Footnotes

Cleansing Rites of Curanderismo: Limpias Espirituales of Ancient Mesoamerican Shamans - Erika Buenaflor M.A. J.D. 2018


Footnotes

*1 The term Mesoamerica is a discrete cultural area that extends from north-central Mexico to Pacific Costa Rica. By 1519, the area comprised a diverse number of peoples whose cultures resembled one another (Smith, The Aztecs, 5).

*2 As I explain in chapter 2, see here, the terms Mexica and Nahua have often been used interchangeably to talk about the same group of people within the Aztec empire. The more modern term Nahua is typically used to describe the different indigenous peoples of the Mesoamerican plateau, ancient and modern peoples.

*3 Acupressure points are points in the body that, when pressed upon, stimulate natural self-curative abilities by releasing muscular tension, promoting the circulation of blood, and working with the body’s life force to aid healing.

*4 I use the traditional Nahuatl spelling of these terms to describe the ancient Mexica sweat lodges, temāzcaltin (plural) and temāzcalli (singular). But I use the terms temazcal and temazcales (plural), when I am describing my own experiences with temazcal rites. The words temazcal (sweat lodge in Spanish-Nahuatl) and temazcales (sweat lodges in Spanish-Nahuatl) have been incorporated by many contemporary Maya and other indigenous peoples, despite their Nahuatl origins, the language of the Mexica. Temazcal and temazcales were the terms I learned to use, while studying in the Yucatán.

*5 I use the terms precontact to denote the period prior to the arrival of the Spaniards in 1519 and postcontact for the period after their arrival.

*6 Maldades are negative energies that have been thrown someone’s way, intentionally or unintentionally. They usually manifest as streaks of bad luck.

*7 In alignment with current academic practice, I use the term Mayan when referring to the language and Maya for everything else.

*8 Although the postcontact codices typically describe these figures as priests, it appears they were able to perform magical and sacred rites of cleansing, birthing, rebirthing, purification, and rejuvenation. Because I define shaman in terms of these functions, I identify these figures as shamans.

*9 Throughout this book I use the term Yucatec Maya to identify the indigenous peoples of the northern part of the Yucatán. I use the term Maya when the source I am relying on does not specify the name of the peoples; rather they are identifying the peoples as being from the “Maya civilization.”

*10 Paul Schellhas was one of the first to attempt the systematic identification of the deities that appeared in the Maya codices. Instead of using specific names, Schellhas utilized designations in which each deity was labeled with a specific letter. Schellhas’s system of designation continues to be particularly helpful because it is more appropriate than using Postcassic Yucatec terminology to refer to Classic Maya deities, because of the different Maya languages (Taube, Karl A., Major Gods of Ancient Yucatán, 6).

*11 The Borgia group consists of the Codex Borgia, Codex Cospi, Codex Fejérváary-Mayer, Codex Laud, Codex Vaticanus B, Codex Rios, and two other related documents, Fonds Mexicains and the Codex Porfirio Díaz.

*12 The Ritual of the Bacabs comprises forty-two main curanderismo incantations with fragmentary supplements. It is principally a manuscript of song and the spoken word, which a curandera/o may utilize to heal various kinds of illnesses. In many of these incantations, the curandera/o often calls on the four chacs (guardians of the four cardinal points) to garner their healing power and wisdom (León-Portilla et al., In the Language of Kings, 398; Tedlock, Popol Vuh, 527—50).

*13 Chacs were identified as the skybearers that held up the sky at the cardinal spaces and were also the quadripartite rain gods often associated with a particular cardinal space.

*14 Florida water is a cleansing liquid that contains alcohol as its base, spring or blessed water, and aromatic cleansing flowers and herbs. You can buy Florida water at pharmacies that have an ethnic section or make it from scratch.

*15 Tzitzimimeh were deities associated with stars that could be seen during an eclipse. They were believed to be attacking the sun during an eclipse. They were often depicted as skeletal female figures wearing skirts with skull-and-crossbone designs (Klein, “The Devil and the Skirt,” 23—27).

*16 A nahual is often thought of as a supernatural guardian animal that can share a soul with a person or deity.

*17 Tezcatlipoca was often understood as having four aspects. Each aspect was associated with a color, cardinal space—a quadrant of universal space, and an element (León-Portilla, Aztec Thought and Culture, 46.).

*18 Casting lots is a divinatory practice that involves throwing stones or other small objects to see into circumstances.

*19 Streaks of misfortune can be distinguished from chronic or prolonged periods of misfortune. A streak is a somewhat unusual short period of misfortunes that have taken place within approximately one week to three months. On the other hand, prolonged or chronic periods of misfortune often require soul-retrieval work coupled with limpias. Soul retrieval helps someone to regain a lost piece of her or his soul, or sacred essence energy.

*20 The Pachtontli rite began on Xochilhuitl (feast of the flowers), October 6 per our Gregorian calendar, and ended twenty days later, the second feast of Hueypachtli. During the Pachtontli rite, the female goddess Xochiquetzal made an appearance, marking a seasonal transition, and ensured the return of the flowers (Durán, Book of the Gods, 239, 244).

*21 Mexica mythology involves a creation story in which the Fifth Sun was preceded by four other cycles of creation and destruction (Taube, Karl A., Legendary Past, 41—44).

*22 The Teteo innan has been identified as a complex of earth goddesses that were variant aspects of one earth goddess (McCafferty and McCafferty, “Metamorphosis of Xochiquetzal,” 103).

*23 Sahagún appears to identify Ochpaniztli as the eleventh feast day of the month, while Durán seems to identify it as the first day of the eleventh month (Sahagún, Florentine Codex, 2:118; Durán, Book of the Gods, 447).

*24 Sihom leaves come from the sihom tree, an evergreen with compound leaves ten centimeters (about four inches) long.

*25 One of my mentors taught me that the more we focus on the need for protection, the more we attract circumstances that require protection. Instead I was encouraged to focus on keeping my energy fields strong and to strengthen them as needed. When our energy fields are at a low vibration, unwanted circumstances can occur, such as sickness.

*26 Many Maya, such as the Tzotzil, believe we have two souls. One, the ch’ulel, is invisible, indestructible, and divided into thirteen parts. It is the first spirit to become associated with the physical body and is the last to depart from the body several days after the physical death. A trauma can cause a person to lose a piece of their ch’ulel, a piece of their sacred essence energy. The second type of soul is called chanul, a coessence that acts as a supernatural guardian and typically takes the guise of a wild animal. The animal coessence shares a ch’ulel with a person from birth (Gossen, “Animal Souls,” 83, 94—95). One’s chanul is often revealed in a dream or a vision quest; it can also be discerned by a shaman or assigned at birth.

*27 One of my mentors taught me to to honor the cardinal spaces counterclockwise, reflecting the movement of the sun—East, North, West, and South. The mentors that honored Nahua or Mexica traditions, however, honored the cardinal spaces clockwise. Honoring sacred spaces moving clockwise resonates with me, and this is the way I do so.