Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer

worthy of her. She comes out of the spell with an angry fury and will only
stay if he has been good to her. It only gives the man a chance.”
“By then she could be pregnant and stuck with someone she doesn’t
love and never intended to marry,” I said. “I don’t like it. Do you enchant
men for women?”
“If they ask,” he said. “But few ever do. Women are more sensible than
men, you know.”
I let the subject drop. I knew that H’mens had performed romantic
enchantments since ancient times. I was sure that I never would; it was
against everything I believed as a woman. Had this happened earlier I might
have been scared away, but I knew by now that Don Elijio had a pure heart,
and a lot to teach me. I was here to learn. I returned to my task of making
cough syrup out of fresh mango, avocado, guanabana, and cotton leaves.
After a light dinner of beans and tortillas, Don Elijio announced it was
7:30 and time for bed. Without another word, he pulled the windows tightly
shut and sealed himself behind his battered wooden door.
As the purples of dusk suffused through the coral sky, I thought about
the question of faith. A burn is soothed by an Aloe plant, regardless if the
recipient believes in its medicinal value. But with spiritual illnesses, faith in
the healer and the cure being offered had a lot to do with the patient’s
recovery.
Still, some of Panti’s patients complained of feelings and symptoms that
were foreign to me. I didn’t know what I would say or do if a patient
blamed the wind or told me that an enemy was taking revenge through
black magic. It was a big leap of faith for me to accept that evil wishes
could cause physical or spiritual harm. Or this pleasant evening breeze.
I lifted my face toward the sky and smiled, feeling the cool wind against
my grateful body.