I was awakened early by the most mysterious bells ringing from the cathedral. As I lay in bed I remembered my dreams...tiny piles of paper, folded prayers, and glass bowls. I reached in, pulled out a cross and put it into my heart, then pulled it out to do a limpia. A tiny Juquila skittered down a hillside, a glittering, flickering light.
I liked the sope so much I had them again for breakfast. The cooks got a kick out of that and showed me how to make them. Before leaving, I walked to the top of the hill to watch the clouds drift over the cathedral and mountains. I thought about the curandera, Elizabeth, who said the reason to have a candle burning in your home is so negative forces will get confused and attack its light, rather than the light that is you.
Curanderas say when you've had a sudden fright your spirit jumps out of your body, and the deep pressure of slapping your body all over helps it find its way home. I thought about how that was similar to proprioceptive input used in occupational therapy. How many kids with autism can't sense where their body ends and where the rest of space begins. Deep pressure can help them feel their own borders.
I thought about my friend Patti, a physical therapist and yoga teacher specializing in trauma recovery, who went to Thailand to work with people who had survived the tsunami. The villagers told her they had done their rituals and ceremonies and were doing okay, what they were having trouble with was the ghosts of the foreigners who couldn't find their way home.
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