Q: How do we cite data points found on the Archive of Healing™?
A: Each card has a "down" arrow on the right side. Choosing this will expand the card, showing you the RID number and original source information. Please cite the original source of the data you wish to reference, and conclude your citation with the RID number where you would otherwise place a DOI. For more detailed instructions on citing information from our website, please refer to this MLA guide.
Q: Will the Archive of Healing expand to include new (in addition to historic) data on non-allopathic healing modalities?
A: The AH will soon (2022) include a platform that will welcome the submission of new data from experienced healers registered with the archive.
Q: Why do we select interest areas at the account registration stage?
A: In time, as the Archive of Healing welcomes new data onto the site, our team will send users occasional notices about the incorporation of data pertaining to their interests. Please note that you can change your registered interests at any point during your membership.
Q: What does the ATM search filter do?
A: ATM stands for Archive of Traditional Medicine. Some data is coded as ATM because our team wishes to highlight that these data points were inherited from the previous project under prior Directors. Our team sometimes considered ATM content dated and most useful for scholars trained to critically analyze problematic language often pervasive in medical folklore. Scholars interested in colloquialisms or folk sayings around particular topics might find it useful to select ATM as a filter while browsing the database. Users who do not register as scholars might see little or no results upon selecting the ATM filter.
Q: I noticed during the account creation process that I can choose from various user type options and more than one apply to me. Can I select more than one user role at any stage of my membership?
A: Absolutely. Upon setting up your account, you can choose to identify as a healer as well as a scholar and card reviewer (we’re constantly looking for these). You can also change your user type at any time. Please note that the AH team relies on your honest self-identification in selecting user roles, and requests background information only from prospective advisory board members. Changes to your site navigability upon adding a user type can take up to a week as AH staff members review your request.
Q: I have requested an account and have yet to be approved and I have waited for over one week. Is there a reason I have not been approved?
A: Thank you for your interest in the Archive's content. Because the data includes sensitive content, we are careful of data miners and other extractive motivations. For that reason, not all account requests are approved. Users are denied accounts for a variety of reasons, mostly due to email addresses not being able to be confirmed or supplied email addresses not associated with reliably safe email hubs. Users may be approved as general users although they requested healer or researcher status. If you were not approved for your particular user type beyond "general," feel free to send us an email with your professional URL or institutional affiliations. Please note that Advisory Board and Card Reviewer user types are by invitation only.
Q: Can you explain more about how changing my user type will affect what I see on the site?
A: Depending on what user type(s) you select, you will be granted website content viewing access ranging from levels one to four, with level four allowing you to see nearly all data points documented by the AH. Each card is coded with a number between 1-5 based on how safe it is for a general audience. Each number is assigned to a user type, so that user types with level one access will be able to view cards coded as 1, level two access will allow users to view cards coded as 1 and 2, and so on.
Level One Access to Data: General User
Any data that has been coded “1” is available to all users who enter the Archive of Healing™. By coding an entry 1, it has been marked a viable healing modality and recurring in healing archives across different cultures and time periods. For example, The use of molasses is repeatedly referenced as a treatment for burn wounds and might be considered less effective than some clinical medications. However, upon conducting research, the AH team found that molasses indeed boasts many healing properties, some of which heal burn wounds. Thus data points labeled “1” are deemed harmless for a general audience and relevant for those interested in researching widespread non-allopathic cures.
Level Two Access to Data: Healer
Healers have access to data coded “1” and “2”. Healers include, but are not limited to, allopathic doctors, herbalists, homeopaths, energy healers, shamans, midwives, nurses, witches, acupuncturists, crystal healers, Pranic healers, traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, indigenous healers, and all traditional cultural healers. Data coded as “2” is not visible in general user searches because level 2 content, if applied at home (please see warnings on our home page), could potentially harm individuals who do not have licensed training in discerning safe from unsafe healing practices. Level 2 data might include rare/unconventional ingredients or objects, powerful plants or medicines with potentially negative effects upon application, the use of animals or animal parts, energetic healing such as that leveraged by a priest or shaman, and all healing practices involving methods such as guided breathing, insertion, extraction. Level 2 data has been made accessible to healers with the expectation that they may incorporate this information into their own healing knowledge with acute discernment and discretion.
Level Three Access to Data: Advisory Board Member
Advisory Board Members have access to data cards coded as “1”, “2” and “3.”These data points hinged on the borderline of cultural appropriation and require further research by the AH administrative team into how these data points should be credited. Some of the verbiage may be hard to understand, racist, and in other ways offensive. The AH upholds that despite the offensive language on code 3 data points, the data offered might be valuable for scholars and historians who might locate knowledge sources for card content where the AH administrative team cannot. Many pieces of code 3 data have extreme effects on the body, some affecting fertility and biological chemical balance, and so invite review from advisory board members who might comment on how this information should be stored and distributed.
Level Four Access to Data: Scholar
Scholars have access to data cards coded “1”, “2,” and “5.” Data coded “5” is restricted to scholars, advanced healers, or archivists. Data 5’s contents are deemed more harmful than helpful—its language racist, sexist, transphobic, or homophobic; its content dangerous. For example, one cure for typhoid is coded “5” because the cure – ramming a hot iron coated with sulfur down the throat – is ineffective, and also extremely dangerous. Likely fatal. Another example of code 5 data is a recommendation for the cure of leeches for varicose veins. Although placing leeches on the body is not necessarily harmful, leech treatment has been proven particularly ineffective in reducing visibility of varicose veins. Additionally, the data card documents the cause of varicose veins as “poison blood,” mis-information which might lead to potential stigma surrounding varicose veins. The AH maintains documentation of crude remedies due to its potential usefulness for researchers analyzing time and site specific histories of healing and medicine.
Level Five Access to Data: Archive Director
The Archive’s Director is the only individual holding access to data cards coded “1,” “2”, “3,” “4,” and “5”. Code 4 data points include cards recommending names of plants the AH team has never heard of, and which require further research and identification before being released to a public audience. Some Code 4 data points run the risk of being culturally appropriated, and await review from the director as to how these data points might be sourced and repatriated.