102 of 106 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From the Horse's Mouth, August 27, 2005
This review is from: Woman Who Glows in the Dark: A Curandera Reveals Traditional Aztec Secrets of Physical and Spiritual Health (Paperback)
I am the co-author of Woman Who Glows in the Dark. I had not visited this page for quite some time and was deeply troubled to read the review written by Edward B. Holman. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, I feel that Mr. Holman has made some grave misjudgements about an author he has never met. He has also reported information, inaccurately and out of context, regarding a book I find it difficult to believe he has read. None of his references get beyond p. 28, and Chapter 1 starts on p. 41.
I spent eight months writing this book with Elena. That work involved traveling through Guatemala and Mexico with her, meeting her Aztec teacher Ehekateotl, staying at her home in New Mexico for weeks at a time, and meeting and interviewing her students and some clients. As someone who knows her personally and had to do extensive research to write this book, let me tell you, from the proverbial horse's mouth, what really happened and something of who this woman is.
Mr. Holman writes "Curanderismo is mainly the province of the people who are, essentially, exorcists, and their conterparts, brujos, brujas, and hechiceros, are people who are paid by their clients to place hexes on others."
This is incorrect. First of all, many modern curanderos are midwives, herbalists, chiropractors, bone-setters, and counselors. For a more in-depth discussion of this topic, please see, Chapter 1: Types of Curanderos and Their Specialties (beginning on p. 69).
Second, to infer that this class of healers, and Elena by extension, deals only with the darker arts is a gross mistatement.
Elena is a healer of the highest integrity--and, I might add, an inspiring humility. Every time we met to write, she spoke of the responsibility that healers have toward their clients. She never claimed any "magical powers" for herself but emphasized over and over that she was just God's instrument.
The stories she tells in this book are of clients who were healed in a profound way. You have only to read them to see the love and commitment she brings to this work. Writing this book with her brought profound healing into my own life.
I also saw the fruits of her work in her students, whom I met and interviewed for the book. The foundation in healing that she gave them was solid and rich. I refer you to Chapter 6, which is filled with stories about what she taught them about curanderismo. Read the book and let these students, who have worked and traveled with her for years, speak for themselves.
Mr. Holman goes on to say, "she replaces it [the 'conventional wisdom of curanderismo']with a concoction that she largely invented herself, with the help of a couple of fraudulent pretenders from Mexico who claim to be the heirs of the magical and religious traditions of the Aztec Indians."
Again, I was there. I traveled with her to Mexico and spent time in the community center of her teacher Ehekateotl, who is truly one of the spiritual heirs of the Mexica (Aztec) tradition. How do I know this is true? Because I met the people he helps in his community and found them to be good and intelligent souls. I helped them to build a huge altar for the Dia de los Muertos ceremony and did ceremony with them. I was permitted to visit some of their sacred sites. I listened to their stories, I met other healers who deeply respected Ehe.
All I can say is that Ehekateotl is a man of deep humility, great humor, and dedication to his people. To call such a kind and generous man, sight unseen, a "fraudulent pretender," as Mr. Homan does, is inexcusable. Ehe lives very humbly, has little money, and spends his days healing people who come to the community center where he lives. (And they keep coming, obvously, because they get results.) He is really quite overworked and kind, and carries on with a lot of courage.
To really understand how a culture could go underground to survive the Spanish Conquest, take a look at Chapter 7: The Gods That Refused to Die. It's not unthinkable that cultures go underground. When I wrote A FOREST OF KINGS and MAYA COSMOS with Linda Schele and David Friedel, it was the same story. The Aztecs, as well as the Maya, are alive and well.
On the subject of cursing, Mr. Holman quotes Elena as writing, "'Some times the "cursed" individual is suffering from some kind of chemical imbalance, such as schizophrenia, and needs medication and psychiatric help.'... That is the impression I get of her. People come to her expecting to be treated in the way that any other curandera would treat them, and she sends them off to someone who will get them started on Prozac. Thanks a lot, Ms. Avila!"
This is taken entirely out of context. I quote from p. 53 of the book, "Recently, I saw an elder named Anna who had give a 'curandero' her life savings--ten thousand dollars--to take away a hex. I was deeply saddened by her story. Her thirty-six-year-old daughter had been diagnosed as having paranoid schizophrenia but was refusing to take her medication."
