Weeds For Your Needs

Akwesasne is unique in many ways and on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 Akwesasne proved it once again with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne’s Ononhkwa On:we Program presentation on Medicine and “Weeds for our Needs.” This program is the first of its kind and perhaps the only one in existence. Ever since 1997, Edward Gray and Della Adams have been tending to the health and well being of our nation using what some people see as “weeds.” Weeds are often viewed as a nuisance, something to be sprayed, pulled, and dug up with a vengeance, weeds like the plantain, dandelion, stinging nettle, turtle socks, boneset, black walnut, cedar, slippery elm. The list is as long as the, well, as long as your weeds will be in your backyard this summer. Ailments as simple as acnes, to the more serious kidney renal failure will be looked at from a holistic approach and you will be “prescribed” a traditional medicine. They make it very clear they never advocate, suggest or imply that a person using traditional medicine stop using medicine that has been prescribed by their regular physician.

When the program started it often dispensed medicine as the doctor upstairs dispensed medicine. Over the years the program has evolved into more than just a dispensary of natural and native medicine, it has evolved into looking at the health and well-being of the entire person; the physical, the emotional and the spiritual. During this change the program has also taken a close look at how we approach the entire system of “becoming healthy.” The best way is to become responsible for our own health and with this in mind they are now a teaching program as well.

In an age where the dangers of sugar, salt and white flour are common knowledge and more and more people are taking ownership of their own health, the Ononhkwa On:we Program is encouraging the people of Akwesasne to do the same. In fact, besides encouraging and promoting that we take ownership of our own health, they are adamant we can make ourselves well and heal ourselves before we even become sick. Indian medicine is actually a misnomer. Indian medicine is meant to be entirely preventative and not an intervention treating the symptoms. During their presentation, Della Adams, Eddie Gray, and Marcy Vyse shared information every person should know from the protocol of requesting medicine at Ononhkwa On:we to the protocol of picking medicine yourself in your backyard or out in the wild. The best approach to healing yourself is taking steps to prevent any ailment that can make you sick. Each season offers a variety of plants to cleanse you or to strengthen you for the next season and to prevent you from getting sick. This is stark contrast to modern day western medicine and how most prescriptions are treating the symptoms and not a cure.

When approaching Ononhkwa On:we for medicine keep in mind to bring tobacco as an offering for your medicine, and when approaching them just as the person who made the medicine for you, you should have a good mind about this. Mr. Gray expressed that you need to believe in the medicine you are about to receive and be grateful for it. He will follow a protocol of picking medicine that has been with us for forever. He will pick this medicine for you, he has made sure he has given thanks to the Creator and he speaks in our Onkwehonwe language. He has been very careful not to pick the first plants he sees because the first plant maybe the only one there and be very rare or endangered. Once he finds more of the plant he is looking for, then he is reassured this certain plant will come back next year. He will also make sure he doesn’t pick the twin – who looks just like this plant but may make you sick or even poison you. He has also made sure the plant has been picked after the fireflies have left for the season. The fireflies are sentinels of our medicines, keeping watch over all of them and when they leave it is a sign medicines can be picked.

Mrs. Vyse has been a seer for years, giving people readings to tell what ceremonies they need to do, what they need to do to stay healthy or possibly prevent something undesired from happening in your life. She stated that herbal medicines have always been here for us, the Creator wants us to know about them and often they will call out for us. In fact, she said when we don’t use them they cry. Everything alive has some spark, spirituality and with this they can tell when a person who picks them has a good mind. She reminded us that you must always leave tobacco for the plant you pick and always use a good mind. If you have conflict in your life, that anger or resentment can carry over into your medicine. She advises you to clear your mind when picking medicine and talk to your medicine, acknowledge it and the Creator for giving us such a gift. Ask the Creator for strength and strength also comes in speaking our language. If you are asked to have a ceremony, learn the language of the ceremony, and share this with your family. When you know what words are being spoken in a ceremony it makes it all the more powerful. The speaker of the ceremony is speaking on your behalf and the speaker knows when those present can understand what is being spoken – the words, the intent of the ceremony and the ceremony itself becomes much stronger. Vyse said, “Our minds are very powerful, you really have to believe in them and have no doubt.” She reminded us that you should give acknowledgment in the form of a valued gift, and you should learn how to make your own ceremonial foods.

She told us how women have their own power, and how a pregnant woman has a different kind of power unlike anything else around. Vyse said that a pregnant woman is as close to the Creator as one can get. And as close to the Creator one can get is as close to death as when giving birth. A woman on her moon should not attend ceremonies or tobacco burnings; in fact a woman on her moon shouldn’t cook the meals for her family and to make sure not to make medicine while on her moon or to even look at it.

Mr. Gray and Mrs. Vyse repeated several times the importance of being clean while picking medicine or preparing medicine. One should not be drinking (or have taken drugs) or have had any for three days. The longer a person is clean, the stronger your medicine will be.

Joelle Regnier, the new Nurse Practionier at the Kawehnoke Clinic shared how she has taken many steps in life to be able to reach a sense of peace and with peace comes good health and happiness. Just as life experiences can affect your life, you can be consumed by these experiences or you can become stronger and be changed by it all. Through this she has come to appreciate and value our traditional medicines. She tries to work in balance between western medicine and traditional medicines. Regnier is in a position that if you are in the hospital in Cornwall, you can request a traditional healer to her and one will be presented to you to ensure all of your medical needs are in place. She also views and practices medicine in a holistic approach working closely with the Ononhkwa On:we Program.

We have thousands and thousands of years of practice and knowledge handed down from family to family and within our grasp to have and use that knowledge to make ourselves stronger, more resilient, and wiser. As important as knowing this is using this and sharing this with our children.