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Crossing into Medicine Country: A Journey in Native American Healing
David Carson's personal story of his initiation into the mysterious healing rites of the Choctaw with medicine woman Mary Gardener. Through her teachings and his own mind-bending experiences, he gives us a glimpse into an alternate reality.
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First published November 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
November 17, 2023
An interesting spiritual memoir.
August 14, 2018
Wisdom Lost
I read this book not out of any desire to learn arcane practices or to acquire power, but because as I watch the insane destructiveness practiced today by the human species, I've come to mourn our scorn of Nature and read to relearn a sacred reverence for Earth.
I reject the ruthless pursuit of Stuff that strips mountains and befouls the Life that is Water and slimes rivers and beaches. The blasphemy of places that call themselves churches but worship nothing more profound than amassing money that buys manmade Stuff produced by processes that poison the Earth.
I find relevance and comfort in the movement to bring back to prominence an almost lost but proper respect for Gaia.
What do I feel when I sit under the trees? Even if I read or stitch or just listen? Why am I comfortable there? Or walking along a shore? I am of this Earth.
David's memories recall people who know and understand that
We all are One.
I read this book not out of any desire to learn arcane practices or to acquire power, but because as I watch the insane destructiveness practiced today by the human species, I've come to mourn our scorn of Nature and read to relearn a sacred reverence for Earth.
I reject the ruthless pursuit of Stuff that strips mountains and befouls the Life that is Water and slimes rivers and beaches. The blasphemy of places that call themselves churches but worship nothing more profound than amassing money that buys manmade Stuff produced by processes that poison the Earth.
I find relevance and comfort in the movement to bring back to prominence an almost lost but proper respect for Gaia.
What do I feel when I sit under the trees? Even if I read or stitch or just listen? Why am I comfortable there? Or walking along a shore? I am of this Earth.
David's memories recall people who know and understand that
We all are One.
January 5, 2020
This autobiographical spiritually-charged work reminds me so much of the fantasy YA piece "Juniper" that I recently re-read. In this work, it is a man's reflection on his conjure training in the Native American tradition. He experiences out-of-body visions, aids in treating mysterious illnesses, and learns the secret language of plants and animals. This is his truth. In the YA work, Juniper learned all of these same things, with similar initiation practices, but it was presented to me as a young girl as fiction. It was incredible to hear of someone experiencing similar things within the confines of "truth" rather than "fantasy." Well written, captivating and enjoyable to read.
January 17, 2022
Interwoven with Native American myth and tons of interesting transcendental life experiences, the author describes his near-brush with becoming a conjurer, or healer, in the tradition of the Native American. Sadly, we learn that the art of conjuring—healing people with smoke, herbs, plants, animals, and song—although handed down through many generations in Native tribes, has virtually disappeared in today's culture and will most likely die out completely due to modern medicine. To become a conjurer, one must go through many years of apprenticeship to acquire the wide body of knowledge and spiritual awakening to treat both sick and healthy individuals in a way that is completely individualized to their particular condition. Through the conjurer's heightened state of awareness, they can view a person's soul and detect both future and present ailments. There's no comparison to modern medicine in the sense that there is no profit to be gained by the healer, no man-made treatments are utilized and the healer has a open line of communication with the natural world—including animals—working in tandem to provide remedies.
It's shameful that once again Native American culture and traditions have been relegated into the categories of "evil" and "quackery," and left to die out among a dwindling population.
It's shameful that once again Native American culture and traditions have been relegated into the categories of "evil" and "quackery," and left to die out among a dwindling population.
October 18, 2022
I don't buy it. This is a novel, not a memoir. What is described sounds like a fantasy story, not anthropology. I gave it two stars because I can't refute all of it. However...
I checked out this book because he mentions Nevada medicine man Rolling Thunder, who was a real medicine man. And he grew up in Oklahoma in a medicine culture, just as David Carson claims to have experienced.
