Growing up alternatively spiritual (Part 3)

Have you ever had a limpieza performed on you?

This is a continuation of a mini-serial about what it was like growing up with a curandera for an Abuelita. Today, I will talk about limpiezas and how they played a role in our familial dynamics.

Get ready for some really specific curanderismo stuff!

Firstly, what is a limpieza?

A limpieza can be described as a few things. It refers to a conjuring/healing ritual that achieves the following:

• a spiritual cleansing

• a clearing of evil energy (e.g., the evil eye, curses, hexes, etc.)

• a purging of uncomfortable or insidious energy (e.g., depression, anger, envy, etc.)

• a restoration of spirit or the soul

  

And the mechanism for completing the limpieza is, from what I can tell, dependent on the training and geography of the curandero/a. Thusly, a wide variety of tools and procedures can be used in a limpieza — which really fascinates me. Because, again, I thought everyone’s grandmothers were doing what my grandmother was doing. And I applied this assumption to the world of curanderismo as well, until recently. There are so many wonderful hues of curanderismo that you can see throughout Latin America. I hope to explore as many of them as I can with you here.

But for today, we shall continue with Abuelita’s special house blend.

From what I can remember and based on some research, I can definitively say that Abuelita used the following tools and procedures in her limpiezas:

• saint or votive candles

• perfumed oil

• a bundle of branches from the pepper tree¹ in her front yard, tied together like a small broom

• and in some instances, lemons from her tree in the backyard

• fire and incense

• oración (a.k.a., prayer healing)

• barrida (a.k.a, sweeping the body with that small broom mentioned above)

Her clients would be standing or sitting in silence, directly in front of her while she performed the limpieza on them.

Why would someone want a limpieza?

To ask for a limpieza to be done on you would imply that a number of events have happened to you. These instances are usually considered “negative”, or experiences generally considered overwhelming, scary, and persecutory. According to my Mom, and based on what I observed as a kid, the classic rationale for performing a limpieza was due to susto (a.k.a., intense fright or “emotional shock”).²

Women, children, and babies are found to be more susceptible to susto and it can lead to a host of tall-tale symptoms such as nausea, crying, bad dreams, and insomnia. (I experienced the last 3 a lot as a child.)

Common experiences that could lead to susto include but are not limited to:

• nightmares, night terrors, or bad dreams

• receiving devastating news

• facing a wild animal or aggressive domestic animal

• high stress situations, like being in a fight or witnessing a fight

• encounters with spirits

• falling

• being in a car accident

• being in an near accident situation

Now, the really freaky part about susto? Are you ready for this?

Susto in the traditional folk sense, not in the more modern urban sense, encompasses the phenomenon in which a person experiences so much fright that what results is a “soul loss” or “loss of soul.” It sounds dramatic, I know. But susto, the way my Abuelita saw it, was the moment in which someone’s soul separated from their body. And in her eyes, this would never do. This needed to be righted, and as soon as possible.

My Mom knew this line of thinking very well and was ready to hand us over to Abuelita whenever she suspected susto.

Whenever I had another bout of nightmares, Mom took me to get a limpieza. There goes the perfumed oil on my head and shoulders.

Whenever I talked about witches hovering outside my window at night, Mom took me to get a limpieza. And here comes the saint candle that is way too big for me to hold by myself.

And definitely, whenever I had yet another wave of insomnia (oh boy, I had so many), Mom took me to get a limpieza. Ah yes, here comes the small broom. Brush, brush, brush. Whew!

Again and again, time after time. We all got them! My Mom, my brothers, and myself. Not to mention my cousins, my aunts and uncles, and all the extended family. It was always comforting to know, even as a very young child, that I could always go to Abuelita and she would make everything better. I get misty eyed reflecting on it here with you.

The weight that would be lifted off my tiny shoulders was tremendously impactful. And more precious to me now with each passing year.

As we got older, limpiezas became a part of our lives for different reasons. My Mom would also make sure we got a limpieza whenever we traveled, for example. Especially by plane. If something were to happen to any of us (thankfully, nothing ever did), Abuelita would at least make sure that our souls were with our bodies if things turned south.

But. The best story I can recount about how limpiezas played a role in my upbringing would be to tell you about the time my younger brother got a limpieza. And the surprise that we all got when he did.

A limpieza to remember (how it started)

I still talk about this, even though it happened 20 years ago. I know that sometimes my younger brother gets a little self-conscious when I do but he never objects. In a broader sense, I think he appreciates stories about Abuelita and in a more personal sense, he appreciates the confirmation. It’s always affirming to know the kinds of gifts our family has — including your own.

I can’t even remember now why Mom took all 3 of us to get a limpieza that day. It could have been a regular work-up kind of day. Or maybe she sensed something was up, energetically, but she couldn’t put her finger on what or with which child. So, we all got a limpieza that day!

Mom went first, like she always did. Probably to make us more comfortable. As if to say, “See? Totally normal, no?” That day, it was going to be the saint candle with an oración treatment. We filed into my Abuelita’s room. Mom dutifully sat in the chair used specifically for limpiezas. Abuelita had Mom hold the saint candle and she began her prayers. You would think after receiving so many of these I would remember what Abuelita chanted but sadly, I do not.

But what I do remember involves the portion of the oración in which Abuelita “calls back” the soul of the person. She would call back the soul, chanting, “ven a tu carne” (a.k.a., “come back to your body”), over and over and over until it finally returned. Sometimes it would take a while. Other times the soul returned fairly quickly, not raising much of an alarm.

That day, it returned pretty quickly for me. When it was my turn, almost at the start of the oración, my soul was promptly retrieved and Abuelita smiled.

“Qué bonita brilla la luz,” she commented. “How beautifully your soul shines.” Abuelita’s brown eyes looking at the space right above my head when she said this. That’s where she would see it, la luz (a.k.a., the soul). She ended the limpieza with another prayer and off I went. Onto the next child!

My middle brother went next, another limpieza was done. Nothing to it, totally routine as of this point. Next!

My younger brother, about 5 or 6 years old, stepped forward and obediently hoisted himself onto the chair. The chair that’s much too big for him. Abuelita gives him the candle to hold. The candle that’s much too large for his small hands.

Now.

This was when things got really interesting…

Join me next time to find out all the details of my younger brother’s limpieza and so much more! I will be sure to share some resources for further reading and study as well. I will try to publish Part 4 by the end of this week!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

With cariño,

Maribel

This is another installment in a series focused on the retelling of my childhood experiences, specifically recounting how I grew up in an alternatively spiritual family. You can read parts 1 and 2 here:

Growing up alternatively spiritual (Part 2)

Growing up alternatively spiritual (Part 1)

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schinus_molle

2. Susto can also be referred to as espanto. But Abuelita always used the word susto so we’ll stick to that term.