Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer

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CHAPTER TEN Wild Yam Cocolmeca Dioscorea sp. The starchy tuber of this thorny vine provided the base molecule for the birth control pill. Traditionally, the tuber is boiled and drunk as a tea for rheumatism, arthritis, anemia, kidney complaint, diabetes, and as a blood purifier. It is rich in iron and minerals. One day, out of the blue, Panti said, “It’s time to do a Primicia, Rosita. I want to introduce you to the Maya Spirits.” I was surprised and honored. The Primicia was an old Maya ritual that had all but faded from modern daily life. The purpose of the ceremony is to give thanks to, worship, and ask favors of the Nine Maya Spirits…and God. Panti talked as we tried to loosen a thick, wrinkled root of Wild Yam. “When we were young, the villagers did a Primicia in the Catholic church after each planting,” he said. “We stayed up all night, chanting and calling out to the Spirits for rain.” Before dawn, torrents of rain would pour, announced by loud cracking thunder. The thunder would awaken the tender seedlings in the fields. “We did nine Primicias a year for planting for harvests, for rain, for sick people, and sometimes just to show our love for the Spirits. For crops, the farmer would take the blessed atole and pour it on the four corners of his milpa. Hunters would do a Primicia after killing nine deer, saving each of the jawbones to place on the altar. Then the deer would lie down for you to shoot them for food.” Without the Spirits, he said, life would be impossible. It is they that bring the rain, the thunder, and the seasons and cause all things to thrive and grow. They are the caretakers of the world who look after the people, the animals, the plants, the harvests, the seasons, the day and the night, the crossroads, women in childbirth, and all aspects of daily life. Each Spirit is entrusted with certain aspects of life, he explained. For example, Yax Tum Bak is the Lord of the plantings, and Chac is the Maya God of rain. There were nine Spirits. For this reason, nine was a holy number for the Maya, he explained while we collected leaves of the thorny Escoba palm. “I
can’t tell you all the names of the Spirits because you have no sastun and it would weaken their powers. “People rarely honor the Spirits anymore,” continued Panti sadly as he stuffed the leaves in his sack. “They have no respect for the Lord of the cornfield. If you ask them to honor the Lord they will only laugh at you and say, ‘What Lord of the cornfield? I’m the only lord here. I don’t believe in your old Spirits, old man. We don’t need them anymore.’ But now look at the ugly corn they harvest and the droughts. They need the Spirits more than they know. “And our Spirits need the Primicias. It is through the Primicia that they are invited into the world of mortals. It is through the Primicias that our prayers are answered and the Spirits have life.” I had long been curious about his Maya Spirits, which he also referred to as Segundo Dios, second to God or the Right Hand of God, and I asked what they looked like. “We don’t see them as people with faces and bodies, but only see and feel their presence in the Winds. They are in and of the Winds and come to the earth in these same Winds,” he sang out. “The lightning is their machete. Their backs are visible in the flashes of lightning that tear across the skies during storms. The thunder is the sound of their voices.” With his machete in his right hand, standing tall, he mimicked the sound and fury of thunder and lightning. “Boooooom, kaboooom, boooooom, kaboooom,” he shouted with great stage presence, whirling his machete over his head. “They sound frightening,” I said. “No, no, noooh, they are very good friends,” he exclaimed excitedly. In the Maya religion, God and Spirits intermingle with mortals in every phase of life, he said. The Spirits are almost always friendly except when they see radio, television, and incest. “They get lonely and long to help us with everything,” he said. “Whatever we need they are there. If we only ask.” I thought of them as the Oversoul of the Latin peoples, similar to our concept of guardian angels or, perhaps more accurately, the archangels like Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel—the big honchos of the spiritual realm. Don Elijio said that other lesser Spirits look after every plant and animal. He called these duenos or Lords, and like the Celtic elves and fairies, they were elusive and mischievous.
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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
Page 32 and 33: “Are there no curanderos in your
Page 34 and 35: Hours later, he reappeared—showin
Page 36 and 37: CHAPTER THREE Wormseed Epasote Chen
Page 38 and 39: “It is too damp and muddy for me
Page 40 and 41: “This is Man Vine. This plant is
Page 42 and 43: man’s hand back and forth, causin
Page 44 and 45: CHAPTER FOUR Amaranth Amaranto Cala
Page 46 and 47: One day he stopped to trade and tal
Page 48 and 49: uins of the Maya city of Tikal. The
Page 50 and 51: would become seriously ill. This he
Page 52 and 53: CHAPTER FIVE Jackass Bitters Tres P
Page 54 and 55: that cure. I was sad when he left m
Page 56 and 57: three places, using the sharp end o
Page 58 and 59: myself to sleep in the dust. I had
Page 60 and 61: CHAPTER SIX Corn Maize Im Che Zea m
Page 62 and 63: “I’m willing to wait three year
Page 64 and 65: nothing about them. Please, I want
Page 66 and 67: strapping on plastic flour sacks, m
Page 68 and 69: We’d been steadily trudging uphil
Page 70 and 71: acks and the emerging midday heat.
Page 72 and 73: Where were we now? How far was it y
Page 74 and 75: we had our share of arguments. The
Page 76 and 77: 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 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 128 and 129: I also knew what he meant when he p
Page 130 and 131: 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
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Che Xiv, the chief herb formula tha
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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Billy Webb Tree
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whispering, kissing and whispering
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“I lost my daughter. I lost my wi
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Antonio who shared his respect for
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I was unable to refuse his request.
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By the time I had finished, Antonio
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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Cross Vine Cru
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I followed him in, and he sat down
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I saw that he was crying and bent o
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and met Saint Peter. He looked at m
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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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