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Unlike Granny Magic, which to all appearances is dying out, and Hoodoo, which achieved popularity for a niche audience of participants, Curanderismo and Brujería are flourishing, relatively unhindered by the cultural shifts and adjustments of the other two folk magic traditions we have discussed. Find any Mexican-American community in the United States and, with a bit of questioning, you will find a curandera and, if you are lucky, perhaps even a brujo.
Today, as in the past, the curandero is usually of the same socioeconomic standing as their clients, living in the same community and sharing the same lifestyle. Their clients are their neighbors, and as such, the curandera is highly accessible, with most practitioners working out of their home and requiring no appointments.
Always adaptable and eager to assimilate new healing modalities, both Curanderismo and Brujería now incorporate what many consider to be new age concepts such as crystal and gemstone healing, iridology, juicing, aura work, chakra alignment, Reiki, and color magic. Their tools of the trade remain easily attainable: herbs, stones, fruits, eggs, roots, and oils, most of which are local to the community. Their theology embraces the idea that indigenous, natural materials heal the ailments most likely to occur in that geographic area, hearkening back to the Mountain Magic idea that for every malady, God provides a cure.
So widespread is the awareness that Curanderismo is a valid and effective healing practice that many universities in Mexico and the southwestern United States offer classes in Mexican and Mexican-American healing practices.
Most brujas and curanderas make their own medicines and tools. They use Judeo-Christian symbolism as focus tools for themselves and their patients. The incantations are both scripture and ancient healing words. Their practice is an intricate dance of the old and the new, melded together in an ever-evolving, thriving practice. Just as their ancestors did, they heal using tinctures, salves, concoctions, poultices, and deep spiritual cleansings, both internal and external. Most work on the material level, but there are still practitioners who specialize in the mental and spiritual levels.
Unlike Hoodoo, very little written instruction is available about Curanderismo and Brujería, especially in English. Most books on the subject are sensationalized or written by outsiders with no understanding of the cultural context of the traditions. Many try to “Wiccanize” the practices, which does not work well. Brujería and Curanderismo are ceremonial and ritualized, but in a much different fashion than Wicca or other organized Pagan religions. The ceremony is personal and connects the practitioner and the client to God, or to a saint representing God, rather than calling in quarters, casting a circle, or invoking alternate deities. The brujo or curandero may invoke elemental energies, but this is usually done through physical representations of the element (stones, water, candles, incense) rather than an invocation of the unseen element.
In both practices, healers engage the supernatural. The consensus in the culture remains that brujos do so to harm, while curanderos do so to heal. And to some degree, that is accurate. A brujo has far less objection to harming another through supernatural means than do most who operate on that high of a spiritual level. That does not mean that they do so all the time, but merely that they can and will if the situation demands it, whereas a curandero engages supernatural energies with healing as the primary motivation. The exception is in a case of magical retribution, when a curandera will retaliate against a magical attack on behalf of a patient to facilitate a cure of presenting symptoms.
The overlapping of modalities is common in Brujería and Curanderismo. Either practitioner will without hesitation use a sortilegio (a conjure or spell) to contain harmful influences or an amarre (binding spell) to keep a spouse from wandering. They will stop an alcoholic husband from drinking the rent away on behalf of the desperate wife or force an employer to hire or promote one employee over another. They view this as healing the patient of their misfortune rather than any infraction of free will concepts.
When either a bruja or a curandera works with a patient or client, their focus and advocacy lie solely with the client and what best serves the client’s ideal outcome. Sometimes this involves manipulating the behavior of people around the client. They consider all aspects of the client’s well-being and environment, including their psychological and spiritual influences, as well as their socio-cultural norms. All play a part in the composite self the healer evaluates to determine the form that treatment will take.
Limpias … So Many Limpias
Within my own practice, the limpia is by far the most common and interestingly, the most aggressive form of healing I use. A simple limpia uses only salvia blanca (white sage) or palo santo wood, and can relieve most issues. A sage stick is very reactive to the level of negativity in the environment, as well as its varying levels of concentration. Since I keep my home quite clean and “smudge” it out a minimum of once a day, when I light a sage stick, it usually burns low and emits a small amount of smoke. If an argument occurs or several people have been in and out of the house, the area might be mucky with negativity. This causes the sage to burn aggressively and the smoke rolls everywhere.
When I light a sage stick for a limpia, if the sage stick starts to billow smoke, I know the enthusiastic reaction from the sage is most likely related to the client standing in front of me. The behavior of the sage smoke helps me to determine right away the level of cleansing needed.
