Navaho Symbols Of Healing

A Jungian-trained psychiatrist explores ancient Navaho methods of healing that use vibrant imagery to bring the psyche into harmony with natural forces.

Chronicles the advent of so-called "western" or "scientific" medicine in the modern era, and how Navajos adapted, but did not compromise their traditional healings ways.

Glittering World tells the remarkable story of Navajo jewelry--from its ancient origins to the present--through the work of the gifted Yazzie family of New Mexico. Jewelry has long been an important form of artistic expression for Native peoples in the Southwest; its diversity of design reflects a long history of migrations, trade, and cultural exchange. Exceptional jewelry makers who have been active for nearly eight decades, the Yazzies are strongly rooted in and inspired by these traditions and values. Their works emphasize reciprocity, harmony, balance, and respect for family. As the companion volume to the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in New York exhibit of the same name, this book is richly illustrated with images of these beautifully crafted treasures, bringing to light some of the finest indigenous art being created in the world today. Its informative and lively narrative complements these stunning images to illuminate the fascinating story of continuity, change, and survival embodied by Navajo jewelry.

This life history of a Navajo leader, recorded in the 1960s and first published in 1977, is a classic work in the study of Navajo history and religious traditions. "A skillful, meticulous, and altogether praiseworthy contribution to Navajo studies. . . . Although the focus of Mitchell's autobiography is upon his role as a Blessingway singer, there is much material here on Navajo history and culture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Mitchell attended the government school at Fort Defiance, worked on the railroad in Arizona, served as a handyman and interpreter at several trading posts and the Franciscan missions, and later served as a tribal councilman in the 1930s and as a judge in the 1940s and 1950s. His observations on these experiences are relevant to our understanding of contemporary Navajo life."--Lawrence C. Kelly, Western Historical Quarterly "This book stands easily among the best of the 'native' autobiographies. Narrated by a thoughtful and articulate Navajo leader over a span of eighteen years, this life history is brought into English with none of the selective romanticizing that has spoiled some books. . . . (It is) a superb job of bringing one culture ever closer to another."--Barre Tolken, Western Folklore

This work depicts the evolution of the wounded healer phenomenon and its impace on the practice of nursing. It explores how healing has been defined in the past, and emphasizes the changing focus necessary to meet the relevant health care needs of an increasingly wounded society in the 21st century.

Sandplay is a powerful method of psychotherapy, based on practical, creative modelling - literally a "hands-on" approach to healing the whole person. Sandplay has both diagnostic and therapeutic value, and is efficacious for adults and children. Since there are no preconceived ideas about "art" in sand, there is a wonderful freedom and flow in using sand creatively. This book focuses on the process of sandplay and how it works. Ammann's account draws upon her wide knowledge of myth and folk tale, but remains a practical work, dealing systematically with the "how-to" details, the necessary role of sand pictures in enhancing the self-regulation of the psyche, the two routes from psyche to sand pictures, and the symbolic interpretation of spatial phenomena. Ammann illustrates these principles in several case histories. "Healing and Transformation in Sandplay" contains a plea to therapists to make greater use of sandplay, alongside classical dream analysis. As a means to liberate the forces of the brain's right hemisphere - the intuitive and bodily rather than logical or rational - sandplay activates deep layers of the unconscious in the service of healing and development, layers hard to reach with more verbal methods of therapy.

Imagine the North American Indians as astronomers carefully watching the heavens, charting the sun through the seasons, or counting the sunrises between successive lumar phases. Then imagine them establishing observational sites and codified systems to pass their knowledge down through the centuries and continually refine it. A few years ago such images would have been abruptly dismissed. Today we are wiser. Living the Sky describes the exciting archaeoastronomical discoveries in the United States in recent decades. Using history, science, and direct observation, Ray A. Williamson transports the reader into the sky world of the Indians. We visit the Bighorn Medicine Wheel, sit with a Zuni sun priest on the winter solstice, join explorers at the rites of the Hopis and the Navajos, and trek to Chaco Canyon to make direct on-site observations of celestial events.