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María Sabina is a Mexican indian.
She was born in 1894, according...
...to the Church records in Huautla, Oaxaca.
Huautla is inhabited by Mazatlecan indians.
They preserve the ancient religious ritual...
...of eating mushrooms in nocturnal ceremonies.
These are provided by a shaman.
Shamanism exists in Mexico since Precolumbian times.
María Sabina is a shaman. She uses...
...mushrooms to comulgate with tribal gods.
R. Gordon Wasson discovered her in 1955.
She has given rise to a new subject: ethnomicolgy.
MARÍA SABlNA WOMAN SPlRlT
You won't heal immediately. You didn't tend to it.
You'll heal little by little...
...until you're completely healthy.
lt isn't easy to heal by just applying an ointment.
lt hurts because you didn't tend to it.
You'll tend to it and then we'll see.
Yes, l'll look for the remedy.
lt'll be cold in the afternoon.
lt'll be cold, even though it's been hot.
lt'll be cold at night.
lt'll be cold.
ln the evenings we can see how beautiful...
...the Sacred Man of the Mountains is. Tso!
He must be beautiful.
He owns and sows ''milpas''.
He wants them to grow tall, they say.
Yes, it's him. l tell them the same.
lt's the arm of Our Lady of the Nativity.
A drunken man slept...
...on the road to San Miguel, when...
...he woke up at midnight, he saw the Sacred Man.
He said he shone like the day.
He rode a horse that wagged its tail.
He said the horse was white?
lt's white! l've seen it in my visions.
lt has a bridle and its hair is tied up.
Not anybody can see him.
We'll see him if it's our fate.
When the mushrooms are in our body.
They can give good or bad visions.
ln the visions, we tell the Man: ''Give me!''
''lt is you l'm looking for''.
He doesn't give anything material.
lf he gives something, then we'll know.
''Give me! Give me! Give me what is true''.
''As your conscience is, so is mine'', we say.
But it isn't as easy as it seems.
ls it true that there are...
...mountain ''Chatos'' (satyrs)?
l don't know. l pay no attention.
We're just talking. ls it true?
lt must be. Men come here...
...to ask me, but l don't pay attention.
''Take me'', they say.
''Where can l find them?'' they ask.
Those who look for that aren't good people.
And if they don't find anything?
They spend their money in vain looking for ''Chatos''.
lf you said, ''Give me that much''...
What if they don't show up?
They'd take it out on us...
...of they're lied to or if they don't find them.
(The ''goat-men'') live in caves.
Those who want to be copulated go there.
lt's useless. Everything disappears.
They go there.
The men go there.
They say that if they die...
...the money paid (for the Chatos)...
...disappears! And our children die too.
Why the hell they do that?
''Chatos'' force men to shepherd goats...
...who are big ''Chatos''. That isn't good.
But only l know how the Sacred Man comes.
He comes from the Sacred Stone of the Sun.
From the Sacred Water and the Clouds.
Yes. With God, we must cleanse...
...our children with tobacco. Yes, with God.
With our Holy Father. Look!
Look!
Let's smoke a cigar, let's smoke God's heart.
Let's smoke our Father's heart.
That's it!
l know how to drink beer and smoke cigar.
l know how to drink beer.
l know how to drink coffee.
l know how to smoke a cigar.
Look at Esperanza.
True. Those who emulate you...
...have their road already traced.
Yes. We don't have anything.
We don't have huipil.
Not even our food.
Others are favoured. How much it has cost us!
We've worked in the fields...
...cleaning and digging.
We finished the work...
...just so Esperanza can take it all?
Look at her. One shouldn't...
...mess with God's Law.
Ot must be cleansed in our Father Jesus Christ...
...like we humans.
Now that the Sun is out...
...could we see in the darkness or bindness?
Yes. Yes.
Don't we work when there's light in the world?
l didn't see when they robbed me.
l was busy at home.
l don't carry anything in the world.
l ws even bitten in the arm.
Where did the money go?
Whee are the stolen things?
l wish l could go to the top...
...of the mountain and shout...
...''Where is all that?'' Poor me!
This is my business.
You're young, bring me logs.
All is effort.
l'm a woman and l can use the spade...
...and chop up the logs.
l live because l know how to work.
That's why l got to my old age.
l sow corn. lf there are beans...
...to eat, it's due to my hands...
...'cause l work to buy beer and cigars.
l work from dawn.
Set it right.
lt must be placed right.
Holy Mother, Father Jesus Christ.
Holy Ghost.
Lord Saint Peter.
Lord Saint Paul.
I'm the eagIe-woman, the owner.
I am the swimming woman.
I am what swims in hoIiness.
Father, HoIy Mother.
I'm the eagIe-woman, the owner.
I', the sparrow-hawk woman.
The ''TIacuache'' woman.
The hoIy ''TIacuache'' woman.
Is it a zit? An itch? A cramp?
María Roberta!
Father, HoIy Mother, Father Jesus Christ.
I am the watch-woman, 'cause you have a watch.
Father Jesus Christ, God and Son.
HoIy, HoIy.
I am the woman who Iooks inside and examines.
Father, HoIy Mother. Father Jesus, God and Son.
HoIy Ghost.
Ay, María.
HoIy, HoIy. Father, HoIy Mother.
Father Jesus Christ, God and Son.
