This document discusses Iroquois conceptions of health, illness, and medicine. It outlines how the Iroquois view all things as having a life force, and illness occurs when this balance is disrupted, which can happen through taboo violations, unfulfilled desires, encounters with evil things/events, or witchcraft. Symptoms are seen as manifestations of an imbalance in one's spirit. Treatment focuses on restoring balance, such as through ceremonies or herbal remedies. The document also discusses the etiological categories that illnesses may fall under and how these relate to symptoms.

1. Indigenous view to
wholistic medicine
Iroquois Medical
Botany
Chapters 1 & 2
Chapters 2 & 3
Monday March 5, 2012
Amanda, Emily, Jewell, Sujane, Terry

2. Outline
Chapter 2: Folk conceptions of health and medicine
 How and why folk medicines work
 Discussion question
Chapter 3: Conceptions of illness in traditional Iroquois culture
 Iroquois notions regarding causes of imbalances in human beings
 Offensive behavioural acts or taboo violation
 Unfulfilled desires
 Things, events, people and places that radiate or exude evil
 Witchcraft
 Borrowed notions
 Internal manifestations of imbalances as they relate to native, etiological
categories
 Relationships existing between etiological categories and symptoms
 Iroquois “disease” categories

3. What is folk medicine?
 An umbrella term used to define traditional
medicine.
 Treatment of ailments outside clinical medicine
by remedies and simple measures based on
experience and knowledge handed down
from generation to generation.
 Includes Indigenous medicine
(i.e. Haudenosaunee).

4. Folk conceptions of health and
illness: Understanding logic
 Must put aside
cultural notions of
✗
discrete categories,
causes and effects
 Amoebae, viruses
and bacteria
 Distinctions
between physical
and mental
illnesses

5. Folk conceptions of health and
illness
 Foundational principle in folk medicine- the
notion that every thing and event of the universe
has a life force, soul or power. A balanced
universe or cosmos is at the base of good health.

6. Folk conceptions of health and
illness
Ill health implies that the
inherent balanced life force or
power of some thing, event,
person or place has become
upset.
 Balance can be upset in an
unlimited number of ways.
 Exertion of life force or
power upon any person,
place, thing or event may
either: (1) upset, (2) maintain
or (3) restore balance.

7. A delicate state of balance
 Earthquakes
 Volcanoes
 Tornadoes
 Hurricanes
 Too much/little rain
 Insufficient amount of wild or domesticated plants
and/or animals
 Loss of an battle
 Bad luck at hunting

8. Disease causations
Fegos (1959)
(1) How illnesses are thought to be manifested
 Object intrusion
 Spirit/demon intrusion
 Soul capture or straying
(2) How the experienced imbalance/illness is
thought to be brought about*
 Sorcery/black magic
 Sleep and dreams
 Ritually bad states and moral delinquency

9. Haudenosaunee medical beliefs:
disease causation (1)
How the experienced imbalance/illness is thought to be
brought about (previous).
 Violation of rules and regulations established by the
Creator or other supernaturals to govern mankind‟s
behaviour in relation to all other things and events in
the universe.
 Violation of above while spirit is in the spirit world (i.e.
while individual is sleeping).

10. Haudenosaunee medical beliefs:
disease causation (2)
Illness is the result of offensive,
abusive or improper behavioural
interactions.
 Illnesses in children, up to a
certain age, are introduced
by the offensive, improper, or
immoral behaviour of adult
kinsmen.
 Negative power responsible
for death resides in or near
the corpse for a period of
time after death.

11. Medical treatment
aka restoring spiritual balance
To restore balance, the sick individual or societal
member(s) must observe signs of imbalance.
 Symptoms are manifestations of the individual‟s
spirit force becoming imbalanced through such
actions as:
 Abusive, improper, offensive or immoral
behaviour (e.g. alcohol or drugs).
 Once symptoms appear, certain variables will
determine the action of the sick individual.

