African Herbal Medicine

 

African Herbal Medicine

 

Perhaps the most misunderstood of all traditional medicines, African herbal medicine is considered by most Westerners as the collective term for various medical “voo doo” and those who practice it are called witch doctors or “voo doo” doctors. This mentality regarding African herbal medicine is merely a superficial attempt at understanding the true depths of African sacred realities in respect to religion, philosophy, and medicine. The truth of the matter is African herbal medicine has been around for thousands of years and is intermittently connected with spirituality and religion. It has little to do with witch-doctor myths and everything to do with the genuine practice.

 

African Herbal Medicine – The Early Years

African herbal medicine is traditionally called Yorubic medicine on the African continent. It is originated from a religious text, called Ifa Corpus. According to tradition, the Ifa Corpus was revealed by the mystic prophet, Orunmila, some 4,000 years ago in the ancient city of Ile-Ife, now known as Yorubaland. The last 400 years saw individuals in the Caribbean and South America practice the Yorubic healing system as a relic of their past when the first African slaves arrived in the Americas.

 

The prophet Orunmila taught his people about the realities of divination, prayer, dance, symbolic gestures, personal, and communal elevation. He also directed them on spiritual baths, meditation, and herbal medicine especially. In fact, the Ifa Corpus is known as the foundation of the art of divine herbology.

 

Like in all ancient systems of medicine, Yorubic or African herbal medicine thrives in the ideal of conditioning the body in its entirety so that disease will not attack it. According to historical records, the Yoruba people are actually an East-African tribe who moved from the mid-Nile river to the mid-Niger area. In his demonstration, Olumide J. Lucue stated that “the Yoruba, during antiquity, lived in ancient Egypt before migrating to the Atlantic coast.”

 

With Egypt at its roots, it is therefore unavoidable that African herbal medicine became associated with magic. Amulets and charms were more popular than pills as preventive or curatives of diseases. Priests, who were from the earliest days the progenitors of science and medicine, considered diseases as possession by evil devils and could be treated using incantations along with extracts from the roots of certain plants. The psychosomatic system of healing disorders used mostly by psychiatrists today is based loosely on this ancient custom.

 

African Herbal Medicine – Ewe

In African herbal medicine, ewe is the Yoruba word for herbs. Believed to contain spiritual powers, ewes are picked for medicinal and spiritual purposes. Herbalists who practiced African herbal medicine used it for medicines, baths, and religious artifacts. According to African herbal medicine, ewes are for the “healing of Nations” and their use



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