Woman Who Glows in the Dark: A Curandera Reveals Traditional Aztec Secrets of Physical and Spiritual Health  by Elena Avila, R.N., MSN Published by Tarcher/Putnam April, 1999 has become a national bestseller. WOMAN WHO GLOWS IN THE DARK 

ELENA AVILA


Elena Avila is a poet, playwright, actor, writer, and renowned throughout the United States as a Curandera.  Her book, Woman Who Glows in the Dark: A Curandera Reveals  Traditional Aztec Secrets of Physical and Spiritual Health with an introduction by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, is according to Ms. Estes,  "on the horizon line of rare sightings...Her work and life form a prototype.  Hers is heretofore a hidden treasure that she is capable of relating to us in  both academic voice and in the voice of a poet.  You will see as you read that it is through her true sorrows and her true times - that she has grown into a fierce lover to and defender of the soul."   

ORDER

"In Western medicine, the body goes to the hospital, the mind to the psychiatrist, and the spirit to church.  In curanderismo, the healing takes place under one roof."  So says Elena Avila, a psychiatric nurse and professional curandera who has for more than twenty-five years, effectively combined the best of traditional Western medicine with the ancient health system of curanderismo.   In Woman Who Glows in The Dark, Avila Takes readers deep into the practice of a modern-day cuarandera and the fascinating culture of curanderismo to offer a fresh perspective on physical and emotional wellness.

"Elena Avila's book is a combination manual, memoir, and healing chant.  I'm so glad these stories and secrets-which have been known orally by our culture for ages, are finally down on paper."--Julia Alvarez, author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.

"This wise and courageous woman restores our souls to our bodies and our bodies sacred earth stewardship through her profound teachings of ancient ways in modern times."  __Jean Houston, author of Search for the Beloved and The Possible Human.

"Grounded in the earth, at home in both modern and indigenous medicine, Elena Avila is a true emissary of healing, casting a brilliant glow  into the dark of all medicine that denies the soul..."  __ Judith Orloff, M.D., author of Second Sight.

"Truthful, often painful, always riveting, Woman Who Glows in the Dark reveals how the practices of curanderismo can heal the soul sickness  not addressed by Western Medicine."  --Rudolfo Anaya, author of Bless Me' Ultima.

Ms. Avila is available for seminars, lecture and workshops

INQUIRES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MENDING WINGS AND BUILDING BRIDGES

The rains came early today before the sun had a chance to burst through another sunrise.
 
I fell off a cloud and into sunburned thoughts of building bridges with my poems. 
 
I hear you.
 
I'll be a temporary bridge for you but take your own ass across the waters of your doubt. 
 
You are too big to be carried so do not pretend to be asleep. 
 
What do you want from me?
 
Freshly minted divine ambivalence to test the limits of you god?
Do you want the tiny ember of your faith to die?
 
So many questions and you came to me for answers.  I'll stoke the tiny flame with my eagle feather as you ponder.
 
I say make you new millennium resolution now and toast to the end of century death bed dreams that did not fly.  this is the part where the heart actually hurts.
 
Can you hear the silence of your screams?
 
The eagle has gone fishing and I am off to Honolulu for brunch I mended his wings and I did not even get a thank you note from his Eagle highness!
 
Ponder on that as I eat lunch.

 


Mending Wings and Building Bridges A book of poems by Ms. Avila, is a "celebration of my journey as a woman, lover, wife mother, grandmother, sister and curandera.  It is always a good day when a poem is formed from my creative womb.  My Aztec name is XoxiwetzkPahtli, "Flower that Brings Medicine through Laughter.  My journey as a curandera has enriched me with an earth and organic creativity.  My poems are born from a flowering need to express the deepest feeling of my soul.  Poetry does not lie.  It is a soul language with a thousand    voices wanting to be understood.  The Aztec call it Yolitzin and it means "knowledge of my essence.  Yolitzin is our true nature, the inner I/Me that longs for recognition."

Poetry by Elena
Cover painting by Victoria Saxe
60 pages

ORDER 


Elena co-authored the play Tu Y Yo (You and I)  with Jerry Mondragon.  This popular bilingual play has toured the Southwest and Mexico. She and Mr. Mondragon also co-authored  Amantes Sin Casa ( Lovers without a Home) a book of poetry , also produced as a play.

For booking, please call,

(505) 892-8918

(505) 345-9354


Coyolxauhqui is "Woman Who Glows in the Dark".  She is an Aztec goddess, who used to be of the earth, but is now a goddess of the sky.  To the Aztecs she represents the moon.