Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer

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I also knew what he meant when he promised that when I awoke from a dream vision I would feel like I would live forever. That feeling remains with me, one of the most joyous I have ever known.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Rue Ruda Sink In Ruta graveolens A cultivated herb found in most gardens of Central America. It is a panacea, an herb considered helpful in all human ailments. The aromatic leaves are used for stomach complaints, nervous disorders, painful periods, delayed or difficult childbirth, and epilepsy, and rue may be tried for any condition. Healers rely on rue in the treatment of all spiritual diseases, and it is one of the three plants that make up the protecciones. It should never be boiled but is rather squeezed fresh into water or tea. While Panti was in the second hut massaging a patient’s belly, I sat at the crate table making amulets. It was stiflingly warm that day, and I’d dragged the table as close to the door as possible in the hopes of catching any breeze, however unlikely, that happened to flutter by. Now that I had received my sastun, Panti had decided it was time for me to learn more about spiritual illnesses. That day, he put me to work making amulets, which he prescribed frequently to protect his patients against envy and black magic. I had seen him enchant these amulets with his sastun, then tell his patients to keep them close at all times, especially when they left the house or someone they didn’t trust came to visit. An amulet’s power lasts from about six months to one year before it needs to be reenchanted with the sastun. Many patients came to him for relief from spiritual illnesses. It hadn’t always been that way, but as more people in the region turned to medical doctors for physical problems, his practice had changed. Aspirin and synthetic drugs were available in the remotest villages, so many people didn’t bother to seek out traditional medicines for physical problems any longer. Panti had become famous throughout Central America for his skill in curing spiritual illnesses. Among traditional healers in Central America, there is a hierarchy. There are bonesetters, massage therapists, and snake doctors, who specialize in specific physical ailments. The next level consists of midwives, herbalists, and granny healers like Doña Juana, who are able to treat a variety of physical conditions. But there are very few of the doctor-priests, or H’mens, such as Panti, who in the Maya tradition are
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DEDICATION Dedicated to Don Elijio
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CONTENTS DEDICATION EPIGRAPH ACKNOW
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to tha
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The Whole Earth Review for assignin
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tenderness reserved for a favorite
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sometimes combining nutritional or
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MAP
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unsolved mystery until years later
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CHAPTER ONE Linden Flowers, Basswoo
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As soon as I heard his name, I almo
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The old man’s friend had come for
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the soil was impoverished, hardpan
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opposite bank. In Belizean fashion,
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of the village farms, finding an un
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“Are there no curanderos in your
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Hours later, he reappeared—showin
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CHAPTER THREE Wormseed Epasote Chen
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“It is too damp and muddy for me
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“This is Man Vine. This plant is
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man’s hand back and forth, causin
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CHAPTER FOUR Amaranth Amaranto Cala
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One day he stopped to trade and tal
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uins of the Maya city of Tikal. The
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would become seriously ill. This he
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CHAPTER FIVE Jackass Bitters Tres P
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that cure. I was sad when he left m
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three places, using the sharp end o
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myself to sleep in the dust. I had
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CHAPTER SIX Corn Maize Im Che Zea m
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“I’m willing to wait three year
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nothing about them. Please, I want
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strapping on plastic flour sacks, m
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We’d been steadily trudging uphil
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acks and the emerging midday heat.
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Where were we now? How far was it y
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we had our share of arguments. The
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the northern strain—I bathed them
Page 78 and 79: CHAPTER NINE Anal Psychotria acumin
Page 80 and 81: “Claudia, at your service. Maybe
Page 82 and 83: CHAPTER TEN Wild Yam Cocolmeca Dios
Page 84 and 85: He also believed in the Nine Malevo
Page 86 and 87: I had to admire Don Elijio’s simp
Page 88 and 89: stone tools, spinning whorls, shard
Page 90 and 91: four-star hotel. Panti put down his
Page 92 and 93: Spirits. All of our crystals came o
Page 94 and 95: “I leave these jícaras with you
Page 96 and 97: Crystal was sleeping on her bed und
Page 98 and 99: The aroma of moist, rotting humus w
Page 100 and 101: There was no evidence and no case,
Page 102 and 103: We opened the door wide to let the
Page 104 and 105: make them tired and dizzy. We must
Page 106 and 107: When I returned with the three-part
Page 108 and 109: Doña Juana held the lantern overhe
Page 110 and 111: ailing women came from all over Cen
Page 112 and 113: He instructed her to boil a handful
Page 114 and 115: weakness in the legs, and constipat
Page 116 and 117: Not too confidently, I began to exa
Page 118 and 119: CHAPTER FIFTEEN Balsam Tree Balsamo
Page 120 and 121: Later in the day, one of the crew,
Page 122 and 123: Panti wanted to consult his sastun
Page 124 and 125: CHAPTER SIXTEEN Allspice Pimienta G
Page 126 and 127: He was both excited and bewildered,
Page 130 and 131: able to treat the mind, body, and s
Page 132 and 133: that once belonged to a child’s e
Page 134 and 135: Viento de descuido means Wind of Ca
Page 136 and 137: worthy of her. She comes out of the
Page 138 and 139: loodcurdling cry, followed by the s
Page 140 and 141: Panti spoke quietly to her as she g
Page 142 and 143: had first seen the book in the 1950
Page 144 and 145: CHAPTER NINETEEN Duck Flower Contri
Page 146 and 147: “They don’t understand,” he s
Page 148 and 149: Doña Rosa spent the night and we h
Page 150 and 151: men who had asked him to give up hi
Page 152 and 153: to offer. As we left, one suggested
Page 154 and 155: Che Xiv, the chief herb formula tha
Page 156 and 157: CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Billy Webb Tree
Page 158 and 159: whispering, kissing and whispering
Page 160 and 161: “I lost my daughter. I lost my wi
Page 162 and 163: Antonio who shared his respect for
Page 164 and 165: I was unable to refuse his request.
Page 166 and 167: By the time I had finished, Antonio
Page 168 and 169: CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Cross Vine Cru
Page 170 and 171: I followed him in, and he sat down
Page 172 and 173: I saw that he was crying and bent o
Page 174 and 175: and met Saint Peter. He looked at m
Page 176 and 177: A few weeks later, on February 4, 1
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pamphlet. On the back, we printed a
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esembles a basement. There is a cla
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PICTURE SECTION
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Rosita with Don Elijio on the trail
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Don Elijio with patients
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Jackass Bitters
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Contribo (photos by Michael Balick)
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Polly Red Head
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Don Elijio gathering herbs on trail
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Rosita with Don Elijio chopping med
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GLOSSARY OF MAYAN WORDS c’ox ca
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Castor Bean Tree, Oil Nut Ricino, I
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Palo Verde Eupatorium (Critonia) mo
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS Rosita Arvigo Now
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COPYRIGHT HarperSanFrancisco and th
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ABOUT THE PUBLISHER Australia Harpe
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Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer

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