and what we are is because of them – they’ve brushed and made the trails we’ve walked up til now… but the trails have been destroyed, we’ve lost our connection. The time has come to heal and reconnect with our ancestors.

The next 7 represent the 7 sacred teachings…
Love, Respect, Honesty, Courage, Wisdom, Truth and Humility.
The elders tell us how simple, powerful and beautiful the teaching are:
Love: unconditional affection with no limits or conditions that starts with loving yourself.
Respect: due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights or traditions of other, with consideration, thoughtfulness, attentiveness, politeness, courtesy, civility, deference.
Honestly: have a character of integrity, and honor be free from fraud or deception, legitimate truthful.
Courage: bravery, permitting one to face extreme dangers with boldness withstanding danger, fear or difficulty
Wisdom: the quality of having experience, knowledge and good judgment the quality of being wise.
Truth: the face of the matter, veracity, sincere, candor and genuineness a determined in principle entirely by how it relates to things
Humility: freedom from pride or arrogance, being humble, when we truly understand the teaching of humility, that we are not any better then anyone else and you are not any better then me. that at the end of the day we are simply human beings, this is what makes this teaching powerful and beautiful.

The last 7 strands are those of the 7 generations in front of us
Our children. Our grandchildren. Our great grandchildren. As well as those children yet to be born.
It is important because everything we do to Mother earth will one day effect them… We have lost our way, Mother Earth gives us everything we need to heal ourselves and the Earth. We must go back to our roots and bloom.

Sage

Sage is a plant that is native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean region but has been naturalized to other warmer temperate climates, including North America. Sage is often used for smudging and as a preparation for ceremony.

Traditionally, the leaves have been made into a poultice and used externally to treat sprains, swelling, ulcers and bleeding. It was also commonly used in tea form to treat sore and it is also considered one of the good herbs for the coughs. Sage is considered by many herbalists to be a useful medicinal herb for treating eczema, canker sores, halitosis, gingivitis.

Garden Sage (Salvia Officinalis) has shown anti-fungal, antiviral, anti-oxidant and anti-bacterial properties that make it a useful weapon in combating many illnesses. Garden sage may be helpful in Type II diabetes for lowering blood sugar levels through Insulin support (although only a mild effect). Garden sage may be taken in tea form, added to foods while cooking, added raw to salads and sandwiches.

The herb can be found in tablet/capsule form. The recommended dosage is usually 400 mg taken one to three times daily. For all commercial products containing sage, the manufacturer’s instructions should be followed. The herb has also its uses in aromatherapy.√
√ The Herbal Resource (www.herbal-supplement-resource.com)

Harvesting Male and Female Sage

Male sage and female sage have features that distinguish them from one another. Male Sage known as Buffalo Sage, is stemmed with leaves, while the Female Sage is stemmed with flowers. Male Sage is most commonly used in Anishinaabe medicine. Female Sage contains seeds that produce the next year’s crop. So it is important not to disturb the Female Sage root and allow the plant to flourish to sustain its growth through time. When picking Sage it is a tradition to offer a gift like Tobacco or a Smudge as thanks.