Cleansing Rites of Curanderismo Limpias Espirituales of Ancient Mesoamerican Shamans

and Yucatec Maya was not simply about prophesying. The diviners were also shaman statisticians, who spotted recurring patterns and used ceremonial offerings and rites to continue a trend or change it. It is only fairly recently that these codices have been deciphered. The last four decades have witnessed an explosion in the scholarship of epigraphy and iconography, but there is still much to be done. While scholars have been able to work out much of the calendrical order and to recognize some of the deities, creatures, and objects depicted, the contexts in which they have been portrayed are still not fully understood. The content of these codices is more difficult to decipher. They often deal with divinatory or shamanic practices, providing private, less accessible information. 2 Only a select few were taught how to read and practice the divinatory rites contained in these codices. This has made their decipherment more challenging, although not impossible. The most important corpus of precontact imagery related to the ancient Maya is contained in a group of three Yucatecan Postclassic codices: the Dresden, Paris, and Madrid codices. A fourth text, the recently reported Yucatecan Postclassic codex, the Grolier, is ten pages of a once larger screenfold and is primarily concerned with deities and calendrics pertaining to Venus. 3 I have principally drawn from the Madrid and Dresden codices because there has been substantially more work done in deciphering and interpreting these two books as they may relate to limpia rites. The Dresden Codex provides the clearest and most precise information regarding the attributes and names of the Maya deities. 4 During the bombing of Dresden during World War II, the codex suffered extensive water damage. Fortunately, Ernst Förstemann had issued photographic reproductions of the codex in 1880 and 1892, and most scholars largely rely on these. Compared to the Dresden, the quality of execution of the Madrid Codex is generally poor. This is not simply a matter of crude craftsmanship; in addition, frequent scribal errors can be detected. 5 Anthony Aveni posits that the Madrid almanac postdates the Dresden almanac by 131 years, and that the subtle differences in the iconography and intervallic structure of the Madrid example represent intentional changes made to provide a better fit with later astronomical and meteorological events. 6 Codices focused on various activities that had ceremonial dimensions, such as drilling fire, harvesting corn, anointing, and weaving. According to the traditional interpretation, each of the almanac’s frames were associated with the

series of dates in the 260-day tzolk’in calendar that could be used for determining an appropriate day for the activity represented in the almanac. For example, the following tzolk’in days—4 ahau, 4 eb, 4 kan, 4 cib, and 4 lamat —were considered good for anointing objects, temples, and shamans with blue paint. 7 Blue, as depicted in the Madrid Codex, appears to be related to rainfall and abundance and was used to bless and anoint various objects. 8 The deciphering of these codices reveals that they were also likely used to schedule activities or rituals in relation to the 365-day ha’b calendar, providing, for example, prognostications for the corn crop for the year in question. 9 Many of the activities that the codices depict can be linked to particular months in the 365-day ha’b calendar. The codices were then likely consulted to schedule a ceremonial rite per both the ha’b calendar and the 260-day tzolk’in calendar, predict a likely outcome, and suggest how to change or continue the outcome. Six codices and two additional fragments constitute another set of precontact manuscripts, known as the Borgia group. *11 The Borgia group is one of the most important precontact screen-fold books concerned with the religion and rituals of the Aztec empire. It was likely written by the confederacies of Eastern Nahuas also known as the Tolteca-Chichimeca, who dominated the Tlaxcala-Puebla region. 10 Because of the more extensive work done on research and interpretation of the Borgia group, I was able to utilize both primary and secondary sources concerning these texts to understand their view of limpia rites. The Borgia group depicts ritual calendars, religious content, and ritual information. 11 Like the Maya codices, the Borgia group employs both the 260- day tonalpohualli calendar and the 365-day xiuhpohualli calendar. 12 The first eight pages of the Codex Borgia enumerate the 260 days of the tonalpohualli together with images that seem to carry information about the qualities of these days. The next five pages depict twenty deities, which carry information about the supernatural qualities of each of the twenty days. We know Borgia tables were consulted regarding the timing of feasts and the planning of rituals dedicated to the gods who presided over the movable tonalpohualli feast days. The Codex Borgia features numerous divisions of the tonalpohualli calendar applied to prophecies for births, marriages, deaths, and feasts. 13 Recent studies suggest that pages in the Codex Borgia may also concern the timing of 365-day annual rituals, implying that certain almanacs in central Mexican screen-folds could have functioned as real-time calendrical instruments. Scholars note various references to the 365-day xiuhpohualli calendar in the Codex Borgia. 14 Another codex, known as Codex Borbonico or Borbonicus, because it is

located in the Bourbon Palace in Paris, today the National Assembly of France, is the largest (approximately 39 by 39.5 centimeters) of the known codices concerning the 260-day tonalpohualli rites. It was produced by the Mexica at the time of the conquest. Because of its date and detail, the Borbonico is recognized as one of the most important sources for the study of the beliefs and rituals of the ancient Mexica. 15 The Borbonico is completely accessible online, but the context and meaning of its frames are still being interpreted and deciphered, particularly concerning information that may inform us about limpia rites. POSTCONTACT ETHNOHISTORICAL RECORDS In addition to writing calendrical augury-type codices, we know that the citystates of the Mesoamerican plateau maintained records that were specific to their own polities and traditions. These books were known as amoxtli. 16 Each royal family had a designated individual within the lineage who not only inherited the texts but was responsible for preserving them, keeping them current, and making certain that they passed to the proper heir. 17 Sadly, the Spanish conquest of the Mesoamerican peoples resulted in a systematic eradication of thousands of their books, along with countless other abuses and injustices. The ostensible conversion of these peoples to Christianity became the legal and moral justification, or excuse, for Spanish imperialism. 18 The missionaries who came to convert these peoples saw their books as a threat to their own mission, so they engaged in massive and methodical book burnings. We nonetheless have a substantial number of postcontact records and books that are incredibly informative about the daily life, polities, and religious practices of these peoples. A few missionaries, who were greatly influenced by Renaissance humanism, helped to preserve this past and its memory. Those priests included Andrés de Olmos, Friar Bernardino de Sahagún, Fray Juan de Torquemada, Friar Alonso de Molina, Diego Durán, Gerónimo de Mendiata, and their disciples, including the famous group of mestizo and indigenous students of the Colegio Imperial de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco (the Imperial College of the Holy Cross of Tlatelolco). Friar Diego de Landa, also influenced by Renaissance humanism, wrote his Relación de las cosas de Yucatán (Account of the matters of the Yucatán), documenting some of the Yucatec Maya history, polities, religion and traditions. The Spanish friars that produced these works had their own distinct agendas and

attitudes, which included eliminating what they viewed as idolatry and other practices that impeded their proselytization and culturalization efforts; improving their own linguistic skills to be able to communicate with the indigenous peoples; and drafting ecclesiastical treatises in native languages for the Mass, the confessional, and the catechism. 19 A handful of indigenous and mestizo historians and poets, including Alvarado Tezozomoc, Juan Bautista Pomar, Juan de Tovar, Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxóchitl, Chimalpahin, and Muñoz Camargo, also attempted to preserve elements of the amoxtli tradition postcontact. 20 They did what they could to ensure that future generations would have a record of their illustrious past. Tezozomoc, for example, was a dynastic noble and was concerned with Mexica history. His book contains a mixture of migration, genealogy, and altepetl (city-state) history and chronicles the history of the Mexica from the first to the last ruler. Tezozomoc’s contemporary Chimalpahin wrote about the society and politics of Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, and Texcoco and documents the precontact rulers of these city-states. Ixtlilxóchitl wrote about the history of many of the indigenous peoples of the Aztec empire and also documented some of the precontact medicine songs. Tovar’s Tovar Codex, also known as the Ramírez Codex, contains detailed information about the rites and ceremonies of the Mexica. The codex is illustrated with fifty-one full-page paintings in watercolor, which are highly reminiscent of precontact pictographic manuscripts. Thanks to the work of Franciscan monks Andrés de Olmos and Bernardino de Sahagún, we have many of the discourses of Mexica sages and old men. The monks spent decades gathering these didactic or exhortative speeches, which aimed at instilling basic moral principles in the minds of children, young people, and adults. These speeches were gathered from the lips of elderly survivors who had memorized and recited them before the conquest. 21 Bernardino de Sahagún was also responsible for compiling and transcribing the General History of the Things of New Spain or the Florentine Codex, which comprises 2,400 pages organized into twelve books and approximately 2,500 illustrations drawn by native artists using both native and European techniques. The Florentine Codex documents the culture, religious cosmology, ritual practices, society, economics, and history of principally the Mexica, as well as relaying an account of the conquest of Mexico. 22 Sahagún came to the Americas, or “New Spain,” in 1529. In 1536, he helped establish the first European school of higher education in the Americas, the Colegio Imperial de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco. The school served to evangelize its indigenous students, trained and

