Finding a Shaman in Mexico City sometimes requires you to be in the right place at the right time. I found mine when 13 of us crawled out of the cave squinting in the light of the day. There, waiting for us, was the Shaman woman with an offer of a shamanic cleanse.

I hadn’t started this day expecting to be inside a cave or to receive a shamanic ritual behind the Temple of the Moon in Teotihuacan, Mexico. But, when you travel to these places. Sometimes, the universe decides for you.

I’d seen the shaman before I went into the cave, though, then she was only a woman to me. Before from a distance, I only noted her long white floral dress and that she was old. Now I saw she was shorter and stouter than she had appeared on the porch. Her dark skin is more wood-grained, and her hair is mostly gray. Branches she’d freshly clipped from the pepper tree in her yard were in her right hand.

This is a three-party story; you can also read part 1 (the pyramids) and part two (in the cave) here.

A Shaman Experience in Mexico City

Our guide, Alejandro, who showed us the Teotihuacán Pyramids and led us in a meditative cleansing ritual in the cave, translated for her from Spanish to English. He said she invited us into her house to conduct a spiritual shamanic cleanse for 200 pesos each. About $10.

I looked around at our group, some still climbing out of the cave, and watched as they blinked in sun. “What?” We were exhausted from our day’s exploits. We’ve already walked around the Pyramids of Teotihuacán for hours, drank Pulque, an ancient drink made with corn and cacao, at Alejandro’s house, and meditated in a cave for nearly an hour.

Still, eight of us agreed and followed her through her yard for the shamanic cleanse. The doors on her house were quilted blankets tacked to once-white stucco walls. Several rooms encircled a central, open yard dominated by the pepper tree. Chickens roamed freely but smartly avoided the house.

The Shaman’s House

Inside there was an assortment of chairs and worn love seats around the perimeter of the room. Rough wood tables and shelves held many bottles and jars. A pile of fresh-cut pepper branches filled one corner. We sat in a row, one next to the other, and looked around nervously. It was like we were all high, but our day’s journey merely mystified us. I’d had a Shamanic cleanse before, so I was probably less nervous. However, this one would be nothing like my last.

Without intending to, four men sat in a row nearest the door, and us four women sat together furthest into the room. It balanced the room; she said and grinned. She started nearest the door with the men going clockwise, which seemed essential.

I watched as, one by one, the men received their shamanic cleanse. She didn’t speak any English, but one of the women translated, providing direction and explanation.

Shaman Rituals and Ceremonies

The Shaman spoke with her hands, eyes and body as someone used to many forms of communication. Her face was always animated and easy to read. We watched as she put a clear liquid accelerant into a metal bowl, struck a match and threw it in. A big burst of fire sprang out with a loud eruption. I thought of the volcanos surrounding us.

Next, she collected a spray of pepper branches covered in leaves and dipped them into the fire. The leaves crackled like electricity. She explained that sometimes the branches made a massive crackling and sometimes were quiet. Likewise, sometimes the fire was big and sometimes it was small. She said that small fire and little sound meant that there was not much bad energy around you, but big fire meant a lot of energy and a lot of noise meant many spirits.

What a Shaman Does

She began to beat her subject animatedly with the flaming branches as they crackled and bowed like a lash. The touch of the branches was quick and harmless. She walked a clockwise circle around the person, hitting them with the branches front, back and sides until the flame went out. Once the branches were extinguished, she dipped them back into the bowl of flame and continued her circle.

I could smell the scent of the fresh branches burning and feel the wisp of heat as she flicked them. The room became warmer and warmer with each cleansing.

As she completed the circle, she whispered a prayer. She explained that it was telling the spirits to leave, her flaming branch shooing them off. In the end, she wrapped the still warm branches around the person’s head, like a headband, chanted another prayer and put the branches under their feet. She said standing on the branches locked any remaining spirits in them and prevented them from following us out.

A Shaman in Mexico City is Dismayed

Until the fourth shamanic cleanse, the ritual worked the same way. But with the fourth man, when she threw the match toward the bowl, she missed, and it fell to the ground and extinguished itself. She drew a sharp intake of breath and looked at him accusingly. We, observers, chucked and looked at each other.

She struck another match and missed again. She said, Dios Mio. Her glare deepened.

The third and fourth matches would not light at all, and she made the sign of the cross and scowled at the man. When it finally lit, his flame was large, and the branches crackled wildly, heating the room. We watched in fear, but the man was calm and undisturbed – a corporate patent lawyer. Seemingly little affected him while the rest of us trembled.

The Shaman danced around him, speaking more animatedly, hitting him harder than the others and giving him a few seconds of extra attention. It wasn’t enviable.

A Shamanic Cleanse in Mexico City

Soon it was my turn. I hesitated. Thankfully, my fire lit immediately as intended, and the shaman breathed a sigh of relief. The branches had little sound, but my flame was big. She said my energy was strong. It felt strong after a day in the ancient land. She spoke animatedly, explaining that’s what the fire was supposed to do. Not what it had done with the lawyer. Still, she kept glancing at him as if waiting for an attack.

I felt the whoosh of fire and the heat of the flame as the branches landed across my body. I felt their warmth and tangy-sweet scent when she held them at each end and wrapped them across my head.

Speaking to Spirits

She spoke to the spirits and told them to go out the door as I stepped on the spent branches to implant the negative energy in them so I could leave this place without them.

The ritual was finished after she sprayed a fragrant mint oil into the palms of my hand, the right for money, the left for the family. I wiped them, as instructed, through my hair and across my body. She took another spray from the shelf behind her; this one was floral and woodsy. Going clockwise again, she walked around me, spraying and speaking to the lingering spirits, shooing them off.

The Shamn Deflects Bad Spirits

I wondered who they were, those spirits she cast out, and where they would go without me?

She asked me, “Como te sientes?” How did I feel? She held her hands on my shoulders and smiled. Her eyes glimmered with purity, power and wisdom. Her belief made this real. The energy of passion and the power of sacred land in the sight of the Pyramid of the Moon at Teotihuacán gave this ritual meaning. It was that and my belief in it. And I did believe.

I felt transformed and reborn as if I’d crawled out of a womb. I’ve been to a place with a culture and a people where I had no home but was welcomed anyway. I went back in time and traveled the universe ridding myself of negative energy and finding new energy that is more hopeful and filled with meaning.

I felt good, clean, and inspired. “Muy Bien,” I answered simply. Very well. She smiled, her teeth a bit crooked and stained, pleased and then she released me.

Cleansed by the Shaman

My negative spirits would be left in the sacred land in Mexico City to haunt the ancient places of dead things, where they belonged. I felt lighter and could tell I lost something undefinable, but I’d also gained. I found something or awakened something more of myself that I would keep forever.

Read part 1 (at Teotihuacán) and part two (in the cave).

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