compass
12-22-2006, 10:34 AM
http://www.eytonsearth.org/clay-use-primitives.php
Dr. Weston Price & Primitive Use of Clay
Dietary studies of descendants of the Incas of long ago, reveal clay eating as a common practice. When their ancestral mountain empire was ravaged, the last of the Inca's rulers escaped deep into the Andean mountains. They took with them supplies of clay, which were valued even above the treasures of the empire. They were transported by human carriers to the secret city.
The ransom for prisoners was often paid for by edible clays rather than silver, in that same period. Studies of some Indian people who are most surely descendants of the ancient Incas, reveal they existed largely on a vegetable diet. These vegetables were dipped in an aqueous suspension of clay. This dietetic procedure of very ancient origin is universal among these Indians today.
Dr. Weston Price, a researcher studying primitive races of the high andes, Central Africa, and also the Aborigines of Australia, asked for the privilege of seeing what the natives carried in their knapsacks. Without exception, each one contained a ball of clay, a little of which would be dissolved in water. Their morsels of food would be dipped in their mixture before being eaten. This practice is carried on today and is undoubtedly one reason the people of these cultures experience physical stamina and endurance.
As the explorers came to the New World, they observed the American Indian using various clays. Some of these uses were: The face mask of a proud warrior, the painted body of a ceremonial dancer, or a cool clay pack on an exhausted messenger. Al contained special clays usually gathered locally. However, those for eating were highly treasured and to secure a supply, the natives often traveled long distances. The use of clay was introduced to the pioneers through the skills of the native Indian women, who on occasion were taken as wives by the white men. However, the gathering of the clay had traditionally been done by the men of the tribe, thus substitutions began to occur in the white villages. Slowly the effectiveness of this healing art was lost.
Clay was used in sacred ceremony by the American native. In these rituals, they reverently acknowledged the intimacy they felt with mother earth and all nature. In deep reverence they partook of the sacred clays, believing the clay and water that flowed from the breast of mother earth was to nurture their spirits, as they believed the flow of a mother's milk was given to feed the spirit of the infant.
By Indian tradition, the tribal father sought visions to guide his people. While solemn ceremony, he might perceive spirits petitioning birth into his clan. Lengthy preparation including clay ceremonies would then follow. Tribesmen would leave the village together for several weeks to go through purification.
The tribesman's knowledge of plant life and clays used to predetermine male offspring was held in reverent secrecy. Observation of the moon as well as instinct directed the time for their return and the completion of conception ceremonies. The participating women prepared for the sacred rites at the moon lodge.
Upon the birth of their infants they would return to the lodge for further ceremony. As the moon rose in her full majesty, sacred clays were place upon the infant as a symbol of protection from lurking spirits.
Should a maiden of the tribe be violated by a vagabond, she would go to the village outskirts in solitude to heal her spirit and restore her virginity. She used food and clays daily that had been blessed by the spiritual father, as she shamelessly sought her purification.
Heat lodges were a common practice of most tribes. Some sweats lasted a few hours at the day's end. Other sweats were held deep in the heart of a mountain in caves and could last several days. Clays were traditionally used at both. The lengthy sweats were attended only by men and involved the extensive use of clay. Skilled medicine men of the tribe presided at these sites as the tribal fathers awaited spiritual vision.
Seasonal migration of the Indians would take them to sites of warm clay pools. The complete submersion of their bodies in clay held significant ceremonial purpose. It also served to cleanse and heal their bodies. As it was tribal custom never to be without the edible clays, supplies were dried to be carried on the homeward journey.
The use of clay by the American Indian was held in each tribe's tradition; it was shared only among the tribesmen. The seeking of clay took them to specific places, especially where the bubbling mud had brought sedimentary deposits to the surface in active or extinct hydro-thermal activity. On rare occasions, clay would be pastel blue, green, or pink. However, most were grey or reddish in color.
This was due to extensive mineral concentrations, especially iron left by the continuous evaporation of water in bubbling mud. The hydrolysis and fragmentation of clay minerals in the heat and steam of a hydrothermally active site, is much more complete than in the sedimentation stage. The clay minerals may otherwise be only mildly transformed in various other ways.
Climatic effects do give rise to different types of clay minerals. Modern scientific research enables us to determine the geographic zone wherein the initiation of the clay minerals' evolution began and what benefits it may have to the human body.
- Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
Weston A. Price, MS D.D.S.
Dr. Weston Price & Primitive Use of Clay
Dietary studies of descendants of the Incas of long ago, reveal clay eating as a common practice. When their ancestral mountain empire was ravaged, the last of the Inca's rulers escaped deep into the Andean mountains. They took with them supplies of clay, which were valued even above the treasures of the empire. They were transported by human carriers to the secret city.
The ransom for prisoners was often paid for by edible clays rather than silver, in that same period. Studies of some Indian people who are most surely descendants of the ancient Incas, reveal they existed largely on a vegetable diet. These vegetables were dipped in an aqueous suspension of clay. This dietetic procedure of very ancient origin is universal among these Indians today.
Dr. Weston Price, a researcher studying primitive races of the high andes, Central Africa, and also the Aborigines of Australia, asked for the privilege of seeing what the natives carried in their knapsacks. Without exception, each one contained a ball of clay, a little of which would be dissolved in water. Their morsels of food would be dipped in their mixture before being eaten. This practice is carried on today and is undoubtedly one reason the people of these cultures experience physical stamina and endurance.
As the explorers came to the New World, they observed the American Indian using various clays. Some of these uses were: The face mask of a proud warrior, the painted body of a ceremonial dancer, or a cool clay pack on an exhausted messenger. Al contained special clays usually gathered locally. However, those for eating were highly treasured and to secure a supply, the natives often traveled long distances. The use of clay was introduced to the pioneers through the skills of the native Indian women, who on occasion were taken as wives by the white men. However, the gathering of the clay had traditionally been done by the men of the tribe, thus substitutions began to occur in the white villages. Slowly the effectiveness of this healing art was lost.
Clay was used in sacred ceremony by the American native. In these rituals, they reverently acknowledged the intimacy they felt with mother earth and all nature. In deep reverence they partook of the sacred clays, believing the clay and water that flowed from the breast of mother earth was to nurture their spirits, as they believed the flow of a mother's milk was given to feed the spirit of the infant.
By Indian tradition, the tribal father sought visions to guide his people. While solemn ceremony, he might perceive spirits petitioning birth into his clan. Lengthy preparation including clay ceremonies would then follow. Tribesmen would leave the village together for several weeks to go through purification.
The tribesman's knowledge of plant life and clays used to predetermine male offspring was held in reverent secrecy. Observation of the moon as well as instinct directed the time for their return and the completion of conception ceremonies. The participating women prepared for the sacred rites at the moon lodge.
Upon the birth of their infants they would return to the lodge for further ceremony. As the moon rose in her full majesty, sacred clays were place upon the infant as a symbol of protection from lurking spirits.
Should a maiden of the tribe be violated by a vagabond, she would go to the village outskirts in solitude to heal her spirit and restore her virginity. She used food and clays daily that had been blessed by the spiritual father, as she shamelessly sought her purification.
Heat lodges were a common practice of most tribes. Some sweats lasted a few hours at the day's end. Other sweats were held deep in the heart of a mountain in caves and could last several days. Clays were traditionally used at both. The lengthy sweats were attended only by men and involved the extensive use of clay. Skilled medicine men of the tribe presided at these sites as the tribal fathers awaited spiritual vision.
Seasonal migration of the Indians would take them to sites of warm clay pools. The complete submersion of their bodies in clay held significant ceremonial purpose. It also served to cleanse and heal their bodies. As it was tribal custom never to be without the edible clays, supplies were dried to be carried on the homeward journey.
The use of clay by the American Indian was held in each tribe's tradition; it was shared only among the tribesmen. The seeking of clay took them to specific places, especially where the bubbling mud had brought sedimentary deposits to the surface in active or extinct hydro-thermal activity. On rare occasions, clay would be pastel blue, green, or pink. However, most were grey or reddish in color.
This was due to extensive mineral concentrations, especially iron left by the continuous evaporation of water in bubbling mud. The hydrolysis and fragmentation of clay minerals in the heat and steam of a hydrothermally active site, is much more complete than in the sedimentation stage. The clay minerals may otherwise be only mildly transformed in various other ways.
Climatic effects do give rise to different types of clay minerals. Modern scientific research enables us to determine the geographic zone wherein the initiation of the clay minerals' evolution began and what benefits it may have to the human body.
- Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
Weston A. Price, MS D.D.S.