The Cherokee Herbal: Native Plant Medicine from the Four Directions

NATIVE AMERICAN / HERBALISM In this rare collection of the herbal knowledge of Cherokee elders, author J. T. Garrett presents the healing properties and medicinal applications of over 450 North American plants. Readers will learn how Native American healers utilize the gifts of nature for ceremonial purposes and to treat over 120 ailments, from the common cold to a broken heart. The book presents the medicine of the Four Directions and the plants with which each direction is associated. From the East comes the knowledge of "heart Medicine"-- blood-building tonics and plants for vitality and detoxification. The Medicine of the South focuses on the innocence of life and the energy of youthfulness. West Medicine treats the internal aspects of the physical body to encourage strength and endurance, while North Medicine offers a sense of freedom and connection to the stars and the greater Universal Circle. This resource also includes traditional teaching tales to offer insights from Cherokee cosmology into the origin of illness, how the animals found their Medicine, and the naming of the plants. J. T. GARRETT, a member of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee from North Carolina, is the author of Meditations with the Cherokee and coauthor with his son, Michael, of Medicine of the Cherokee and The Cherokee Full Circle. As a student and teacher of Indian Medicine for over thirty-five years, he draws on the ancient wisdom teachings of his Medicine elders on the Cherokee Reservation in the Great Smoky Mountains. He currently serves as the health director for Carteret County in North Carolina.