Lucum traditional healing practices

Lucum traditional healing practices are rooted in the spiritual influences of America, Europe, and West
Africa. Having a strong spiritual component, these traditional healing practices also use the pathways
of the herbalist, psychologist, ethicist, and that of a respected spiritual medium interceding between
God and human beings. Du Toit refers to Cuban traditional healing practices as ethnomedicine which
taps on the biodynamic chemical properties of certain plants, from which some commercial drugs were
derived, such as the cardiac medications, digitalis, quinine, and curare - chemicals causing
neuromuscular paralysis.[13]:19 Du Toit categorizes Cuban ethnomedicine as having health specialists
which are: el yerbero (the herbalist), el curandero (the curer), el santero (the religious healer), and el
conocedor (the botanist). Du Toit continues, "Cuba is one of the regions in which a great deal of
ethnographic and ethnobotanical research has been conducted."[13]:21
Du Toit cites the studies of Lydia Cabrera on the religious and healing role of indigenous medicinal
plants, and Jose Gallo on the 900-page compilation of folk medicine, and also mentions that with the
31 herbs prescribed as bronchodilators, only Datura candida was effective, due to its contents of
scopolamine and atropine in the leaves. Lemongrass or caa de limn is used for low blood pressure
and anti-inflammatory effects. Thyme tea and castor oil are used to speed the delivery of babies and the
broomweed (Corchorus siliquosus) induces the quick expulsion of the placenta.[13]:21 Herbs are also
used to create a trance possession using the hallucinogenic properties of Datura metel and Datura
stramonium (both have scopolamine and atropine, causing amnesia), the psychoactive ingredients from
the cane toad (Bufo marinus).[13]:23
Aside from being herbalist, Santera traditional healing practice has a spiritual aspect. Santera has a
holistic approach, acknowledging the connection with heart, mind, and body.[14]:50 In Santera, the
world flows with the primal life energy called ach or growth, the force toward completeness and
divinity. Ach is the current that Santera initiates channel so that it empowers them to fulfill their path
in life, because ach is connected to all that has life or exhibits power; ach comprises blood, grace,
and power.[6]:12 When a person is sick, the healer thinks, interprets and reacts, considering the illness
not just a physical dysfunction but also an interface with suffering and bad luck in life, believed to be
brought on by the activity of bad spirits.
Prevalent in Caribbean cultures, espiritismo is a part of the Latin American traditional healing practice.
Du Tout reveals that Santera has a "strong element of spiritism."[13]:26 McNeill also concurs that
some Santeros have the power to communicate with spirits asking for guidance to improve the situation
of a person consulting.[15]:69 However, in general, the Santeros of the Regla de Och primarily turn to
religion as their practice to address personal challenges and identify means to improve a situation.
[15]:77 Many people may go and see espirititas who don't see a Santero. Also, espiritistas may work
hand in hand with Santeros.
While psychotherapy uses allopathic principles, spiritism uses homeopathic principles which aim to
reduce the anxiety, or permit the patient to acknowledge pent-up emotions, unexpressed guilt, or
repressed behavior through catharsis meant to release emotions the patient may not even be aware of.

