Do you remember your first limpia?
Most Latinx/e people on either side of the Río Grande River will remember the feeling of being a young, ill child perhaps weakened from a fever, and the caretaking matriarch in your family running a fridge-chilled egg over your body, slathering your chest and feet with vaporub and covering them with socks while reciting the spell, “Sana, sana, colita de rana, si no sana hoy, sanará mañana.” After lots of water, electrolytes, cartoons and rest, by the next day, it was all just a dream, but the magic you felt was palpable, and your sleep was never deeper. Looking back, they were tending to our bodies, minds, and souls with tender love and care—a matriarch’s very own version of a limpia, or cleanse.
In our sacred medicine, we are taught that traditional medicine practitioners, and those with the titular veneration of Curandera/o/x, are people who are deeply connected to the Spirits of the land and thus are able to connect with those who seek them out for healing facilitation. One of the many skills these practitioners possess include being able to perform a limpia, a ceremony that involves a variety of Spirits and tools that aid in the shedding and resetting of a person’s metaphysical well-being. Limpias can aid in ending streaks of bad luck, changing perceptions of depressive episodes, and other challenging periods and situations. While not an exhaustive list, this can be caused by mal de ojo, or the evil eye, traumatic events, and by dark crafts such as curses. The act of removal via a limpia is often one of the first steps toward recovery and the effects may alter the course of your life. However, practitioners of this work will recommend coupling this work with the advice of medical and therapeutic health professionals.
Limpias aid in the removal and rearrangement of relationships with yourself and those around you in order to serve your highest self, and they first begin with a conversation with your practitioner for more insight. Limpias can vary in their intensity—the most gentle ones will usually come from your own matriarch—but regardless, they can also produce strong emotional and physical reactions as the practitioner sweeps herbs across your body, or as the sweet copal incense wraps around your being. As you are wrapped in herbs, smoke prayers, eggs, and obsidian, you should also be in your own prayers or intentions for wellness and removal. As the ceremony is completed, your body and soul may experience a resettling within, and could cause lightheadedness or a drop in blood pressure/sugar and rest and hydration are encouraged. Your practitioner will likely offer messages or advice for caring for yourself in order to keep facilitating your journey to your desired physical, spiritual and mental well-being.
Reflecting on this sacred tradition, I would be incredibly remiss to not mention that practices such as these were illegal and cause for criminal punishment in the US for 148 years, and practicing this tradition has only been made legal to perform since 1978—9 years after the first people landed on the moon. I am infinitely grateful to those who came before me, who braved unbelievable harshness and trauma, to those who protected the tradition and passed it down, despite concerted efforts to erase it. Because of them, I am here. I am proud to be part of a legacy that seeks to protect, advocate, and care for their community, and with the vibrance of my well-ancestors, Tonantzin, and my guides, I will to continue to grow and move through this world as a traditional medicine practitioner to provide ceremony for my communities as my ancestors once did. Ōmeteōtl.