Mexican Tradition Bewitches Many -- Exorcists Failed To Stop Ancient Practice

LA PETACA, Mexico - Local legend has it that this thirsty pocket of arid northeast Mexico, 125 miles from the U.S. border, once was home to the most vile Indian witches.

Following the arrival of the Spaniards, the witches' spirits were locked in a "petaca," or trunk, and buried during an exorcism, giving the town of 2,000 people its name.

Crosses were put up at La Petaca's four corners to ward off evil. They remain. So does the area's reputation as a cauldron where witches can cook up their magic.

"I can't believe I'm here," says a young woman named Sonia after waiting six hours with dozens of others for a "consultation" with Maria Cepeda, a famous witch.

Sonia says she needed help because her husband left her with a year-old son and a baby on the way. "Sometimes you get so desperate you'll try anything," she says.

The term "witch," or bruja, is generic in Mexico, covering a wide range of people who serve as doctor-counselor-confessors, treating illnesses and personal problems with a mix of religion, herbal medicine and folk psychiatry.

Even President Carlos Salinas de Gortari submitted to a ritual "limpia," or cleansing, during a recent visit to Morelos. This practice involves passing black chickens, herbs, rocks or eggs over a person's body to draw out illness and evil and bring good luck.

Almost every neighborhood market has its share of "herbarios" - stands that sell tools of the witchcraft trade, from crowns of

garlic, plastic skulls and black candles to magic powders to restore lost love, rein in philandering spouses or wreak havoc on a romantic rival.

"Folk healers can be found in just about any Mexican community," says William Murray, who teaches medical anthropology at the University of Monterrey. "It has a great deal of psycho-social value."

Witches are referred to as such by everyone but themselves. They usually prefer terms such as "curanderos" (healers), "hechiceros" (sorcerers), "mentalistas" (mind readers), "medios" (mediums) and "videntes" (clairvoyants).

Patients tend to come from the lower and middle classes, but witches also have richer followers.

Many Mexicans consider illness not so much a physical problem as an emotional or spiritual one, Murray says. A sluggish or nervous person may blame his condition on "mal de ojo" (evil eye) or "susto" (scare).

These maladies are treated with herbs that have medicinal properties known since pre-Columbian time and rituals like limpias that at least help a patient believe he will get better.

Witchcraft in Mexico dates to the Aztecs. With the arrival of the Spaniards, witches began mixing it with European traditions, such as Catholicism, to the dismay of the Roman Catholic Church.

"Most curanderos are charlatans," says the Rev. Raul Rodriguez of Monterrey's Church of the Divine Providence.

Still, witchcraft in its various forms is a part of daily life in Mexico.

In Linares, near La Petaca, Avelina Reyes de Guerrero has been providing "trabajos," or works, for 30 of her 71 years from a room behind her small convenience store.

"First you need faith in God, whatever God that may be. Religion doesn't matter," she says. "You also need confidence in the person attending you."

She sees about 15 people a day from all over Mexico and some from the United States.

Most witches, including Reyes, willingly send patients to medical doctors if they believe the problem is beyond their capabilities.

She considers herself a good Catholic and dismisses the church's concerns.

Reyes says her family stopped talking to her when she began training with a clairvoyant. "Now, I'm the first person they come to," she says. She even has a niece as an apprentice.