A day of limpias
A few weeks ago, I hosted a day of limpias with Mexican curandera Estela Roman. A limpia is a spiritual cleansing that is based in the philosophy and practice of traditional Mexican healing, or curanderismo. To perform a limpia, the curandera uses herbs, flowers, prayers and songs to help purify the client’s mind, body and spirit.
One essential tool of the limpia is the egg, el huevo, which is held and passed over the person’s body to absorb any negative energy. Sometimes the egg picks up so much energy and heat that it will be partially cooked. Some curanderas will, after the limpia, crack open the egg into a glass of water and “read” the egg. This egg reading is a way of both divination and diagnosis to give more insight into what is going on for the person receiving the limpia.
Another essential element of the limpia is the smoke of the copal, which is also used for cleansing and protection. Copal is a tree sap that is used in many different Mexica ceremonies.
During the day of limpias at my house, Estela saw people in a back room of my house. I was in the kitchen preparing food and tea. After their limpias, people were given a hot cup of herbal tea and lots of yummy food to eat. A few women who also practice curanderismo came over to assist. After receiving their limpia, each person was taken care of by other expert healers. While limpias were going on in the back, many of us sat around the table eating, drinking tea and laughing all day long. There was a really good feeling that day.
Later, I realized that this is exactly the kind of HEALTH CARE that I would like to envision. Health care based in ancient healing traditions; health care that is really about CARING for the human being; health care that builds community; health care that honors and works with the healing power of Mother Earth.
I will continue to hold this vision and prayer in my heart.
Tags: Curanderismo, limpia
More on the Sacred Fire
Apela has uploaded another video to youtube of her talking about the Sacred Fire Ceremony on March 21st. The lighting is a little eerie, it’s like she is talking from the Spirit World. She says some very important things about the meaning of the ceremony:
“40,000 years ago, the ancestors built the sacred fire. They built this fire with great power & great purpose. They built it in such a way that we, their descendants would awaken in the right time and reignite the sacred fire to remember our relationships with each other and to remember our sacred relationship with the Earth.”
Link to Sacred Fire Website
Apela Colorado now has a website dedicated to the Sacred Fire on March 21st. Check it out:
OneSacredFire.org
Healers from all over the world will be joining together in this ceremony, including Zulu High Sanusi, Baba Credo Mutwa in South Africa, and Tata Yawanawa from Brazil.
Here’s an excerpt from the site:
An Invitation to Light Your Sacred Fire and
Renew the Earth March 22, 2008
“In reigniting this fire in Kyrgyzstan, its leaders will stand in the last location that the people of the earth stood together as a single community of humanity, 40,000 years ago. By supporting this ceremony with your simultaneous global fires, this event will powerfully re-create the single community of humanity.
The ceremony’s ability to spark remembrance is exponentially enhanced through global participation; the more of us participate, the more fuel is created to feed this sacred fire.”
Sacred Fire on March 21st for Ancestral Remembrance
Apela Colorado, my elder & mentor, recently came back from her travels with a message from spiritual elders in Central Asia. Circle of Ancestors sponsored an evening lecture with Dr. Colorado last November. We taped her talk and have posted part of it on youtube so the word can get out about the Sacred Fire ceremonies to take place this year on March 21st.
Circle of Ancestors
onesacredfire.org
