Secrets of the Talking Jaguar: A Mayan Shaman's Journey to the Heart of the Indigenous Soul [Hardcover]

Martin Prechtel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 1998

Twenty-five years ago, a young musician and painter named Martn Prechtel wandered through the brilliant landscapes of Mexico and Guatemala. Little did he know he was traveling toward a destiny that would change his life forever. Arriving at a Tzutujil Mayan village on the breathtaking shores of Lake Atitlan, Prechtel was apprenticed to a powerful, ancient shaman, Chiviliu Tacaxoy. Ten years later, he had become a village chief and a famous shaman in his own right. Many books have been written about the ancient Mayans, but this is the first to provide an insider's view of the complex, joyous culture of contemporary Mayan village life, a culture that is fast disappearing in the wake of modernism. In Secrets of the Talking Jaguar, Martn Prechtel teaches us that all human beings possess within their souls an indigenous spirit that is natural, subtle, generous, and village-oriented. This spirit of wholeness and connection is never beyond our reach; we have only to move past the trappings of materialism and the modern world to hear that special song that is ours alone to sing. In a tale filled with enchantment, danger, rich cultural descriptions, shamanic rivalry, passion, and hope, Prechtel takes us into the heart of both untamed nature and community life, helping us find the secrets of our own hearts and souls. Ultimately, we learn, the shamans' power lies not in magic but in being fully aware and joyously alive as human beings.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As late as the 1970s, among the Tzutujil Indians of Santiago Atitlan, in Guatemala, there was no word for "time," and the concept closest to the verb "to be" was the state of "belonging to"?in this case, to their village, which these descendants of ancient Mayans believed was the center of the universe. At the core of their philosophy was a rejection of progress?everything of importance had happened in the past. Their religion, which relied on communion with animal and plant spirits to understand daily existence, appealed deeply to Prechtel, a half Native American who grew up on a Pueblo reservation near Santa Fe: "The new aromas, the new sounds, things that I'd never seen before, spun me into a trance, amplifying my already well-established erotic relationship with the landscape, my verdant quest to find a way to merge and mate with the spirit of the world." In his engaging first book, Prechtel describes his apprenticeship to Nicolas Chiviliu Tacaxoy, a shaman who taught him healing and divination skills, and his 13 years living as a Tzutujil. While his view seems at times romanticized, the picture he creates of idyllic Indian life?of the Indians' well-being, colorful rituals and rapport with nature?is so beautifully drawn that his delight in their culture becomes contagious, as does his grief when civil war creates havoc in their village.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 283 pages
• Publisher: Jeremy P. Tarcher (August 24, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874779006
• ISBN-13: 978-0874779004
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #555,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Novel: A Journey to the Navel of the Earth, July 24, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secrets of the Talking Jaguar (Paperback)

Let me begin with: WOW, what a book. Prechtel and Bly's collaboration on this wonderful insight into the soul of the Mayan people is so much more useful than an anthropological study of the Maya. Prechtel's perspective is that of an insider and reading this book is like reading primary source material. I doubt there is a comparable work available (at least not among the books and articles I have read). From Prechtel's mentor Chiv to his vivid descriptions of Mayan folklore, there is a thread binding the observations in this book that made the reading of it a real and emotional experience. I lived in Guatemala for 2 years as a child and for me reading this book was also a reminder of myself. Far from a dry, rigid, academic piece, The Secrets of the Talking Jaguar is for everyone with an interest in Guatemala, the Maya, justice and spirituality. Thank you Martin Prechtel.

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing cultural and religious insights of Atitlan, October 17, 1999

By 

Judith Pasco ([e-mail]) (Sequim, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secrets of the Talking Jaguar (Paperback)

Having traveled to Guatemala 5 times, and having lectured on the devastating civil war that caused untold economic hardship, destruction of cultural identity and hundreds of thousands of dead and disappeared, I read Martin Prechtel's book with interest. I have visited Santiago Atitlan 3 times, once with students, and felt I had a small grasp of the religious practices. But I was wrong. Prechtel's account of his life with the shaman and the spiritual hierarchy of the village is an incredible revelation. The Maya tendency to keep their important beliefs secret, was much deeper and more significant to their culture than I could have guessed. Reading this book is a fascinating and up to now unavailable look at a culture that sees itself as an integral, unseparable part of nature and the universe. The connectedness experienced by the atitecos is something that we in our materialistic, compartmentalized culture have lost, or perhaps never have had. Prechtel offers us the chance to glimpse the underpinnings of the Maya belief system. His writing, that once in while seems overly flowerly, sets the scene to guide us into this magical world. His fascination with his own learning there does not lead him to idealize these indigenous people. There are sharp doses of reality in this book; of diseases and death, and hunger and feuds. To gain an amazing perspective into the lives of a fascinating people, I highly recommend Secrets of the Talking Jaguar.

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a superbly written work, December 22, 1999

By 

David Abram (Western U.S.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secrets of the Talking Jaguar (Paperback)

I'm astonished that this book is not better known. Perhaps it's 'cause the title makes it sound like yet another addition to the awful genre of new-age pop shamanism garbage. But nothing could be further from the case! This is easily the finest work written on Meso-American shamanic practice -- and surely the most significant work on the topic since Mr. Castaneda's earliest books. But The Talking Jaguar is a thousand times more grounded, detailed and genuine than Castaneda's problematic work, since it is written from a position deeply within the particular tradition that it is translating for us. Perhaps most remarkable is the luminous eloquence of Prechtel's language -- the book is written in a style that carries something of the flavor of the indigenous oral tradition, a style worthy of the reverence accorded by most oral peoples to the beauty of living language. That so many experiences and insights rooted in indigenous, participatory, oral modes of awareness managed to be translated onto the written page, without losing their ancestral wildness, is something of a wonder. It's a landmark text, a kind of talisman filled with clues for those working on behalf of the wild, more-than-human earth. Don't miss it.