Elena goes on to say that the daughter was becoming violent and was unable to care for her small children. When the woman brought her daughter to Elena, who is also a trained psychiatric nurse, "It was obvious to me that her daughter had a chronic condition and needed to take her medication. Not taking her medication was what was causing her to become violent with her children."
This brings up an important point, that there is, as Mr. Holman implies, some sort of "right" or "orthodox" way to be a curandera. This is a terribly limited way of looking at any healing modality. A true healer applies the APPROPRIATE AND EFFECTIVE cure for the situation, not some kind of rigid prescription.
What Elena writes about in this book is how she has taken what she learned of curanderismo and applied it to THIS culture. Sometimes that looks very, very traditional indeed; and sometimes it looks creative and appropriate and effective. The stories told in the book, particularly the story of Donna and her soul retrieval in Chapter 4: The Weeping Soul, p. 193, attest to how skillfully Elena works with her patients and how astute she is about finding ways to help them.
I would also like to address Mr. Holman's remark "I am quite sure she charges for her sessions, her lectures and tours and workshops, and anything else she can charge people for. And I doubt if she is cheap, either." It is true that in traditional cultures a healer works by accepting donations. But it is also true that they never have to go without food or lodging or the necessities of life because the community values them and takes care of them. To expect a curandera in America to accept only donations is just absurd. Elena started out this way, she told me, but soon discovered that people would give her $15 for two hours of work. One wealthy client, who had a $100-a-day cocaine habit, handed her a twenty for hours of work.
Why do we believe that traditional healers don't deserve to be paid? We pay our medical doctors, don't we? Yes, Elena does charge, reasonably, but I also know for a fact that she would not turn away someone who really needed her help. When we were in Mexico City together doing research for the book, the owner of the hotel we stayed at found out she was a curandera and sent his whole staff to her. She didn't charge a penny and willingly worked on everyone because that is her calling.
It is also very interesting that the book that Mr. Holman holds up as the ideal, CURANDERISMO by Robert Trotter, does not seem to have been well-reviewed by him. I quote from his review of that volume: "This book is what one would expect from a team of American academics starting from scratch trying to assemble a definitive body of knowledge while based on US soil and focusing on a population located inside of the US." On the other hand, Elena has lived her whole life in this culture and WOMAN WHO GLOWS IN THE DARK is written with depth and intelligence, honesty and passion.
I just do not believe that Mr. Holman carefully read this book and I am curious about the virulence of his attack.
I can only urge you to read this book and judge for yourself. It is a wonderful record of the history of curanderismo, of love and service to others, and of deep respect for a wonderful, endlessly creative, living healing tradition.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An incredibly empowering, inspiring, enlightening book!!!, May 17, 1999
By A Customer
Not only does Elena (with Joy) explain clearly the essential concepts, tools, and techniques of curanderismo, but she also illustrates how these principles and practices can be applied in a variety of contexts and settings in very individualized and meaningful ways. Filled with wonderful stories about her own evolution as a curandera, and her experiences with teachers, friends, family and clients, Elena speaks to us with tremendous honesty, compassion, and a beautiful sense of humor. I smiled, and cried, many times, sometimes simultaneously, as I read this book --it was like poetry for my heart and soul. Elena teaches us just how important it is to respect and honor the needs of the soul, which she regards as sacred. She shows us how we can better listen to, communicate with, and heal the deepest, wisest, and most authentic parts of our being. She explores the value of emotions, intuition, instincts, relationships, humor, creativity, touch, prayer and ritual; and she suggests how we can acknowledge and integrate these resources into everyday personal life as well as professional practice. I don't want to say too much about the book or give away La Curandera's "recipes" for happiness and health, because each reader should have the pleasure of discovering them for herself or himself. Suffice it to say that this book is essential reading for anyone seeking to achieve greater physical, mental, emotional and spiritual balance and clarity in their lives and in relationships. It is also essential reading for anyone involved in the healing professions who desires to assist and support others in the healing process, especially those working with culturally diverse populations. This is a timely and timeless book that is filled with, to quote Elena and Joy, "practical spirituality". I have already recommended it to family, friends and colleagues, and, as a healthcare social worker, I plan to recommend it to clients. It is a pure joy to read, and I am certain that I will reread and consult the wisdom of 'Woman Who Glows in the Dark' many, many times in the future.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