recruited them into the Catholic clergy, and was a center for the study of native languages, particularly Nahuatl. 23 In 1558, Sahagún was commissioned to write in Nahuatl about topics that would be useful to the church’s evangelization efforts. Thereafter he conducted research for about twenty-five years and spent approximately fifteen years editing, translating, and copying. 24 He wrote the Florentine Codex to enable missionaries to learn about indigenous beliefs and worldviews, so they could become more effective in their evangelization. The manuscript became part of the collection of the Laurentian Library, a library in Florence, Italy, after its creation in the late sixteenth century. Scholars only became aware of its existence after the bibliographer Angelo Maria Bandini published a description of it in Latin in 1793. 25 The works of Dominican monk Diego Durán are also extensive and insightful in documenting Mexica culture and limpia rites. He produced three works: Book of the Gods and Rites, a remarkably detailed description of the life of the Mexica civilization; The Ancient Calendar, one of the main guides to the intricate Mesoamerican system of counting time; and The History of the Indies of New Spain, which traces the Mexica from their beginnings to their conquest. 26 These sixteenth-century books were the result of diligent and arduous consultation with reliable sources, which included written materials and conversations with living informants. Durán was meticulous in validating his information, and on occasion would travel many miles to ascertain a single fact. The written documents he relied on included the codices, some of which he was trusted to look at in secret. 27 His informants encompassed hundreds of native informants, as well as Fray Francisco de Aguilar, who had been a soldier under Cortès. 28 Like Sahagún, Durán became aware of the continuation of Mesoamerican religious practices, belief systems, and ceremonial rites. The ongoing observance of Mesoamerican religious practices frequently included alleged indigenous converts to the Christian faith. Often these practices, he thought, masqueraded as being Christian, but in reality were continuing indigenous traditions in many respects. Consequently, he felt it imperative to understand these ancient beliefs so that the missionaries could successfully convert these peoples. 29 Relación de las cosas de Yucatán, by Franciscan monk Friar Diego de Landa, was pivotal for understanding Yucatec Maya polities, religious beliefs, and practices, as well as the ha’b ceremonial rites. De Landa wrote this work when he was on trial for atrocities he committed in the Yucatán. It is

questionable whether he would have written the book at all had he not been put on trial. This work was likely a way to defend his barbaric tactics and provide evidence for his more humane methods of evangelization—facilitating the understanding of the Maya to help ensure their conversion. This work has been critical in understanding ancient Maya culture and has greatly contributed to the recent explosion in the decipherment of Maya epigraphy and iconography. The principal informants for this book were Gaspar Antonio Chi and Nachi Cocom. Gaspar Antonio Chi was a Maya noble of Mani and worked primarily as a translator between the Spanish and Maya. Nachi Cocom was the last ruler of the Cocom lineage, and he showed de Landa some of the sacred Maya writings. De Landa later found out that Nachi, along with many others, was still practicing the ancient religious ways after he had been baptized. As a result Nachi was executed. 30 A decade before de Landa’s arrival in the Yucatán in 1549, Spanish bishops had met in Mexico and ordered, among other things, that whipping and flogging should not be used to enforce obedience to the church or in matters of faith. 31 De Landa, however, declared himself “apostolic judge” under the papal bulls of 1535. He proceeded, without process or previous information or any other steps, to imprison all indigenous people he believed were still practicing their ancient ways, and he used torture to get information and set examples. 32 Because of ongoing reports of de Landa’s heinous actions, he was sent to Spain for trial in 1562, and remained there until 1573. He wrote his book in 1566. He defended his countless atrocities against the indigenous peoples of the Yucatán by contending that the Spaniards, being so few in number, could not have reduced so populous a country without the threat of terrible punishments. 33 I also draw from the Ritual of the Bacabs an eighteenth-century Yucatec Maya manuscript on curanderismo curing rites and incantations. *12 The text reflects ancient Maya beliefs along with Christian interpolations, evidencing an ongoing line of recitation going back to colonial days. A few curanderas/os that I worked with incorporated medicine songs from the Ritual of the Bacabs and taught me to do the same. Finally, I refer to the sixteenth-century K’iché’ Popol Vuh and a Chorti legend poem. The sixteenth-century Yucatec Maya were no doubt unique and different from the K’iché’ and Chorti. There were, however, some common threads concerning tools used to conduct limpias. I use these other sources only where I have a comparative Yucatec Maya source, mainly de Landa’s ethnographic work. I place this ethnographic data in dialogue with other sources

on the Maya, so they may amend, deepen, and possibly correct our understanding of Yucatec Maya limpia practices. The Popol Vuh is a Santa Cruz K’iché’ bible written in the sixteenth century using Latin script. It is apparent that this book is based on various sources, including codices, as well as traditional oral recitations. It is largely an ontological work composed of myths, legends, history and ethics. The Chorti poem is less well known, but it adds to the richness and understanding of sweeping, renewal, and limpias.

I 4 Platicas Ejecting Unwanted Energies from the Body n curanderismo, platicas are heart-straightening talks, in which a person vocalizes and releases that which weighs heavy in their heart and soul to facilitate a healing, purification, renewal, and/or rebirth. A platica serves as a way to purge toxic emotions and imbalances, enable one to begin to stand in one’s own power, and beseech metaphysical help. The curandera/o sets and holds sacred space for this type of limpia; asks questions to facilitate the purge, realization, and renewal; and says prayers or magical invocations calling for divine aid. A platica can also be a way to determine what other, if any, kind of limpia may be helpful or necessary. Platicas are different from standard therapy. The latter typically focuses on simply healing the mind or psyche of the client, who may then have to go to another source for spiritual or physical healing. The curandera/o, on the other hand, will address the mind, body, spirit, and soul during a platica. The ethnographers writing about ancient Mexica and Yucatec Maya platicas often identified them as “confessions” or “rhetoric.” Platicas do resemble the Catholic tradition of confession: both typically involve an absolution of wrongdoings through confession and prayer. The “rhetoric” that is mentioned is indeed graceful and poetic, as Ixtlilxóchitl frequently points out. It is nonetheless more than just poetic rhetoric; it is imbued with sacrality. The context of these ancient platicas reveals that they contained shamanic elements. The shaman held space for and invoked divine aid from different dimensions to facilitate healings, purification, energetic releases, rebirth, and renewal. THE PLATICA RITES OF THE MEXICA

Platicas for the Mexica could release wrongdoings, emotional or mental woes, and illnesses, and typically involved invoking supernatural aid. These wrongdoings, or straying from one’s truth, were believed to dislocate the heart from its proper place, which could then cause disease, community disdain, or bad fortune. Straying from one’s truth could encompass failing to think good thoughts, laxity in endeavors, or not being diligent in performing offerings of gratitude. 1 Platicas could also serve as prayers or offerings to deities and as eloquent poetic requests for absolution, purification, and aid (see plate 3). Platicas were done frequently and in many settings, including during state calendrical rites, in households or temples, and as absolutions before death. The cihuatlamacazque (female shaman) or tlamacazque (male shaman) would restore internal order to the individual’s physical being by returning the heart to its proper place, from which it had been dislocated. Repeating the problems out loud ejected their associated energies from the body, thereby curing the individual. 2 Two principal deities presided over the platica: Tezcatlipoca and Tlazolteotl. The Mexica believed that Tezcatlipoca, who was invisible and omnipresent, saw everything. 3 Tezcatlipoca was one of the four sons of the creator deity, Ometeotl, and was associated with the night sky, night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, enmity, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, jaguars, sorcery, beauty, war, and strife. Tezcatlipoca, whose name is often translated as “Smoking Mirror,” typically appeared with a smoking obsidian mirror at the back of his head and another replacing one of his feet. 4 Mirrors were often used for shamanic rituals to see the circumstances concerning past, present, or future events. 5 Platica rites were a common practice prior to the commemoration of Tezcatlipoca, which took place every four years, and was known as the Feast of Toxcatl. People throughout the Aztec empire began to engage in a general remission of wrongdoings and a call for divine help ten days before the feast. 6 In Tenochtitlan, the image of Tezcatlipoca was made of black obsidian. Obsidian and pyrite were the materials that were commonly used to make mirrors; this association reinforced Tezcatlipoca’s role as a diviner or sorcerer. In other city-states within the Aztec empire, Tezcatlipoca was made of wood, carved in the form of a man, and completely black from his temples down. He was typically dressed in lavish native garments. Images of him usually had his head encircled with a band of burnished gold, ending in a golden ear painted with fumes or scrolls, used by the scribes to indicate speech. The gold ear in his

