My contribution was to provide information concerning the various Indigenous American tribes that might have influenced the folklore and magic of Southern Appalachia. Included are basic essays about geology, geography, ecology, and history. I have archived my part of this effort here on my website but the true beauty will be found in her stories.

http://www.broomriders.ning.com

(Due to the extinction or near extinction of most Florida and Gulf Coast tribes I have drawn on Seminole medicine, impressive, to lend insight. The Seminole named many ailments for animals, elements, and so forth. A list of the ‘sicknesses’ are provided at the end of the appendix)

(The Green Corn Ceremony, also called Busk, includes a lot of Green Corn  Medicine referred to in this appendix. I highly recommend further reading on this ceremony, it being perhaps the most important among southeastern tribes. Links:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Corn_Ceremony.html      http://www.nativeamericansnetroots.net  https://media.wcu.edu/groups/par367/wiki/ebb42/

(Please note that Natives draw a distinction between shamans, practitioners, prophets, and medicine people, and witches. The term “witch” is used by them and subsequently in the context of this appendix as a reference to those who use supernatural abilities to bring harm to others)

Achillea millefolium*
1.    Iroquois: Panacea given to sick infants
Acorus calamus
1.    Iroquois: Used to detect bewitchment
Aesculus flava
1.    Cherokee: Used to make ceremonial masks
Aesculus pavia
1.    Cherokee: Nut carried in pocket for good luck
Ageratina altissima
1.    Cherokee: Panacea used for anything; decoction stems used as witchcraft medicine
2.    Iroquois: Panacea; decoction stems used as witchcraft medicine
Agrimonia gryposepala
1.    Iroquois: Infusion of roots and flowers as wash to insure baskets or other items sell
Alnus incana ssp. rugosa
1.    Iroquois: Decoction used to paint traps, or bows and arrows as a charm to get game
Amaranthus hybridus
1.    Cherokee: Ingredient in Green Corn Medicine
Amaranthus retroflexum
1.    Cherokee: Ingredient in Green Corn Medicine
2.    Iroquois: Decoction and doll used to make a person extremely ill
Amaranthus spinosus
1.    Cherokee: Ingredient in Green Corn Medicine
Ambrosia artemisiifolia
1.    Cherokee: Ingredient in Green Corn Medicine
Ambrosia trifida
1.    Ingredient in Green Corn Medicine
Amelanchier canadensis
1.    Iroquois: Bloom used as an indicator when to plant corn
Anaphallis margaritacea
1.    Cherokee: Leaves chewed as substitute for chewing tobacco
Andropogon virginicus
1.    Cherokee: Ingredient in Green Corn Medicine
Anemone canadensis
1.    Iroquois:  Infusion plant and alcohol used to counteract witchcraft
Anemone virginiana
1.    Iroquois: Decoction roots taken as an emetic and used as wash to cure love sickness; infusion stems and roots used as love medicine for either sex; infusion smashed roots taken as an emetic to remove bewitchment; roots placed under pillow to dream the truth about wife’s dishonesty; root used as revenge against someone who played a cruel trick
Angelica atropurpurea
1.    Delaware: Smoke plant
2.     Iroquois: Plant used to punish evil person; infusion root used as wash to remove ghosts from house
Aquilegia canadensis
1.    Iroquois: Plant used to detect bewitchment
Arctium lappa*
1.    Iroquois: Plant or root used in numerous ways for sorcery and to produce illness in others
Arctium minus*
1.    Iroquois: Plant or root used in numerous ways for sorcery and to produce illness in others
Artemisia frigida
1.    Delaware: Leaves chewed as ceremonial medicine
Asarum canadense
1.    Cherokee: Dried leaves pounded and used as snuff
2.    2. Iroquois: Plant used to detect or protect people from witchcraft; infusion taken for protection before visiting the sick
Asclepias incarnata
1.    Iroquois: Decoction plant used to increase one’s strength to be able to physically punish a witch
Aster novae-angliae
1.    Iroquois: Plant used as Love Medicine
Caltha palustris
1.    Iroquois: Infusion root used as emetic to vomit out love charm
Calycanthus floridus
1.    Cherokee: Used for fragrance
Cardamine concatenata
1.    Iroquois: Plant used to mesmerize; rubbed on fishing and hunting gear as hunting medicine; as love medicine roots or plants carried or placed in mouth to attract women; ritual infusion taken or placed on injured part as Little Water Medicine; panacea; plant used for divination
Cardamine diphylla
1.    Iroquois: Infusion root taken when love medicine is too strong
2.    Cherokee: Leaves smoked
Cardamine douglassii
1.    Iroquois: Infusion root used to divine the perpetrator of witchcraft
Chelone glabra
1.    Iroquois:  Infusion root taken as anti-witchcraft medicine
Chenopodium ambrosioides
1.    Creek: Panacea for a great many ailments
Chrysobalanus icaco
1.    Seminole: Decoction of wood ashes placed on tongue to cleanse body and strengthen a marriage
Chrysophyllum oliviforme
1.    Seminole: Decoction of wood ashes placed on tongue to cleanse body and strengthen a marriage
Cirsium vulgare*
1.    Delaware: Infusion plant used as herbal steam for rheumatism
Cissus verticillata
1.    Seminole: Plant used at the Busk Ceremonies
Clematis virginiana
1.    Cherokee: Ingredient in Green Corn Medicine
2.    Iroquois: Decoction stems used as wash to induce strange dreams
Clintonia umbellulata
1.    Iroquois: basket medicine
Cocos nucifera
1.    Seminole: Plant used to make ceremonial rattles
Collinsonia canadensis
1.    Iroquois: Panacea
Conyza canadensis
1.    Seminole: Plant rubbed on the body by doctor to rid someone of his wife
Corallorrhiza maculata
1.    Iroquois: basket medicine; hunting medicine; love medicine; infusion root anti-witchcraft medicine
Cornus sericea
1.    Iroquois: Panacea; compound plant and dried snake blood used as witching medicine
Crataegus punctata
1.    Iroquois: Decoction taken to prevent dire illness caused by witchcraft
Crataegus spathulata
1.    Cherokee: Infusion of bark taken or used as a wash to protect ball players from being tackled
Crataegus submollis
1.    Iroquois: Decoction and doll used make another extremely sick
Crotalaria sagittalis
1.    Delaware: Used as a powerful narcotic
Cucurbita pepo
1.    Cherokee: Ingredient in Green Corn Medicine
Cynoglossum virginianum
1.    Cherokee: Ingredient in Green Corn Medicine
Desmondium glutinosum
1.    Iroquois: basket medicine
Dirca palustris
1.    Iroquois: Decoction stems used as an aphrodisiac
Elymus canadensis
1.    Iroquois: Decoction plant with other plants as medicine to soak corn seeds before planting; decoction roots used as a soak for corn medicine
Elymus hystrix
1.    Iroquois: Decoction leaves with reed grass roots used to soak corn seed before planting
Epilobium angustifolium
1.    Iroquois: basket medicine; panacea; decoction and doll used for black magic
Eryngium yuccifolium
1.    Creek: Infusion of root to create access to good health
2.    Seminole: Plant believed to cure anything
Erythronium americanum
1.    Cherokee: Root chewed and spit into river to make fish bite
Euonymus obovata
1.    Iroquois: Infusion plant taken by person who has been bewitched
Eupatorium maculatum
1.    Iroquois: Decoction roots used as wash for anti-love medicine
Eupatorium perfoliatum
1.    Iroquois: Plant used for sorcery; used for divination
Fagopyrum esculentum
1.    Iroquois: Decoction taken by mother who is committing adultery and making her baby sick
Fragaria virginiana
1.    Iroquois:  Fruit used as symbol of Creator’s beneficence in Strawberry Thanksgiving ritual
Galeopus tetrahit
1.    Iroquois: Infusion root taken as emetic to cure bewitchment
Galium triflorum
1.    Iroquois: basket medicine; plant placed in woman’s bed as love medicine
Gaultheria procumbens
1.    Cherokee: Leaves chewed as substitute for chewing tobacco
Gaylussacia baccata
1.    Iroquois: Berries used ritually by those desiring health and prosperity for the coming season
Gentiana andrewsii
1.    Iroquois: Dried root hung in house to protect against malevolent charms; dried root to cure the spirit of jealousy
Geranium maculatum
1.    Iroquois: Root placed in victim’s tea to counteract love medicine
Geum aleppicum
1.    Iroquois:  Compound decoction of roots taken to vomit out love medicine
Geum canadense
1.    Iroquois: Decoction plant used as love medicine; panacea
Gleditsia triacanthos
1.    Cherokee: Infusion of bark taken or used as wash for ball players to protect them against being tackled
2.    Creek: Pod considered a panacea and good antidote for children
Gnaphalium obtusifolium
1.    Creek: Plant used as wash for person afflicted by ghosts
Hackelia virginiana
1.    Cherokee: Love charm
Hamamelis virginiana
1.    Iroquois: Decoction root panacea
Hepatica nobilis
1.    Iroquois: Chewed by women to bewitch men and make them crazy by affecting their hearts
Ilex vomitoria
1.    Cherokee: Used to evoke ecstasies
Impatiens capensis
1.    Cherokee: Ingredient in Green Corn Medicine
Impatiens pallida
1.    Cherokee: Ingredient in Green Corn Medicine
Inula helenium*
1.    Iroquois: Plant a panacea
Ipomoea pandurata
1.    Iroquois: Used as Little Water Medicine; plant has magical potency
Juglans nigra
1.    Iroquois:  Infusion bark used as medicine for rain
Juniperus virginiana
1.    Delaware: Infusion twigs used as herbal steam for rheumatism
2.    Seminole: Emetic for rainbow sickness, thunder sickness, scalping sickness, mist sickness, smudge for eagle sickness, smudge for fawn sickness, ghost sickness, hog sickness; used as a ritual emetic; used as a baby charm to prevent nightmares about opossums and raccoons;  leaves used to make a witchcraft medicine; leaves kept with eagle tail plumes to prevent the feathers from causing illness
Kalmia latifolia
1.    Cherokee: Panacea leaf salve used for healing
Lactuca canadensis
1.    Cherokee: Ingredient in Green Corn Medicine
Lagenaria siceraria
1.    Cherokee: Ceremonial rattles
2.    Iroquois:  Made into rattles used by Medicine Societies
Laportea canadensis
1.    Iroquois:  Decoction taken when “your woman goes off and won’t come back”
Lilium philadelphicum
1.    Iroquois: Dry plants in sun, if they twist together wife has been unfaithful; decoction of roots taken by wife as an emetic and used as a wash if husband has been unfaithful
Linaria vulgaris*
1.    Iroquois: Taken as an anti-love medicine emetic; infusion plants taken to vomit out bewitchment; used as an inhalant in sweat lodge
Lindera benzoin
1.    Creek: Branches used as herbal steam to cause sweating for pain
2.    Iroquois: Decoction root a panacea
Lobelia cardinalis
1.    Iroquois: basket medicine; decoction roots and plants used as wash for love medicine; a panacea used for any ailment; decoction plant taken for sickness caused by grieving; infusion root taken or poultice applied to trouble caused by witchcraft; panacea
Lobelia inflate
1.    Iroquois: Infusion plant taken as either love or anti-love medicine; decoction taken to counteract sickness caused by witchcraft
Lobelia kalmia
1.    Iroquois: Infusion taken as emetic to remove effect of love medicine
Lobelia siphilitica
1.    Iroquois: Infusion plant taken to counteract bewitchment
Lobelia spicata
1.    Iroquois: Infusion plant taken as an emetic for lovelorn
Lonicera dioica
1.    Iroquois: Decoction vines taken as an emetic to counter love medicine
Lophophora williamsii
1.    Delaware: Placed in small beaded bags and worn around neck to protect against illness
Lycopus virginicus
1.    Cherokee: Infusion taken at Green Corn Ceremony
Lythrum salicaria
1.    Iroquois:  Decoction plant taken for fever and sickness caused by the dead
Maianthemum racemosum
1.    Iroquois:  Compound used for witching
Malus species
1.    Creek: Strong decoction taken, used as wash, and herbal steam for rabies
Malva neglecta
1.    Iroquois: An emetic used for love medicine
Medeola virginiana
1.    Iroquois: Panacea or Little Water Medicine; root chewed and spit on hook to make fish bite (fishing medicine)
Melilotus officinalis*
1.    Iroquois:  Flowers used in bouquets to perfume house
Mentha X piperita*
1.    Iroquois: Little Water Medicine; infusion plant to repel witchcraft
Mitchella repens
1.    Delaware: Herbal steam for rheumatism; infusion roots and twigs as herbal steam for swollen muscles and stiff joints