And this book sounds nothing like what Rolling Thunder practiced or discussed.
I could certainly be wrong about this, but I've never heard of a medicine man or woman who called themselves a conjurer. Yes, you can say that medicine people frequently "work with" earth spirits to request some result in the health of a person in the ecological world of physical reality.
But conjuring sounds like the whole point is to become a wizard who weaves spells, an über individualist when the reality of medicine people is to keep people in a relationship of wholeness with the earth, the people and one's family and friends.
I bet most spend their time listening and talking, in a counseling sense, more than performing multi-hour long healing rituals. I think they also devote themselves to keeping the people on the good red road, so they also work in a preventative medicine sense.
I've met a few on the direct action frontlines against nuclear weapons testing and to save woodlands and sacred mountains. In personal fact, Rolling Thunder hasn't just inspired me metaphysically, by as a mentor for environmental movie-making. RT would use his senses to find *and film* U.S. Bureau of Land Management bulldozers chaining down piñon pine forests. I've since devoted much of my life to documenting the Earth First! activist subculture of which I have been an organizer activist since 1985.
But David Carson doesn't seem to have the slightest interest in the affairs of the world or any specific community. I found this to be the case in Barack Obama's first two memoirs too. He seems to have no connection to anything going on in the world he grew up in, *until* he became a community organizer as an adult. Those books are two of the three worst books I've ever read (the worst is Lo! by Charles Fort).
Even as a novel, Carson has written a book absent any offering of native American wisdom at all!
This is a vacuous book by a lying Carlos Castaneda wannabe.
I checked out this book because he mentions Nevada medicine man Rolling Thunder, who was a real medicine man. And he grew up in Oklahoma in a medicine culture, just as David Carson claims to have experienced.
And this book sounds nothing like what Rolling Thunder practiced or discussed.
I could certainly be wrong about this, but I've never heard of a medicine man or woman who called themselves a conjurer. Yes, you can say that medicine people frequently "work with" earth spirits to request some result in the health of a person in the ecological world of physical reality.
But conjuring sounds like the whole point is to become a wizard who weaves spells, an über individualist when the reality of medicine people is to keep people in a relationship of wholeness with the earth, the people and one's family and friends.
I bet most spend their time listening and talking, in a counseling sense, more than performing multi-hour long healing rituals. I think they also devote themselves to keeping the people on the good red road, so they also work in a preventative medicine sense.
I've met a few on the direct action frontlines against nuclear weapons testing and to save woodlands and sacred mountains. In personal fact, Rolling Thunder hasn't just inspired me metaphysically, by as a mentor for environmental movie-making. RT would use his senses to find *and film* U.S. Bureau of Land Management bulldozers chaining down piñon pine forests. I've since devoted much of my life to documenting the Earth First! activist subculture of which I have been an organizer activist since 1985.
But David Carson doesn't seem to have the slightest interest in the affairs of the world or any specific community. I found this to be the case in Barack Obama's first two memoirs too. He seems to have no connection to anything going on in the world he grew up in, *until* he became a community organizer as an adult. Those books are two of the three worst books I've ever read (the worst is Lo! by Charles Fort).
Even as a novel, Carson has written a book absent any offering of native American wisdom at all!
This is a vacuous book by a lying Carlos Castaneda wannabe.
Read
July 22, 2012Not what I was seeking and just from the prolog you have to know that your dealing with something not quite right.
Native Healers for one relate their craft from teacher to learner and not through books, even the classic Black Elk Speaks, Black Elk did not divulge all.
All so for seekers of true knowledge it should be know that David Carson is on list of so called Native Healers to be avoided and in fact this book they wish to be avoided as well as some things banned.
It was not a good read and would not recommend it.
Native Healers for one relate their craft from teacher to learner and not through books, even the classic Black Elk Speaks, Black Elk did not divulge all.
All so for seekers of true knowledge it should be know that David Carson is on list of so called Native Healers to be avoided and in fact this book they wish to be avoided as well as some things banned.
