Throughout their history, the American Indians have healed with rituals using herbs, fungi, and other natural materials. They have valued as sacred the spiritual side of life and their connection to the earth. Their medicine has always been holistic, treating the body and spirit as one and illness as a sign of imbalance. Now we can benefit from American Indian wisdom with American Indian Healing Arts: Herbs, Rituals, and Remedies for Every Season of Life. This book is organized by the stages of life, presenting different tribal perspectives on the significance of each, with ceremonies and healing rituals (songs, prayers, botanicals). The book includes more than 60 recipes for treating health problems and other needs, from "cramp bark tea" to "marigold-calendula deodorant cream." There are also directions for making tonics, ointments, tooth powders, and digestive remedies, and illustrations consisting of leaf-rubbings of 80 plants. Besides learning to use American Indian remedies, you learn fascinating facts about their ceremonies. The Navajo celebrate not only birth, but the infant's first smile and first laugh, for example. An Apache girl celebrates first menstruation by running and dancing for four days (guided and massaged by an elder woman). If you're interested in alternative healing, or intrigued by American Indian culture, this book will add to your knowledge. --Joan Price
