Black Elk, Ultima, Don Eduardo:
Medicine Man, Curandera, Machi
¿No es éste el carpintero? Eliseo Pérez-Álvarez, Marcos
“The Deathwalk. Everyday life leads to deeper experiences tan we would ever dream. But returning after these experiences to ordinary life is not always easy, for this mythic return means nothing less than living the dreamingbody and the ancient, wondrous world of the shaman in the here and now, where such experiences often seem forbidden.” Arnold Mindell, The Shaman’s Way
“A poet’s function—do not be startled by this remark—is not to experience the poetic state: that is a private affair. His function is to create it in others. The man of genius is the one who infuses it into me.” Paul Valery, quoted by John Dominic Crossan, In Parables: The Challenge of the Historical Jesus
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Black Elk
They told me I had been sick twelve days, lying like dead all the while, and that Whirlwind Chaser , who was Standing Bear's uncle and a medicine man , had brought me back to life. I knew it was the Grandfathers in the Flaming Rainbow Tepee who had cured me; but I felt afraid to say so. My father gave Whirlwind Chaser the best horse he had for making me well, and many people came to look at me, and there was much talk about the great power of Whirlwind Chaser who had made me well all at once when I was almost the same as dead.
Everybody was glad that I was living; but as I lay there thinking about the wonderful place where I had been and all that I had seen, I was very sad; for it seemed to me that everybody ought to know about it, but I was afraid to tell, because I knew that nobody would believe me, little as I was, for I was only nine years old. Also, as I lay there thinking of my vision, I could see it all again and feel the meaning with a part of me like a strange power glowing in my body; but when the part of me that talks would try to make words for the meaning, it would be like fog and get away from me.
Black Elk Speaks, Black Elk, with John Neihardt
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Ultima
“Buenos día le de Dios, Ultima,” I muttered. I saw in her eyes my dream. I saw the old woman who had delivered me from my mother’s womb. I knew she held the secret of my destiny.”…”This was the last child I pulled from your womb, María. I knew there would be something between us.”….“As you wish, Grande,”… “I have come to spend the last days of my life here,” Ultima said…“You will never die, Ultima,”…“And with Ultima came the owl…In many cuentos I had heard the owl was one of the disguises a bruja took…”
“Give me your face,” Ultima demanded. “Have you not the strength to face an old woman? Why do you keep your back to me?..I am a curandera, Ultima said softly, “and I have come to lift a curse…”
“They can’t see him, Tony, they can’t see him. I know every man from Guadalupe who fishes, and there ain’t a one who has ever mentioned seeing the golden carp. So I guess the grown-ups can’t see him—…The Indian, Narciso, Ultima—“
Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo A. Anaya
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HAWKS OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN
--for René San Martín
I. Arriving
This medicine
of the machi
is not medicine
of today,
esta medicina
tiene mil años,
the young man says,
holding up the urine
from his suegro
who has skin problems
German doctors
from Temuco can’t heal.
The Machi, is man
and woman al mismo
tiempo, he says.
He is not mágico,
but he was born
knowing the culture.
He has been Machi
since 11 years old.
II. Learning
Blue makes us happy
because it is where
rain begins. But
there is too much rain.
Rain is the flowering
of el campo, but
it is also aggressive.
Do you understand?
Bad spirits exist
with the good.
Machi protects
el pueblo.
Family is important.
Because we lived
only with family
we could fight
the Spaniards
for 300 years.
Your Hitler studied
Mapuche guerreros.
III. Beginning to Listen
It is not easy
to know the culture
so well that
one only fits
as machi.
The dream only says,
You’re different.
Then you must be able
to say: I am.
I am Machi.
Yo tengo
la capacidad
a ser curandero.
I value the pain.
Then I must act
to protect el pueblo.
IV. Going In
Going between
gods and pueblo,
la lucha con la fuerza mal,
bailen, cantan, tocan,
one must go with a map
and one makes the map
as he goes. All machis
know this. It is not
the map into dis-ease
that causes trouble
for machi. Anyone
can fall into
a sick mind. Trouble
comes with the machi
who doesn’t have his map
back to el pueblo.
V. Machi Before the Fire
Reading the urine
of the sick, talking
trying to find what
provoked the spirits,
this is from our fathers.
But as we sing
when we walk, we walk
on this road, under
these feet, we must
sing a new song.
Urine is part
of the ancient music
like this fire
in this ruka,
this thatched roof house,
with this ancient fire
on this dirt floor. We
are very far from
the banks and markets
of the cities
where we sit now,
surrounded by smoke
of this fire. I know this.
And like I know
our young people go
to the markets in Temuco
and Santiago, I know
what happens when
my people bring children
or fathers to the ruka
who are ill. We lay
them before the fire,
surround them with
this land you call Chile.
We have their families
and we have fire. The smoke
opens up time.
The family stands
and we beat the drum
and sing. When I go in
seeking the trouble,
Dungu Machife, beside me,
memorizes all
that I do. He knows
where I am. His map
will help me return.
I know something
of maps. I know
how far on the map
you have come to see
the machi. I know.
The maps are different.
It is all right.
I like your maps, too.
Impulse to Love, Jim Bodeen
Temuco, Chile
with Don Eduardo, Machi
July, August, 1991
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"Writing is an art, translation is a religious art, even when it is heretical and going its own way, since God of the sacred original is hanging over the shoulder of the translator, along with his critical angels, hunting for any shift in dogma, smelling out disobedience, assuming total authority. The inspired translator is a friend of disobedient Eve, a Gnostic who rejects imposed faith and believes her life is a return to the realm of light where both her soul and the soul of the original writer (speaker) will merge and reside in a new interpenetrating permanent third text. The way to that text, however, is not through the eye of the Demiurge nor by obedience to his first created word.” Pierre Grange, Dream time and Other Earthly Signs.
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“It is hard to follow one great vision in this world of darkness and of many changing shadows. Among those men get lost.” Black Elk, from Black Elk Speaks, with John Neihardt
