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Creek Medicine

The Creek Indian Doctor always faced East in a special place where he prepared medicine. He cared for physical illness and alleviated pain and emotional suffering caused by the loss of loved ones and other mental anxieties. Many of the Indian Doctors were taught by their fathers, so each one varied in his practice. They learned many songs and chants that were used while preparing medicine and also learned the different kinds of herbs, leaves and roots he needed. The Creek Doctor fasted time and time again. He also practiced purification at all times for he regarded this to be sacred. Since it was sacred, he was very careful about when and where he went to look for the roots, herbs, and leaves. Indian Doctors used the following materials in mixing their potions: sassafras root, devil shoe string, tobacco blossoms, mullen leaves, wild cherry bark, milkweed, red cedar, blackberry root, charred coals, red root, black root, dogwood, pine, willow, sumac, poke, corn, persimmon, jimsen weed, ash tree buds or back, and spider web. These various medicines were used for diarrhea, dysentery, burns and scalds, fever, pain of insect bites and stings, urinary infections and ailments, worms in children, chest colds and chronic disease of the liver. Some medicine men made medicine to consecrate ceremonial grounds each year when the Creeks prepared for the summer activities, especially the Green Corn Festivals and the stick ball game.