A few days ago, I took a trip up toward the mountains in Northeast Georgia.
The scenery was magnificent as we entered White County. The rolling hills and pastures were green and the cattle roamed and grazed on a beautiful spring day. I went back to the old granary in Helen, Georgia, for more stone ground corn meal, porridge, and grits.
In the areas of Gillsville, Lula, Mossy Creek and Cleveland live a number of pottery makers…a craft handed down as a sort of family tradition. Some are quite famous, like the Meaders family, who at one time were the only pottery makers in Georgia with pieces on display at the Smithsonian Institute. I recall back in the seventies going to Washington DC and visiting the Smithsonian Institute.
The main thing I wanted to see was the Hope Diamond and the Georgia pottery on display.
However, since then, I understand there are other Georgia artisans who have pieces on display there. I recall going to Mossy Creek in the past and buying the pottery pieces right there at the kiln while watching the pottery makers work at the potter’s wheel.
North Georgia is noted for its red clay soil; however, there are veins of white mud in some areas. The white mud from these pits makes beautiful pottery. I recall as a child my mother digging up the white mud and using it to paint over the hearth and area around the open fireplace.
The unusual greenish brownish glaze some pottery makers use was a guarded secret for many years.
The story goes that the pottery makers melted coca-cola bottles to obtain the patina type finish on their products. Now-a-day, signed pieces from the earlier pottery makers are sought after by collectors and are quite pricey.
As a child I remember trips to the little town of Lula where my parents would go to see an old Indian who mixed up concoctions of herbs for various ailments back during the Great Depression. Most families were into old time remedies as treatment for various ailments. In the seventies, I used to visit an elderly woman in White County who knew a lot about healing and home remedies.
She had a spring nearby and I would take jugs to fill with the wonderful tasting spring water. I would also gather blueberries with her as she related stories of methods of treating various illnesses. Her husband, in his nineties at that time, would be plowing in his cornfields.
In this 21st century, there are descendants of those families who are well educated in the healing arts of modern day man but with the family background of healing knowledge not found in large city areas.
One such person is a chiropractor and reflexologist I had not seen in 25 years and came to find after losing touch with him. I tried to locate him before, but the place he lived previously had been wiped out by a tornado and no one seemed to know where he had relocated. To my delight, I found him still practicing and he gave me a wonderful treatment. My friend, who was with me at the time, had never had a reflexology treatment and was amazed at the relief it provided for her painful shoulder.
My long-time friend is a very quiet, low-key individual with healing hands and a channel of healing which is rare and difficult to find these days. Without any drugs, and only his hands as a channel for healing, he massages away the pain.
I for one believe there is only one source of healing—a divine source—but that there are certain individuals that have the gift as a resource for the healing energy to flow through.
I have only met a few such individuals, but living in the Orient for 4 years, I have met several that use acupuncture, massage, herbal medicine, and methods handed down through families for thousands of years. I believe these individuals and their methods are truly healing channels.
There are some life-threatening situations when surgery and drugs are necessary. But it has been my experience that many ailments can be relieved and healed via other non-invasive measures. It’s a personal choice people makes for their own individual health.
I feel blessed, indeed, to have known some of these rare individuals. And suspect they cross our paths on life’s journey when we are open to receive that which may seem so unorthodox to many…open to at least examine old time remedies and methods of healing for modern day ailments that plague so many.
Let Freedom Ring!
JUST ME,
AC
