Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer

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Castor Bean Tree, Oil Nut Ricino, Iguerra S’Kotch Ricinus communis Chamomile Manzanilla Anthemis nobilis Chaya Jatropha aconitifolia Chicle Tree Sapodilla Zapote, Ya Manilkara bidentata Chicoloro Strychnos panamensis Cilantro Coriandrum sativum Cockspur Zubin Acacia cornigera Copal Tree Pom Protium copal Corn Maize Im Che Zea mays Cotton Algodon Tsiin Taman Gossypium hirsutum Cow’s Hoof Vine Pata de Vaca Ki Bix Bauhinia herrerae Cross Vine, Skipping Rope A weedy tree, all parts of which are toxic. Oil is a purgative when taken internally. Apply oil locally to heal aches, pains, swellings, and bruises. Apply heated leaf to skin for the same purposes. Used universally as a mild tea for nerves, colic, sleeplessness, and indigestion. A semiwild backyard leaf vegetable high in iron and minerals. Eaten much like spinach. Principally valued for its resin, used as a base for chewing gum until the 1930s. Has a delicious fruit much prized by ancient Maya. Boil vine and drink for constipation, to cleanse internal organs; use as uterine lavage and as an antidote to poisons. A cultivated backyard vegetable used as a flavoring in sauces, soups, and salads. Make a tea of boiled seeds for insomnia and indigestion. Bark is male aphrodisiac; thorns and their resident ants are used to loosen mucus in infants. Burn dried resin as incense to ward off evil spirits, witchcraft, and spiritual diseases such as envy, fright, and grief. Bark may be boiled and drunk for stomach upsets and intestinal parasites. Sacred food to the Maya. Boil corn silk hair as a tea for all problems of kidney and bladder. Useful in preventing bedwetting. A preconquest plant. Boil leaves in sugar with other species to make cough syrup. Boil and drink vine to staunch bleeding and hemorrhaging, and take during menses as a birth control agent. Boil leaves to bathe skin conditions, headaches, insomnia,
Cruxi Paullinia sp. Duck Flower Contribo Aristolochia trilobata Fiddlewood, Walking Lady Yax Nik Vitex gaumeri Give and Take Palm Escoba Crysophila argentea Guaco Aristolochia odoratissima Jackass Bitters Tres Puntas, Mano de Lagarto Kayabim Neurolaena lobata Lemon Grass, Fever Grass Zacote Limón Cymbopogon citratus Linden Flowers, Basswood Flor de Tilo Tilia cordata Mango Tree Mangifera indica Man Vine Behuco de Hombre Ya Ax Ak Agonandra sp. Mexican Wormseed Epasote Chenopodium ambrosioides Naked Indian, Gumbolimbo Palo de Turista Chaca Bursera simaruba and diseases of childhood. Soak vine in pure water all day and take one-fourth glass three times daily for sinus congestion. Plant has some degree of toxicity. Boil vine and drink for fever, gastritis, high blood pressure, and to cleanse internal organs and urinary tract of phlegm. Dry and powder white inner bark to sprinkle on bay sore (leishmaniasis). A thorny trunk palm with many local uses. The dried leaves are woven into brooms. Scrape the inner bark and apply it to wounds and cuts to stop bleeding. The heart of this palm is edible. A woody vine used as a tea for all manner of gastric complaints. Boil leaves and drink for malaria, ringworm, intestinal parasites, amoebas, fungus, delayed menses. Dry and powder leaves to sprinkle on stubborn wounds and skin ulcers. A pleasant-tasting herb used as a beverage and to reduce fevers in children and adults. A mild sedative tea. Boil leaves with sugar until syrupy for cough, or boil with water as a tea to relieve menstrual cramps, headaches. Boil and drink vine for gastritis, constipation, indigestion, nerves, fever, and muscle spasms, and to cleanse internal organs. Boil and drink root for male impotency. Take juice of fresh plant for intestinal parasites. Drink tea of root for hangovers. Add leaves to bean pot to prevent flatulence. The bark is a natural antidote for poison-wood condition, used to reduce fevers or as a bath for skin conditions, burns, blisters, bites, rashes, measles, and infections. Drink for kidney infection, stoppage of urine, dropsy.
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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
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CHAPTER NINE Anal Psychotria acumin
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“Claudia, at your service. Maybe
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CHAPTER TEN Wild Yam Cocolmeca Dios
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He also believed in the Nine Malevo
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I had to admire Don Elijio’s simp
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stone tools, spinning whorls, shard
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four-star hotel. Panti put down his
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Spirits. All of our crystals came o
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“I leave these jícaras with you
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Crystal was sleeping on her bed und
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The aroma of moist, rotting humus w
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There was no evidence and no case,
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We opened the door wide to let the
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make them tired and dizzy. We must
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When I returned with the three-part
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Doña Juana held the lantern overhe
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ailing women came from all over Cen
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He instructed her to boil a handful
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weakness in the legs, and constipat
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Not too confidently, I began to exa
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CHAPTER FIFTEEN Balsam Tree Balsamo
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Later in the day, one of the crew,
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Panti wanted to consult his sastun
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CHAPTER SIXTEEN Allspice Pimienta G
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He was both excited and bewildered,
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I also knew what he meant when he p
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able to treat the mind, body, and s
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that once belonged to a child’s e
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Viento de descuido means Wind of Ca
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worthy of her. She comes out of the
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loodcurdling cry, followed by the s
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Panti spoke quietly to her as she g
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had first seen the book in the 1950
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CHAPTER NINETEEN Duck Flower Contri
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“They don’t understand,” he s
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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
Page 178 and 179: pamphlet. On the back, we printed a
Page 180 and 181: esembles a basement. There is a cla
Page 182 and 183: PICTURE SECTION
Page 184 and 185: Rosita with Don Elijio on the trail
Page 186 and 187: Don Elijio with patients
Page 188 and 189: Jackass Bitters
Page 190 and 191: Contribo (photos by Michael Balick)
Page 192 and 193: Polly Red Head
Page 194 and 195: Don Elijio gathering herbs on trail
Page 196 and 197: Rosita with Don Elijio chopping med
Page 198 and 199: GLOSSARY OF MAYAN WORDS c’ox ca
Page 202 and 203: Palo Verde Eupatorium (Critonia) mo
Page 204 and 205: ABOUT THE AUTHORS Rosita Arvigo Now
Page 206 and 207: COPYRIGHT HarperSanFrancisco and th
Page 208: ABOUT THE PUBLISHER Australia Harpe
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Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer

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