2.    Iroquois: Compound plant used as love medicine
Mitella diphylla
1.    Iroquois: Seed used as sacred bead and swallowed in reinstatement ritual; whole plant used as body and weapon wash to counter bad luck
Monarda species
1.    Creek: Decoction taken and used as wash to protect from ghosts
Myrica cerifera
1.    Seminole: Decoction of wood ashes placed on tongue to cleanse the body and strengthen a marriage; smoke plant
Nicotiana rustica
1.    Cherokee: Smoke plant used extensively in ritual
2.     Iroquois: Leaves used for ritual purposes
Nicotiana tabacum
1.    Cherokee: Smoke plant used extensively in ritual
2.     Iroquois: Leaves smoked in ritual
Nuphar lutea
1.    Iroquois: Infusion root used as ghost medicine; root hung in house to keep witches away
Onopordium acanthium
1.    Iroquois: Emetic to counter witchcraft; decoction used for witchcraft poison
Osmunda cinnamomea
1.    Iroquois: Decoction taken for malaise
Osmorhiza
1.    Iroquois: Infusion roots used as a soak for hunting tools (hunting medicine); root chewed and spit on bait as fishing medicine; roots chewed as anti-love medicine
Oxalis stricta
1.    Iroquois: Decoction used as anti-witch medicine
Panax quinquefolius
1.    Creek: Plant used to keep ghosts away, and used in ceremonies
2.     Delaware: Panacea to cure anything
3.    Seminole: Plant rubbed on body and clothes to get back a divorced wife; plant with other plants used as a baby charm to protect against nightmares about raccoons or opossums; plant used as witchcraft medicine
4.     Iroquois: Decoction root taken or dried root smoked as a panacea
Pentstemon fruitcosus
1.    Iroquois: Decoction plant an emetic to cure love sickness
Persea borbonia
1.    Seminole: Leaf used as an emetic to purify after funerals, during apprenticeships, and after death of a patient; infusion of leaves added to food after a recent death; plant used to treat sun sickness, rainbow sickness, thunder sickness, mist sickness, bear sickness, wolf sickness, leaves used for baby and adult sickness caused by adultery; dead people’s sickness, raccoon sickness, otter sickness, bird sickness, buzzard sickness, deer sickness, fire sickness, ghost sickness, opossum sickness, scalping sickness, cat sickness, hog sickness, turkey sickness; taken by doctor as an emetic to strengthen his magic and to prevent his next patient from getting worse; plant used as emetic during rituals; leaves sung over to get the love of a particular girl; baby charm to prevent nightmares about opossums and raccoons; panacea believed to cure anything; leaves used in funeral ceremonies; leaves carried by burial party and placed on top of casket; leaves burned to keep the soul of the recently deceased from returning home
Phaseolus coccineus
1.    Iroquois: Seeds used extensively in planting and harvest thanksgiving rituals
Phaseolus lunatus
1.    Iroquois: Seeds used extensively in planting and harvest thanksgiving rituals
Phaseolus vulgaris
1.    Iroquois: Seeds used extensively in planting and harvest thanksgiving rituals
Phoradendrum leucarpum
1.    Cherokee: Emetic for love sickness
2.    Seminole:  Leaves steamed for deer sickness; emetic used during rituals
Phragmites australis
1.    Iroquois: Decoction roots and bottle brush grass used to make corn seed soak before planting
Phytolacca americana
1.    Delaware: Herbal steam used for rheumatism
2.    Iroquois: Tied in a poplar tree, then placed among its roots, as love medicine; plant used for bewitchment
Picea species
1.    Iroquois: Leaves smoked in ritual
Piloblephis rigida
1.    Seminole: infusion of leaves added to food after a recent death
Pinus elliottii
1.    Seminole:  Used to treat ballgame sickness; used to make seats in Longhouse; used for religious scarification
Pinus glabra
1.    Cherokee: Needles and resin used for smudge and fragrance
Pinus strobus
1.    Iroquois: Leaves burned spring and fall as smudge to fill house with smoke and prevent all sickness and to drive ghosts away from house; smoke used to wash someone who has seen a ghost
Pinus virginiana
1.    Cherokee: Needles and resin used for smudge and fragrance; needles brewed to give ball players good wind
Platanthera grandiflora
1.    Iroquois: Decoction dried roots taken to frighten away ghosts
Platanthera psycodes
1.    Iroquois: Infusion taken or placed on injured part as a panacea
Polygonum arenastrum
1.    Iroquois: Powdered dry root place in someone’s tea as love medicine
Podophyllum peltatum
1.    Iroquois:  Decoction leaves with other plants used as medicine to soak corn seeds before planting
2.    Delaware: Plant used as a love charm
Populus alba
1.    Iroquois: Decoction branches as wash for anti-love medicine
Populus deltoides
1.    Choctaw: Stems, bark, and leaves used as herbal steam for snakebite
2.    Delaware: Bark combined with black haw and wild plum barks and used by women for weakness and debility
Potamogeton
1.    Iroquois: Poultice for men’s soreness caused by bewitchment
Potentilla canadensis
1.    Natchez: Plant given to person who has been bewitched
Prenanthes trifoliata
1.    Iroquois: Infusion root as wash for deer hunting medicine; root chewed and rubbed on hands and face as love medicine
Prunella vulgaris*
1.    Iroquois: Infusion plant taken as panacea
Pteridium aquilinum
1.    Iroquois:  Ingredients placed in coffin with a root shaped into a person and the person dies in ten days
Quercus alba
1.    Delaware: Panacea used to cure anything
2.    Iroquois: Decoction used “when your woman goes off and won’t come back”
Quercus bicolor
1.    Iroquois: Takes away loneliness when wife is running around
Quercus laurifolia
1.    Choctaw: Boiled for paint
Quercus phellos
1.    Seminole: Decoction bark for ballgame sickness; decoction wood ashes placed on tongue to cleanse body and strengthen a marriage
Quercus texana
1.    Choctaw: Boiled for paint
Quercus virginiana
1.    Choctaw: Boiled for paint
2.    2. Seminole: Used for ballgame sickness; decoction wood ashes placed on tongue to purify body and strengthen a marriage
Quercus stellata
1.    Choctaw: Boiled for paint
Rhododendron maximum
1.    Cherokee: Clumps of leaves thrown into fire around which is danced to bring cold weather
Rhus copallinum
1.    Delaware: Leaves and root used in ceremonial tobacco mix
Rosa acicularis
1.    Iroquois: Decoction plant and doll for black magic
Rubus allgheniensis
1.    Iroquois: Infusion root makes dogs good hunters and protects them against theft
Rubus occidentalis
1.    Iroquois: Decoction taken by hunter and his wife to prevent his wife from committing adultery while he is gone hunting
Rubus odoratus
1.    Iroquois: Leaves placed inside shoes of forest runners for protection
Rumex crispus*
1.    Iroquois: Wash for hands, face, and clothes for love medicine; panacea to cure anything
Salix caroliniana
1.    Seminole: Ceremonial emetic; purification emetic after funerals, during apprenticeships, and after death of a patient; used to strengthen practitioners; emetic for rainbow sickness, thunder sickness, mist sickness, fire sickness, taken by men who have menstruation sickness, lightning sickness, lion sickness; used to vomit out object witch shot into body; infusion root to increase hunting luck; bark used as medicine to prevent adultery; plant made into medicine and used to prevent new mother’s condition from contaminating the camp
Salix humilis
1.    Seminole: Plant taken for sun sickness; infusion taken to increase hunting luck
Sambucus canadensis
1.    Seminole: Bark a purification emetic after funerals, during apprenticeships, and after death of a patient
2.    Iroquois:  decoction flowers and other plants used as medicine to soak corn seed before planting
Sanguinaria canadensis
1.    Delaware: Pea size piece of root taken for 30 days for debility; root used to make red face paint for Longhouse Ceremony; panacea to cure anything
2.     Iroquois: Decoction root a panacea; smoke from plant used as a wash for a person who has seen a dead person; dye plant
Sarracenia purpurea
1.    Iroquois: basket medicine; powdered plant sprinkled on person for love medicine; sprinkled on person for lacrosse medicine
Sassafras albidum
1.    Cherokee: used as fragrance; infusion bark for overweight
2.    Seminole: Used to treat wolf sickness, cow sickness, raccoon sickness, otter sickness, opossum sickness, ghost sickness, horse sickness, cat sickness, wolf ghost sickness, monkey sickness; emetic for purification after funerals, during apprenticeships, after death of a patient
Saxifraga pensylvanica
1.    Iroquois: Ingredient in Little Water Medicine ritual, taken or placed on an injury
Sedum telephium
1.    Iroquois: Poultice stalks and leaves applied to injuries that are a result of being witched
Serenoa repens
1.    Seminole: Plant used to make dance fans and rattles
Sideroxylon foetidissimum
1.    Seminole: Decoction wood ashes placed on tongue to cleanse body and strengthen a marriage
Silphium perfoliatum
1.    Iroquois: Burned root soot placed on cheek to prevent sickness caused by the dead
Smilax tamnoides
1.    Iroquois: Plant used to make doll to be used to kill a woman who is exploiting you
Solidago canadensis
1.    Iroquois:  Infusion root to stop love medicine; plant used as gambling medicine
Sparganium eurycarpum
1.    Iroquois: Plant used as poultice for men’s soreness caused by witchcraft
Spirea species
1.    Iroquois: Infusion bark from young twigs taken as antidote for love medicine
Symplocarpus foetidus
1.    Iroquois:  Poultice used on a bite from a fight or a dog and has caused biter’s teeth to fall out
Tanacetum vulgare*
1.    Iroquois: Poultice a panacea for anything
Taraxacum officinale*
1.    Iroquois: Decoction root as wash for love medicine; decoction root as wash for anti-witch medicine
Taxodium ascendens
1.    Seminole: Plant used to make hunting dance posts; plant used for burial purposes and made into coffin logs
Tilia americana
1.    Iroquois: Infusion twigs and roots taken as a panacea
Trillium species
1.    Iroquois: Compound used to detect bewitchment
Triosteum perfoliatum
1.    Iroquois:  Decoction roots taken or poultice applied to stomach trouble caused by witchcraft
Tsuga canadensis
1.    Delaware: Herbal steam for rheumatism
Ulmus rubra
1.    Creek: Decoction of bark with gunpowder taken to enhance sympathetic magic
Urtica dioica*
1.    Iroquois: Compound plant and dried snake blood used as witching medicine
Vaccinium angustifolium
1.    Iroquois: Berries used ritually by those desiring health and prosperity in the coming season
Vaccinium myrsinites
1.    Seminole: Used to treat hog sickness; added to food after recent death
Verbena hastata
1.    Iroquois: Infusion leaves used to make obnoxious person leave
Veratrum viride
1.    Cherokee: Panacea rubbed into deliberately made scratches on legs for leg ailments
Verbesina virginica
1.    Seminole: Plant used to treat bear sickness, fire sickness, mist sickness; purification emetic after funerals, during apprenticeships, and after death of patient
Veronica officinalis
1.    Iroquois: Decoction plant taken to neutralize witchcraft and spoil hunting
Veronicastrum virginicum
1.    Iroquois: Infusion root taken as panacea; infusion root taken as witch medicine
Viburnum acerifolium
1.    Iroquois:  Infusion bark taken and applied as poultice for pain caused by witchcraft
Viburnum lantanoides
1.    Iroquois: Plant used as love medicine
Vicia americana
1.    Iroquois: Infusion root used by women as love medicine
Vicia sativa*
1.    Iroquois: Infusion plant used as love medicine
Viola sagittata
1.    Iroquois: Compound used to detect bewitchment
Viola species
1.    Iroquois: Decoction roots taken as a panacea
Viola striata
1.    Iroquois: Plant used to make girl sick and crazy by her rejected suitor after he has been refused by her parents
Vitis aestivalis
1.    Seminole: Used as ritual emetic
Vitis munsoniana
1.    Seminole: Added to food after recent death; emetic used in ritual
Vitis rupestris
1.    Delaware: Vine mixed with other plants and used as tonic for frail women
Xanthium strumarium
1.    Iroquois: Plant ingredient in witching medicine
Yucca filamentosa
1.    Cherokee: Used in Green Corn Ceremony
Zea mays
1.    Delaware: Used in ritual feast of Longhouse Ceremony
2.    Iroquois: Husk made into elaborate ritual masks
3.    Seminole: Plant used for religious scarification; plant used at Busk Ceremonies

