Traditional Medicine And Healing Practices Of The Akan Of Ghana PDF Download

"This dissertation is a story of healing by grace, based on the traditional medicine and healing practices of the Akan of Ghana, who believe that the Divine heals through direct revelation. By studying the Akans and their healing system, I explore the spiritual and practical wisdom that has been used for centuries. The wisdom embedded in Akan traditional medicine is an example of integrative healing modalities conducive to individual growth and transformation. With the contemporary increase in emotional diseases and dysfunctional mental health, people have become dependent on pharmaceuticals as their main process for healing. This methodology, which is used to curb disequilibrium, only focuses on short-term cures and the physical aspects of life. When this situation is compounded by the fact that our minds can be compromised by illusions of self-persecution, our healing become insurmountable. Based on interviews with various Akan healers, this dissertation explores how Akan traditional practices tap into the universal energy for healing and cultivate absolute trust in the Divine so that healing may be facilitated. Explorations of existing scholarship, oral histories, and records of current practitioners, including the role women have played in the healing arts and communities, illuminate the traditional medicine system of the Akan. Following Akan tradition, the dissertation also explores beliefs that personal health and social relations are inextricably related to meeting one’s moral and biological obligations. Thus, to be healthy means that one must have health of mind, body, and spirit, and it calls for living in harmony with the natural or supernatural realities. The healers attest to the multidimensional and metaphysical aspects of the traditional medicine system, and expressly acknowledge that all healing begins in the spiritual world, and by grace. The Akan saying, “If illness befalls you, it is God that shows you the medicine for the cure,” illustrates the deep, intimate relationship between the Akan and the Akan Nyame —God. It is a truth, full of wisdom. " -- abstract.