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Folk Healer
A folk healer is an unlicensed person who practices the art of healing using traditional practices, herbal remedies and the power of suggestion. Origin The term "folk" was traditionally associated with medical and healing practices that weren't explicitly approved by the dominant religious institution. People who didn't seek help from an approved priest or religious figure would seek the help of the local folk healer. Folk healers, despite their technical illegitimacy, were often viewed as being more involved with the healing process and made their patients more comfortable than other practitioners. With modern medicine being preferred, some look towards folk healers to get consoled from the sacred use of traditional medicine. Region-specific names and practices Although common across the globe, each region has its own unique cultural practices and names for their folk healers. US Appalachian Mountain region ''Granny women'' are purported to be healers and midwives in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curandera Performing A Limpieza
A ''curandero'' (, "healer"; f. , also spelled , , f. ) is a traditional native healer or shaman found primarily in Latin America and also in the United States. A curandero is a specialist in traditional medicine whose practice can either contrast with or supplement that of a practitioner of Western medicine. A curandero is claimed to administer shamanistic and spiritistic remedies for mental, emotional, physical and spiritual illnesses. Some curanderos, such as Don Pedrito, the Healer of Los Olmos, make use of simple herbs, waters, or mud to allegedly effect their cures. Others add Catholic elements, such as holy water and pictures of saints; San Martin de Porres for example is heavily employed within Peruvian ''curanderismo''. The use of Catholic prayers and other borrowings and lendings is often found alongside native religious elements. Many curanderos emphasize their native spirituality in healing while being practicing Catholics. Still others, such as Maria Sabina, emplo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witchcraft
Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', "Witchcraft thus defined exists more in the imagination", but it "has constituted for many cultures a viable explanation of evil in the world". The belief in witches has been found throughout history in a great number of societies worldwide. Most of these societies have used Apotropaic magic, protective magic or counter-magic against witchcraft, and have shunned, banished, imprisoned, physically punished or killed alleged witches. Anthropologists use the term "witchcraft" for similar beliefs about harmful occult practices in different cultures, and these societies often use the term when speaking in English. Belief in witchcraft as malevolent magic is attested from #Ancient Mesopotamian religion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keith Thomas (historian)
Sir Keith Vivian Thomas (born 2 January 1933) is a Welsh historian of the early modern world based at Oxford University. He is best known as the author of ''Religion and the Decline of Magic'' and ''Man and the Natural World''. From 1986 to 2000, he was Master (college), president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Early life and education Thomas was born on 2 January 1933 in Wick, Vale of Glamorgan, Wick, Vale of Glamorgan, Glamorgan, Wales. He was educated at Barry County Grammar School, a State school, state grammar school in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan. Having been awarded the Brackenbury Scholarship, he studied modern history at Balliol College, Oxford. He graduated from the University of Oxford with a first class honours, first class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1955; as per tradition, his BA was later promoted to a Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin), Master of Arts (MA Oxon). Academic career He was a Fellow#Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin, fellow of All Souls College, Oxf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witcher (mythology)
In Slavic mythology, a vedmak is a warlock or male witch, the female equivalent (witch) being ''vedma''. This role greatly focuses on the Shamanic aspects of Slavic paganism. For example, they treat people and animals. On the other hand, they are thought to be people connected to the devil, and are capable of bringing harm by sending illnesses, killing cattle, spoiling a harvest, etc.Yefimova's Modern Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian language, 2000. The word was also used as an insult. A vedmak can turn into any animal or any object. Etymology ''Vedmak'' stems from Proto-Slavic *vědět ("to know") and Old East Slavic вѣдь ("knowledge; witchcraft", compare the use of the term "cunning" in English folklore). ''The Witcher'' Under the influence of ''The Witcher'' fantasy saga by Andrzej Sapkowski, the term ''vedmak'' is sometimes also rendered as "witcher" in English in certain contexts. The word used for "witcher" in the original Polish version of the novels, "wie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witch Doctor
