Cleansing Rites of Curanderismo: Limpias Espirituales of Ancient Mesoamerican Shamans - Erika Buenaflor M.A. J.D. 2018
Fire Limpias: Transformation and Renewal
Commonly Practiced Limpias from Ancient and Modern Perspectives
Fire 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 self-reflection, 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 Ahua-chamahes. 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 e-mailed 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 into their own power and do it for themselves. It is always exciting to get a call or e-mail a few weeks later and hear that what they had asked for in the velación came out better than expected.
Guidelines for Velaciónes
To begin with, two fundamentals must first be stressed. When writing the petition for a velacion, (1) ask for an ideal outcome, and (2) understand that everyone has a right to their reality.
Most of us have not experienced ideal realities. We may not even know what our ideal looks like or can be, so I recommend that the person ask for an ideal outcome and be open to such. While the person is waiting for this, I encourage them to maintain a positive, faithful, and grateful attitude and to expect to experience something ideal. These high energetic vibrations—happiness, faith, and gratitude—fuel the magic and intention of the velación.
I have also had a few clients throughout the years ask me, “Can’t we make him or her understand, or do, XYZ?” Everyone has free will, so we cannot make anyone do anything if they are not willing. Nor can we make something happen to someone if there is no opening. Trying to do so can be a waste of money, time, energy, and is often flat-out unethical. We can, however, ask for and have a right to our own ideal outcome.
To do a velación, the following will be needed:
· Seven-day candles. The number of candles depends on the formation and intention.
· Two four- to eight-ounce glasses. (Please do not use these glasses to drink from after this or any limpia. The items that are used for limpia rites are sacred magical items and should be placed in a separate space, out of reach, so they are not mistakenly used for other purposes.)
· Filtered water.
· Parchment paper.
· A number-two pencil.
· Copal.
· Charcoal tablets.
· Wooden matches.
· A brazier, a steel urn for burning the charcoal tablets.
· An egg.
· A picture (optional).
Start out by using a white fire to cleanse the space where the velación will be performed (chapter 8, see here, discusses how to make a white fire). Then write out the petition with a number-two pencil on a piece of parchment paper. (As my mentors taught me, pencils are magical instruments.)
I start all petitions with “God, Company of Heaven, I Am That I Am, please and thank you with and by the sacred fires of God’s Light and Love for ensuring . . .,” and end with “Thank you.” When I use the term God, it is free of any monotheistic religious associations; rather, it is the divine principle of the Highest Love. The sacred fires of God’s Love and Light clear and transmute any and all kinds of density to light. If the term God does not resonate with the person, I encourage them to refer to something they feel is a divine principle, one they feel has the power to clear and transmute, whether the prayer be to Krishna, Buddha, Hecate, or any other force or deity. Faith in a divine force or principle is what fuels the magic in cleansing and renewal.
If a picture of the person or persons or situation is available, use it, and place the picture on top of the parchment paper. On top of the paper and picture, place the principal candle, as well as the glass of water and the egg. The egg is an offering. The glass of water and the egg should be next to one another, and the principal candle should be at the top, in the shape of a triangle.
For the principal candle, garner the help of a saint, bodhisattva, angel, or master. Get a candle that reflects the intention. Here are some ideas for the types of divine help and some of their known specialties.
· Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (Sacred Heart of Jesus) and Buddha: for any type of petition where divine help is needed
· Archangel Michael: to clear any type of negative energies
· Archangel Raphael: for healing and illumined vision
· San Judas de Tadeo (St. Jude Thaddeus): when asking for a miracle
· San Juan Soldado: for safe travels
· Virgen de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe) and Kwan Yin: help stop family quarrels
· Angel de la Guarda (Guardian Angel): helps to look over you and family members
· Changó and Lucky Buddha: good luck
· Santa Clara: good fortune
· San Antonio (St. Anthony), Our Lady of Grace, and Yemaya: for love
· St. Lazarus: to guide in a new beginning
· Divina Providencia (Divine Providence): for prosperity
· Mano Poderosa: to help with work and business matters
· San Ramon: business prosperity
· San Simón: to have more financial abundance
· Santa Elena: to discover the truth
· Santa Lucia: to see with clarity
· Santa Marta: to gain strength
· Santa Teresa: to increase the power of a magical petition
· Siete Potencias: to get rid of bad luck
· Infant Jesus of Atocha: petition for help in any situation
· San Martin de Porres: petition for financial needs
· Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception: for fertility and health
· Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal: to break bad habits
· St. Francis of Assisi: for better understanding and peace
Velación Formations
To strengthen the intention of the velación, place the principal candle and the parchment petition in the center of any of the following arrangements:
· Triangles: to strengthen a petition. A triangle is considered the strongest formation to strengthen an intention. To create a triangle, obtain three additional seven-day candles (see figure 5.1).