headdress indicated that Tezcatlipoca heard the platicas of the people. 7 The people of the Aztec empire prepared for the platicas and the Feast of Toxcatl by dedicating all the shrines of Tezcatlipoca with perfumes, incense, copal, tobacco, flowers, and food. It was also common to abstain from eating and engaging in sexual relations for several days before the platicas and the feast. Fasting was both an offering and a way to cleanse the body. 8 Ten days before the Feast of Toxcatl, the shamans dressed Tezcatlipoca in his finest attire and accoutrements—all the best that could be given to him. After he had been meticulously dressed, the door or curtain covering him was removed for all to see. A hierarch of the temple, the titlacahuan, set the stage by acknowledging and honoring sacred space before the platicas commenced. He would be decked out as the mirror image of Tezcatlipoca, wearing exactly the same clothes and fanciful accoutrements, and carried flowers and a small clay flute in his hands. He turned to the east, south, west, and north, playing the flute. The flute gave a shrill sound, waking and calling the spirits and ancestors of all four directions. 9 Next, all those who could hear him placed a finger on the ground, smeared earth on it, and ate the earth that stuck to their finger. This practice was often understood as honoring the deity of the earth, Tlaltecutli, and served as a declaration to the truth of what one was saying. 10 Thereafter they invoked the aid of Tezcatlipoca through speaking out and declaring their wrongdoings. They often cried and humbly requested to be absolved of their transgressions, as well as to have their difficulties alleviated. 11 The other shamans at smaller temples of Tezcatlipoca held the physical space for the energy to be released from the troubled stories told during the platicas. Tezcatlipoca and the spirits of the four cardinal spaces also held the metaphysical space for the release of the energy, and, if asked sincerely, would render divine aid for whatever ailment or misfortune needed to be lifted. This elaborate state-sponsored platica ceremony served as a mass purification for the peoples of the Aztec empire and procured their well-being. Deities were said to reveal themselves through the inspiration of spoken poetry and sacred songs, as well as through cries from devotees. Poetic spoken words and sacred songs were invocations to deities, requesting their absolution and aid. 12 When the huey tlatoani (ruler) had been installed, for example, he invoked the aid of Tezcatlipoca to fulfill his mission through poetic rhetoric. 13 Caretakers of the sacred songs would issue a summons so that the singer shamans would be taught these songs. 14 The pipiltzin (noble) daughters were

told to awake and arise promptly, at the parting of the night, and to speak and cry out to the master, the lord, to him of the night and the wind. It was said that these deities or deity would aid those who called upon them ritually, humbly, and genuinely. 15 Tlazolteotl, the goddess of both restoration and filth, was also believed to remove people’s impurities during the platica, while her earthly diviners were responsible for listening and inquiring. 16 Tlazolteotl, known as the Great Spinner and Weaver or the Filth Deity, was associated with sweeping limpia rites, fertility and childbirth, the moon, menses, the steam bath, purification, sexuality, witchcraft, healing, and sexual misdeeds. She absolved sins, healed illnesses, and forgave. 17 Before death, it was common to summon a tlapouhqui, a shaman of Tlazolteotl skilled in the reading and interpretation of the sacred books, so that the dying person could confess all wrongdoings. If the confessor was a person of importance, the platica would take place at his or her house; if not, the person would go to the tlapouhqui on the day advised. The two would sit on new mats beside a fire. The tlapouhqui threw incense into the flames and invoked the deities while smoke filled the air. The tlapouhqui would call out to the deities, letting them know of the confessor’s request to have a heart-straightening talk to heal and pacify the heaviness from his or her heart. Then the tlapouhqui instructed the confessor to confess without restraint or shame. 18 The confessor touched the earth with a finger, swore to do so, and told of his or her life at length, recounting wrongdoings. The person was supposed to tell all and conceal nothing. The tlapouhqui typically commanded the confessor to engage in penances, such as making restitution to persons harmed, engaging in fasts, and piercing the tongue. Once the penance had been completed, the confessor was absolved and all actions were balanced, and he or she could no longer be punished for previous trespasses. 19 THE PLATICA RITES OF THE YUCATEC MAYA As with the Mexica, platicas for the Yucatec Maya could release indiscretions, emotional or mental woes, and illnesses, as well as invoke supernatural aid. Wrongdoings were believed to cause disease, community disdain, or bad fortune, such as plagues. During times of illness, plague, and danger, platicas were a critical tool for the people to be purified and freed from these difficulties, and

also served to implore the aid of deities. The individual would confess his or her wrongdoings to the shamans. If a shaman was unavailable, then the person would confess to parents or spouses. Everybody in the community was expected to engage in this spoken release of wrongdoings, both during challenging times and on a regular basis. Offerings of incense and prayer typically followed the platica. 20 During the elaborate caput-sihil ceremony for Yucatec Maya children, platicas served as a way to release wrongdoings and secure a rebirth. When parents of children between the ages of three and twelve determined that the child had reached an age of social transformation, and could even marry, they informed the community’s shaman, the ah-kin, who would then perform this ceremony. It was intended to predispose the child toward good conduct and habits and an honorable life, and to keep the child free from harm. Friar Diego de Landa identifies this ceremony as a baptism. 21 But as I say in chapter 8, the manner in which the principal ritual space was set up— mirroring the cosmos and creating a central bridge that connected the mundane with divine realms— makes the ritual more reminiscent of a cosmic rebirthing ceremony than of a Christian baptism. Typically, Christian baptisms are centered on acceptance into the faith. By contrast, the elaborate cosmic staging and performance of the caput-sihil ceremonies suggest that they purified the adolescent and marked a transition into another period of life—a kind of rebirth. Hence I use the terms rebirthing or coming of age to refer to this ceremony. The ceremony typically involved the rebirthing or coming of age of a group of children from the community. A ceremonial fiesta was given for the rebirthing ceremony. On the day of the fiesta, the children and their families gathered at the house of the host. The patio was meticulously swept and cleansed. The boys and girls were placed in separate lines on the patio, where an older woman and man of the community cleansed them with fresh leaves. Then the ah-kin cleansed and prepared the house for the children’s renewal. The four men who had been chosen to act as chacs, *13 representatives of the gifts and wisdom of the cardinal spaces or skybearers, then placed white cloths on the children’s heads. At that point, the ah-kin would have the oldest child, representing the whole group, confess any wrongdoings. If there were any indiscretions to confess, they were separated from the others and would confess before the ah-kin. Thereafter the ah-kin began to bless the children with long prayers and to sanctify them with hyssop. The act of confessing, followed by prayers, was a critical component of the process. 22 Verbalizing any wrongdoings ejected them out of the children’s bodies, purified

the children from these transgressions, and prepared them to undergo a cosmic rebirth into a new stage of their lives. The spoken word, in the form of poetic recitations, was a means of facilitating the release, and could also serve as part of the offering for divine help. The recitations known as the Ritual of the Bacabs are often sung or chanted to cure various illnesses, such as fever, gout, smallpox, rattlesnake bites, wasp bites, and asthma. 23 The K’iché’ Popol Vuh indicates how the spoken word served as an offering to the deities. According to this text, the creators first created four-footed animals and birds, then told them to praise them by speaking and calling their names. The creators, who had sought to be nourished and sustained in this way, were dismayed to find that the animals could not speak and could only hiss, scream, and cackle. Because the animals were unable to honor them through speech, the creators decided that they would serve as food and would live in the ravines and woods. The creators then made beings from the earth, but these simply melted away. Then they created manikins, beings made of wood, but they too were unable to speak. As a result, the creators killed them with a great flood. 24

Figure. 4.1. The breath or spoken word as offerings, from the Madrid Codex, pages 24 and 25. Illustrations by Carolina Gutierrez. INTEGRATING ANCIENT MESOAMERICAN WISDOM We have created a society that has been dissociated from the earth, her elements, and ourselves, so it is no wonder that many people suffer from depression and discontent and are unhappy with their livelihoods. I have gained indispensable insights from the ancient Mexica and Yucatec Maya that have greatly enhanced the effectiveness of my platicas. The platica mirrors a path I encourage my clients and students to take and embody—treating life as sacred, and being in a constant state of awe, wonderment, and gratitude. The more we are in these states, the more we connect with people and are provided with circumstances to be grateful for. Thus I encourage people to

engage in small ceremonies and to begin to treat life as a sacred ceremony, especially if they are experiencing any degree of depression. In a platica, I navigate people through a cleansing and healing, and, if they are ready, a renewal of power. People who come to me with various levels of depression, stagnancy, or confusion begin to have focus and drive again after only a few sessions. They discover and activate new talents, feel renewed vigor, and often step into their power to create their reality. Of course they must do the homework I assign. (I will say more about this homework below.) PLATICAS AS SACRED CEREMONY 1. Preparing for the Platica Treating the platica as a sacred practice in and of itself facilitates the healing, clearing, and revitalizing aspects of this limpia. For the session (like any other), I always wear white or light-colored clothes. I was taught that white, as well as lighter colors in general, will not absorb dense energies. I also make sure the healing room in which I perform my sessions is cleansed and ready to receive people. (I discuss how to cleanse rooms in chapter 8, see here). I generally do not fast or ask my clients to fast, unless we are doing the final stages of soul retrieval and a platica is part of this work. I do, however, eat clean, light, nonprocessed vegetarian meals before my platicas. Is this necessary? Every person’s body type is different. It is critical to learn to listen to our bodies so that we are always focused, grounded, fully aware, and performing at our peak. Eating very clean food has been ideal for me as a curandera. Whether I am working with the client remotely or in person, before I begin I tune into their energy and prepare a complex blend of herbal teas to make the platica more effective. I am aware of the medicinal and magical properties of plants, and call upon their soul essence to help heal, cleanse, and revitalize my client’s mind, body, spirit, and soul. Of course, if the session takes place in person, I share the tea with my client. If it is remote, I thank the soul essence of the plants to work through me on my client’s behalf. The combination typically involves three to five plants and reflects what I tune into or already know about the person. Depending on availability, I may get fresh plants from my garden, or use ones that I have already dried. I use 1.5 to 2 teaspoons of dried herbs, or 2 to 4 teaspoons of fresh herbs, for 8 ounces of water. Here are some common emotionally related ailments and plant