SEMINOLE SICKNESSES  AND THEIR SYMPTOMS
Buzzard: vomiting
Deer: numb, painful limbs and joints
Fire: fever and body aches
Dance Fire: fever
Opossum: appetite loss and drooling
Cat: nausea
Ballgame: sores, back or limb pain, hemorrhoids
Menstruation: stomachache, headache, and body soreness; lassitude, laziness and weakness; yellow eyes and skin, weakness and shaking head
Lightning: (I couldn’t find the actual symptoms)
Lion: panting, staring, and tongue hanging out
Cow: lower chest pain, digestive disturbances, and diarrhea
Horse: nausea, constipation, and blocked urination
Wolf Ghost: diarrhea, painful defecation
Monkey: fever, itch, and enlarged eyes
Turkey: dizziness and craziness
Dog: appetite loss and drooling
Rainbow: fever, stiff neck, and backache
Thunder: fever, dizziness, headache, and diarrhea
Scalping: severe headache, backache, and low fever
Mist: eye disease, fever, and chills
Eagle: stiff neck or back
Fawn: swollen legs and face
Ghost: dizziness and staggering; grief, cough, appetite loss, and vomiting
Hog: unconsciousness
Sun: eye disease, headache, high fever, and diarrhea
Bear: fever, headache, thirst, constipation, and blocked urination
Wolf: vomiting, stomach pain, diarrhea, and frequent urination
Dead People: (I couldn’t find the actual symptoms)
Baby Sickness from Adultery: appetite loss, fever, headache, and diarrhea
Adult Sickness from Adultery: headache, body pain, and crossed fingers
Raccoon: infant diarrhea
Otter: diarrhea and vomiting
Bird: appetite loss, diarrhea, and vomiting

