The Dialogue of Earth and Sky: Dreams, Souls, Curing, and the Modern Aztec Underworld

by Timothy J. Knab

In Mexico’s Sierra Norte de Puebla, beliefs that were held before the coming of Europeans continue to guide the lives of modern Aztecs. For residents of San Martín Zinacapan, life in and on the earth is animated by the same forces, through which people seek to maintain a cohesive view of the relationship of mankind, the cosmos, and the natural world. This delicate balance of the human spirit maintains the health and well-being of villagers, and is an essential part of the social and ideological framework that makes a person’s life whole. This book describes the basic elements of a belief system that has survived the onslaught of Catholicism, colonialism, and the modern world. Timothy Knab has spent thirty years working in this area of Mexico, learning of the Most Holy Earth and following what its people there call "the good path." He was initiated as a dreamer, learned the prayers and techniques for curing maladies of the human soul, and from his long association with the Sanmartinos has constructed a thorough account of their beliefs and practices. Learning to recount dreams, forming a dreamtale, and "carrying it on one’s back" to the waking world is the first part of the practitioner’s labor in curing. But dreamtales are shown to be more than parables in this world, for they embody the ethos and cosmovision that link Sanmartinos with their traditions and the Most Holy Earth. Building on this background, Knab describes how the open-ended interpretation of dreams is the practitioner’s primary instrument for restoring a client’s soul to its proper equilibrium, thus providing a practical approach to finding and resolving everyday problems. Many anthropologists hold that such beliefs have long since disappeared into the nebulous past, but in San Martín they remain alive and well. The underworld of the ancestors, talocan or Tlalocan for the Aztecs, is still a vital part of everyday life for the people of the Sierra Norte de Puebla. The Dialogue of Earth and Sky is an important record of a culture that has maintained a precolumbian cosmovision for nearly 500 years, revealing that this system is as resonant today with the ethos of Mesoamerican peoples as it was for their ancestors.

179 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jrobertus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knab learned the ancient art of dream interpretation from two Mexican curanderos. This puts him in a unique position to describe the ancient Aztec practices that still survive in remote areas of that country, like Sierra Torte del Puebla. He describes the structure of the ancient Aztec cosmos, of sky earth and underworld and the structure of the soul and its complex interactions with the cosmos. Trained native healers use dialog to interpret dreams and cure the spiritual and perhaps corporeal ailments of the locals. The same skill set is also used by witches and the whole mental landscape is fraught with fears and dangers. as a western world scientist I am clearly skeptical of all this, although it may be as useful as Freudian analysis and have a strong placebo effect. IN any case it is very interesting to see how this ancient mythology is constructed and how it has endured through centuries of Western/Catholic contact. On the downside, the book is somewhat redundant and the writing is not as crisp and clear as one might like.