combinations: Depression: lemon balm, St. John’s wort, sage, bergamot, damiana, chives, geranium, echinacea, rose hips, or sunflower petals Anxiety and stress: echinacea, lemon balm, basil, chamomile, sage, lavender, bergamot, or cilantro Insomnia: chamomile, sage, peppermint, valerian, passionflower, lemongrass, damiana, lemon balm, thyme, chives, or fresh flowers from an orange or lemon tree Broken hearts: dandelion, peppermint, rosemary, lavender, geranium, lemon thyme, basil, or red roses Anger (either directed at or coming from my client): basil, mug-wort, oregano, lavender, chamomile, or peppermint Shock: lemon balm, chamomile, or basil Envy (either directed at or coming from my client): snapdragon, crushed dill seed, geranium, chamomile, or parsley If I feel beforehand that the energy is going to be very dense, I prepare a white fire with a couple of handfuls of Epsom salts, a splash of rubbing alcohol, and dry plants such as basil, rosemary, chamomile, rue, mint, tobacco, and/or parsley to help clear dense energies. (I talk more about how to do a white fire limpia in chapter 8, see here.) The density typically has to do with volatile emotions, such as anger, rage, deep resentment, or grave envy related to the story that will be shared. I usually burn the white fire after the person has shared the story with me in order to transform this energy into a much lighter one. As I indicate below, I may have the client throw something into the fire, or I burn it while I am cleansing the client with a feather fan, rattle, and Florida water. *14 2. Conducting the Platica When I commence any platica, I always begin by lighting a charcoal tablet and placing copal, frankincense, and myrrh on it. This is known as a New Fire and is symbolic of creating a new path. (In chapter 5, see here, I explain further what a New Fire signifies and entails.) Burning these resins set the stage for the platica, acknowledging that the space where it is being done is sacred and signaling that whatever is being said is to be treated with the highest regard. The offering is for

all of my, and the person’s, divine helpers, inviting them to join us. These resins are also known to clear and drive out dense energies. If people are unfamiliar with these resins, I further prepare the space by explaining their purpose. My mentors taught me that a platica was a way to help people eject the energies of whatever troubled them. People should be made to feel comfortable to share their story and whatever is troubling them or what they need help with. I was never to interrupt the storytelling; rather I was told to listen and ask questions. I require that the first session be a minimum of ninety minutes, so the basics of the story and the energy connected with it can be more fully discussed and released. My first question is always open-ended, to see if the person has a story or stories they would like to share, or if they would like me to direct the questioning. The open-ended question may be something along the lines of, “So, love, what brings you here today?” I navigate the platica to have us deal with one story, or interrelated traumas, at a time. I get the client to agree on a core issue and on the related energies they would like to clear. The basic questions I may ask often include: Who was involved? Why does it matter? Why did it happen? When did it begin? Where did it happen? How does it make them feel? What are they willing to do to shift the energy of the story? If it appears that the person has brought up a completely unrelated story or issue, I find out whether it’s related to the core issue. If it’s unrelated, I navigate the platica back to the issue that we have agreed to deal with. I may also interrupt if I hear people making negative characterizations about themselves, or if they define their circumstances as being determinative or describe themselves as being stuck. Inspired by my ancient ancestors, I understand on a deeper level that the spoken word is sacred and we create with it, particularly when the words are charged with intense energies. I encourage those people to refrain from identifying any situation as unchanging and from continuing to feel bad by saying more bad things about themselves. This is never helpful. I always guide them toward self-awareness with self-reflective questions. People often cry, lament, and sometimes even laugh afterward—all of which help to promote the purging process, and the platica is always a purging process. I also use the platica to provide further insight into which additional limpias could be used to complement and further cleanse, heal, and renew the person and the situation. After the platica, I conduct another type of complementary limpia; the kind I perform depends on what I have gathered from the platica. These are some typical complementary limpias and scenarios:

Sweep limpia, or barrida, with a feather fan. After the platica, to enhance the cleanse and clear pathways for new beginnings, I often do a barrida (sweeping) with a feather fan, Florida water, a rattle, and a prayer or invocation. I have the client lie down, blow Florida water on them to deepen the energetic cleansing, run a rattle up and down their bodies to shake away residual dense energies, sweep their body with a feather fan, and say an invocation on their behalf, thanking all that is divine to assist them on their path. As I was taught, my invocation is private and is only for the ears of my client. The barrida with a feather fan signals that they are stepping onto a new path, a more prosperous and graceful one. (I explain how to do sweeps with feathers in chapter 7, see here.) Remote sessions and breathwork. If the session is remote, like the Mexica wind deity Ehecatl, who was known to clear pathways with his breath, I use the breath to clear residual dense energies from clients’ bodies. First, I have the client join me in breathwork. One breath-work exercise I typically do in all of my sessions is the cobra breathing, because it facilitates a trance state for both the client and me. While it is not necessary for the client to enter into a trance state, it can help deepen the clearing, because they are more relaxed and open to it. Cobra breathing involves having the client place pressure on their temples with their index fingers while using their pinky fingers to put pressure at the bridge of the nose. The temples and the bridge of the nose are acupressure points that, when pressed and complemented with breathwork, help people to become more focused, centered, and grounded. The middle and ring fingers are slightly above their eyebrows. I instruct them to keep their hands in the cobra position and take quick breaths, inhaling from the abdomen, contracting the abdomen, and bringing the breath to the chest. I count silently to 11, 22, or 33, and then we exhale out the mouth. I ask them to refrain from exhaling while while I am counting. I repeat this breathing exercise three times with the same set of counting to 11, 22, or 33. I determine the number of breaths by what the client is able to do comfortably as this exercise requires abdominal strength. Afterward I close my eyes and request that the client do the same. I scan their bodies and blow away dense residual energies from them. Egg sweep. I use this type of limpia with clients who have stated they are ready for a fresh or new start, and I sense that any negative energy they have been experiencing has taken a form of its own, manifesting in a series of unfortunate incidents. I once had a lady come in who had experienced, in a period of two weeks, being laid off and finding her fiancé with a woman she

thought was her closest friend. She came in feeling very lethargic and incredibly depressed. She was having a very difficult time getting out of bed. The platica and the egg extracted from her body the dense energy that was weighing her down. The day after our session, she e-mailed me and told me that she was cleansing her house with a white fire, had been to the gym that day, and had applied for two jobs. She was feeling like herself again. (I explain how to do an egg sweep in chapter 7, see here.) Fire limpia with a puro (blessed tobacco in a cigar). I generally conduct this kind of limpia for clients who have had a series of unfortunate incidents take place and who say that someone or a group of people may not be wishing them well. As I explain more fully in chapter 5, I conduct the fire limpias in a series, reflecting the incidences of bad luck. For example, if the misfortunes have occurred on a weekly basis, I request that they come in and see me on a weekly basis for a minimum of three times. This typically stops the streak of misfortunes. (I explain how to do fire limpias with puros in chapter 5, see here.) Fire limpia with a white fire. If the person has been plagued with bad habits and negative thought forms, I conduct this kind of limpia to expel this negative energy into the fire. I will have people write down what they are ready to let go of and have them vocalize what they are releasing as they are throwing their paper or pieces of paper into the fire. I then hand them offerings for the fire, such as chamomile flowers, and have them state what they choose. Water limpia with a baño (spiritual bath). If the person has been suffering from severe anxiety, depression, stress, and/or insomnia, I will prepare a baño for them or advise them to do so on their own, with a combination of herbs, such as sage, bergamot, rose hips, chamomile, and lavender. Because of the time involved, I often recommend that they conduct the baño at home. The water and herbs cleanse the mind, body, and spirit, easing the severity of their ailments. I often recommend that they continue taking baños at least once a week for two months. (I explain how to do baños in chapter 6, see here.) 3. Homework Before the end of the platica, or possibly in the middle of this limpia, I always assign some kind of homework. This is an assignment whereby clients can continue to heal themselves, put a plan we develop together into action, or move forward toward a process of renewal and new beginnings. Many people that come to me for platicas have given away their power and energy on some level, so it is essential to provide an assignment that helps them to step into their power

