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    one afflicted with a disease related to Tlaloc did something to displease this god, or perhaps they hadn’t paid enough respect in honoring him. When it came to trying to heal diseases and illnesses in the Aztec culture, the healer needed wasn’t like a doctor we’d see in a hospital today. It would be more a religious priest who could connect with the supernatural world to help heal. As illnesses were seen to have more mystical origins, the healing had to be more mystical in nature. A priest’s job then was not to just treat physical ailments. It was his duty to find out what that person had done to anger and upset the gods (Brelet 1). Their job was to find out what needed to be done by the ill person in order to make the gods happy. If an illness was deemed to be caused by a specific deity, then rituals, offerings, confessions, and prayers would be made in hopes to make amends to that specific deity (Ortiz 163). Thus the members of Aztec society that we would identify as the doctors and healers had much more spiritual responsibility that we would connect with priests and religious figures. These Aztec healers, however, did not solely focus on the religious and spiritual aspects of healing. They also needed to have a “deep knowledge of the clinical features of illness and of medicinal plants…” as well as being able to “…master the spirit’s language, know tricks and magical formulae…to protect and cure their patients…” (Viesca 274). When it came to healing with medicine, Aztec doctors made use of the diverse natural world around them. Knowledge of natural remedies included over “…12,000 medicinal plants…used mainly for the purpose of treating minor ailments” (Brelet 1). One example is the use of agave sap. The sap would be placed over fresh wounds, then covered up as to not allow any air in. The agave sap had an antibiotic effect, thus it was an efficient and beneficial cure for scrapes and cuts. This method was tested in modern times and it was verified that “the Aztec treatment of wounds was effective by etic biomedical standards” (Ortiz 185). The medical practices of the Aztecs show that their version of a doctor was both a religious figure, as well a healer well trained in the use of natural medicines. Though the means of achieving health and happiness may be different from what is seen today, it is evident that the desired end result is still the same. With Aztec medical practices in order to achieve balance and live a healthy life,   one had to be respectful and aware of the world around them. If this balance was disrupted, then those who could communicate with the supernatural world were depended on to help the patient make amends and become well again. It was with the combination of religious healing and natural remedies that people were able to be restored and live healthy lives. The way Aztecs practiced medicine might seem foreign for those living today, but it seems that what is desired now is not so different from what was desired then. All that’s changed is what tools we use and who we look up to, to help restore and heal. Works Cited Brelet-Rueff, Claudine. "Culture and Health." UNESCO Courier 51.2 (1998): 6. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. Carrasco, David Religions of Mesoamerica. Long Grove, I llinois: Waveland Press, Inc., 1990. Print. Ortiz de Montellano, Bernard R. Aztec Medicine, Health, and Nutrition. New Brunswick and London: Rutgers University Press, 1990. Print. Viesca, Carlos "Medicine in Ancient Mesoamerica." Science Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science. Ed. Helaine Selin. Secaucus: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003. 259-82. Print. 2