The Gift of Friendship and Sage

Early last fall, the University of New Mexico offered a 100% free online course on Curanderismo.  Curanderismo is the tradition of Mexican, Latin American, and indigenous folk magic, medicine, and healing practiced by many throughout the Americas.  UNM offers an intensive class every summer on this same topic at its Albuquerque campus, but 2014 was the first year it offered an extension of the class online. 

It was a great class, and very informative.  We learned about cupping, juicing, herbs, shawl massage, the sacred uses of tobacco, and many other interesting and enlightening topics.  Even though I spent a good deal of my youth in New Mexico, I was (unfortunately) very disconnected from the culture.  It’s something I regret now that I’m an adult, but to make up for lost time I make a point to study and appreciate the culture and heritage now, even though I took it for granted then.

My friend, The Feisty Witch, created a study group for us on Facebook, to help us work through the material and share extra resources.  What started as just a few dozen of my friends and family quickly grew to friends inviting friends, strangers finding their way to our little group and strangers inviting their friends.  And then suddenly, the group had exploded and I had no idea who any of these people were.  But that’s okay!  Because as soon as the class got underway, we shared thoughts and insights, asked questions, and reminded each other of due dates and deadlines for the online course.

Since then, the group has grown in ways I never could have imagined.  What once was a small group of friends has grown to a group of over five thousand people from all over the world.  Some of us are witches and Pagans, others are Curanderas and Curanderos, healers and helpers, nurses and mystics, teachers and students.  The group is active with questions, links, articles, pictures, and videos.  I’m a bit amazed by it, to be honest.  I’m not at all a Curandera.  To be honest, I’m not even a healer and I’m certainly can’t claim Hispanic or Latin American heritage!  I’m just a kid who spent some time in New Mexico and likes to meet others.

 

That’s been my favorite part of the group, to be honest. Sure, I love the information about herbs and magic and medicine.  But really, I’m in awe over the great people I get to interact with each and every day, people who help one another and love one another, people who have wisdom and experience to share, and are more than happy to do it.  Our little study group has grown, and while it’s nearly 5.5K strong, it’s still intimate and familiar.  It still feels like a family.

Recently, one of the members from the group sent me a little care package from New Mexico.  One downside of the Curanderismo study group is that I sometimes get a little nostalgic for the South West.  Sure, I adore living in North Carolina, but New Mexico has its own special charm.  I was so happy when I opened my package of wild-gathered desert sage (and other goodies!).  The scent brought me instantly back to New Mexico, and even further back to my childhood as a kid in Montana.  Holding these lovingly crafted bundles in my hands, I remembered wide open skies, the Milky Way, epic sunsets, rolling prairie, flat and colorful deserts.  I was in, just for a wonderful, brief moment, the places that I once called home.  Because no matter how much time has passed, no matter how far away I am, that soil and those waters are part of me, tugging at my roots in that place.

So, despite not being a Curandera, or Hispanic, or a healer, I still very much enjoy our little (growing every day!) study group.  I enjoy the friends I make and the wisdom that is shared. I enjoy the gifts I am given – gifts of all types.  The sage is just wonderful and very thoughtful, but the gift of such vivid memory is priceless.  I hope I have been able to adequately share my gift of gratitude for the herb bundles, and all of the other blessings this group has given with me.

Curanderismo: Traditional Medicine (study group)

http://www.facebook.com/groups/CuranderismoTraditionalMedicine/

Folk Medicine and Magic Marketplace - buy/sell/trade

http://www.facebook.com/groups/905763112827007/

Arts and Crafts of the Southwest - My friend Andrew, who gathers and crafts beautiful and powerful sage bundles

http://www.facebook.com/groups/147697708897197/

Curanderismo Class at UNM

http://www.facebook.com/curanderismo

Review: Flying Without a Broom by D.J. Conway

Review: Flying Without a Broom by D.J. Conway

I have no idea why this book has so many positive reviews.  I guess I’m just a hater (though admittedly I tend to be very critical of Pagan and new agey books.)  D.J. Conway is a big name Pagan who has written dozens of titles on dozens of subjects, and astral projection sounds sexy and catchy, so I guess it’s the perfect combination to sell titles.  Conway has nearly 40 years of experience, and I really respect that.  She’s clearly done a lot for the Pagan community.  But buying a book and liking a book are two different things, so while I can see why people would buy this title, I really am flabbergasted as to why so many people like this book.