and take charge of their life. Often when referring to this work, I make an analogy to the Mesoamerican Calendar Round. Coming to see me was the magical, shamanic, and faith-based part of clearing the pathway for something to come into being, reflecting the magical-shamanic 260-day calendar. Moving forward with their assignment is how they bring something into being in this linear, 365-day dimension. I hold the space for a path to open up for them, but they must take the first steps to walk down the path. This process is necessary for the magic to work. The assignments I give vary. If, for example, the client is choosing to be with their ideal partner and I find out that they have not taken any action to meet this person, I recommend that they begin to engage in more activities they enjoy but normally do not engage in; I may also suggest that they peruse websites like Meetup and go to their events. If clients have come to me with health concerns, I recommend that they try plant-based alternatives and suggest blends in the form of teas and/or tinctures. I may ask them to drink the tea or take the tincture first thing in the morning every day for two to three weeks straight. I also encourage them, before taking this medicine, to connect with the soul essence of the plants and thank them for their healing and magic. This concept may be foreign to some, but I notice a remarkable difference with people that follow through with this assignment. They begin to gain a renewed appreciation for simplicity and nature and generally become happier and more grateful. On various occasions, I also suggest that clients do some magic of their own. Here are some examples. Sunny and Vic Get Their Ideal House I had clients who had moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles. When they came to see me, they were living with her parents. Although they were grateful that her parents had opened their home to them, after many months of looking they were ready to move into their own home. They had found one they really liked, but after six weeks, the negotiations broke down. They had not heard from the landlord for a few weeks, and the landlord was no longer responding to them. After their respective platicas, I assigned them two separate assignments. One of them was to approach the landlord again and propose a favorable resolution to a fence issue that had come up. The family wanted to secure the safety of their family, their current toddler and future ones, with a fence, but the owner did not want a fence around the home. We opened pathways for the landlord to be receptive toward their suggestion for an aesthetically pleasing fence. The other assignment was to do a velación (candle work; I explain how to do this in chapter 5, see here) for their ideal home at the present time. If this was to be their ideal home, it would open up for them. A few weeks later she e-mailed and informed me that they had moved into the house they really wanted. They approached the owner about the fence again and did

their velación, as I had instructed. The platica had opened up a path for their ideal home and for the owner to be more receptive about the fence they wanted. Their work complemented the platica and brought into being what they had chosen. Susana’s Severe Depression Dissipates Susana came to me with severe depression. She had been in a long-term relationship for almost a decade, lived with this person for most of those years, and thought that he was “the one.” He broke up with her in a way that seemed out of the blue. Although the breakup itself was rather peaceful, it caused an emotional whirlwind of confusion and depression for her. Almost eight months afterward, she was still very depressed, was experiencing crying spells, had become something of a hermit, and had mild suicidal ideations. During the platica, I held the space for her to release, and then I began gearing her toward focusing on what she still enjoyed and made her happy. She indicated that she enjoyed nature and the warmth of the sun. While she shared her story, I picked up on the fact that she had given a substantial amount of her sacred essence energy to her ex-boyfriend. Consequently, I told her to spend three to five minutes every day before leaving for work presenting herself before the sun. This was in order to set the intention to work with the sun and breathe back in her tonalli, her sacred essence energy or soul pieces. The sun would warm and recalibrate pieces of her soul, allowing her to gracefully accept her sacred energy back into her sacred heart. She came to see me again a couple of weeks later. Her energy had almost completely changed. She was alive with life and energy and was even laughing—very different from the first time. For this platica, I helped her to further release energies associated with treating her life as meaningless without him, and with the scars of his leaving her. At the end, I gave her the next homework assignment, which was to leave an offering of gratitude to the nature spirits on her doorstep, stating what she was grateful for. A month later and after another platica, she was completely radiating and felt at peace with completely letting go and moving on. She told me that these assignments gave her something to look forward to and filled her with a greater sense of wonderment and awe. The ancient Mexica and Yucatec Maya treated the platica as something sacred. They have the power to release energy connected to traumas, sadness, illness, and troubles. The shamans prepared themselves, and the space, to clear these dense energies. They used the power of the spoken word to facilitate the clearing and to invoke divine help. Like these ancient shamans, I recognize that the word is sacred. I encourage my clients to be mindful of their words and remember that they create with their words. I also intend to inspire clients to create beautiful realities for themselves. The questions I ask are aimed to awaken self-awareness and liberation from dense energies. The assignments I give are intended to continue to seal the

healing and to inspire my clients to step into their power by doing something healthy and loving for themselves—embodying the discipline of self-love. PLATICAS FOR SOLO PRACTITIONERS It is also possible for solo practitioners to engage in platicas on their own. In fact, sometimes this is the work I assign for my clients. I basically have them follow all of the outlined steps, starting with the preparations. I encourage them to cleanse their space and to dress for the ceremony, preferably in lighter-colored clothes. I recommend that they eat clean and light food beforehand. I request that prior to the ceremony they write down a prayer or invocation for divine aid. This request can encompass any and all belief systems. When the preparations are complete, I advise that clients start the platica with a New Fire and with an offering in the form of a candle and/or incense. Thereafter I encourage them to write down or state what has been weighing heavy in their hearts and/or something they want to manifest in their lives, and then to beseech divine aid. After this, I have the client declare the actions they are willing to take to change these events or circumstances and to bring into being whatever they are choosing. I also ask them to recognize the activities that lift their spirits and make them feel happy, preferably exuberant. Their homework is to engage in these activities, or to imagine themselves engaging in them, and to allow themselves to feel into this visualization, as well as to take action to manifest what they choose. The platica as a form of release clears pathways, taking action brings something into form from the ethers, and the feelings of happiness are the fuel that realizes the request. These solo platicas are simple and practical and are an excellent way to promote self-awareness and to manifest what we choose in our lives.

F 5 Fire Limpias Transformation and Renewal ire is one of the most common limpia tools. It can establish a gateway to the supernatural and can be used as a divinatory tool to assess past, present, and highly probable outcomes. (As I was taught, the future is composed of highly probable outcomes. Limpias help to push the outcome toward one that is desired.) Fire clears away dense influences affecting a person and/or circumstances surrounding that person. Fire limpias can be used to create a path toward a more graceful and positive transformation and to mark a new beginning. The tools used in limpia healing sessions are frequently burned to destroy the causes of the affliction. Limpia tools can also be cleansed or renewed by being placed over a fire while saying prayers to the fire and tools. Fire in the form of a candle, as used in a velación, can link the suppliant with divine beings who have the power to grant a petition. The flickering candles repel unwanted spiritual beings and energies from a situation and also attract divine beings and benevolent spirits. Velaciónes can transform a difficult situation into an ideal one and can ensure a more effective clearing, healing, and renewal. Fire ceremonies were among the most common limpia rites in ancient Mesoamerica. They were multifarious in purpose and meaning and could be prognostic. They activated and/or renewed the sacred essence energy within buildings: homes, temples, political spaces, sweat baths, and ritual spaces. 1 Igniting a fire could also denote the termination of period-ending ceremonies as well as the inauguration of calendrical renewal, marking a new cycle. Fire rites using candles honored and housed deceased family members, appealing to them to join the living for a period of time.

THE FIRE RITES OF THE MEXICA The fire ceremonies of the Mexica commemorated and inaugurated periodic cycles of death, rebirth, and renewal. Fire limpia rites also served as gateways to conjure and communicate with deities and could cleanse and renew ritual tools such as medicine bundles. The fire from a candle could attract and temporarily house a deceased individual during particular calendrical ceremonies. In many temples, certain shamans were assigned to ensure that the fire in braziers, rooms, and courtyards were constantly lit day and night. 2 The elaborate fire limpia Xiuhmolpilli, “binding of the years,” typically identified as the New Fire Ceremony, played a critical role in perpetuating and renewing the world as the Mexica knew it. The rite was held every fifty-two years, a complete cycle of the Calendar Round. For this New Fire Ceremony, the Mexica, unsure whether the sun would continue to rise or the world would be destroyed, would hold a somber feast. In preparation they would put out the fires in all of the homes and temples in the Aztec empire. (Homes, like temples, usually had hearth fires burning at all times.) The passing of this fifty-two-year cycle called for the termination of these fires. Homes and temples were also diligently swept and cleaned. They also disposed of old idols, rubbish, and household items. 3 Byron Hamann suggests that breaking and disposing of certain ritual and household items was critical, because these items had been created in a soon-to-be-passing cycle, and did not belong in the new one. These items were “matter out of time,” a form of chronological pollution. 4 When night came, the peoples of the Aztec empire were frightened. They believed that if fire could not be drawn that evening, the sun would be destroyed forever. The Tzitzimimeh would then descend onto earth and devour humans. *15 The movement of the heavens would desist, and all would end in darkness and eternal night. 5 During the first quarter of the night, the shamans and servants of the temple of Tenochtitlan went to the summit of the mountain near Itztapalapan, which they called Uixachtecatl, reaching it at midnight. The summit had a great pyramid on it from they could pay close attention to the movement of the Pleiades. They waited for the constellation to reach and pass its zenith. When it had, they knew that the movement of the heavens had not ceased and the sun would not be destroyed. They would perform a New Fire Ceremony to facilitate

