Crossing Into Medicine Country: A Journey in Native American Healing

Description

From the coauthor of the million-copy| best-selling Medicine Cards comes this riveting account of initiation into ancient wisdom and the healing power of a Native American shaman. Of Choctaw descent| David Carson has absorbed and sought out Native American spiritual knowledge since growing up in Oklahoma Indian country. He distilled some of that knowledge in Medicine Cards| the hugely successful divination system based on traditional animal medicine that became a New Age bestseller in the 1990s. Now| in CROSSING INTO MEDICINE COUNTRY| he tells the story of his initiation as a conjure man-a ceremonial healer-with the Choctaw medicine woman Mary Gardener. For three years| he studied the arts of power plants and medicine animals| how to manipulate the layers of energy surrounding human beings| and how to use sacred tobacco in ritual| curing| and divination. Through Mary’s teachings| often conveyed in folk tales of the primordial healer Yellow Tobacco Boy| and through his own| sometimes mind-bending experiences| he gives us a glimpse into an alternate reality| in which health and illness express the balance between man and nature| and Western notions of physics do not always apply. A fascinating personal narrative| here is a work rich in spirit and Native American lore that will appeal to anyone interested in alternative beliefs.