Herbalism and Plant Medicine: A form of Healing according to one’s Religious Traditions and Beliefs

Abstract

Background of the Study

Traditional Filipino medicine takes a holistic view of the individual, including environment
factors that affect a person’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Healing practices
were first documented in the 16th century at the start of Spanish colonization. The babaylans or
shamans - who were women but also men who dressed as women or changed genders- maintained
culture, religion, medicine for their tribes, and communicated with spirits that were thought to be
associated with natural phenomena. According to Apostol, the traditional Filipino medical system was
composed of various specialties: midwifery, pulse diagnosis, bone setting, herbology, suction cupping,
skin scraping, herbal steam and smoke, energy medicine, and other forms of metaphysical healing.

In the hierarchy of healers and specialists in the Philippine folk medicine, the albularyo may be
referred to as the “general practitioner”. Knowledgeable in most of the folkloric modalities, usually
especially versed in the use of medical herbs. In the rural areas, by tradition and because of chronic
economic constraints, the albularyo’s are the general practitioners, the primary dispensers of health
care. There is usually a history of a healer in the family-line, their healing a continuum of a “calling”. The
power or ability bestowed by supernatural being, often, attributed to the Holy Spirit. Often lacking in
formal education, his skills are based on and honed from hand-me-down practices and lore, with a long
period of understudy and apprenticeship with a family elder or a local healer.

Framework/ Plan of Action

Methodology

Major Results

Conclusion

Recommendations and Implications

References