its recreation. 6 The ceremonial drilling of the New Fire was said to have been created by rubbing two sticks together quickly to ignite a flame—a reenactment of the sun’s birth from a divine turquoise hearth. 7 The fire atop the pyramid was seen from all the surrounding mountains, letting people know that the world would be renewed for another fifty-two years. 8 The New Fire Ceremony signaled the termination of period-ending ceremonies and the inauguration of calendrical renewal celebrations. Annual year-end ceremonies in central Mexico likely incorporated scaled-down versions of the rites described for the more grandiose Xiuhmolpilli. 9 Plates 29 through 46 of the Borgia Codex tell an elaborate story of its central character, Stripe Eye, who is transformed into a respected shaman or community leader. This event is marked by a New Fire Ceremony, signaling a new era. Stripe Eye performs a long ritual journey to activate a sacred medicine bundle and effect a new beginning. Although he is not in the last two scenes, in which the New Fire Ceremony actually takes place, his ritual journey appears to invoke deities who will kindle the fire for the new era. The five enclosures of plates 29 through 32 seem to depict preparations for this limpia and the associated journey that Stripe Eye will embark on. 10 Plates 35 through 38 provide an account of a medicine-bundle ritual performed before the Temple of Heaven. These pages appear to be portraying a complex medicine-bundle ceremony, in which a person is elevated to the role of shaman. The ceremony involves a series of activations of the bundle with smoke, fire, and a sweeping device similar to the one with which the wind god Ehecatl is often depicted (see plate 10). After the long journey and the opening of the bundle, the shamans impersonating or embodying principal deities are no longer performing actions on behalf of Stripe Eye. Instead they are acting as his assistants. The activation and opening of his bundle has transformed him into a shaman who can now lead ceremonies. 11 The last plate of this story, plate 46, features beings drilling a fire with a flint stick within the heart of a combined image of the fire god Xiuhtecuhtli and his nahual, Xiuhcoatl, a mythological serpent with a sharply back-turned snout and a segmented body. *16 There are four directional Xiuhcoatl surrounding a central image of the burning hearth. The four Xiuhcoatl represent the emergent smoke and flames to the four directions. This scene likely refers to the fiery creation of the sun during the Xiuhmolpilli. 12 Drilling the New Fire brings the ceremonial sequence to a close, as well as inaugurating a new era. 13

Fire ceremonies were also performed to conjure gods. Xiuhtecuhtli, for example, was often depicted as being conjured by drilling fire on top of a mirror. Mirrors were likely used to garner the reflections of the sun’s glares to make fire. 14 Xiuhtecuhtli typically appeared to people through his nahual, Xiuhcoatl. Images depict Xiuhcoatl as having mirrors on its body, with beings drilling fire on the mirrors. Mirrors also served as tools of prognostication and selfreflection, as a way to connect and communicate with deities, and as passageways for souls. 15 Mirrors, like fire, were bridges to supernatural realms. According to the Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas (History of the Mexicans as Told by Their Paintings), only two years after a great flood, Tezcatlipoca Mixcoatl, the red aspect of Tezcatlipoca, *17 “wanted [ . . . ] to feast the gods, and that is why he brought out flame from the sticks, which he usually did, and that was the beginning of fire-making out of flints, which are sticks that have a heart, and once that flame was obtained, it was a fiesta to make many great fires.” 16 The flints that were used for the fire drilling were also believed to have an essence, to have a heart. Both the fire itself and the tools that were used to start a fire were understood as having their own soul essences. The Mexica also studied the way in which fire burned for divinatory purposes and made offerings to Xiuhtecuhtli. They fed him pulque, incense, quetzal feathers and other precious feathers, sprinkles of blood, minerals, and tobacco. 17 They listened to the ways in which the fire crackled and the embers creaked in order to prophesize. They also watched how the fire would smoke and sparks would leap to divine a situation. 18 The ritual objects and offerings they made to the deceased children and adults during the ninth month, Tlaxochimaco (Bestowal of Flowers), and the tenth month, Hueymiccaihuitl (Great Feast of the Dead), of the xiuhpohualli calendar, included chocolate, fowl, fruit, great quantities of seed and food, and candles. These offerings attracted the deceased, and again, the candle likely served as a conduit to temporarily house and welcome the deceased into the realm of the living. These feasts and festivities resemble our current Dia de los Muertos celebrations, but instead of three days, the festivities for the deceased would continue for twenty days during these two months. They were celebrated with rejoicing, ceremonies, and many elaborate offerings. 19 The early ethnographers of the Mexica were not especially interested in the meaning and purpose of candles left to honor the deceased. My mentors, however, taught me that the fire of a candle could act as a bridge to other worlds and, through the flame on the wick, could temporarily house the spirits of loved

ones. I suspect that the Mexica used candles to honor the deceased for analogous purposes. THE FIRE RITES OF THE YUCATEC MAYA For the ancient Yucatec Maya, fire was the medium by which curanderas/os conjured the gods through the offering of blood, copal, and other precious substances. Fire limpias were used to cleanse, renew, and vivify physical spaces and ritual objects. Fire limpias, typically referred to as fire drilling, are pictured in several almanacs of the Madrid and Dresden codices, again often signaling period-ending ceremonies and the inauguration of calendrical renewal celebrations (see plates 6–7). 20 In these ceremonies, a New Fire was typically lit and fed with incense or resins to facilitate and commemorate a renewal or a new cycle. During the month of Pop’ of the 365-day ha’b calendar, the New Year, the Yucatec Maya engaged in many rites that involved renovation and renewal. 21 The shaman purified the temple while men and older women would gather in the court. The chosen chacs (typically respected elders of the community who represented the mythological skybearers holding up the sky at the four corners of the world) would then seat themselves in the four corners and fasten a rope to one another. Participants would have to enter through the rope; in doing so, they purified themselves and continued to purify the space. Thereafter all the men began saying their prayers. The chacs lit the brazier, the temple’s symbolic hearth and heart, and made a New Fire. The shaman then began to feed the fire with incense. Then the chacs came forward to receive incense from the ah-kin (shaman) and threw the incense into the New Fire. The other men followed suit. The incense was an offering to the New Fire, ensuring a successful renewal to a New Year cycle. 22 The Yucatec Maya also created a New Fire during the month of Sip to cleanse and renew their medicine bundles. These bundles typically contained idols; am, small stones used to cast lots; *18 and other items they used to cure, cleanse, renew, and perform divinations. During this month, shamans gathered in one of their houses. The ah-kin leading the rite first cleansed the space. The shamans began to open their medicine bundles and with great devotion called upon their deities of medicine: Ihcil-Ixchel, Itzamna, Cit-bolontun, and Ahuachamahes. They then lit a New Fire and fed it with incense, cleansing and

renewing their tools and the medicine bundle itself. 23 Fire limpias were also used to activate or renew the soul essence of temples. These are sometimes called fire-entering ceremonies. The Maya would start a New Fire in the temple brazier and feed it with offerings. The New Fire was believed to create a bridge to supernatural realms and to serve as a home where the gods would be fed. 24 The brazier was both the house of the supernatural being and the place where it could be invoked. 25 Fire limpias were also used to vivify the muknal, the dwelling of a deceased ancestor, thus charging it with the soul essence of the deceased. 26 Fire limpias could also signal and sanction the accession of a lord, which often included a cycle of destruction and death followed by a rebirth. These accession ceremonies often inaugurated a transformative cycle that bestowed the new reign with cosmic significance, perhaps marking the rebirth of a principal creator deity as the new lord. 27 The well-preserved hieroglyphs at Temple XIX at Palenque, in Chiapas, Mexico, for example, denote a possible rebirth of GI, a principal creator deity, on the same day of the seating of ruler K’inich Ahkal Mo’ Nahb. On the day of the ruler’s accession, he is depicted as wearing distinctive emblems associated with deity GI, such as a small heron grasping a fish in its beak. They chose the date of the king’s accession to evoke cosmological significance. His accession took place on 9 ik, which was also the mythological date of the enthronement of GI. The ruler relied on GI’s creation story to legitimize his reign religiously and politically. The dedication ceremony of Temple XIX vivified the building with the accession of this ruler as GI. Through the ceremonies, buildings did not simply record this history; rather they were animated by the fire rite and then embodied this cosmological transformation. 28 Although ethnohistorical records indicate that candles were used as offerings, they do not discuss the manner or positioning of the candles for limpias. Currently, however, candle ceremonies, or velaciónes, are used among many Maya peoples to activate new buildings with a soul, to clear clients of negative energies, to clear pathways, and to renew the earth. Among the modern Tzotzil Maya of Zinacantan, the Ch’ul Kandela (“Holy Candle”) ritual, which takes place soon after a new house is built, is used to give the house a soul. The ritual begins with the erection of a small cross, with burning candles and incense, outside the structure. Inside, the ritual continues with a prayer to the Earth Lord over a table with six candles on it. Candles and pine boughs are placed in the four corners of the house, and chicken broth is