· Circles: often used to influence a situation a certain way, this is probably the most common shape used. To create a circle, obtain eight additional seven-day candles (see figure 5.2).
· Squares: often used for stability and to seal an intention. To create a square, obtain four additional seven-day candles (see figure 5.3).
Candle Color
As for the color of the candles, here are some meanings:
· White candles are all-purpose candles; they purify a situation, and garner divine help.
· Blue candles are burned for serenity and tranquility.
· Red candles are burned for health and power.
· Pink candles are burned for goodwill.
· Green candles are burned to remove a harm or a negative influence.
· Purple candles are burned to repel dense energies.
· Black candles are burned to bring closure to something or for magic.
Steps for the Velación
After the candles have been placed in a particular arrangement, begin by cracking the egg in the glass jar and discard the shell. Light the middle candle with a wooden match. Then light the other candles in a clockwise motion. Use one match per candle, and never use the breath to blow out the match or candle. My mentors taught me that using wooden matches empower the magical intention. I suspect that this belief has its roots in ancient Mesoamerican beliefs that wood or flint has a heart or essence, which can strengthen the magical intention.
Once all of the candles have been lit, do not place anything inside the formation or blow out the candles. Let them burn out naturally (of course, make sure to do the velación in a safe place). Finally, light the charcoal and place copal on it. Plan beforehand to place the charcoal on a steel urn, as the charcoal gets very hot; leave the urn outside the candle formation. Make offerings of copal regularly, preferably at night before going to bed and in the early morning. During the velación, pay attention to how the candles are burning. If any of them has a very low fire, burn copal next to that candle.
Figure 5.1. Velación in the shape of a triangle.
Illustration by Carolina Gutierrez.
Figure 5.2. Velación in the shape of a circle.
Illustration by Carolina Gutierrez.
Figure 5.3. Velación in the shape of a square.
Illustration by Carolina Gutierrez.
After the candles go out naturally, if the intention was to have something flourish, pour the water on a plant either inside the house or in the garden. If the intention was to clear any kind of dense energy, place the water in the toilet, or outside of the house in an area where nothing is growing. Place the petition on an altar or in a special place. When the request has come true, bury the petition. If the rite cleared away dense energy, bury the petition in a location where nothing is growing; otherwise, you can bury the petition anywhere.
Phases of the Moon
It is unnecessary to begin the velación at night. But the phase of the moon should be known, especially when it comes to drafting the petition.
· New moon: new beginnings
· Waxing: increasing or expanding
· Full: bringing something to a close
· Waning: decreasing or clearing
How the Candle Burns
Remember that just because they are called seven-day candles, this does not mean that they will burn for the full seven days. The time it takes for the candles to burn out depends on the situation.
· First lighting: when you first light the candle, if it emits black smoke, then it is transmuting dense energies. When the smoke is white, then the prayer will be answered, but there may be some struggles.
· A strong flame: working to send a lot of energy and power to manifest the intention.
· A weak or low flame: slowly removing heavy obstacles. Burn copal, other resins, or incense next to it to strengthen the flame.
· A jumping flame: spiritual warfare on your behalf.
· One or more of the candles goes out during the velación: there is, for whatever reason, a lot of resistance to this intention. Relight the candle that has gone out, and let it burn out naturally. If more than one candle went out, relight those as well. After the candle has burned out, redo the velación. But this time, ask that all energies impeding the petition be transmuted with and by the sacred fires of God’s Love and Light.
· Crackling sounds: the spirit of the fire is pleading your case. The stronger the crackling, the stronger the opposition.
