Spiritual healing: Sacred Seeds and Sweetgrass

I have managed to find more information on the spiritual side of traditional healing in Madagascar. From the same source, I have also found specific information on healing children and expecting mothers. I have also other information regarding healing common ailments via use of herbs in Madagascar. However, I will not touch on this information until my next blog. 

I stumbled across a wonderful website created by a woman of the name Amy Greeson.

Amy is the founder, executive director, producer, and host of an educational resource called "Healing Seekers". She, essentially, travels around the world with her team; exploring some of the most remote places on Planet Earth.

She is a pharmacist and educator. Her goal with this organization is to educate people on old healing traditions of Indigenous cultures in various parts of the world.

On her website, Amy has photos, video footage and information from her team's expeditions.

Lucky enough for me, on one particular expedition, Amy and her team went to Southern Madagascar to learn more about the medicinal and spiritual, traditional healing methods of the Indigenous people there. I learned the following information in my blog from her video, titled "Madagascar: Ombias, Tibi Tonic and Sacred Seeds".

Amy first explains there are two types of healers in this part of Madagascar. They are both very spiritually rooted:

Ombias: Similar to a shaman. (Shamans are people who are able to reach an altered state of consciousness to communicate and interact with spirits). An Ombias heals by receiving information from their ancestors, as well as using medicinal plants.

Tromba: A tromba becomes completely possessed by the spirits of their ancestors and dictates healing, or punishing, information to the person who needs to be healed.

In the video, the Ombias that Amy meets also speaks a bit about medicines he uses to cure his patients. As I mentioned previously, my next blog will include this information. For now, however, I would like to share what I learned about a spiritual method which Ombias' use to cure patients.

This method involves using seeds, called the Tsikidy, which are used in assisting communication between the Ombias and their ancestors, while the Ombias are in a trance. The ancestors explain, to the Ombias, the life of the person who needs healing. They tell the Ombias what plants need to be used to heal them, and where these plants can be found.

This is how medicine and spirituality intertwine, to heal, in this particular part of Madagascar.

Next, sacred white sand (gathered from a tomb of a prince or king) is sprinkled on the seeds. This also assists in the healing of the patient. Then, the seeds and sand are boiled with the special plant into a solution. The patient drinks it.

Sometimes, the patient claims they are sick because they are cursed. This method works because it heals the patient both medicinally and spiritually.

Healers, such as the Ombias interviewed by Amy, travel to various locations to heal patients. While travelling, healers have the chance to continue collecting plants they need that they cannot find elsewhere.

In the Mi'kmaq culture, a method of spiritual healing often used involves sweetgrass. It is fair to say that probably most Mi'kmaq people use, or have used, sweetgrass at some point in their life.

Sweetgrass, Welima'qewe'l Msiku'l, is a sacred grass in Mi'kma'ki.

It is braided, and burned ceremonially in what is called a Smudging Ceremony. An Eagle feather is used to waft the smoke over one's body for the purpose of purification and cleansing. The Eagle is a sacred bird, as it can fly the highest of all birds. It can carry our prayers to Creator, and those passed on.

Smudging protects you from different forms of negativity, and carries our prayers to the other world, to Creator. Like the plants used by the Madagascans, sweetgrass is a natural and spiritual way to heal.

In my next blog I will go back to focusing on healing through natural medicines, especially the healing of children.

Works Cited:

Denny, Sarah. MicMac Herbal Medicine. Rep. Eskasoni: Micmac Association of Cultural Studies, n.d. Print.

"Healing Seekers In Madagascar." Healing Seekers. Healing Education Foundation, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <http://www.healingseekers.com/healing-seekers-in-madagascar/>.

"Shamanism." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Oct. 2014. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism>.

"Sweetgrass." Sweetgrass. St. George's Indian Band, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <http://www.sgib.ca/index_files/Page2137.htm>.

Photograph Acknowledgements:

http://ehess.modelisationsavoirs.fr/marc/ens/projets/datamining/divination/divination.html
http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwmovies/article/Filmmaker-Antonio-Saillant-Joins-HEALING-SEEKERS-20140703
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