poured into the corners and at the house’s center. Then broth and liquor are poured over the rafters of the roof, feeding the house with these items. 29 In neighboring Chenhaló, a similar house dedication ceremony includes lighting of the first hearth fire by an elderly couple to tame the “wild” new house. 30 Tat Eliseo, a shaman elder in Nahualá, Guatemala, uses the element of fire in the form of candles on his three-level altar, where he practices rituals of veneration, protection for his clients, and renewal of the earth. The highest table, running across the back wall of the receiving room, represents the upper vault of the cosmos and its principal deities. Separated from the first by a two-foot aisle, another substantial table, representing earthly matter and the owners of the earth, is empty except for an array of representative candles that parallels the high altar. A third altar, connected to ancestors and the underworld, constituted of planks with candles and figures, sits on the ground under the second. The fire of these candles enables Tat Eliseo to conjure and invoke the aid of the beings of these three worlds. 31 Plate 1. Mexica xiuhpohualli calendar day signs. From Codex Magliabecchiano, Joseph Florimond, duc de Loubat Collection, pages 11– 13. Courtesy of Ancient Americas at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Plate 2. Mexica tonalpohualli calendar day signs. From Codex Borgia, Joseph Florimond, duc de Loubat Collection, page 66. Courtesy of Ancient Americas at LACMA.

Plate 3. Mexica platicas. From Codex Magliabecchiano, Joseph Florimond, duc de Loubat Collection, page 78. Courtesy of Ancient Americas at LACMA.

Plate 4. Mexica fire limpia rite or fire drilling. From the Codex Borgia, Joseph Florimond, duc de Loubat Collection, page 46. Courtesy of Ancient Americas at LACMA.

Plate 5. Mexica temāzcalli (sweat lodges). From Codex Magliabecchiano, Joseph Florimond, duc de Loubat Collection, page 77. Courtesy of Ancient Americas at LACMA.

Plate 6. Maya fire limpia rites or fire drilling. From Dresden Codex, Ernst Förstemann version, page 5, middle row, last two images. Courtesy of Ancient Americas at LACMA.

Plate 7. Maya fire limpia rites or fire drilling. From Dresden Codex, Ernst Förstemann version, page 6, middle row, first two images. Courtesy of Ancient Americas at LACMA.

Plate 8. Chac Chel, pouring water, possibly to facilitate rebirth. From Dresden Codex, Ernst Förstemann version, page 39, second row, first image. Courtesy of Ancient Americas at LACMA.

Plate 9. Maya divination with a water bowl. From Dresden Codex, Ernst Förstemann version, page 42, first row, last panel. Courtesy of Ancient Americas at LACMA. Plate 10. Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl, Mexica wind deity with sweeping device. From Codex Borbonicus, Joseph Florimond, duc de Loubat Collection, page 22. Courtesy of Ancient Americas at LACMA.

Plate 11. Itzamna sweeping a path. From Dresden Codex, Ernst Förstemann version, page 34. Courtesy of Ancient

Americas at LACMA. INTEGRATING ANCIENT MESOAMERICAN WISDOM Before I began formal training with any curanderas/os, I always honored the elements on one of my altars. Fire was often represented with a lit candle, and I knew to offer incense to it. (Curanderismo practices have always been second nature to me.) But after my training, both in the field and academically, I gained a greater understanding of my traditions and myself. Researching and understanding how the ancient Yucatec Maya and Mexica conducted fire limpia rites greatly deepened the sacrality of the fire limpias I offered. The level of faith of both the curandera/o and participant always correlates with how effective it will be. By equipping myself with the sacred meanings and practices of my rich history and culture, I became more grounded in and comfortable with these rites. I also began to put into practice nuanced ancient understandings and methods, particularly the knowledge that all the tools used have a soul essence. I learned how to work with these entities and for what purposes. I use some kind of fire limpia rite in all of my sessions. The different forms include igniting a charcoal and lighting a New Fire in my brazier; facilitating a white fire (see chapter 8, see here, for how to conduct a white fire limpia); using fire sticks; igniting a puro and cleansing a person with it; creating a fire pit; and velación. For example, I usually light a white fire at the beginning of a class. I chant a prayer to the four directions in Yucatec Mayan and English and ask people to release into the fire anything that may prevent them from being fully present at the class, or anything that no longer serves them. I typically only work with a fire pit in a ceremony where I have people honor the sun, moon, and fire and declare what they are releasing into the fire and what they are welcoming into their lives. Changing Streaks of Bad Luck with Fire Limpias To change streaks of bad luck, I recommend at least three fire limpias on three consecutive cycles. *19 I will request that the client schedule three limpias that reflect the frequency of the misfortunes. If someone is experiencing difficult fortune on a daily basis, I suggest three sessions on three consecutive days. If the bad luck happened within a week, I will suggest sessions on a weekly basis on

the same day and at the same time. Once the person is starting to reach a better position, I may recommend biweekly sessions, and then monthly sessions, always on the same day and time, if possible. The cycles of repetitive limpias are inspired by ancient Mesoamerican thought. They mirror the understanding that life is composed of constantly repeating cycles of change. Although a ceremony may be repeated in the same way, every cycle is unique. It is its own process, and every process enables the person to more gracefully peel away limiting core beliefs. After a time, they may attain a different point of reality, in which they discover what they truly love and begin to actualize it in their life. Lighting a New Fire Whether sessions are remote or in person, I always begin by lighting a New Fire in my brazier in order to cleanse and transfigure my clients’ energies and offer them a new beginning. I always use a wooden match to light the charcoal tablet and then place it on my brazier. It is said that wooden matches have a soul essence and can garner more magic and aid in the cleansing. After I light the charcoal, I place frankincense, myrrh, and copal on it. I take the brazier in my hand and swirl it in circular motions as we begin the session. It is believed that circular motions entrap dense energies and clear them more effectively. I then place the brazier, with the copal smoking, relatively close to the client, unless the smoke begins to bother them. If so, I move it away from them, although I keep it in the room. White Fire Limpias I may use a white fire limpia to help people release and reconstitute the energies of a situation they are ready to let go of. I also have them make offerings to the fire to invoke the assistance of the fire spirit and of the divine beings that are assisting them on their path. First, we have a platica to determine what needs to be released and what they are ready to release. Then we talk about what they are going to commit to doing to facilitate a release and change in their lives. Their commitment to doing some kind of work after the session is an ofrenda (offering) to themselves to ensure that they will continue to work toward releasing the circumstances they have chosen to let go of. I have clients write down what they are going to release and positively change in their lives with a number-two pencil on a white piece of paper.

Next, I may take clients on a shamanic journey to begin the purging and rescripting process. Not all curanderas/os facilitate shamanic journeys during their sessions; in fact, most of the ones I came across did not. I nonetheless learned how to facilitate shamanic journeys through drumming, rattling, beating of brass instruments, breathwork, and adjusting the cadence and intonation of my voice to produce repetitive, trancelike intervals. The repetitive sound of a drum, rattle, or deep brass instrument produces changes in the central nervous system. The rhythmic stimulation affects the electrical activity in the sensory and motor areas of the brain. Deep, repetitive beats of lower frequencies transmit impulses along nerve pathways in the brain that induce trance states for both the practitioner and client. If you are starting out, drumming is recommended, and having someone else do the drumming or using a recorded set is advisable. The beating should be strong, monotonous, unvarying, and rapid. There should be no contrast in intensity or in the intervals between beats. Once you become experienced at entering shamanic trances, you can play deep brass instruments and use your voice—intonation and cadence—to take yourself and the client into the journey. Generally the tools I use to engage in journeying involve breath-work, shifting the cadence and intonation of my voice, and beating a Tibetan bowl with a mallet at repeated intervals. I use the drum and rattle when I am working with larger groups of people rather than with individuals; this is simply a personal preference. When I am working with individuals in a session for the shamanic journeying, we first engage in cobra breathing, and then I have them lie down and perform a barrida on them with Florida water, a rattle, and a feather fan. (I discuss how to do cobra breathwork in chapter 4, see here, and how to do a sweep in chapter 7.) After the barrida, I beat the bowl at repeated intervals. I have the client tune into a reality or space that brings them into a state of joy and peace. In this space, I have them make a commitment to themselves to be aware of what needs to be released and what they are going to do to facilitate this release. I do not have them speak during the journeying. Instead I tune into and work their I Am presence, the divine presence within all of us. Any gifts of healing, clearing and rescripting are offered to their I Am presence. But I always vocalize the gifts that are being offered and ask the person to silently speak whether or not they choose to accept these gifts—honoring free will. I usually also inform them of the imagery I am seeing as I am seeing it. The most important elements in shamanic journeying are ensuring that the practitioner is the one on the journey and can navigate through the many realities

