Medicine Fathers – In the biography of Thomas Yellowtail, a medicine man of the Crow, there are regular references to “medicine fathers” who elect and initiate medicine people, giving them instructions about ritual, healing or doctoring techniques, and the taboos (requirements and restrictions) that will constrain and, if adhered to, empower them. These include other-than-human persons, for example, the Little People, and medicine people of previous generations.
See also Seven Arrows.
SOURCE:
Historical Dictionary of Shamanism by Graham Harvey and Robert J. Wallis 2007