12. Symptom severity
Stages of symptom severity Restoring spiritual balance
(treatment)
“Mild”– symptoms are few in Self-treatment
number and do not require drastic No treatment – where occasional
alterations in everyday routine imbalances are seen as normal
• Low degree of discomfort in a and expected
relatively short period of time
“Serious”– number and intensity, Turn to others for help in restoring
and/or duration of symptoms spirit to a balanced state
experienced or observed • Friend
increases • Relative
• Professional or culturally
recognized individual
“Severe” – See “serious” treatment above
• Immobilization
• Great discomfort (e.g.
degenerative illness, imminent
death)

13. How and why folk medicines work
 Healing through restoring
spiritual balance (v. human
mastery).
 Involves faith in otherworldly
powers (v. reason and faith
in worldly powers).
 Faith is critical in reducing
anxiety and stress.
 Recovery from a wide
variety of aliments is at the
base of medicines success
(both folk and scientific).

14. Manifestations of folk illness
 Recall: folk conceptions of disease causation in
human beings often involve the notion that an
individual has somehow upset his/her inherent
spiritual balance.
 Once culturally instituted, an individual who
knowingly violated or offended a particular person,
place, thing or event would expect to have his/her
balanced spirit force upset in some way.
 Symptomatic manifestations would expect to
follow.
 Examples: hypertension, increased heart rate, increased
secretion of gastric juices and anorexia.

15. Factors contributing to the success of
folk medicine (1)
 Ceremonial techniques and procedures
reduce the degree of symptomatic discomfort
or remove symptoms all together.
 Therapeutic techniques (performed individually or
communally).
 Heightened by psychoactive drugs, rhythmic dancing,
singing or chanting and the monotony of beating
drums or rattles.

16. Factors contributing to the success of
folk medicine (2)
 Practical application of various plant and
animal drug materials.
 Work on a symptomatic basis.
 Counteract/intensify built in biological mechanisms of
defense, resistance, and recovery.
 Examples: coughing, diarrhea, vomiting, sleep and
sweating.

17. Factors contributing to the success of folk
medicine (3 & 4)
 Use of all drug materials is accompanied by the
placebo effect.
 Combines both factors (1) and (2).
 All medicines enhance the expectations and hopes of
the patient, reduce anxiety and stress, and ultimately
enable built in mechanisms of recovery and resistance
to function effectively.
 Other practical medical techniques.
 Include the placebo effect.
 Examples: surgical techniques, sweat baths and the
avoidance of certain foods.

18. How and why folk medicines work:
summary
 Treatment reduces anxiety, fear and stress.
 Discomfort (or symptoms) may be easily put to rest or
removed through individual or communal ceremonies
and therapeutic techniques.
 Drug materials work to counteract or intensify built in,
biological mechanisms of resistance and recovery.

19. How and why folk medicines work:
summary (continued)
 Both active and inactive
drug materials involve the
placebo effect in that they
relieve anxiety and stress.
 There are the additional
benefits of other “practical”
therapeutic techniques.
 There is a placebo effect
accompanying all
therapeutic techniques,
whether considered
practical or not.

20. Discussion question
What are some of the similarities and/or
differences between how (and why)
medicines work in folk and western culture?

21. Haudenosaunee
notions regarding causes of imbalances in
human beings
 Dichotomy separating „natural‟ and/or
„empirical‟ aspects of Haudenosaunee
medicine from the „supernatural‟ or „magical‟
Haudenosaunee is a result of Western influence
on the Haudenosaunee people.
 What Westerners often see as empirical or non-
magical causes of human imbalances, such as
those we would call accidents or „bad luck‟,
the Iroquois would not separate from the
spiritual realm or from power in the universe.

22. Factors leading to the false understanding that
Haudenosaunee medical practice traditionally separated
their medical practice into spiritual/magical and
empirical/pragmatic ways;
 Gradual adoption of European practice and
understanding of medicine, accompanied by Iroquois
herbalists and medical practitioners desiring European
scientific credibility.
 Iroquois fear of being ridiculed by outsiders for sharing
their traditional and spiritual notions of health and
medicine.
 Recent practice of avoiding all talk of traditional ways
with non-Native Americans.
 Cultural belief that medicine or ingredients of
medicines should not be shared with non-believers
because if one did share, the medicine and its
administrators would lose their power.
 Iroquois fear of losing social status by giving away
secret medical knowledge.

