Native American healing is a broad term that includes healing beliefs and practices of hundreds of indigenous tribes of North America. It combines religion, spirituality, herbal medicine, and rituals that are used to treat people with medical and emotional conditions. From the Native American perspective, medicine is more about healing the person than curing a disease. Traditional healers aim to "make whole" by restoring well-being and harmonious relationships with the community and the spirit of nature, which is sometimes called God or the Great Mystery. Native American healing is based on the belief that everyone and everything on earth is interconnected, and every person, animal, and plant has a spirit or essence. Even an object, such as a river or rock, and even the earth itself, may be considered to have this kind of spirit. As an example, my spirit knife is made from the blood of the earth, obsidian, with a handle from the antler of a deer that shared his body with my family for sustenance. In one ceremony, the negative thoughts are forced out with a smoky branch, and then the knife is passed through the smoke to cut it off from re-entering the body.