The Jungle Medicine Past and Future

The medicine man of the past.

       If you were exploring in the South American jungle and happened to come upon a man wandering alone dressed in a strange manner, muttering strange words, and going through strange actions, you could be quite sure that you had chanced upon an native medicine man.

       The first thing that would show that he is a medicine man would be the fact that he is alone in the jungle. No other tribesman ventured far into the bush by himself because he is afraid of getting lost in the dense forest, afraid of dangerous animals, and, most of all, afraid of his many enemies. But a medicine man would go out alone to perform some magic with no fear of enemies attacking him because, you see, everyone feared a medicine man.

       The next thing that would mark him as a medicine man would be his unusual costume. Perhaps he might be wearing a tapir skin, which no other tribesman wears, or maybe he would have a dyed turban on his head, unusual headgear for a jungle native. But whatever he was wearing, it would be striking, odd, and different from what his tribesmen wore. He would no doubt be carrying some strange objects‚ lizard or snake skins, a jaguar skin, claws of a condor, magic stones, a rattle, and a shell cup. His eccentric actions would also mark him as a medicine man. He was out in the bush because he was making a secret drug to cure some ill tribesman or because he was working some strange magic against a rival medicine man who had caused a tribesman to die. A medicine man was very important in his tribe. Often he would rank higher than the chief. He lived with his tribesmen and yet he is set apart from them by his different way of living. He had many powers.

       He was a magician, a ventriloquist, and an imitator of animal and bird sounds. He was also the poison-maker of the tribe. He knew the treasured secret of making the famous curare poison from a plant.

       The most important task of the medicine man, of course, was to cure the sick people of his tribe. He knew how to make from plants, roots, tree bark, tobacco juice, and moss many secret drugs, medicines, and ointments that he used in his work. The jungle tribes believe that all sickness, pain, and death were caused by an evil spirit. So it fell upon the medicine man by his magic to get rid of these evil spirits when a tribesman was sick. To do this required a lot of noise and commotion!

       If you could peek into the maloca during the curing ceremonies, you would see a strange scene that might frighten you. It would be very dark. The only light would come from some smoldering cooking fires. You would hear wild cries and shrieks and sounds of animals and birds that seem to be coming from every side. There would be beating noises from the ground, whishing noises from the air, and rattle noises. All this is caused by one man, the medicine man, who was trying to call in and talk with friendly spirits who will help him cure the sick person.

       Finally after all this physical effort the medicine man dropped to the floor in deep sleep. When he awakened, he felt that he knew the cure for the illness and he continued with his treatment. If he cured the sick one, he received presents. If he failed, he was not punished, for his excuse is that some other medicine man used stronger magic to work against the patient. But he would seek revenge on this other medicine man by performing some harmful magic against him.

       Does a medicine man actually cure illness? This is something that many people wonder about today. He did have a good knowledge of many herbs and plants, and he prepared medicines and used methods that cure. And his patients had great faith in the medicine man and in his cures. Herbal treatments and a positive attitude in life can bring about some extraordinary cures that have been witnessed by reliable people, but there are some illnesses that must be treated more aggressively with modern technology. Buchwald.

Read more about the jungle:

• The Jungle
• Jungle Animals
• People Who Live in The Jungle
• The Jungle "Maloca"
• The Jungle Hunt
• Jungle Farming and Foods  
• The Jungle Dance 
• Jungle Crafts

 Inside the rainforest's medicine cabinet today.