23.  Critical to native physiology is the belief that the blood is
the carrier of the life force of an individual.
 Vitality exists within the blood when in a state of equilibrium
and when the blood is disturbed = a state of disequilibrium.
 The traditional Iroquois would consider our „symptoms‟ to
be external manifestations of a disturbed state in the
inner vitality carried by an individual‟s blood.

24. How internal validity can be disturbed
1. Violating the ways set out by the
Creator for maintenance of a
balanced universe ( i.e. violation
of a taboo).
2. Denying oneself of either their
earthly or spiritual desires.
3. Interacting with anything
thought to radiate negativity
and evil (e.g. a corpse,
menstrual blood, powerful
charms.)
4. Offending someone who has the
power to manipulate spirit forces.

25. Riddle 1
I am often hidden in the
depths of your soul.
To reveal myself through your
dreams is my goal.
I may give you some pain if
you don‟t fulfill me.
So you may want to seek
help if you intend to feel
free.
Who am I?

26. Unfulfilled desires
 Dreams and dream
analysis
 Symptomatic
 Visitation
 Unfulfilled desires can
lead to imbalances and
mental derangement
 Possible treatment

27. Riddle 2
There are many things that possess a great deal
of power.
Some may appear sweet, others more sour.
Some examples include rats, racoons, and spiders
that bite.
Pregnant women, menstrual blood, and the
colour white.
May seem mysterious, but it‟s far from a lie.
Ladies and gentlemen, “Who am I?”

29. Riddle 3
The following paragraph will provide
you with a good foundation.
It‟s a quote by Synderman who
elaborates on his observation:
Listen intently and maybe you‟ll see,
That a pointed black hat is superficial
debris.
“It may be seen that the Seneca
regarded certain types of illnesses as
due to the failure of the individual‟s
power to protect him from _ _ _ _ _ _ _
who place material objects in his
body.”
What am I?

30. Witchcraft
 Witch  derived from the verb root -atko- meaning “to
possess evil power”
 Symptoms associated with witchcraft  “The Specific
Seventeen Symptoms”
 Capability of transformation
 “Love medicines”
 The category of “unfulfilled desires”

31. Offensive behavioural acts or taboo
violations
 Rules established by Creator
 Rules around menstruation
 No sexual relations
 No preparation of food
 Not to come in contact with
anyone
 Not to touch medicines1

32. Offensive behavioural acts or taboo
violations
 Mistakes in rituals
 Cheating or using unfair
magical tactics
 Neglecting False Face
 Improper acts of supplication
before hunting
 Not participating in medicine
society after having been
cured by it
 Not properly making up or
completing a previously
performed “hurry up”
ceremony1

33. Some Symptomatic characteristics in
conjunction with offensive behavioral act:
 Shortness of breath  Vomiting
 Stricture  Fever
 Swelling of the body  Swelling, stiffness of joints
 Suppressed menses  Insanity
 Facial eruptions  Totting of a limb
 Diarrhea  Bloody urine
 Sterility  Stomachache
 Piles, sore mouth  Pains in the sides
 Bad luck in hunting  Intensified soreness of
pregnancy1

34. Offensive behaviour
 Witchcraft
 Once
broken some
things can
not be set
right1

35. Borrowed Notions
 European beliefs have entered into the statements of the
causes of disease
 This includes the following diseases:
 Smallpox
 TB
 Chickenpox
 Measles
 Malaria
 Yellow fever
 Scarlet fever
 Typhoid1

36. Internal Manifestations of Imbalances
What makes us ill?
The agent or mechanism involved in upsetting our
bodies vital force must be examined:
 Taboo violation- the spirit of a major or minor deity
or the spirit force of the offended things or event
may be the agent causing sickness
 Spiritual imbalance- from unfulfilled desires when
the soul is strained as a result of going against the
will of the spirit world
 ?otkõ? things/events- imbalanced spiritual forces
from the presence of physical objects