I borrowed Flying Without a Broom from a friend last summer, and only recently was able to finish it.  This is partly because I’m a very busy person, but also because some parts of this book were just too slow to keep my attention.  It’s not a very long book, just under 200 pages, and the writing style is very simple and conversational.  (Sometimes a bit too conversational to the point where the book seems poorly edited. This is something I have found with a lot of Llewellyn titles, but that’s a post for another day.)

The book starts off with a brief history, myth, and lore concerning astral projection.  Conway then goes to talk about the astral plane.  She discusses techniques, including traveling the astral through sleep and meditation.  Next are a few chapters about the different things one can do while on the astral – time travel, visiting ancient civilizations, meeting spirit guides, healing, and making magic. 

I’ve been reading a lot about the astral realms and astral projection, and I’ve also been talking to dozens of people on the subject.  Everyone’s experience, perceptions, techniques, thoughts, and opinions concerning the astral and astral projection are all very and incredibly different.  I’d caution anyone reading this book to know that Conway’s opinions and experiences are not an end-all and authoritative treatise on the subject.  Her book presents as an UPG (unverified personal gnosis), which is important for readers to realize.

I was on the fence about this book for most of the time I was been reading it.  Some of the advice on astral projection and lucid dreaming seemed interesting enough, and some of it just seemed hippie dippie.  One section really made me incredibly angry, however.  Her section on healing was super fluffy and made me feel very uncomfortable.  I don’t want to make any claims concerning healing on the astral, but I really recommend that people with physical and mental illness see professionals about their problems and not rely only on the astral or a psychic or spirit healer.  I’m not saying that people should deny the power of these things, but people should be safe and sane in regards to their health. 

One passage in particular:  “Some people with very serious problems, such as alcohol and drug addiction, are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to heal.  This is because their problems are not basically emotionally derived. Their main problems stem from a lack of self-discipline and self-mastery.”

This statement is one of the most insensitive, inaccurate things I’ve ever read in a new agey book (and I’ve read a lot, I’m sure.)  Let me tell you, as someone who is in the mental health industry, who is a priestess, and who is a decent human being, this passage made me see red.  Yeah, sure, drug and alcohol addiction are hard problems to heal.  But there are people and agencies and drugs and interventions out there that are evidence-based and are proven to be effective.  Addiction is not impossible to heal, it’s just hard.  Part of an addiction is emotional, and some of it is mental, and some of it is physical, too. 

Her sentence "Their main problems stem from a lack of self-discipline and self-mastery” really made me furious.  Can you imagine if you were an addict you read this sentence? It would probably make someone feel like crap, like they had a moral deficit, like they were a failure.  Addiction is NOT a problem of self-discipline and self-mastery.  It is a sickness.  It is an illness.  It is a physical addiction to a substance, which is something that body needs and craves.

Did you know an alcoholic just can’t stop drinking?  They can’t decide one day to be like “well, I guess I’ll stop drinking.”  The body goes through withdrawals and sometimes that will kill you.  It’s because substances change the body.  Different neural pathways are destroyed and built.  The body chemistry changes.  The way of one’s thinking and feeling changes.  Taking substances changes you.  It’s not a matter of self-mastery or self-discipline.  It’s a matter of existence.  Those who are addicted to substances are existing in a different way than they did before they were addicted to substances.

Furthermore, does she not realize the moral implications of her statement?  That those who abuse substances are weak, that they just need to try harder, that they make mistakes and they’re really just terrible awful people who aren’t even trying?  Substance addiction is a mental illness and there is no shame in a mental illness.  Can you imagine telling a diabetic or someone with PTSD to just “get more self-discipline.”  How devastating to be the person to hear that!

This is why people must be careful about witchy, hippie dippie, new agey “healers.”  These people aren’t healers.  They are charlatans.  They do not have medical, mental health, or substance abuse training.  They just decided to write a book one day and they devote a chapter to “healing” and they don’t know the first thing about healing.  How irresponsible!  I don’t care how many decades of training these people have in Paganism, because their real world radar and experience is skewed and dangerous.  They are doing more harm than good.
This is why I think Pagan “healers” aren’t worth anything if they haven’t had some mundane world training as well.  You can astral travel to Atlantis every night for a decade and it won’t mean anything when dealing with a real sickness like substance abuse.

I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater concerning this book, but I really wonder what use people have gotten out of it.  Has anyone read this book and had a positive experience?  I don’t want to hate D.J. Conway because of one book, but if this is the standard quality of her work, it makes me really curious who her editors are and how she’s managed to publish so much!