Sastun: My Apprenticeship With a Maya Healer

From Publishers Weekly In 1983, the American-born author and her husband Greg were discouraged, almost ready to give up their farm and natural healing practice in a remote, roadless area in western Belize. By chance, Arvigo met 87-year-old Elijoio Panti, the best-known Maya medicine man in Central America. She persuaded him to teach her about the medicinal plants of the rain forest and the Maya art of healing. With freelance writer Epstein, Arvigo presents an engaging account of her five-year association with Panti and his patients, affording an interesting glimpse of traditional healing. Ultimately, Arvigo obtained the support of the American Cancer Institue and the New York Botanical Garden for her study of natural healing; she is now director of research of Terra Nova, a 6000-acre plant reserve in Belize. Photos. Author tour. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Trained in naprapathy (the treatment of disease using natural healing processes), American-born Arvigo and her husband opened a natural healing practice in San Ignacio, Belize. The encroaching jungle threatened their homestead and resolve, but life took an unexpected turn after they met Elijio Panti, a respected Maya healer. Believing that his vast knowledge of medicinal plants would be their salvation, Arvigo set out to learn Elijio's dying art of natural healing. This enjoyable story is one of cross-cultural friendship and commitment to preserving native plants and traditional Mayan healing remedies. In the same vein Mark Plotkin, who detailed his work with Conservation International in Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice ( LJ 7/93), Arvigo created the Ix Chel Tropical Research Foundation to send plants to research laboratories for further study. Both narratives remind one that the destruction of native cultures and rain forest vegetation, with its unknown healing potential, is a loss to all humankind. Recommended for all libraries. --Teresa Elberson, Lafayette P.L., La.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Arvigo's commitment to traditional herbal medicine took her from the straight streets of Chicago to the lush and demanding wilderness of Belize, where she met one of the region's most renowned Mayan healers, Don Elijio Panti. Undaunted by the feisty octogenarian's assumption that a gringa couldn't possibly attain the level of spirituality necessary to practice his art, Arvigo began helping him with the arduous daily work of collecting and preparing plants. Once Panti recognized Arvigo's skill, sincerity, and strength, he began teaching her not only how to use plants to cure physical diseases, but also how to diagnose and treat a host of mysterious psychic disorders with a sastun , or divining stone. The more Arvigo learned, the more she realized that the practice of traditional herbal medicine is threatened by the destruction of the rain forest. In an effort to preserve both Panti's knowledge and the plants the healers depend on, Arvigo has established a research foundation and medicinal plant reserve, thus building a bridge between traditional healing and modern science. With the assistance of journalist Epstein, Arvigo relates her often astonishing and moving tale with disarming modesty and openness. Donna Seaman Read more