The Bewitching

Brujeria, the Spanish word for “witchcraft,” refers to a set of folk spiritual beliefs and practices rooted in the Indigenous traditions of the lands that now encompass Mexico and much of the southwestern United States. Brujeria includes herbalism and folk remedies, limpias (spiritual cleansings), spellcasting and incantations, protection against the evil eye, bewitching, and ceremonies of intercession to various folk saints. These ceremonies might make use of ritualistic objects like altars, prayer candles, milagros (small, tin replicas of various body parts often used in folk cures for bodily ailments like sprained or broken limbs, illnesses, and other injuries), or retablos (paintings of saints). Brujeria, although rooted in Indigenous beliefs and practices, contains elements of Catholic traditions brought to Mexico during colonization. This co-mingling of Indigenous and colonial (in the case of brujeria, Spanish) cultural traditions is called “syncretism.” The author notes in her afterward that much of this book is rooted in her own family’s history, and that although her grandmother would not have used the word “syncretism,” it did accurately describe the co-existence of Indigenous and Catholic wisdom passed down through the generations by the women in her family. The Bewitching uses its depictions of brujeria to add historical richness to the