Big Medicine from Six Nations

by Ted C. Williams, Debra Roberts (Editor), Debra Roberts (Afterword)

Overview

Big Medicine from Six Nations is a series of reminiscences and essays by the late Ted Williams, on the themes of "Medicine" (physical/spiritual/psychic healing). Williams intertwines the lore and lifeways of his Tuscarora upbringing, illustrating the dynamic encounter of tradition and innovation at the heart of contemporary Haudenosaunee culture. At the same time, Williams writes with an irreverence, irony, and good humor unmistakably his own.Colored by Ted's wry and irreverent wit, Big Medicine from Six Nations amply fulfills the promise of its title. It offers a fascinating view, not only of herbal medicine, but of prayers, omens, feasts, vision quests, sweat lodges, spirits, humor, and the sacred teachings of the Great Law of the Great Peace. But readers will find that there is more to this book, about the "spiritual mechanics" of humankind writ large.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815610946
Publisher:	Syracuse University Press
Publication date:	08/03/2017
Series:	The Iroquois and Their Neighbors
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	551,669
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

The son of a Turtle Clan sachem chief and respected medicine man, Ted Williams grew up on the Tuscarora Indian Reservation near Niagara Falls, New York, in the 1930s and l940s. He is the author of The Reservation.

Table of Contents

Illustrations     xi
Foreword   Christopher Vecsey     xiii
Acknowledgments     xix
Opening
Dear Readers     3
Prelude to the Prelude     7
Prelude to the Thanksgiving Address     8
The Thanksgiving Address     10
Medicines and Poisons
The Second Death of Bill Uh     23
The Way It Is     27
Another Form of Medicine     31
Uncle Charley     35
Isaiah Joseph     40
Ethel Wahoo     49
Davey Roy     55
The Devil     57
Reservation Witches     60
Another Spooky Place     72
I'sic oi(t), Asa, and Dug dih HANa'ree     74
How We Have Lived, Small Incidences
Relativity     79
Ee'see     80
Who Did What?     81
Adolphus Martin     84
Love Power     85
Stanley Buck     86
Tongue Not in Cheek     88
Emerson Waterman     89
Allen Jack     90
Ducky Anderson     91
Two Suns?     92
Big Dog     94
O. J.     95
Abraham geh he(t)(Abraham Dead and Gone)     96
Giveaway     98
Duke     101
Propriety and Derangement
Don't Hunt Too Early     109
Juuh ne(t) raath     116
OO naa g'yeh     122
One Time This Happened     140
The Fire Monkey     152
Deer     155
The Sturgeon     166
Six Nations, One Humanity
The Great Law of the Great Peace     171
Freeman Sowden     178
Tobacco Burning     183
The False Faces     187
Peach Stones     195
Songs of Power     200
Energy Places     206
The Vision Quest     215
Medicines of the Universe     225
Quantum Physics     230
Plant Medicines     240
Snow Man     250
New Age and Ancient Wisdom
The Odds     255
Isolated Phenomena     260
The Little Lights     264
Seeing Things     272
Elemental Communication     286
Another Elemental Communication     292
War and Peace     294
A Sequence of Events     301
Ceremony      311
Closing
Poetry     325
The Thanksgiving Address     333
Afterword   Debra Roberts     342

What People are Saying About This

Eric Gansworth

I've been waiting over twenty years for this book. . . . The Reservation is a touchstone of American Indian literature. Big Medicine from Six Nations is its companion piece. . . . [Williams'] agenda is emphatically Haudenosaunee, with an eye to the seventh generation beyond his. (Eric Gansworth author of Breathing the Monster Alive)

Kenneth Cohen

Big Medicine has a big heart. This book is a treasure trove of wisdom and wit, a tribute to the living legacy of Native peoples. Mark Twain would be envious of this book. Read it, savor it, your life will be enriched. (Kenneth Cohen, author of Honoring the Medicine: The Essential Guide to Native American Healing)

Editorial Reviews

Many of the stories give insight into religious beliefs as well as beliefs about ghosts and other spirits. The syncretistic aspect of these stories that blend Christianity with traditional Tuscarora beliefs is fascinating, making the book valuable for those interested in anthropology and religion.

Journal of Anthropological Research

Many of the stories give insight into religious beliefs as well as beliefs about ghosts and other spirits. The syncretistic aspect of these stories that blend Christianity with traditional Tuscarora beliefs is fascinating, making the book valuable for those interested in anthropology and religion.

Journal of Anthropological Research - Susan Stebbins

This is a collection of remembered experiences around the themes of emotional, spiritual, and physical healing, which he began to perform during the 1970s. Some of the topics that his anecdotes and stories touch on include animal omens and spirits, the consequences of violating moral norms, healing herbs, ceremonies, the sacred, and seeming coincidences that are not coincidences. Williams writes in an easy, appealing style about his own experiences and those of his friends, his family, and other reservation residents. The stories take readers into the heart of Tuscarora life and culture in the 20th century.

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