Abstract

FAGETTI, Antonella. Cuando "habla" la semilla: adivinación y curación con enteógenos en la Mixteca oaxaqueña. Cuicuilco [online]. 2012, vol.19, n.53, pp.229-255. ISSN 0185-1659.

The ritual use of the seeds of Turbina corymbosa and Ipomoea violacea has been documented in colonial historical sources and, in the 20th century, has been recorded and studied in Guerrero and Oaxaca (Mexico). In Yodohino and Nundó, Mixtec villages in the Huajuapan de León district, Oaxaca, people still use the "seeds of the virgin" (Ipomoea violacea) and the seeds of "san José" (Datura stramonium var. Godronii) as a means of divination and healing. A woman -expert in the preparation and supply of seeds, which are milled in the "metate" and are mixed with other ingredients- also takes care of the person who drinks the brew, who undergoes a non-ordinary state of consciousness during which "the seed speaks" and reveals what disease afflicts him, why he fell ill and how it can be cured. The article presents the data collected in field on the experience of those who have taken the potion, analyzes the characteristics of the trance and the process during which disease is "diagnosed" and cured; also discuss if this psychoactive potion can be considered an entheogen and if the ritual consumption is part of shamanistic practice.

Keywords : entheogens; shamanism; divination; healing; Ipomoea violacea; Datura stramoniun var. Godronii.