Healing

These old family photos of my husband and his maternal grandmother are the inspiration for a new series of work I am doing about healing. My husband's mother documented the healing rituals performed by her mother in Asherton, Texas in 1982.

Ama uses an egg to perform a limpia or cleansing to treat mal de ojo or evil eye. These afflictions often manifested in a fever, stomachache, or lethargy. After rubbing the egg over the body of baby Ariel, she cracks the egg and drops its contents into a bowl of water. A cross made of broom bristles is placed atop the bowl which is then set under the baby's crib. 

Here, Ama uses ruda or common rue/bitterwort to treat susto or fright. With susto, the baby is startled very easily causing him to cry often.