· Candles burn unevenly: if two of the candles that are opposite to one another take more than a day to burn out, then there may be some delays. You can determine then if you want to do another velación to clear obstacles around the situation.
Reading the Glass
· Clear: if the glass remains clear, then your petition will be granted.
· A lot of wax residue: when there is a lot of wax residue on the glass and those candles have taken longer to burn, it is a good idea to redo your velación and ask for obstacles to be cleared.
· Turns black: if there is any kind of black, smoky residue on the glass or black spots at the bottom of glass, this generally means someone has been intentionally sending negative thoughts or energy your way concerning this situation, so be discerning. Give yourself a baño (chapter 6, see here, discusses how to do this), give your space a white fire limpia (chapter 8, see here, discusses how to do this), redo your velación, and if needed, seek help.
· Glass breaks: depending on the circumstances, this can indicate that someone or something may be working against you. On the other hand, the glass breaking indicates that the energy sent your way has been broken. Nonetheless, it is a good idea to still give yourself a baño, give your space a white fire limpia, redo your velación, and if needed, seek help.
A Velación for Divine Intervention and Renewal
The following is a great example of divine intervention and renewing a situation with a velación. It involved a client that wanted me to help her brother, whom she believed had been bewitched by his fiancée. According to my client, the fiancée was principally after his money. The first time this client came to see me, she gave me a laundry list of the numerous things that were going on in her life, which included ongoing cycles of negative emotional outbursts and a failing marriage. After a platica concerning her stories and woes, she mentioned her brother’s engagement. I requested that we first work on her own life, and then we could work on her brother if it was needed.
After a few months, my client finally got to a point where she felt grounded and happy, and the emotional outbursts were becoming a thing of the past. She requested again that we help her brother. She believed that the fiancée had been placing something in his food, influencing him to act erratically and to pull away from his friends and family. When my clients bring up beliefs concerning magical work done against them, I do not discount these beliefs. I have seen and experienced too much to do so, but at the same time I know never to empower them. We are children of God, and I know that no one and nothing can ever touch us or do harm to us unless we allow it on some level. So if the client has permitted this to happen, it must be closed off for good.
I recommended for her to do a velación with Archangel Michael as the principal candle in a circle of eight white seven-day candles. I instructed that in her petition she invoke the sacred fires of God’s Love and Light, ask that all energies that are less than love and light directed at her brother or between the brother and the fiancée be cleared, and to allow divine truth to be seen. After the candles went out, she threw the water down the toilet as instructed. That night the toilet began to overflow. Approximately two weeks later, the brother was inspired to ask the fiancée for a prenuptial agreement. Shortly thereafter, she broke off the engagement and returned to Europe. Velaciónes are very powerful tools.
The New-Year Fire
My mentor Don Tomas taught me the importance of beginning the New Year, the first of January, with a New Fire Ceremony to set the stage for the coming year. He instructed me to thoroughly clean the house, let go of items that may hold energies that no longer resonate with me, cleanse and charge my ritual tools, and cleanse and feed the soul essence of my house. To clean the house, I typically make lemongrass and rosemary tea and place a cup of it in the cleaning solutions.
If there are items that no longer resonate with me, before donating them, I usually smudge them. On one occasion, I let go of a crystal that had been given to me by someone whom I had a falling out with and had moved away from. I let go of it by burying it in the earth. I went hiking one day, dug a hole, and placed the crystal within the earth, allowing all the energies of this situation to be released and healed by the earth.
I then cleanse and feed my house with a white fire limpia and perform sahumerios in each room with copal, frankincense, and myrrh (chapter 8, see here, discusses how to make a white fire and a sahumerio). Afterward, I leave a gorgeous platter of my favorite fruits on the dining table with a seven-day candle next to it. I do not, however, light the candle until the sun rises. I write my intentions for the New Year with a number-two pencil on a piece of parchment paper. I place the paper underneath the candle, next to the platter of fruit. When the sun breaks, I light the candle and let it burn out naturally. Then I eat half of the fruit on the platter and put the other half into the compost, sharing the fruit with the earth. The candle is symbolic of a New Fire for the New Year, similar to ancient Mesoamerican customs.
Beginning the New Year in this fashion is said to bring in great fortune for the year. It has always been fortunate for me.