Reference for Plant Appendix: Native American Ethnobotany by Daniel Moerman, published by Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, 1998

In my years and years of study what I have found most intriguing is the Native willingness to examine new resources. Europeans introduced numerous foods to the American continents such as carrots, lettuce, kale, spinach, parsnip, turnip, pea, apricot, nectarine, peach, apple, cherry, lemon, orange, and quince. Europeans brought grains such as wheat, rye, oat, and millet. Introduced herbs include parsley, mint, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, dill, dandelion, plantain, and nettle to name a few. Europeans brought produce from every corner of the world: rice, bananas, and tea from Asia, coffee and yams from Africa, sugar from New Guinea, peanuts and cocoa from South America. It didn’t take long before Indigenous Americans found uses for some of these plants and incorporated them into their medicine. I found several European introductions in the limited Iroquois list of ceremonial and witchcraft plants included in the Appendix. Both the Iroquois and the Cherokee pharmacologies are impressive so of course only a few plants will be catalogued in the Appendix by comparison. As a means of understanding the pharmacology of the extinct Florida tribes I have drawn on the Seminole pharmacology for insight. It is huge as well and the entries are limited to ritual and witchcraft uses.

I am going to end this brief introduction with a wonderful quote from Daniel Moerman, the ethnobotanist that compiled Native American Ethnobotany. It is the single most valuable book in my world and has provided all the plant information included in the Appendix that follows.

