Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS Rosita Arvigo Now retired from clinical practice, Rosita Arvigo teaches Maya abdominal therapy and Maya spiritual healing workshops around the world. She is the coauthor of Rainforest Remedies: 100 Healing Herbs of Belize (English and Spanish editions), Rainforest Home Remedies: The Maya Way to Heal Your Body and Replenish Your Soul, Spiritual Bathing: Healing Rituals and Traditions from Around the World (out of print), Medicinal Plants Used in Northern Guanajuato (Mexico) in collaboration with El Centro de Desarrollo Agropecuario (CEDESA), and Food of the Gods: Vegetarian Cooking in Belize. Rosita is at work on a historical novel about Maya women healers of Cozumel Island during the eighth century AD. She lives in Belize and San Miguel de Allende in Guanajuato, Mexico. Visit her online at www.arvigotherapy.com and www.rositaarvigo.com. Nadine Epstein Nadine Epstein is editor and publisher of the independent national Jewish magazine Moment and is an award-winning journalist and artist whose many interests include the Maya and traditional healing. Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
CREDITS Rainforest photograph: R. Frerck. Courtesy of Odyssey. Inset photograph: Carol Becker
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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
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men who had asked him to give up hi
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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 200 and 201: Castor Bean Tree, Oil Nut Ricino, I
Page 202 and 203: Palo Verde Eupatorium (Critonia) mo
Page 206 and 207: COPYRIGHT HarperSanFrancisco and th
Page 208: ABOUT THE PUBLISHER Australia Harpe
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