the client is connected and associated with. How does a practitioner guide the client into this reality of joy and peace? Simple: the moment the practitioner stops questioning or doubting themselves, and knows without a shadow of doubt that they are able to do so, they are ready for journeying. But keep in mind that a white fire limpia does not require shamanic journeying. Often the platica and the practitioner’s intuition will be sufficient to determine what needs to be released and what the client is ready to do to release it. But typically I facilitate a journey if time allows. In any event, after the client has written down what they are going to release and change in their lives, I prepare a white fire for them. This consists of two handfuls of Epsom salt, a splash of rubbing alcohol, and dried plants, such as basil, rosemary, chamomile, rue, mint, tobacco, or parsley, all of which are placed within a pot that is only used for limpias. I throw a lit wooden matchstick into the pot, and I have the client proclaim their intentions as they throw their paper or pieces of paper into the fire. Then I hand them copal, herbs, and/or palo santo (a cleansing fragrant wood) and guide them to feed the fire with their offerings. As they are doing so, invoking the aid of the fire and of the divine beings that are assisting them on their path, I have them state what they are choosing and what they will do to commit and move forward toward their choice. Inspired by my Mesoamerican ancestors, I know this ceremony not only facilitates a release but also invokes divine assistance in actualizing the client’s choices. Sometimes after the limpia, I study the manner in which the resins and herbs burned, either in or away from my client’s presence. I soak the pot for five to ten minutes in water. The amount of residue stuck to it tells me how much the person has let go, which includes letting go of the identities and stories associated with related traumas or issues. No matter how much residue has been left, the fire limpia has facilitated a release. With every release, we change and become something new; I hold the space and encourage positive transformation. A Puro Cleansing The Mexica and Yucatec Maya used tobacco as an offering to their deities, smoked it for healing and cleansing, and used it at their most prestigious rites. 32 Tobacco has the soul essence of a grandfather plant and can impart immense wisdom, clearing, and healing, if approached with reverence and respect. I often use tobacco in the form of a puro, which is blessed tobacco in a cigar. The puro, like all limpia tools, both cleanses and provides a divinatory window into the

circumstances surrounding the issues. Before using the puro, I say a prayer to the spirit of the tobacco and thank it for cleansing and aiding my client. After I have given thanks, I get a red marker and make a straight line down the puro. I begin by blowing the smoke from the lit puro at the top of the person’s head; then I go to the neck, arms, chest, abdomen, hips, legs, and feet, and I have the person turn around, and I follow the same sequence. I make sure not to inhale the smoke, so I can perform the limpia with the cigar burning down to the end. I use an aluminum container for ashes and spit into it as needed. Generally, if the puro burns to the top left of the red line as I am cleansing the person, this indicates clearing of unwanted circumstances that the person is aware of. If it burns to the bottom left, there is a clearing of unwanted circumstances that have been unknown. Burning on the top right indicates a change toward more favorable outcomes that the person has been hoping for, whereas burning to the bottom right indicates an unexpected favorable outcome. Throughout the cleansing, I recite prayers for the person, thank the spirits of the tobacco and fire, and have the person declare what they are choosing to release and to have happen in their lives. As the puro burns, holes can appear in it as I ask the person to declare the particulars of their issues. This often reveals that someone may not have been wishing the person well and that, for whatever reason, the person has begun to internalize this dense energy. If holes appear, I place a little bit of cinnamon powder on them, which transmutes this dense energy and typically prevents the hole from getting bigger. Through prayers and getting the person to state with conviction what they choose, we can get the puro to begin to burn evenly, which is the goal. The prayers I say for the person as I am blowing the smoke on their body are private and are only for their ears. I encourage practitioners to create their own prayers and invocations for performing limpias. These prayers should be special and should be shared only with the client. After the puro has burned to about one-third of the way down to the end, the limpia is done. At that point the client and I talk about their homework and about what they are going to do to further the results. Anne’s Streak of Bad Luck Anne had just experienced a streak of misfortunes in a little less than four weeks. In this period, she had two car accidents, got laid off, was told that she had sixty days to vacate the apartment that she had been living in for three years, had her car declared

a total loss from the second accident, and had been experiencing nightly bouts of insomnia—waking up at 2 or 3 a.m. and being unable to go back to sleep. I started the session by lighting a New Fire in my brazier and conducted a platica, holding the space to allow her to begin ejecting the energies of those traumas from her body. In our platica, she confessed that she had been somewhat unhappy with her job and often felt unappreciated. She had been with the company for three years, was only given one very small raise throughout that time, and did not see opportunities for growth within the company. Nonetheless, she did not see the layoff coming and was not financially prepared for it. Prior to the streak of misfortunes, she had broken up with her boyfriend of four years. Although she loved him, she had known for quite some time that she was no longer in love with him, so she finally got up the courage to leave him. He did not feel the same, which made her choice significantly more difficult. She also continued to mention that she thought it was very odd that this streak of misfortunes had taken place shortly after she had broken up with him. I told her not to worry about what seemed like peculiar timing; we would clear her of any dense energies. If she wanted to change her fortune, she had to keep focused on her great fortune and not worry about anything else. After the platica, I cleansed her with a puro. The cigar began to burn boldly on the left of the red line at the top and bottom. When I asked that she be cleansed of any dense energies, holes began to form at the bottom of the cigar. I placed cinnamon on them to change this energy and cleanse her from it. I had her declare multiple times that her life was full of great fortune and abundance on all levels and that she was going to get an offer for the ideal job. Toward the very end, as she was declaring her great fortune, the puro finally began to burn more evenly. Afterward I requested that she cleanse her house, particularly her living space, with a white fire limpia for at least three consecutive days. I also inspired her to work on her résumé, to start sending it out that day, and to contact former coworkers. I requested that she come to see me in two weeks, on the same day, at the same time. The next time Anne came in, she told me she had been sleeping better and loved doing the white fire limpias. Her apartment felt considerably calmer, even in the midst of uncertainty. But she was still stressed out because she had not yet found an apartment or a job. She also admitted that in a moment of desperation and confusion she contacted her ex-boyfriend and went out with him. She did not want to return to him and reaffirmed her choice to him shortly after the incident. According to her, leaving him was the one thing she had recently done to free herself from a long period of complacency and waves of mild depression. Then the glimmer of hope came in. Two days before, one of her former coworkers e-mailed her back and told her about a possible opening that seemed like a great job opportunity. I cleansed her with another puro. It was burning on the left side at the top. I had her declare her great fortune and state that complacency was no longer an option for her and that she would get a great job offer within the next couple of weeks. At this time the puro began to burn on the top right side, indicating that she would get such an offer. Then, halfway through the limpia, the puro began to burn evenly, which indicated a new path of balance and happiness. At the very end of the session, I told her that the job was hers if she wanted it. For Anne’s third session, she came in ecstatic. She had gotten a job offer. Although it was only for a six-month contract, there seemed to be a high likelihood that it would become permanent. She had also put in applications for three apartments that she really liked. They were not in West Los Angeles, where she had been living, but they were closer to her new job, bigger, and less expensive. Nevertheless, she was

worried because she only had ten days to move out. I taught her how to do a velación with a circle of eight white seven-day candles, and a principal candle, so that her application for her most ideal apartment would be accepted. (I explain how to do a velación in the next section.) After our platica, we did a white fire limpia for new beginnings. She wrote down a description of the complacency that had plagued her for years on a white piece of paper with a number-two pencil. She threw the paper into the fire. Then I had her proclaim all the things she was welcoming into her life, transforming the circumstances and the energies that had weighed her down. She emailed me six days after the session to inform me that she had gotten the apartment she most wanted and was able to move in immediately. Anne had been complacent for many years, in many aspects of her life. Shortly after leaving a relationship she was no longer happy with, the streak of misfortunes was triggered, possibly so that she would return to patterns of illusory safety and complacency. The fire limpias helped cleanse her from these dense energies and gracefully usher in a new path. Along with getting an ideal job opportunity and a wonderful living space, she was told two months after starting her new position that it would likely become permanent, and it did. She had also purchased an almost-new Toyota Prius and got an extraordinary deal. Velaciónes During a session, I may also recommend that a client do a fire limpia with a velación. Fire limpias in the form of velaciones are very strong sources of clearing, healing, and renewal for persons and/or situations. People I have worked with have successfully performed velaciónes for a variety of circumstances, including: Obtaining ideal living spaces Realizing an ideal outcome in a lawsuit Securing ideal renters Getting an ideal job Increasing business flow Acquiring ideal employment contracts for various types of industries Softening hearts and healing relationships Removing various kinds of obstacles Revealing the truth Typically, if the person has a safe space to conduct a velación, I teach them how to do it. I rarely do velaciones for people; rather, I encourage them to step