[13]:25 It is said that "healing can occur when the spirit medium assists the sufferer to come into
harmony with the spirit world so as to change his or her physical condition, emotions, way of life, or
destiny."[13]:25
The reputation of espiritistas was tinged with negativity, being accused of witchcraft because they deal
with health through the unfamiliar paradigm of the spirit world, which was not understood by either the
medical doctors or the Catholic priests. Consequently, espiritistas or traditional healers of Santera and
other Latin American cultures working with healing through the spirit world are attacked as "works of
the devil" from the pulpits of the Catholic Churches and labeled as "quackery" from the journals of the
medical profession. This unique system of knowledge is appreciated as ethnopharmacology or
ethnomedicine.[13]:25
Aligning and harmonizing with the forces of nature, practitioners of the Regla de Och invoke on the
guidance of Orichs. There are three foremost orichs that are predominantly concerned with folkhealing, however, other orichs may be invoked to help a person with a specific problem. These main
orichs are: Osan, the orich of the herbs; Babal-Ay, the orich of contagious and epidemic
diseases; and Inle, the patron of physicians. Osan is the patron of curanderos or traditional herbal
healers, also called Osainistas.[6]:78 According to de la Torre, Osan is believed to be embodied in the
omiero which is a combination of "blood from sacrifices offered during the ceremony and juices
extracted from herbs that are sacred to the Orichs with water (from rain, rivers, or seas) honey,
aguardiente, powdered eggshell, corojo, and cocoa butter."[6]:78 The forest has everything that would
maintain a robust health and keep a person away from malevolence, thus, Santera practitioners would
agree that no spell will be able to work without the sanction of Osan, the master herbalist commanding
the healing secrets of plant life.[6]:50 Osan is syncretized with Saint Joseph, Saint Benito, or Saint
Jerome. Babal-Ay is revered by its victims and survivors like smallpox, leprosy, and skin diseases.
Babal-Ay has become the guardian of those with HIV/AIDS. He is syncretized with Saint Lazarus.
[6]:78 Inle is the patron of physicians, known as a healer who favors scientific methods. Inle is ranked
as one of the orichs that is approached for very specific health issues. Thus, Inle is also known as the
protector of homosexuals and feminosexuals.[6]:82
People go to a consulta for many reasons, mainly for health related issues. Divination is a means that
traditional healers utilize to inquire further on the details of a problem. Divination may articulate the
origin/cause of the problem; in addition, it may include prescriptions for solutions/suggestions to
certain difficulties.[8]:96 Divination establishes an interpretative frame for the situation a person finds
himself in.[8]:97 Hence, the Santeros offer cowrie-shell divination or other appropriate traditional
practices. Rituals, or the reading of pataks may be done to clarify a problem which sometimes the
person consulting may not even be aware of. Passed orally from many generations, patak are parables
used by diviners to guide or give insights or moral lessons to a person who came for consultation.[11]
The patak recited by the Santero corresponds to the number that the cowrie shell divination brings.
Aside from the use of herbs and divination, the Santera traditional healing is achieved through rituals
that include animal sacrifice, offerings, altar building, music, dance, and possession trance.[16]:108
When the patient is a child, the Santero uses the curative system known as santiguo which means "to

heal by blessing". Perceiving some health problems, most Santeros recommend that the client seeks a
medical doctor for a check-up. Parallel to the medical treatment, the patient might be prescribed some
herbal teas, cleansing baths, or a special diet from the traditional healing practice. Sometimes, a
Santero might advise a client to receive omiero, whose efficacy, people unfamiliar with the paradigm of
traditional healing practice, would be considered as "magical herbal elixir" and thus, conjectured as
resulting to "miracle cures."[13]:26 An omiero is a sacred mixture that is made up for very specific
Santera ceremonies and is believed to embody the orich ruler of herbs, Osan.[6]:108 Most clients
who see Santeros would never be told to drink it.[11]
Santera traditional healing is just one of the many traditional healing practices used in Caribbean and
Latin American cultures. Being so attuned to the natural world, these traditional healers bring this
sensitivity to assist in the holistic improvement of a patient. Owing to the unique form of
transculturation, traditional healing practices are practiced side by side with allopathic medicine
through the progressive, universal Cuban healthcare system. Cuban healthcare integrates the
biopsychosocial model which is geared towards preventive and community-oriented psychology, with
the general health philosophy of the country.[15]:68 Traditional healers recognize but do not compete
with Western medicine. Modern Western medicine may treat physical ailments, but the traditional
healing systems deal with emotional, mental, and spiritual issues.[17]:285

Current distribution
Santera is mainly found in the Americas (notably the Caribbean), including but not limited to Cuba,
Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, and the United States.
In 2001, there were an estimated 22,000 practitioners in the US alone,[18] but the number may be
higher as some practitioners may be reluctant to disclose their religion on a government census or to an
academic researcher. Of those living in the United States, some are fully committed priests and
priestesses, others are godchildren or members of a particular house-tradition, and many are noncommittal clients seeking help with their everyday problems.
A similar religion of Yoruba origin called Candombl Queto is practiced in Brazil, Argentina, and
Uruguay. This is referred to as "parallel religiosity".[19]

Controversy
In 1993, the issue of animal sacrifice in Santera was taken to the Supreme Court of the United States in
the case of Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah. The court ruled that animal cruelty laws
targeted specifically at Santera were unconstitutional.[20]
In 2009, legal and religious issues that related to animal sacrifice, animal rights, and freedom of
religion were taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the case of Jose
Merced, President Templo Yoruba Omo Orisha Texas, Inc., v. City of Euless. The court ruled that the
Merced case of the freedom of exercise of religion was meritorious and prevailing and that Merced was
entitled under the Texas Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (TRFRA) to an injunction preventing

the city of Euless, Texas, from enforcing its ordinances restricting his religious practices relating to the
use of animals,[21] (see Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code 110.005(a)(2)) without the court having to
reach his claims under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The city of Euless, even after losing a
drawn-out lawsuit that tested the boundaries of religious liberty in Texas, was still searching for new
ways to shut down Merced's spiritual practices.[22]