The Outpost, May 26, 2012 via wilderutopia.com; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
Healing With Spirit: A Tribute to Chumash Medicine Woman Cecilia Garcia
To honor the soul transition of Chumash teacher and healer Cecilia Garcia, her article by with her white apprentice USC Prof. of Pharmacology Dr. James Adams is presented here. It covers mind, body, and spirit healing with Chumash spirit.
Strong Spirit of Tradition with Laughter
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| Map of greater Tongvaland (Tovaangar), now Los Angeles County |
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Renowned Chumash medicine woman Cecilia Garcia departed our human-bond in Ensenada in 2012. It was a terrible loss, considering her tireless teaching of healing through native plants, ceremony, and laughter for the many overly-serious and botanically-ignorant migrants to her ancestral South Central California home.
- See their book: Healing With Medicinal Plants of the West (Abedus Press)
I had the pleasure of studying with Cecilia Garcia twice, once in 2006 at a native plant workshop in La Crescenta and in 2011 at Quail Springs Permaculture Farm in the Cuyama Valley.
Both times, USC Professor of Pharmacology Jim Adams accompanied her, adding scientific heft to her inspiring and often raucous sensibilities. They published an excellent guide: Healing with Medicinal Plants of the West, from Abedus Press.
I wrote about the Quail Springs experience in October 2012 at WilderUtopia.
The following are excerpts from "Spirit, Mind, and Body in Chumash Healing" by Cecilia Garcia and Dr. James Adams that captures the spiritual kick in the backside that was Garcia, healing through prayer, initiation rites, rock art (petroglyphs), community… and ethnobotany.
The Native Way
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| Shaman Ceclia Garcia with datura (jimson, moonflower, tolache) and apprentice Dr. Adams |
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| Healing with Medicinal Plants of the West |
The first steps in healing are more spiritual, which opens the mind and body to healing. The next steps in healing may have been directed more to the mind and body.
In current society, body and mind are usually treated separately. Diseases are considered to be the result of a [physical] problem with one component of the body. For instance, heart disease is considered a problem of high blood pressure leading to a weak heart, or atherosclerosis leading to thrombi that damage the heart.
Allopathic drugs (synthetic Big Pharma poisons) are administered to control high blood pressure or to control cholesterol in order to prevent atherosclerosis and thrombosis. There is usually only a very ineffective attempt to control weight that would prevent or ameliorate heart disease.
In the Chumash village, the approach was very different. Prevention of disease was the most important job of the medicine people. Obesity was not tolerated, except perhaps among some chiefs (Chumas wot, pronounced wote).
Obesity was considered a sign of laziness, an attitude that was not tolerated in a Chumash village (1). Everyone in the village had to work together to make the village survive. Everyone knew his or her job and knew s/he was critical to the survival of the village.
Chumash lived along the California coast from Malibu to San Luis Obispo and inland -- 50 miles out to the Tongva island of San Nicolas.
Chumash people were indentured/enslaved and forced to build the Catholic Missions at Ventura, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez, La Purisima, and San Luis Obispo. They spoke Chumash, a Hokan language, of which there were many dialects.
Chumash people currently reside throughout Southern California and elsewhere. There is one small Chumash reservation at Santa Ynez.
Prayer in Healing
In the Chumash village, all healing started with prayer. Prayer invites God (Xoy in Chumash, pronounced Hoy) to participate in the healing process. Prayer came in many forms and could be as simple as the patient and healer praying together.
Prayer sometimes involved smudging with white sage (Salvia apiana) (3). The healer, or an elder from the village, put a small branch of dried white sage in a suitable container such as a seashell, typically an abalone shell.
The white sage was ignited. The flames were blown out allowing the white sage to smolder and smoke. The smoke from white sage has a pleasant smell and is thought to help carry prayers to God (1). The healer prayed for the health of the patient while moving the seashell to allow the smoke to touch every part of the patient’s body including the soles of the feet.
The healer sometimes touched the patient’s back with an eagle or hawk wing to draw out harmful spirits (nunasus). The wing was then flicked down to send the harmful spirits back into the underworld where they originated (4). Smudging with white sage is still practiced by Chumash people today.
It's a sacred plant to the Chumash. "When you burn white sage, you have to pray. You’re supposed to be healing someone. You’re supposed to be at attention, because white sage is our protection. If you’re not praying, someone is not being protected" (Cecilia Garcia, 3).
Prayer is now almost completely gone from hospitals and clinics. It may be appropriate to learn from Chumash practices and bring prayer back into hospitals and clinics. Prayer is free, comforts patients, and may even decrease mortality in cardiac patients (5).
Prayer is completely safe for patients in hospitals as demonstrated by numerous clinical trials (6). Since prayer has been shown to be safe for patients, prayer is not dangerous to the practice of medicine.
The Initiation Ceremony
When a boy became 8-years-old, it was time for him to begin the process of becoming a man (1). An initiation ceremony took place... More: The Outpost via wilderutopia.com
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