A grimoire from Mexican folk magic tradition. This is folk Catholicism much more than some other popular works I’ve read recently on Mexican and Latinx magic. There is very little of the Indigenous or African elements found in Santeria or Santa Muerte practices or in Curanderismo.
Davila is straightforward in her desire to share her version of bruja practices with anyone who is interested, and she strongly rejects the notion of Mexican magic as a closed tradition, or a specific and particular set of practices and beliefs handed down since time immemorial. She focuses on spontaneity and adaptation of practices and ideas to suit the individual bruja and the ingredients they have at hand. She also sees the use of magic as being "the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions," (to quote Marx, not Davila), a means through which powerless and suppressed people can find power, protect themselves, and fight back.
She gives a brief history of the modern troubles and turmoil in Mexico out of which her own engagement with magic came – the poverty, gangster warfare, oppression of women and chronic instability of the late 20th century and early 2000s, and the necessity of magic under those circumstances. She talks about the gift, the need for virtue and courage, and the need for purpose in making an effective magician.
After this very interesting preliminary discussion she proceeds to several practical chapters on icons, different saints, angels, spirits, with prayers and devotional offerings to each. A chapter on magical ingredients and their uses is followed by a substantial one on kitchen magic – using the day-to-day foods and drinks together with prayers to different saints to deal with practical issues in one’s life. A short chapter on domestic animals and magical associations, is followed by one on folk magic spells – love spells, dominating others, issues with pregnancy and childbirth, protection from the evil eye, preventing infidelity, and others. She ends with Christmas and New Year magic spells.
I like her directness and honesty. I enjoyed learning a little more about Mexican folk tradition, but particularly appreciated the places the tradition came from – the ordinary people protecting themselves and finding power in magic. And the book is very practical, not theoretical – here are recipes, spells and an emphasis on using ingredients and practices that are a part of daily life.
~review by Samuel Wagar
Author: Laura Davila
Red Wheel Weiser, 2024
196 pg., paperback £15 / $26 Can / $ 18 US
