healers, healers, helaers

[Caelan Arendor]

I would like to attempt a classification of the healers of Randland—let us thus call the continent on which the epic of The Wheel of Time unfolds—and I hope I have not overlooked anyone. Should I have done so, I kindly invite you to complete the list.

 

1.) Aes Sedai (White Tower assoziated), Yellow Ajah (Healers). Using the female part of the One power

2.) Wisdoms, usually (I guess so) in rural areas, sometimes - but not always - "wilders" i.e. using the One power without being aware of it

3.) Aiel, Wise Ones: Powerful spiritual leaders; some are able to wield the One Power and heal. Their healing techniques combine herbs, ritual knowledge, and channeling.

4.) Seanchan, a well-organized medical system, partly staffed by channelers (damane) who are capable of healing.

5.) Ogier, not conventional healers, I don't know much about their medical organisation at all.

6.) The "Kin", mainly resident in Ebou Dar, they consist almost entirely of older women who either once left the White Tower or were never admitted. In order not to be detected their secret society practise a gentle yet remarkably effective form of healing that combines herbal knowledge with the One Power.

 

I have wondered what the traditional healing—by which I mean the non-magical aspect of it, actually consisted of, and to which era or centuries of our own cultural history it might correspond. My assessment would be somewhere between the Middle Ages and  modern times (no reliable anaesthesia, no antibiotics, no vaccination and I guess obstretics without abdominal delivery - although this is nowhere explicitly recorded).

 

Always glad to hear your position, vy 73 --.../...--

 

Caelan