A witch doctor (also spelled witch-doctor), or witchcraft doctor, is a kind of magical healer who treats ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft. The term is often misunderstood, and they could more accurately be called "anti-witch doctors". The term is now more commonly used to refer to healers, particularly in regions which use traditional healing rather than contemporary medicine. Original meaning of the term In its original meaning, witch doctors were not exactly witches themselves, but rather people who had remedies to protect others against witchcraft. Witchcraft-induced conditions were their area of expertise, as described in this 1858 news report from England: Recourse was had by the girl's parents to a cunning man, named Burrell, residing at Copford, who has long borne the name of "The Wizard of the North:" but her case was of so peculiar a character as to baffle his skill to dissolve the spell, Application was next made to a witch doctor named Murrell, residi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traditional Healers Of Southern Africa
Traditional healers of Southern Africa are practitioners of traditional African medicine in Southern Africa. They fulfil different social and political roles in the community like divination, healing physical, emotional, and faith healing, spiritual illnesses, directing birth or death rituals, finding lost cattle, protecting warriors, White magic, counteracting Witchcraft in Africa, witchcraft and narrating the history, cosmology, and concepts of Traditional African religions, their tradition. There are two main types of Folk healer, traditional healers within the Nguni people, Nguni, Sotho peoples, Sotho, and Tsonga people, Tsonga societies of Southern Africa: the diviner (''sangoma'') and the herbalism, herbalist (''inyanga''). These healers are effectively South African shamanism, shamans who are highly revered and respected in a society where illness is thought to be caused by witchcraft, pollution (contact with impure objects or occurrences) or through neglect of the ances ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medicine Man
A medicine man (from Ojibwe ''mashkikiiwinini'') or medicine woman (from Ojibwe ''mashkikiiwininiikwe'') is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Each culture has its own name in its language for spiritual healers and ceremonial leaders. Cultural context In the ceremonial context of Indigenous North American communities, "medicine" usually refers to spiritual healing. Medicine people use many practices, including specialized knowledge of Native American ethnobotany. Herbal healing is a common practice in many Indigenous households of the Americas;Alcoze, Dr Thomas M. Ethnobotany from a Native American Perspective: Restoring Our Relationship with the Earth" in '' Botanic Gardens Conservation International'' Volume 1 Number 19 - December 1999Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry,Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Sustaining Our Lives and the Natural World at ''United States Department of Agriculture, F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Home Remedy
Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) refers to the knowledge, skills, and practices rooted in the cultural beliefs of various societies, especially Indigenous groups, used for maintaining health and treating illness. In some Asian and African countries, up to 80% of people rely on traditional medicine for primary health care. Traditional medicine includes systems like Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, and Unani. The World Health Organization supports their integration, but warns of potential risks and calls for more research on their safety and effectiveness. The use of medicinal herbs spans over 5,000 years, beginning with ancient civilizations like the Sumerians, Egyptians, Indians, and Chinese, evolving through Greek, Roman, Islamic, and medieval European traditions, and continuing into colonial America, with beliefs passed down, translated, and expanded across cultures and centuries. Indigenous folk medicine is tradition ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Faith Healing
Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing of disease and disability can be brought about by religious faith through prayer or other rituals that, according to adherents, can stimulate a divine presence and power. Religious belief in divine intervention does not depend on empirical evidence of an evidence-based outcome achieved via faith healing. Virtually all scientists and philosophers dismiss faith healing as pseudoscience.See also: Claims that "a myriad of techniques" such as prayer, divine intervention, or the ministrations of an individual healer can cure illness have been popular throughout history. There have been claims that faith can cure blindness, deafness, cancer, HIV/AIDS, developmental disorders, anemia, arthritis, corns, defective speech, multiple scle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curandero
A ''curandero'' (, "healer"; f. , also spelled , , f. ) is a traditional native healer or shaman found primarily in Latin America and also in the United States. A curandero is a specialist in traditional medicine whose practice can either contrast with or supplement that of a practitioner of Western medicine. A curandero is claimed to administer shamanistic and spiritistic remedies for mental, emotional, physical and spiritual illnesses. Some curanderos, such as Don Pedrito, the Healer of Los Olmos, make use of simple herbs, waters, or mud to allegedly effect their cures. Others add Catholic elements, such as holy water and pictures of saints; San Martin de Porres for example is heavily employed within Peruvian ''curanderismo''. The use of Catholic prayers and other borrowings and lendings is often found alongside native religious elements. Many curanderos emphasize their native spirituality in healing while being practicing Catholics. Still others, such as Maria Sabina, emp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