It was not a good read and would not recommend it.
December 8, 2023
Can't write; has nothing to say; thinks he's clever.
April 7, 2018
Interesting at least, some good information here but much more of a "spiritual memoir."
July 7, 2020
Loved it! Very accurate in choctaw traditional medicine!
August 9, 2021
Crossing into Medicine Country by David Carson was not what I expected. I am not sure what I really expected, either. I found myself comparing it to other spiritual journey books like Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. I hoped it might give me guidance about how to find a balance between the ancient and the modern in my own life as in The Way of the Owl by Frank Rivers. This was a far more personal book. The writing is very strong and the narrative performance by Jason Manuel Olazabal is outstanding, which I appreciated. I would have given this book a higher rating if some explanation had been offered as to how or why some of the information was being openly shared. A number of times, the author is told to remain silent about these teachings and yet here we are. I would appreciate a statement about how in a dream or otherwise the keepers of the knowledge had somehow sanctioned or at least not opposed this work. The story itself is compelling and it forced me to confront my own preconceived notions and misconceptions about this subject. I learned a lot from a gifted writer who shared his incredible journey and I am grateful. I would recommend this book to those who seek to understand and learn more about Native American Healing if it is not the only resource, but one of many different resources.
January 17, 2022
What comes across is how the author is ill mannered, rude and ignorant, how he treated Mary, the questions he asked and general behavior. It was like he was a teenager who was brought up badly or on the streets.
It’s strange how the author used a white mans name and not an indigenous name that reflects the traditions of his people, tribe and ancestors.
There is wisdom and truth in these pages, and much can be learnt from this book
It’s strange how the author used a white mans name and not an indigenous name that reflects the traditions of his people, tribe and ancestors.
There is wisdom and truth in these pages, and much can be learnt from this book
May 16, 2023
Native American. Healing
Quite frank and descriptive knowledge from an apprentice. David writes as a tribute to the old ways. I've seen pow wowing up north, there is a reason that the training takes years. Incredible read, yet references to healing methods are not practical for an herbalist. There are no powerful conjures to teach. Practices crushed by modern medicine, it's hard to imagine how they can be revived.
Quite frank and descriptive knowledge from an apprentice. David writes as a tribute to the old ways. I've seen pow wowing up north, there is a reason that the training takes years. Incredible read, yet references to healing methods are not practical for an herbalist. There are no powerful conjures to teach. Practices crushed by modern medicine, it's hard to imagine how they can be revived.
July 20, 2021
The subject matter of this book was right up my alley. However…I can’t say it was a favorite. I enjoyed the old stories of traditional medicine and hearing about the authors experiences. He just didn’t connect all the dots for me.
September 10, 2021
This book is good medicine, full of a wealth of information and wisdom. The teachings about the owl people remains with me (people who have eyes but choose to live in darkness). I choose to not to live in darkness. Thank you for helping me see.
February 17, 2022
This was such an interesting book! There was so much packed in here, as Carson focuses on medicine and not just on his own experience. His last chapter is all about specifics about conjuring in Native American traditions. I found it so fascinating. Though some parts dragged, it was a good book.
March 28, 2020
my rating is based on the character of Mary Gardener.
I would have loved a book just about Mary without half-assed believers.
I would have loved a book just about Mary without half-assed believers.
March 18, 2021
I loved this book - read it twice!
December 14, 2021
Good but hard to follow at times.
January 29, 2022
The ending wasn't what I expected but overall I really enjoyed the native stories and Shamanic rites as they were explained by David.
February 18, 2022
I couldn't quite get into this book, so I listened to it more as means to break the silence than anything else.
October 18, 2022
Interesting journal of a man's life of making choices of his future, and learning about ancient medicine and traditions.
March 28, 2011
Good insight into native american medicine. I'm a little disappointed in the turn the plot takes at the end, but since the content is autobiographical, there is not much that can be changed...
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews