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Reading on the many
plants and herbs used for healing…
Earth and Spirit: Medicinal Plants and Healing Lore from Puerto Rico
by Maria Dolores Benedetti invites you to the world of natural herbs and plants
found in el campo adentro –in the heart of the countryside- of Puerto
Rico. As soon as you open this marvelous book, you are spellbound to continue reading
about the women and men who have spent most of their lives cultivating plants to cure
common illnesses such as chest colds, stomach pains, headaches and other ailments. Earth
and Spirit connects you with nature’s gifts that become remedies of the body and
soul. This book also strongly brings forth to the reader a very strong sense of the
importance of the cultural and ecological aspects found in Puerto Rico.
Maria’s interviews with the traditional curanderos, a wise granny midwife,
"spiritual healers," and a "part-time" farmer who follows the phases
of the moon to plant his farm allow you to hear the distinctive voice and the unique rich
language spoken by los campesinos - countryfolks. These
wonderful people speak with knowledge and pride when explaining the importance of each
plant and how each one should be used. From the very beginning you actually meet each
person through photos and dialog. For example we can learn so much from this sample dialog
taken from her book. Maria visits Paula (71 years old from Las Marías) and asks
her for information about her plants that grow near her home.
M: I was attracted to your home by the medicinal plants growing outside. Would
you please tell me about some of them?
Paula: Well, I have shine bush (la paletaria). Paletaria tea is
cooling and very good for children when they get heat rash and other skin irritation.
Paletaria tea is also good for bladder problems, especially when someone has
difficulty urinating. It’s very cooling.
A strong tea of rue (la ruda) is also good for painful urination and bladder
problems but, like fennel (el hinojo), it’s most well known for women’s
monthly cramps and related conditions.
Here we have lemon balm (el toronjil) and Caribbean spearmint (la yerba buena).
They’re both very good for the stomach. If you’re nauseous and vomiting, you
just need a good tea of the two combined. I’ll tell you, that lemon balm is the best
thing in the world! But if there’s none around, you can also use sour orange leaves (las
hojas del naranjo). (5)
From the very beginning you are given remedies for at least 6 different ailments.
Marvelous! I continued to read and read and I found remedies that my own grandmothers
talked about whenever I visited them. Each person interviewed gives you detailed recipes
on how to prepare either by cooking, heating or boiling each herb/plant used for the
specific ailment. Maria has interviewed men and women in Orocovis, Mayagüez, Las Marías,
and Carolina. Each interview reminds you of how rich our land is with the diversity of
plants that are available to us. The men and women also remind us that we must take care
of these plants by working the land and not destroying it. One particular couple that
called my attention was María Otero Collazo (75 years old) and Eugenio Santiago Marrero
(84 years old), once the "herbal physicians of their barrio in the countryside of
Mayagüez." With humor they both talk about their own healing. María Otero talks how
she was "tested positive five different times for diabetes."(134) She tells how
she no longer is ill with this horrible disease because she started drinking teas made
with "sweet verbena boiled with a pinch of yellow allamanda (el canario amarillo)."
(134) She talks about how healthy is her husband simply because they prefer natural
healing with the many herbs and plants found in her land instead of taking pills, and more
pills.
The book also has a chapter on "How to Prepare the Remedies and a Practical
Reference of Botanical and Spiritual Folklore." This chapter is truly a garden of
precious information for all of those who prefer the many gifts offered by nature and its
people.
Its author is also its publisher and distributor. You can write María Benedetti, a
specialist herself in this fascinating world of earth and spirit at Verde Luz, HC-I Buzón
6361, Orocovis, Puerto Rico 00720-9706. María is a very charming person and extremely
spiritual who has found her nicho in Orocovis. Call her at (787) 867-5561 (Please
call before 8pm.) and her answering machine will respond with a beautiful message "Bendiciones
botánicas les deseamos!" "Botanical blessings we wish you all!"
Yes, I truly recommend your getting your hand on a copy of Earth and Spirit: Medicinal
Plants and Healing Lore from Puerto Rico and you will certainly remember the days
that you, too, were given teas made by the abuelitas del campo.
- - Lydia S. Vale-Delgado
A Change of Heart
Un libro que cambiará tu corazón
Clayre Sylva es una maestra de
baile que de repente descubre que está al borde de la muerte por una compleja enfermedad
que poco a poco va acabando con sus pulmones y su corazón. Sin embargo, ésta se rehusa a
claudicar en su lucha por la vida… Decidida, va en busca de una última esperanza:
recibir un transplante de órganos. Tras entrar varias veces en estado de coma, y un largo
calvario de dolor y de espera, Clayre finalmente es seleccionada para un transplante cuyas
posibilidades de éxito no eran nada prometedoras. Sin embargo, su afán de vida, unido a
la sabiduría científica lograron que la operación resultara todo un éxito. Tras un
relativamente breve periodo de recuperación, esta inicia una nueva y saludable vida.
Llena de energía y vitalidad se dá a la tarea de dar con la familia de esa persona que
con su muerte le dió la vida… para conocer si los nuevos gustos y sentimientos
adquiridos tras su transplante, eran característicos de ese bondadoso ser. ¿Cómo logra
Clayre romper las barreras de confidencialidad y encontrar la familia del donante? ¿Cuál
fue la reacción de aquellos que se enfrentaron a una desconocida que porta el corazón y
los pulmones de la persona que más amaron y de cuya pérdida no se han recuperado? A
Change of Heart es un relato de la vida real que ayuda a entender los sentimientos de una
persona desahuciada y cómo la fe y los deseos de vivir sí puden lograr un cambio. Una
publicación de Warner Books, encuéntrala en tu librería favorita o a través de Amazon.
- - Alba Leal |
