Forest & Desert Ecology, Mental & Spiritual Healing, Medical Anthropology, Herbal Medicine, Ethnosciences, Botany - Ethnobotany, Ecosystems, Physical Anthropology, Alternative & Complementary Medicine, Alternative Medicine - General & Miscellaneous, Mayas
Sastun
Rosita Arvigo, Nadine Epstein, Marilyn YaquintoLog in to track your reading progress.
Overview
A sastun is a tool of the Maya healer, a kind of supernatural "hot line" to the spirits that tells a healer if an illness is rooted in natural or spiritual forces. Sastun is the captivating story of American herbologist Rosita Arvigo's apprenticeship to Don Elijio Panti, one of the last surviving, and most respected, traditional healers of Belize. Set in the imperiled Belizean rainforest that serves as the pharmacy of ancient Mayan medicine, Arvigo's story is an unforgettable personal account as well as a vivid reminder of the need to preserve both the rainforest's irreplaceable plant life and its ancient healing traditions. When Arvigo met Panti, the legendary healer was eighty-seven years old. Slight and sinewy, with failing eyesight and rheumatism, he still ventured into the forest to gather plants and ministered to patients from near and far each day. Arvigo was determined to become Panti's apprentice so that she could learn more about the native plants of Belize. What she discovered instead was her life's work - the quest to sustain and study rainforest plants and bridge the gap between Panti's traditional wisdom and modern healing practices. Making regular, laborious treks to Panti's ramshackle home clinic, Arvigo slowly gains the confidence and respect of the cantankerous, compassionate, and deeply spiritual healer and of the community he serves. We follow the unlikely pair into the jungle to collect plants, listen as Panti teaches Arvigo about the physical and spiritual tools of the healer, and meet unforgettable characters - including the mysterious Carib named Jeronimo who taught Panti the art of healing, a little girl suffering from an intestinal disorder unfathomable to the many doctors her frantic parents have consulted, a woman "possessed" and near death because of exposure to the black arts that are the flipside of Panti's white art of healing, and the visiting film crew of a Hollywood movie with an integral part to play in Arvigo's initiation asEditorials
Donna Seaman
Arvigo's commitment to traditional herbal medicine took her from the straight streets of Chicago to the lush and demanding wilderness of Belize, where she met one of the region's most renowned Mayan healers, Don Elijio Panti. Undaunted by the feisty octogenarian's assumption that a "gringa" couldn't possibly attain the level of spirituality necessary to practice his art, Arvigo began helping him with the arduous daily work of collecting and preparing plants. Once Panti recognized Arvigo's skill, sincerity, and strength, he began teaching her not only how to use plants to cure physical diseases, but also how to diagnose and treat a host of mysterious psychic disorders with a "sastun", or divining stone. The more Arvigo learned, the more she realized that the practice of traditional herbal medicine is threatened by the destruction of the rain forest. In an effort to preserve both Panti's knowledge and the plants the healers depend on, Arvigo has established a research foundation and medicinal plant reserve, thus building a bridge between traditional healing and modern science. With the assistance of journalist Epstein, Arvigo relates her often astonishing and moving tale with disarming modesty and openness.Book Details
Published
April 1, 1994
Publisher
San Francisco : HarperSanFrancisco, c1994.
Pages
208
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780062502551