My story
It is with great honor and humility that I share my story with you. It is one that is still unraveling, much like the spiral, as I continue to walk the good red road while sharing wisdom with my ancestors and teachers along the way. Like many medicine journeys go, mine came with a life threatening illness. I became ill. My body was shutting down. It was serious and I was making arrangements for my daughter-- in case I didn’t make it out alive. I felt panicked. Fearful. I felt lost.
I felt alone and in the worst physical, emotional and mental pain I had ever experienced.
For months I couldn’t do anything but sit in a dark and quiet room by myself. I couldn’t be around any light.
Not even that of a light bulb. There were no conversations with anyone because I couldn’t follow them.
Just sitting and sharing space with company was more than I could handle. I couldn’t read.
I was too weak to walk most days and deeply in a depressed dark hole; physically and emotionally.
The pain was so unbearable that I wanted to die.
One of my healers suggested I start meditating and this is where a new paradigm emerged.
It was in my second meditation where I met mi Bisabuela (great grandmother). She prefers to be called “Abuelita”.
I didn’t know her in this lifetime. In fact, I knew very little of her. When I was a young girl,
I remember mi Tia (aunt) telling me that mi Bisabuela was psychic and 100% Aztec.
I learned over time that others in my family were also gifted psychics but that was the extent of it.
No one talked about their encounters with the spirit realm.
There were no teachings nor any advice about how to be with and navigate this gift.
I have since learned that mi Abuelita was more than just psychic, she was a Curandera. A Mexican Folk Healer.
Curanderismo is ancient. It is a miracle that it is still alive. It has been practiced in the Americas for over 500 years while Shamanism is the oldest spiritual practice on Earth.
There are many different types of Curanderas; all practiced in a particular field of Mexican folk medicine.
There are Curanderas who practice with the light and those who practice with the dark. Mi Abuelita practices in the light.
There are also curanderas who communicate with the spirit realm and here is where she was highly gifted.
As a child and teenager, I had my fair share of seeing into other realms; I was visited by my deceased grandparents,
mother and friends who had crossed over but somehow I believed that everyone experienced these things and I thought little of it.
What I realize the longer I walk this path and the more like-minded people I meet, I know that indeed it isn’t so rare, many young children are open to “seeing” in a different way. Adults are just as capable of accessing the Spirit realm; many do so often, however, don’t acknowledge it.
But with open eyes, heart and mind, these experiences can be accessed consciously and with more frequency.
Because of my openness and desire to see, mi Abuelita--along with many others both in the spirit realm and here in physical form--
have been teaching me the medicine of our people.
It started as mi Abuelita helped me to heal. She taught me that it wasn’t just the body to fix but the mind and soul as well.
She refers to it as the holy trinity…body, mind, spirit. She calls it Christ Body Conscious.
She taught me that when one part of the holy trinity is out of balance, it can throw the other parts out as well.
In Curanderismo, we address the social, psychological, spiritual and physical needs of the people who use it with rituals and ceremonies.
I learned the importance of being with nature. I learned that we are all connected--people, plants, trees, animals.
I learned that everything is alive with energy and everything has a purpose.
In ritual, herbs, feathers, crystals, eggs, flowers, songs, prayers, and the Curandera’s healing hands and open hearts are used to heal.
A Curandera is gifted her title by her community.
Recognized as a great honor, the title is earned through hours of teachings and devoted practice.
The first time I heard mi maestra call me a Curandera was a remarkable day.
My medicine name, Hyodthi, was given to me in Spring of 2019.
Hyodthi means a woman of presence and power.
I wear this name with great honor and with the utmost respect to the medicine--which is also a way of life.
My life has not been an easy one but I give great thanks to all the lessons; especially, the challenging ones for it is in these that we learn the most!
I have had the privilege to study under many gifted Curanderos and Curanderas from around the world.
I am Blessed and in awe of this lineage that I carry. I am extremely passionate about keeping this sacred medicine alive.