As I carry the smoldering sage stick over their body, front and back, I observe the areas of the body where the smoke dies down and where it increases. This marks places of imbalance and dis-ease on the physical or energetic level. As I do this, I speak to the client about what I see and sense during this preliminary process. “Are you having trouble with your periods?” “Do you have neck pain?” “Have you recently had symptoms of a bladder infection?” “Do you get migraines?”
Often, the limpia itself is sufficient to relieve the client’s symptoms and heal the issue causing the problem. Cleansing the client with sage is curative and is also an effective and valuable diagnostic tool that may lead to other treatments. If the sage stick tells me the client has migraines, I know to treat with lots of lemon water and the application of lavender oil. Bladder issues mean plenty of cranberry juice or supplements, and again, gallons of lemon or lime water. If the sage stick reacts to one of the seven chakra points, I know we are working with a spiritual malady that is presenting as a physical malady. A reaction in the solar plexus means there are issues of unrequited love or a deep imbalance and unfairness in an interpersonal relationship. A reaction on the crown chakra means the person has insomnia or other sleep-related problems, stemming from their resistance to follow their own manifest destiny. They suffer because they are not living their own authentic life.
In many cases, especially for physical ailments without a strong spiritual or mental component, the initial saging is sufficient to start the healing process. I may also suggest other herbal remedies to speed up and continue the healing process we started in the shop.
When a spiritual component is in play or the client reports they are the victim of a curse or crossing, a deeper treatment is needed. When I worked solely in European-based Witchcraft, it was rare to come across a true cursing. People often think they are cursed, but it is unusual for their suspicions to be confirmed. More often, a series of unfortunate lapses in good judgment resulted in a string of misfortune that they presumed resulted from a supernatural attack.
In the Mexican-American community, however, if someone tells you they have been cursed, believe them. They likely were. In all cases in which a client in the Mexican-American community tells me directly that someone worked against them, I immediately begin treatment under the presumption that this is true.
I start with the basic sage limpia, but then move on to more aggressive work. The next step is the use of a ritual blade to cut away any attachments from the curse sent to the client. I trace around the body with the blade, cutting through areas of denseness where the curse took hold. Often, it takes two or more passes with the blade to disconnect all the tentacles and hooks of the spell. I do candle-work with crucitas (little crosses) to further heal areas of attachment, almost like a spiritual cauterization of the “wound” where the spell attached to the client, while reciting an incantation to ward off evil and force the spell entity to leave the immediate environment and return to its sender, whoever that may be. Asperging with holy water furthers the cleansing and healing processes and connects the client’s spirit back into their body, the belief being that when the client experiences trauma, the spirit temporarily leaves the physical form that is undergoing the trauma. This is also part of the treatment process for a susto, and many healers believe the partial or complete vacancy of spirit is the cause of many forms of mental illness.
I massage the client with an egg or a lime to extract any remaining effects of the curse left within the body or spirit, again while speaking a healing and extracting incantation. I then sweep the body with an herb bundle (barrida) that further heals, and I follow up with a magical spray that works like a “setting spray” to finalize the cleansing and bless the client. My favorite is “Las Siete Potencias” (The Seven African Powers). The final step is to light the sage stick again and conduct a complete recheck to locate areas that still register with the sage stick as troublesome. If necessary, we start all over again and repeat the process until the client reads as clean and clear.
I advise the client to treat the next week as though they are recovering from the flu: lots of rest, lots of liquids, and no heavy lifting or exertion. Self-care is important after a complete spiritual cleansing. Sometimes, if the negative energy has affected them for a long time, they will either sleep an unusual amount while their body continues to heal, or they will feel so good with their energy field cleaned that they overdo things and take on too much at once.
Although limpias are by far my most used healing practice, candle work is the second. This is done using a glass-encased novena candle and a prescribed prayer the client recites for nine days while burning the candle. The work follows the moon phases, banishing during the waning moon and manifesting or drawing in during the waxing moon. I treat the candle with an infusion of sympathetic oils, followed by an herbal mix supportive of the goal. The client recites a traditional novena prayer, or I write a customized one tailored to their specific need. If a client’s need is strong, I may have them burn the candle all at once in a five-day run rather than a little at a time over nine days.
Because I am the last recourse for many people in desperate situations, I quickly learned to keep a large supply of tissues on hand. Men and women alike shed tears, and I often do as well.
In today’s practice, the primary difference between the curandera and the bruja, aside from the associated social stigma, is that the curandera is exclusively a healer who uses herbs and incantations to heal a client on all levels. The curandera treats everything, ranging from bedwetting to spiritual possession. The bruja works with all types of spiritual healing as well as some physical healing, but their primary focus is on the supernatural processes, whether there is physical manifestation or not.