AMERICAN INDIAN HEALING ARTS, HERBS, RITUALS AND REMEDIES FOR EVERY SEASON OF LIFE, by E. Barrie Kavasch and Karen Barr, Bantam Books, New York, 1999, 309 pages, $17.95.

At last! A comprehensive guide to herbs, rituals and remedies for every season of life, rooted in a reverence and respect for relationships with plants, people and American Indian cultures.

Drawing on a lifetime of study with native healers from Alaska to Brazil, herbalist E. Barrie Kavasch and journalist Karen Barr have created “American Indian Healing Arts,” which is certain to become a standard reference.

This delightfully presented book is a must-read for those interested in natural remedies and American Indian healing.

Magically blending folklore, history and living tradition, Kavasch uses the natural phases of our journey through life to present tribal rituals, remedies and recipes to promote good health.

The book is divided into life sections, including birth, puberty, midlife, childbearing, old age and death. Using life’s cycles, Kavasch has shared her wide, deep knowledge of native wisdom to help readers connect with the rhythms of our own lives.

For anyone already interested in American Indian cultures, this book magically presents the reader with a look into the relationship between earth and humans. For anyone unfamiliar with native customs and healing, it provides a great adventure discovering a culture which is deeply rooted in respect for nature and its strength of healing.

It is clear Kavasch has taken great care to not just provide herbal medicine and recipes, but has shown the reader the richness of the rituals that connect people, herbs and their uses.

By holding the spiritual side of life sacred, Indians have a deep and nurturing connection to both the earth and the spiritual realm.

“American Indian Healing Arts” is a tool for developing both the spiritual relationship with the earth as well as the practical, medicinal relationship.

“The cycle of human life was and is a part of this larger, universal circle,” Kavasch explains in the book’s foreword. “Rites and rituals, songs and prayers, and spirit foods and celebrations evolved to recognize and honor the individual during important life passages. Many of these ancient ceremonies are still performed today.”

Kavasch has segmented her book into these life cycles, from birth to old age, recognizing the various stages of life’s journey along the way. The human life cycle is at the heart of this book.

Rituals and remedies accompany each of life’s stages in “American Indian Healing Arts,” including Pueblo All Souls’ Day, Navajo Blessing Way, The Sioux Sing the Girl Over, and the Omaha Consecration of the Boy to Thunder. Each ritual is presented with recipes, such as Wood Ear Mushroom Soup, or Steamed Evening Primrose and Nettles Greens, as well as a wide variety of herbal salves, oils and tinctures.

Kavasch, a direct descendant of Pocahontas, has compiled a complete and inspiring book of Indian traditions and values to provide ways to good health.

Throughout the book, native poems, songs and chants provide insight into the link between earth and humans.

One such song is from the Omaha Indians: “Naked you came form Earth the Mother, naked you return to her. May a good wind be your road.”

The Chinook tribe prays, “May all things move and be moved in me and know and be known in me. May all creation dance for joy within me.”

The book contains more than 60 safe, easy-to-use recipes to help heal cuts, combat the common cold, ease PMS, prevent skin problems and elevate mood. From Green Goddess Skin Wash, a light antiseptic, to Red Raspberry Leaf and Sage Gargle, which eases throat and mouth soreness, Kavasch and Barr feature healing food recipes, botanical remedies and hands-on techniques to treat health problems at all stages of life.

A highlight of the book is a carefully crafted description of an American Indian medicine chest, with complete instructions on how to stock such a chest and create a wide variety of health products as well as medicine bags and a quick herbal guide.

The book is beautifully illustrated with line drawings and “ghost prints,” actual leaf rubbings, of the key medicinal plants. An appendix provides a lexicon of herbs, fungi and minerals, as well as a glossary of tribes.