“But our deepest debt is to those predecessors of ours on the North American continent who, through glacial cold in a world populated by mammoths and saber-toothed tigers, seriously, deliberately, and thoughtfully studied the flora of a new world, learned its secrets, and encouraged the next generations to study closer and to learn more. Their diligence and energy, their insight and creativity, these are the marks of true scientists, dedicated to gaining meaningful and useful knowledge from a complex and confusing world. That I cannot list them individually by name in no way diminishes my sense of obligation to them.”

Thank you, Daniel Moerman, for your extraordinary work.

What distinguishes the Iroquois from the 1200 or so Algonquian tribes of the northeast is language. Iroquoian is a linguistic island within the vast Algonquian area. It includes the familiar tribes of Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Mohawk, and Oneida that formed the Iroquois League (The League of Peace and Power) by the sixteenth century if not earlier. In 1722 the Tuscarora were driven north by the English and were reunited with Iroquois. The confederacy became known as the Six Nations.

The Cherokee, driven into the southeast by the Iroquois and Delaware in 1634 are a detached Iroquoian tribe. I don’t know why this occurred knowing that the Delaware were part of the huge Algonquian world and the Iroquois with their league and relatives of the Cherokee were a world unto itself. Unlike the Tuscarora, the Cherokee remained unaffiliated with the Iroquois League. In fact, as allies to the English colonists, willing to do their bidding, the Cherokee slaughtered the Tuscarora, their relatives, and drove those that survived back into the Iroquois fold. But even with all of this confusion and mayhem I found that to grasp the influence of the Cherokee might have had on Appalachian folk culture I had to look to the Iroquois. Unlike the fragmented Cherokee culture, Iroquois customs remain reasonably well documented and bear a remarkable resemblance to what remains of the Cherokee.

Let’s first look at the Iroquois League itself. It is embodied in a Great Council of fifty hereditary sachems, the ceremonial and cultural medicine men. The territory controlled by the Iroquois was considered a vast tribal longhouse. The Mohawk were the keepers of the east door, the Seneca the keepers of the west door. The Onondaga, situated at the heart of Iroquois territory were the keepers of the League’s central fire.

The Iroquois Confederacy, distinguished from the League, was a decentralized entity that dealt politically and diplomatically with European colonization. The Iroquois were allies to the English during the American Revolution. The Confederacy dissolved after the British were defeated. The League continues to exist into today. It should be noted that the Iroquois destroyed many of its own lesser tribes, such as the Erie in 1654, over competition for the fur trade. This could have been the reason the Cherokee were driven into the southeast.

The Iroquois were not limited to the New York region as is often supposed. In the early 1700’s they enjoyed a long reach into Virginia. The Blue Ridge was considered the buffer between the English colony and the Iroquois by treaty. The Iroquois were forbidden to move east of the Blue Ridge demarcation but by the 1730’s settlers pushed west beyond the Blue Ridge into the Iroquoian Shenandoah Valley. By 1734, on the verge of war, the Virginia Colony paid the Iroquois 100 pounds sterling for the settled land in the Shenandoah Valley. In 1744 the Iroquois sold the last of their remaining Virginia land to the English for 200 pounds in gold. It is important to be aware of these things because Iroquois culture had been an influence in the southern Appalachian region for about a century and a half.
One of the most intriguing Iroquoian customs concerned their view of reincarnation. Unlike the other tribes we have visited who used names as a means of keeping departed tribal members within the tribe’s mainstream, the Iroquois believed they could only replace lost members with captives, some of which were Europeans. The dead were replaced with “Mourning Wars”, a time when the Iroquois would exploit memories of old feuds and disagreements, sweep into other villages, and take prisoners. Captives were adopted directly by grieving families, keeping the Iroquois population high as well as dispersing and assimilating their enemies. Mourning Wars replaced tribal members lost due to other wars, famine, and epidemics. During the Beaver Wars (1609 – 1701) the Iroquois League was largely composed of assimilated members of other tribes. By 1668 it is thought that 2/3’s of the Oneida village was made up of Huron and other Algonquian tribal members. Seven different nations were represented at Onondaga, and eleven within the Seneca. All members, regardless of tribe or race, were adopted, educated as Iroquois, and fully assimilated as tribal members.

The clan system as it stands today varies in each of the six nations from three clans to eight in a variety of combinations. In general the clans include: Wolf, Bear, Turtle, Sandpiper, Deer, Beaver, Heron, Hawk, and Eel.

The Iroquois believe that the spirits change the seasons and key ceremonies occur in relationship to agricultural events during the course of the year. And within each of these ceremonies, numerous and specific rituals take place. The Midwinter Ceremony is a good example of this.

Nine rituals take place in the Midwinter Ceremony over the course of nine days in January or February. The date is determined by the new moon’s proximity to the Big and Little Dippers and commences five days after this astronomical event.

The Big Heads and the Stirring of the Ashes is the first ritual. Individuals dressed in elaborate corn husk masks and buffalo hides, symbolizing both the harvest and the hunt, go from house to house stirring the hearth ashes with corn mashing mallets. While the ashes are being stirred prayers of gratitude are offered followed by prayers for the renewal and fertility of the Earth. The ashes represent the Earth and the journey of all life that progresses from and returns to Her.

The Stirring of the Ashes is followed by the Tobacco Invocation where tobacco is placed on the remaining coals to smolder. This too is considered an act of gratitude and it is believed that prayers are carried in the smoke.

The Dream Sharing Ritual is a particularly interesting event where everyone shares their dreams with the tribe and people offer suggestions about the dreams’ meanings. Dreaming, both asleep and lucid, is an art cultivated by many groups, is believed to provide all of the knowledge needed by an individual and his or her tribe. During the Dream Sharing Ritual dreams are often reenacted to help determine the meanings. This practice is a stark contrast to the Western world’s dismissal of this art wrapped in expressions such as, “It’s just a dream”, or the western notion that dreams should be kept a secret. Often during the Dream Sharing Ritual people volunteer to help the dreamers fulfill what is given in their dreams. It is considered both an honor and a great responsibility.

The False Face Society, a society of medicine men, exists to cure the village and all its members of illness and misfortune. They wear masks carved from living trees and clothes made from buffalo hide, representing as mentioned before, both the harvest and the hunt. The medicine men move from house to house invoking benevolent spirits with tobacco smoke, and together they drive away the malevolent spirits that cause disease, illness, and trouble in general, often made evident on the Dream Sharing Ritual. While this is taking place medicine songs are sung, and turtle rattles are shaken while being rubbed on the floors and walls. Tobacco ashes are blown onto the patient. This is followed by a Longhouse Ceremony.

All of the masks are assembled in the Longhouse, given pouches of tobacco, and ritually fed with white corn mush in payment for services rendered. The ritual continues with dancing followed by corn meal mush shared by everyone. I have read that the False Face Society performs this ritual twice a year, once during the Midwinter Ceremony.

Much of the Midwinter Ceremony is about cleansing and doctoring and the Bear Dance provides an element to this. Men and women dance counterclockwise moving as bears move, invoking the spirit of the bear. Bears act as transcendental liaisons between Earth’s creatures and the Creator.

The Bear Dance is followed by the Peach Stone Game, symbolizing the game played by the Creator and his evil brother during Creation. It is a rather complicated game that is divinatory by nature and determines the success or failure of the season’s harvest.

At this point in the Midwinter Ceremony a white dog was once sacrificed as a means to purify the entire community. The dog was strangled to insure its body was not flawed, and then decorated with plumes, red paint, beads made from shells and precious things, as well as ribbons. The dog was ritually burned with tobacco. Today, a white basket has replaced the dog.

The Sacrifice of the White Dog is followed by the Great Feather Dancer. Dancers dressed in full regalia move to the rhythm of songs accompanied by turtle shell rattles. It is a dance of thanksgiving for the blessings bestowed during the preceding year.

The final day includes an overview of the Midwinter Ceremony’s accomplishments and celebration. The council that will preside over the new year is chosen and introduced to tribal members. Everyone has been doctored, unburdened, and sanctified to proceed into the new year. The Midwinter Ceremony has concluded.

I have read various descriptions of the Midwinter Ceremony. Some are performed over six days rather than nine, set when the Pleiades is directly overhead at dusk. Each tribe of the Iroquois League has its own version so it’s likely if you do more reading on the subject you’ll discover many variations.

Other annual rituals that take place include:
1.    The Green Corn Ceremony
2.    The Maple Ceremony
3.    The Green Corn Ceremony (a second one)
4.    The Planting Ceremony
5.    The Strawberry Ceremony
6.    The Green Bean Ceremony

Some of these are described in the Cherokee essay and all are complex, much like the Midwinter Ceremony. Notice that all of these ceremonies are about the sacredness of food. The western world persists in thinking that the only plants regarded as sacred are mind altering psycho-tropics; the world ties these plants to indigenous cultural shamanism. Nothing could be further from the truth.  The most sacred plants in the indigenous paradigm are the plants that provide food. The most elaborate rituals are about gathering, planting, cultivating, harvesting, and preparing food for winter. Food plants are regarded as powerful spirits capable of sustaining or destroying an entire people. Many are used as medicinal panaceas, believed capable of curing anything. So please, when speaking about sacred plants, begin with the sacredness of food.

In thinking about the white dog it should be mentioned that animal sacrifice remains somewhat common among quite a few tribes. Eagles are killed by medicine people for their plumes, talons, wings, bones, and other parts. Many other birds, especially raptors but not always, are ritually killed as well. Deer are hunted and smothered for ceremonies. Sheep are killed and hung from to tops of poles climbed by Koshare.

Lastly, I thought I would mention that tobacco has numerous medicinal applications for treating wounds and other things. As a spirit tobacco insures that the truth is spoken during councils and meetings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois.html

http://iroquoismidwinterceremony.weebly.com/mid-winter-ceremony.html

http://www.webwinds.com/yupanqui/iroquoisdreams.html

Nevertheless, the Cherokee continue to observe many of their traditions that include seven clans and seven rituals. After I studied them it was easy for me to see how features of these traditions could have been woven into Appalachian life.

The Long Hair Clan with its subdivisions of Twister, Wind, and Strangers, are traditionally peace keepers. They took in orphans from other tribes, captives, and ‘strangers’ that probably included white settlers and runaway slaves. The Peace Chief is a member of the Long Hair Clan.

The Blue Clan includes the subdivisions of Panther, Wildcat, and Bear. It is thought to be the oldest clan. The Blue Clan is responsible for making special medicine for children.

The Wolf Clan, the largest clan, is the one that provided protection. Its War Chief and the Peace Chief of the Long Hair Clan govern the tribe.

The Wild Potato Clan has one subdivision called the Blind Savannah. The Wild Potato Clan safe keeps the land and oversees the magic and medicine of gathering.

Hunters and runners make up the Deer Clan. Its members take care of animals, animal medicine, and carry messages from village to village, even person to person.

The Bird Clan carries messages between the people and the Creator. Its subdivisions are Raven, Turtle Dove, and Eagle. It is the only clan permitted to collect eagle plumes and present them to those individuals who have earned them.

The Paint Clan is the clan of medicine people. Medicine, in Cherokee tradition, is painted on unwell individuals and the Paint Clan is the only one permitted to do this. The Paint Clan is responsible for harvesting and preparing this paint medicine, and presiding over the ceremonial application of it.

The seven ceremonies of the Cherokee are performed in a Longhouse. Seven different woods are burned in the central fire, each representing one of the seven clans. Movement around the fire is counterclockwise.

The Great New Moon Ceremony takes place on the first new moon in October because it is believed that the world was created in autumn. It is a deeply sacred ceremony that includes dancing and purification by immersing oneself in water seven times. The Great New Moon Ceremony is one of gratitude to the Creator and the Ancestors for all the blessings they have brought to the people, and the affirmation that the cycle of life will continue. Each family brings corn, beans, and squash to the feast.

The Friendship Ceremony takes place ten days after the Great New Moon Ceremony. It is a time that renews the unity between mankind and the Creator. Vows of eternal friendship between men and women are renewed. Pledges of universal paternal and fraternal love are made. It is a time of reconciliation between those who have quarreled during the previous year. The Friendship Ceremony is one of purification and unification of the people to each other and to the Creator.

The Bouncing Bush Ceremony is an expression of unrestrained joy. It is the time thanks is given to the Creator and his helpers, acknowledging them as the source of all blessings. The ceremony includes dancing, feasting, and offerings of tobacco to the central fire.

The First New Moon of Spring Ceremony takes place in March. It is the time when all the previous harvest is brought together into a feast and consumed by the people. The ceremony initiates the planting season by prophesying about the new crop’s success or failure.  The central fire is extinguished and rekindled. Then during the course of seven days all of the home fires are extinguished and rekindled with coals from the central fire. It is the time of new beginnings and renewal of the Earth’s bounty.

The Green Corn Ceremony takes place in July or August when the corn is still green but fit to taste. Once the date is set runners are dispatched to all the villages and return with seven ears of corn, one from each clan. Then the chiefs and seven councilors fast for six days. On the seventh day the central fire is extinguished and rekindled; it is fed with kernels from the seven ears of corn. The village is cleaned and the old pottery is broken. New corn is then harvested and made into feast food for all to partake of, except the chiefs and his councilors who are only allowed to eat last year’s corn.

The Ripe Corn Ceremony takes place 40 to 50 days after the Green Corn Ceremony when the corn is mature. It is a thanksgiving ceremony to the Creator for the bounty of the harvest. It is believed to be the only Cherokee ceremony to survive into the 20th century.

The Chief Dance takes place every seven years. The principal chief is carried on a white chair into the sacred circle and situated next to the fire. He is acknowledged as chief of the people by each of the seven clans. It is followed by dancing and a feast.
I must emphasize that this way of life is far more complex than my brief anecdotes suggest. I don’t want to leave you with the impression that clans and the ceremonies are somehow simplistic. They are not. The vast and varied ways of life cultivated by Indigenous Americans are sophisticated, deeply spiritual, and unimaginably mystical.

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/cherokee/cherohist.html

http://www.cherokee.org

http://www.echotacherokeewolfclan.com/id1.html

Known contact with the English didn’t take place again until 1701. John Lawson, an explorer hired by the English king sought the Tuscarora’s help in exploring the region of what is now North and South Carolina.

Like all the other tribes, the Tuscarora were decimated by European diseases, especially smallpox. By 1711 colonists encroached on Tuscarora land and as expected war ensued. The English and their Cherokee allies slaughtered all the inhabitants of the Tuscarora’s main village, consisting only of women, children, and elders. Throughout this holocaust many Tuscarora were captured and sold into slavery. Those that weren’t, were driven north by the English where the Tuscarora were finally able to rejoin the Iroquois.
The Tuscarora, like all Indigenous Americans, do not draw a distinction between daily life and religious life. They have no word for religion and hold that all of life, both ritual and everyday, is spiritual expression. Ritual practices of the Tuscarora are much like those of the Delaware and Iroquois, and include the Longhouse, Green Corn, Midwinter, and Strawberry Ceremonies continued into present day. Because of their inter-tribal similarity I will describe those ceremonies in the Cherokee and Iroquois essays.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3458100102.html

The Delaware are known to have had three separate bands or sub-tribes: Munsee, Unami, and Unalachtigo. It is believed that these three groups are synonymous with the three major clans of Wolf, Turtle, and Turkey. Each of these three major clans is further divided into 12 sub-divisions, some if not many are now extinct, but it is thought the clan system was arranged as follows:
WOLF CLAN
1.    Big Feet
2.    Yellow Tree
3.    Pulling Corn
4.     Care Enterer/Cave Enterer (?)
5.    Across the River
6.    Vermilion
7.    Dog Standing by Fireplace
8.    Long Body
9.    Digging
10.    Pulling Up Stream
11.    Brush Log
12.    Bringing Along
TURTLE CLAN
1.    Ruler
2.    High Bank Shore
3.    Drawing Down Hill
4.    Elector
5.    Brave
6.    Green Leaves
7.    Smallest Turtle
8.    Little Turtle
9.    Snapping Turtle
10.    Deer
·    Two extinct by 1877 and unknown
TURKEY CLAN
1.    Big Bird
2.    Bird’s Cry
3.    Eye Pain
4.    Scratch the Path
5.    Opossum Ground
6.    Old Shin
7.    Drift Log
8.    Living in Water
9.    Root Digger
10.    Red Face
11.    Pine Region
12.    Ground Scratcher

Why the historian (Morgan, 1877) recorded this list and other tribe/band divisions without some explanation as to their meaning seems tragically short-sighted. Each of these clans would have had distinct customs, responsibilities, and rituals associated with the medicine they protected and handled. If this is known today the secrets are well guarded. I could find no further reference or explanation. But each of these clans had a place in the Delaware Longhouse or Big House ceremony, observed by virtually all Algonquian tribes that shared many of the same beliefs, practices, and rituals.

The design and construction of the Delaware Longhouse is based entirely on their creation myth given to them by the Manitou in dreams. The Longhouse re-creates the cosmos, and the detailed design is a specific configuration of sustained power. If you consult the Conner Prairie link provided at the end you will find extraordinary detail in the construction and meaning of the Delaware Longhouse.

The Manitou is at once one Creator and many. Every individual had his or her own personal Manitou that spoke directly to them. Personal Manitou appeared during prolonged puberty rites that included pronounced fasting and acute isolation. The relationship lasted a lifetime and was revitalized in Longhouse rituals once or twice a year. Each Manitou mask was carved into a wooden post and the post was set in the Longhouse. An individual could renew his connection to his personal Manitou with a face to face encounter, where he could seek guidance and restore his personal harmony with the cosmos.

Longhouse ceremonies included everything from righting wrongs to revivifying transcendental relationships with the spirits that lived in the Manitou masks. The construction of the Longhouse made manifest the twelve houses of the cosmos, and the four directions. The east and west doors accommodated the movement of the sun and moon and therefore the direction the people moved in the ceremony that re-created the cosmos.

I have simplified the details of an otherwise extremely complex structure that sustained the cosmos and its power, and that served to create and sustain harmony with the natural and supernatural worlds. Equally complex was the ritual itself with wave after wave of dances during which individuals could stop and commune with the spirits in the masks. Smudges of cedar and tobacco were maintained continuously. Between each round of dancing the floor was tamped down and swept with turkey plumes. Dust was regarded as the negative force released at the moment of Creation.

The twelve individual poles and masks are thought to represent the Seven Thunders, the Four Directions, and the Earth Mother. I won’t speculate on the meaning of the Seven Thunders but know that each had both a human face and an animal face believed to be in control of the weather, to provide rain for crops, and protection from water monsters. It seems a trite generalization for what was obviously a complex, transcendental, sophisticated belief system and practice.

The Shawnee believed that the Grandmother created the Delaware first. She kindled a fire and placed a Delaware man and woman in the east. She then created an old man and an old woman, the Shawnee division. Finally She created a young man and woman who were to have children that became three of the Shawnee bands. The Shawnee and the Delaware still insist that they were once one people divided long ago by a children’s squabble over a grasshopper. The Shawnee also believe themselves relatives of the Kickapoo. This suggests to me that both split from the Delaware long ago or the Kickapoo split from the Shawnee. The Shawnee are not thought to have ever had a complex clan system like that of the Delaware, but both had a Man Eater Society, led by four women. Man Eaters disposed of captive bodies by eating them, much like the Atapaka in the south. I don’t know if this custom was due to a cultural exchange among these three tribes, or that the custom evolved independently, or was in fact widespread at one time.

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/delaware/delawarehist.html

http://www.connerprairie.org

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/shawnee/shawneehist.html

http://allisonbruning.blogspot.com/2012/06/shawnee -allies.html

In spite of this widespread devastation the ritual and magical customs of numerous groups from the northeast survived in varying degrees, and might well have made their way into southern Appalachian culture. Of the Algonquian we’ll visit the Delaware and Shawnee. The Iroquoian, a language island surrounded by Algonquian, bring us the Tuscarora, the Iroquois League, and yes, the Cherokee. As mentioned before, the Cherokee were not native to southern Appalachia but driven into the area in 1634 from the Great Lakes region. The Cherokee are a detached tribe of the Iroquois.

Much like the essays about the southeastern tribes the following group of stories about the Iroquois and Algonquin will meander somewhat. Hopefully I will succeed in introducing customs that might have found their way into the confederacy of folklore and magic found in southern Appalachia, where Celtic and Native beliefs came together, and evolved into a unique and specific culture unto itself.

And again, I must emphasize that I do not have permission from any of these tribes to speak of their customs, their medicine, or their ancestors. My only intention is to examine what might have come to live within the culture of early European settlers and remains quite alive today.

www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/algonquian/algonhist.html

Sickness was thought to be caused by a witch (there’s that word again) that sent undesirable things into another’s body such as animal hair, insects, arrows, stones, fish bones, and even in recent times, bullets. The Caddo believed that offending arrows could be sent from hundreds, even thousands of miles away. The witch and the healer would have a “battle” to determine which of the two was stronger. Should the witch dominate the “fight” the practitioner wouldn’t take the case. Exorcisms were performed by healers who drew the objects out, often by sucking on the suspected spot. He then sent the offending object back into the witch. Plants were also used as were various techniques of incising and burning. When incisions were made the object was sucked out through a horn or tube.
The position of practitioner among the Caddo was a hereditary one. Grandfathers taught their daughters’ daughters, while grandmothers taught their grandsons. Caddoan witches and practitioners believed they couldn’t kill a white man because of the excessive salt and pepper he used on his food.

Witches were believed to get their power from screech owls. The two developed a working relationship and eventually the witch could turn into an owl. If the owl was killed and boiled in a kettle the witch would die. It is widely believed among Indigenous Americans, not only the Caddo, that owls, coyotes, and other creatures foretell death, doom, and other categories of bad luck, making them perfect for doing the bidding of witches.

The Beaver doctors or practitioners worked in groups and were believed to be the most powerful. In the spring a Beaver doctor would dance and demonstrate his power by setting a grass house on fire while preventing it from burning. One doctor might shoot another in the heart with an arrow and the shooter would revive the victim. Other demonstrations included finding lost objects, and foretelling epidemics and other events within a period of four days.

A doctor’s services were solicited with an offering of tobacco. He stayed at the patient’s side for six days and no one was allowed near the afflicted without first being smoked with cedar. Sweat baths were essential features of doctoring. If after six days that patient wasn’t cured the first doctor “put down his medicine” and another doctor assumed the responsibility provided he had received the necessary signs. The Caddo believed that everyone’s death was preordained which suggests that the intervention of medicine men and women didn’t always cure the afflicted. It was also recognized that each practitioner cultivated his or her own rules with regard to their practice and treatments. Practitioners, with the help of eagle plumes, often deliberately took on someone’s illness so that it could be treated more effectively. Caddoan practitioners used mescal beans in their medicine but it is no longer known how those beans were used.

Another responsibility of medicine people was to make certain that a deceased person remained on the right road on his journey to the afterworld.  The same medicine people took measures to insure that the trails for the living were clear, safe, and easy to traverse.
Deceased relatives were always buried near their home. This allowed the living to send messages to other deceased members of their family. Burial goods included everything the deceased might need or want on his journey including talismans, bows and arrows, and herbs to protect against or combat malevolent forces.

It was believed by the Caddo that a person’s spirit stayed around for six days. The deceased’s head was placed in the west end of the grave, and a fire was perpetually maintained in the east for those six days. All of the deceased’s belongings hung from a pole during the course of this ceremony and at its end anything unfit for further use was burned. Other things were smudged and given away. The people who had participated were then smudged and went off to bath in a local creek. Finally a feast was put up at the grave. A sample of each dish was carefully spooned onto the center of the grave for the deceased’s journey. A similar ceremonial feast took place each year for up to four years, followed by a peyote meeting (please see notes at the end of this essay).

The Caddo also cultivated the ability to bring back the dead. Practitioners would get to work shortly after death to catch up with the deceased and bring him back, provided he had not traveled beyond the clouds. The resurrected were kept in a grass house maintained by the practitioners who would collaborate with the returned individual. There was one account where a man who had been buried for five or six days was brought back to life. Although afflicted by the experience, the man went on to live another 50 years. The last practitioners of this art to survive into the 20th century were women, four sisters. It is unknown if this art was practiced only by women.

The Caddo recognized two forms of practice. One doctored the sick while the other prevented harm. The latter was capable of bewitching people that lived a long way off. Practitioners had a repertoire of songs sung to the dying that frightened off the spirit of death. Such powers, according to the Caddo, came from the sun as well as from ferocious animals.

There are various Caddoan rules about eagles that survived. It was forbidden to snare an eagle, it had to be shot. It was taboo to pick up a plume off the ground; doing so caused great harm. Ritually killed eagles were buried much in the same way humans were after the plumes were removed. The plumes were smudged, and the eagle’s killer bathed in warm water and tobacco smoke. Ritually prepared eagle plumes that belonged to a deceased person were smudged and passed on. Medicine men were the only men who truly knew eagle medicine and how to kill eagles properly.

Numerous supernatural spirits were remembered into the 20th century. There was Father Sun, Mother Earth, Grandfather Fire, Grandmother Lightning, Grandmother Noisemaker (thunder), and Grandfather Wind. These supernatural spirits were remembered as having less significance than ghosts and animals. A partnership with an animal however was considered highly significant and both parties worked together to cultivate specific knowledge and medicine. Killing an animal in anger required a forgiveness ceremony. Often an injury acquired from an animal attack provided the victim with the animal’s medicine. There are accounts about such relationships where the victim became half animal and half human. The Caddo believed that wolves were thieves. It was believed that having wolf medicine turned a man into a thief. Horned hoot owls were known to predict floods, and partnering with one allowed the human to send messages to other humans via his owl ally. However, partnerships weren’t limited to animals. A person could partner with lightning, with the moon, and with clouds giving him the ability to summon rain. I imagine one could partner with most anything.
Supernatural spirits were fed with every meal by taking small amounts of food outside. Any food left out for human consumption was covered at night to prevent its essence from being consumed by spirits. Water left to stand overnight was never used the next day. I found all of these customs or similar ones to widespread throughout most Indigenous American tribes.

Note 1: Peyote. Before any Caddoan participated in a peyote meeting he or she first had to take a sweat bath. Meetings were opened with prayers that asked forgiveness from supernatural helpers. Had someone failed to fast from salt those supernatural helpers would not attend the meeting.

Note 2: Peyote. I am not clear how long the Caddo included peyote in their rituals. They could have acquired it with the advent of Quanah Parker’s vision as was the case with many tribes. It is also possible the Caddo had used peyote for millennia. Peyote is indigenous to an area of southern Texas and Mexico; the Caddo certainly lived within range of that region. Cave paintings thousands of years old found along the Rio Grande depict medicine men hunting peyote with bow and arrow just as they hunted deer. Consequently it is possible the Caddo had used peyote thousands of years before Quanah Parker was ever born. Numerous tribes in the north insist they too had been using peyote long before Quanah Parker was born, millennia before Europeans arrived.

Note 3: Peyote. Quanah Parker was born in 1845 to Cynthia Anne Parker, a white captive, and Puhtocnocony “Peta” Nocona, a Quahadi Commanche. After being mortally wounded Quanah had a vision of Jesus. He was doctored with peyote by a Ute medicine man and subsequently recovered. Quanah founded the Native American Church and the Christian twist spread throughout the tribes. Utes believe that peyote was given to a Ute woman who had become lost in the desert. The peyote led her back to her people and she gave it to Ute men to take care of it.

In conclusion, with regard to the use of peyote, I remain uncertain if the Caddo had used it for thousands of years or were introduced to Native American Church a mere century and a half ago.

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/caddo/html

Although it can’t be known how the Catawba might have influenced Appalachian culture their proximity to the southern mountains was substantial. Lack of information was not reason enough to exclude them from this study.

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/nations/catawba.html