Restoring Identity and Bringing Balance through Navajo Healing Rituals

Abstract

The primary focus of the ceremonies of the Native American Navajo tribe is to bring balance by re-establishing harmony or hózhó. This article proposes that significant psychological and emotional benefits result from the identity affirmation that occurs in these ceremonies. The ceremonies recalibrate patients regarding social and supernatural relationships, and their attachment to place and time, in what the author calls cosmographic orientation. The Enemyway ceremony is the primary focus of the article.