God HoIy Ghost.
Lord Saint Peter, Lord Saint PauI.
HoIy, HoIy, HoIy.
HoIy Mother.
Do you feel the effect?
Yes. Speak!
Speak. That's why you're here.
My heart can't cope. l'm tired.
Talk to God, so that He grants us a favor.
Sacred Man of house and shade.
María Sabinita.
Road of your steps, of your feet.
On the road of your hands, María Sabina.
Even underneth your hands...
...and your feet, María Guadalupe.
Even underneath your eyes and mouth.
Even under your fingerprints and your nails.
Even under your cane.
Cross star, big star.
Big star, cane star.
Mother GuadaIupe, Mother MagdaIene.
María Sabinita.
Mother of miIk and fresh dew.
Mother of milk and ***.
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Even underneath your hands...
...and feet, Mother Guadalupe.
Mother Magdalene.
María Sabinita.
Mother of milk and fresh dew.
Mother of milk and ***.
María Sabinita.
The road of your footprints and your feet...
...and your hands, María Sabina.
Sparrow-hawk woman.
EagIe woman.
How was it born?
How did it faII?
Let's throw everything aII around.
By your hearth, by the stones of your hearth.
With our Saint Peter, with our Saints...
...is María Roberta.
There in your hearth, in the stones of your hearth.
There in your house, within your shade.
Woman of toiI, woman of Iove.
SaIt-water woman.
Woman of sweat, seIIing woman.
Ah, Saint Anthony.
How did this disease come about?
How did this happen to you?
Poor thing. Why?
l don't know. But l'll tell you this.
You asked for it to happen?
God's eyes will see there's nothing.
HoIy, HoIy, HoIy Father.
How did its root spring up?
How did it faII?
Woman of the hearth.
Woman of the stones of the hearth.
Sparrow-hawk woman.
Hunter hawk-woman.
How did it spring up?
How did it faII?
He's been God a Iong time.
He's been heaven a Iong time.
Maria Roberta
AII of our owners...
...aII of our sacred beings.
Pray for me!
When l learned about this, l was...
...about 8. l took them every day.
lt'd be different if l were...
...a shaman woman or an adult.
There were plenty of them.
l took them because l felt nice.
Both of us took them in the fields.
We knew them when an uncle got sick.
A healer cured him (with the mushrooms).
He talked to them and we liked that.
''And if we eat them?'', we would wonder.
So we took them. (With my sister).
They used to spring up everywhere.
Here, where we came to live.
They were big. Now people leave none.
My sister, Rosalía's mum...
...you know Rosalía?
My sister got sick and almost died.
The healers couldn't cure her.
They came and filled my house with eggs.
The house with the tin roof.
l decided to cure her myself.
l took 30 pairs of ''Holy Children''.
l must have been about 25 years old.
Maybe 30, because l already had my three kids.
l cured my sister with the 30 pairs of ''Children''.
The medicine you gave me will cure me.
HoIy Mother, HoIy Medicine Wise Man.
HoIy Wise Herb Man, Medicine Man.
Your heaIing Ieaves, the Ieaves of your hands.
Father, HoIy Mother, Father Jesus Christ.
God Son and God HoIy Ghost.
Holy, Holy, Holy. l am Saint Peter's woman.
l was born where they grow St. Peter's tobacco.
l was born where the echo is born. God knows.
Our Father Christ knows.
He gave me a book, not a book of lies.
A book of truths. The book...
...that says what is true.
-God gave it to you. -That's right.
l'll fight however the evil powers want to.
lf l told what l've done in my life, Jesus!
lt makes me laugh.
Yes, it does. God will repay you.
What l've done is right?
Well, l even talked to Benito Juárez.
l'm the most manly!
l'm not kidding.
l an swim under water.
How did our town change?
Look at it now.
Only those who walk on this path...
...know the ways of the world.
Talk to my son, he is an authority.
Give him the name, let him say it.
Raymundo is his name.
Let him go back the way he came.
Raymundo, you come with your 3 ''tlacuaches''...
...and l come with my 13 ''tlacuaches''.
You carry 13 ''tlacuaches'' on your way
l've taken notice of it. Thus l cure...
...the disease of your foot. That's all l can do.
Why blame anyone of your disease?
Wise Medicine Man, Wise Herb Man.
Good laguage, good matter and good saliva.
Your trousers and your shirts, María Roberta.
Holy Mother.
Holy, Holy, María Roberta.
Wise in language, wise in everything.
13 trousers, 13 shirts. Name of 13 trousers.
Poor thing!
You'll heal little by little.
My body will heal little by little.
lt's true what the language says.
You're not sick, María Roberta.
Yes, l am content.
War to disease!
lt comes with generals and corporals.
Seargent! Commander!
l bring my 13 generals.
Raymundo.
lsn't it so? Look.
l come with all. l bring my 13 hawk-sparrows.
However mny they are. l have many ''tlacuaches''.
Man, man, man.
l come with 13 generals.
l can drink and smoke. But this...
Woman of wars! Look.
Not anyone is wise.
How come l am a wise woman?
l auscultate and examine.
The police dog barks.
Jesus Christ. Look now.
l feel better. That's enough for me.
You need more. Now you speak.
This what we greeted each other today for.
What an immense wonder this is!
What an immense wonder!
María Sabina.