37. Internal Manifestations of Imbalances
Witchcraft the spirit of the
victim can be affected in 3
ways, the witch may:
 Directly upset the spiritual
balance of another
 Have magically implanted
an object or the spirit of
an object into a person
 Transform him/herself into “The Evil Witch” by Earnest Smith Retrieved from:
http://www.iroquoismuseum.org/painting2.htm
an object or deemed
?otkõ? and directly
invade the victim to
cause spiritual imbalance

38. Internal Manifestations of Imbalances
Self Inflicted Examples Other-inflicted Examples
Taboo violation Taboo Violation
due to
Witchcraft
Unfulfilled desire Unfulfilled desire
Coming into Coming into
contact with contact with
things/events things/events
considered considered
?otkõ? ?otkõ?
Witchcraft Witchcraft

39. Etiological Categories and Symptoms
“As true of Haudenosaunee culture in general,
there do not exist precise categories of disease
causation for precise categories of symptoms”.
(pg. 46)
 There is much overlapping of etiological
categories and symptoms
 The relationships between the categories and
symptoms are dependent on the behavioural
history of the person experiencing the
imbalance

40. Etiological Categories and Symptoms
Symptom Etiological Category
External, well localized wound Witchcraft
?otkõ?
Behavioural or mental illness Witchcraft
Excessive drinking and craziness Witchcraft
Chronic illness (rheumatism, Unfulfilled desires
arthritis, respiratory disorders)
Psychosomatic or psychogenic Unfulfilled desires
illness Taboo violation
?otkõ?
Witchcraft
Lingering mild illness Taboo violation
Unfufilled desire

41. Haudenosaunee disease categories
 There are no precise disease names with specific sets of
symptoms in traditional Haudenosaunee medicine.
 For the traditional Haudenosaunee there are disease
phrases, instead of specific disease names.
 There are two very general kinds of sickness;
1. General sickness
2. The second/ fatal sickness from which there is no recovery

42. Further criteria for evaluating the symptoms
that an individual is experiencing
1. Their number and severity
2. Their duration of existence
3. Whether they are internal or external symptoms
4. Whether symptoms are localized or generalized
5. Whether they were experienced by a male or
female
6. Whether they were experienced by a child or an
adult
7. The climate or season in which the symptoms are
experienced
8. Location symptoms were on body

43.  The behavioral history of the
imbalanced or ill individual was
also evaluated.
 This past behavior of the
patient is important, because
an ill individual would be
thought to have taken part in
one of the 4 known acts that
would disturb internal vitality.
 The amount of importance
placed on the past behavior
of the individual is dependent
on;
1. The severity of the symptoms.
2. Length of time that the
symptoms stay with the
individual.

44. Just as disease diagnoses would change
over time, so would the treatment of
disease – Eg.
“If the Indian had exhausted his
knowledge of herbs and the patient did
not improve, it was felt that the disease
was beyond the pale of natural
maladies and must be due to some
supernatural cause. So a clairvoyant
would be sought, who, by careful
scrutiny of the patient’s past and
interpretation of his dreams, would
determine what spirit was causing the
evil and prescribe the appropriate
medical ceremony for the appeasement
of the deity.” (pg. 50)

45. Examples of Haudenosaunee disease
phrasing and causation
“If a pregnant woman feels sore inside, legs or elsewhere, it
is a sign that the baby is sick in the same place.” (pg. 54)
“If a child is obstinate it may be that it had a difficult
childbirth” (pg.52)
“When a person has had a sunstroke, he should not
run any chances of exposure at the same date on the next
of succeeding years. There is particular danger at such
times” (pg. 53)

46. The end!
Thank you for your
attention.
Final questions or
thoughts?

47. References
 (1) Herrick, J.W. (1995). Iroquois Medical Botany.
Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.