My Abuelita was the most industrious and wise woman I ever knew. For as long as I remember she was a crone, deeply wrinkled and creased with magical green eyes dancing off her bronze skin. My granny always knew what do when someone got sick. Her pantry was an overflowing apothecary filled with jars of colorful flowers and roots. Her small courtyard garden was filled with her favorite healing weeds. Her altar resembled that of the most devout Catholic with healing trinkets and charms and a beautiful candlelit tribute to La Virgin de Guadalupe.

My Abuelita was a granny healer, a curandera (one who cures) to her own, a tribute to women’s wisdom and empowerment over their family’s state of health. With 89 grandchildren and 36 great grandchildren, her practice and expertise in such matters was as valid as any medical school graduate I know of.

It is typical for families in Latin America to have a granny healer, a woman who has raised a brood of children healing their common ailments using home remedies and prayer. The granny healer looks out not only for the physical health of the family’s children but also for their spiritual well being, for in this folk culture it is believed that one’s health and well being is a reflection of the vitality of the soul. Dis-ease in the Latin American culture is often thought to stem from spiritual illness. Encounters with susto (fright), tristeza or pesar (sadness or grief), invidia (envy), and mal ojo (evil eye) are considered negative energies that can deplete the vitality of the soul. Depleted soul, or soul loss, can result in deficient immunity, sluggish digestion, and exhausted nerves, often giving rise to headaches, nightmares, weakness, and serious chronic conditions.

Wise grannies recognize these conditions and often respond first through prayer. In Latin America, to receive a blessing or to be prayed upon by a wise old woman is considered a serious and powerful protective gift. Often, in the midst of an ailment, the granny will hustle and bustle around gathering her herbs from the garden or the pantry, praying all the while, using her wisdom and intuition to choose the right plants, asking for spiritual guidance, even talking to, thanking, and acknowledging the wisdom of the plants. In the daily routine, she delicately nurtures the family alter and assumes an authoritative position with the grandchildren on matters of faith.

Elena Avila, author of Woman Who Glows in the Dark, puts it most succinctly, “In Western medicine, the body goes to the hospital, the mind to the psychiatrist, and the spirit to church. In curanderismo (Latin folk healing), the healing takes place under one roof.” To the outsider, this may seem a culture of healing entrenched in superstition, mysticism, and maybe a little voodoo magic, but to my abuelita, it was simply the way of life.

In this country, it is well known in medical circles that Mexican-American families don’t tend to utilize mental health care with the same frequency as other groups. Many theories have surfaced as to why this is. Some speculate that the family structure of the Mexican is one that lends itself to an emotionally supportive environment. It is common for Mexican families to be large and rather communal. The Granny matriarch of the family is highly revered, honored, and respected within this unit, and decisions within the family are never made without the input and blessing of the esteemed Grand Mother. Seldom does a Latin American Granny spend her golden years in a nursing or retirement home. Rather, Latin American grandmas live with their extended families in a way that allows them to nurture and play a dominant role in the childrearing of the grandchildren
Perhaps, the most impressionable incident I experienced with my Grandma occurred one day in my Granny’s home town, Mexico City, where my mom, my sister and I spent a day of shopping at the local mercado, an outdoor market full of the bustle of life and abundant with the most colorful array of fruits and vegetables you’ve ever seen. My little sister was adorable as usual, with huge dark eyes and super long curly lashes and rich dark flowing hair in sweet little pig tails. She always caught the attention of admirers with her little round cheeks and pouty mouth.

As we walked the market that day, my sister suddenly and inexplicably went pale and broke into a sweat, falling to her knees and passing out. We couldn’t wake her, so in a panic we carried her running all the way home. When we got back to Granny’s house, my abuelita was confident: “Tiene mal ojo.”… She has gotten the “evil eye.” My grandma shifted immediately into her role as healer. She took out a fresh egg and chanted in prayer while rubbing it all over my sister’s lifeless body. She then cracked the egg into a glass of water…and this is where the most unusual thing happened. The center of the yolk popped out forming the image of an eyeball with a pupil sticking out. This confirmed my Granny’s suspicion, and based on this test, her diagnosis was confirmed. Within minutes my sister awoke as if nothing had happened. The egg absorbed the negative energies that had permeated her, explained my abuela.

Taking this on faith, I never questioned what I observed that day until my own path took me into the realm of healing through herbs. In a fascinating conversation over dinner last year with Rosita Arvigo, proclaimed author and expert on Mayan healing practices, I learned that “mal ojo” is a very common childhood affliction in Latin America. It is believed that it is caused by excessive affection. “Your sister must’ve been quite beautiful,” acknowledged Rosita. For if a woman or a man sees a child with physical attributes which he admires, he must touch the child and invoke God’s protection so that the baby will not suffer from the evil eye. The intention of the onlooker is not always malicious and can stem from simple admiration over a young child, whose soul energy is very susceptible. The cure is simple. Either a ritual cleanse must take place with a fluid-filled object, most commonly an egg, or better yet, the onlooker must touch the child to reabsorb his/her penetrative energy. In our case, we were safe in my granny healer’s hands. Her prayers, her ritual, her knowledge was the spark that re-lit my sister’s soul that day in Mexico.

Mimi Middleton, MS is the Director of the Mountain Spirit School of Herbalism (NC School of Natural Healing www.ncsnh.com ), offering courses in Herbs for Massage, Foundations of Herbalism, and Advanced Herbal Science. Mimi is Secretary of the NC American Herbalist Guild and Vice President of the NC Herb Association. She will present “Granny Healers of Latin America” at the Southeast Women’s Herbal Conference in September. For info on herbal education or health consultations, contact herbalnymph@msn.com or 828-252-7086 ext. 305.

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