Methods of Diagnosing Among Navajo Indians
In the United States, there are currently 574 Indian tribes or groups that are federally recognized and eligible for services offered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Of these groups, the Navajo, also known as Diné, are one of the largest, accounting for approximately 332,129 people (Source). In this blog post, we will be covering some of the traditional healing methods practiced by the Navajos.
Among the Navajo people, the cause of disease and the course of treatment are often determined by divination. A diagnostician is called on to perform the divination, determine the cause of the disease, and recommend the best course of treatment along with the medicine man/woman to perform it.
The three types of divination employed by the Navajos are motion in the hand, stargazing, and listening (Spector 9e).
Motion in the hand, otherwise known as hand trembling, is the most common method of divination and is often practiced by women. During this practice, the diagnostician sits with their face turned away from the patient. Pollen or sand is sprinkled around the ill person and a healer’s hand moves during a song. The diagnostician thinks of certain diseases and causes during the time the healer’s hand moves. Once the healer’s hand moves in a certain way, the diagnostician knows that they have discovered the correct disease and cause. The diagnostician proceeds to prescribe the correct treatment. Motion in the hand is not a process that can be learned or inherited; it must come as a gift to the person. Other forms of motion in the hand may also involve the use of sand paintings (Wyman, 1966, p.14).
Stargazing is another divination practice used by the Navajo people. In this practice, the stargazer prays the star prayer to the star spirit and asks it to show the cause of illness. Singing occurs during stargazing, and the star shines a ray of light that determines the cause of the illness. The patient is expected to recover if the ray is white or yellow. The illness is serious if the light is red. If a white light falls on the ill person’s home, then they will recover. If the home is dark, the patient is expected to die (Wyman, 1966, p. 15).
Listening, the third type of divination, is mostly performed by a woman. The listener may or may not meet with the ailing person’s family before going to a secluded location and listening for the cause of an illness and proper cure. The practice of listening is similar to stargazing except that the diagnosis is revealed through auditory rather than visual means (Source).
By: Sreenidhi Saripalli
