Curandera Tales: Volume 1 - The Living Tree

What you are about to read is the God's honest truth... this is not a work of fiction. I have changed the names of the people in these stories. The stories in this series were told to me by my Wife's life long best friend Lisa, who just happens to be a Curandera. If you clicked on this story, likely you already know what a Curandera is. If you don't know, Curanderas (Females) or Curanderos (males)are Mexican folk healers, spiritual mediums, guides to the spirit realm and paranormal world. They can heal the sick, rid people of bad luck, curses, tell your future, even put hex's on others and make them suffer long term or kill them quick with spirit magic. Creatures, Spirits, Demons tend to follow Curanderas, so they protect themselves from these entities. They are Gateways to the Spirit realm. There are Universal laws though... such as when you send out something bad to someone, it comes back to you 3 fold. I was shocked to learn that the final test to become a Curandera/Curandero is to kiss a Rattlesnake's tounge. This isn't something you just decide to do... you are born into it. Her Mother went through the training but never completed the final test, her Grandmother was a Curandera and so-on down the line.

Lisa has even taught me a lot. Such as, I'm a gateway myself. I even learned how to read Tarot Cards from her... the right way, the way used by the Curanderos in order to develop my abilities further. But, I'll tell that story another time. We have a tradition every winter where I Bar B Q my slow cooked ribs, My Wife, Daughter, various friends, family and Lisa all pig out and when it gets dark. The Kids love this! We all bring our chairs from inside to outside under the carport of our house, sit in a circle wrapped up in winter coats, blankets with the fire still going strong from the large pit and we listen to Lisa tell stories from her life... stories that send a chill up your spine. Now, Lisa is a Master storyteller. She has a special way of captivating an audiance when she speaks. So as you can imagine, we usually make an event out of this, my BBQ for her stories is our long-running deal.

Last Winter on a cold January night, our belies full, sitting outside, wrapped up, couples and their children all snuggled up together relaxed and eager to hear her stories, Lisa began with her first account from when she was a little girl. Around the age of 7, her Father (a carpenter) had been out of work. After loosing their house, her Father asked his Brother to allow he and his family to stay with them. Lisa's Uncle was not a kind man. He allowed the family to live in the barn which had a dirt floor, no walls or bathroom. Unfortunately, this had to do until Lisa's Father could get work and save enough money to get a place of their own.

In the family there was Joe (her Father), Mary (her Mother), Ally (her older Sister) and Lisa. After Joe had finally landed some work out of town for a few weeks, he sent his family the money he'd earned, saving just enough for gas, bread and sandwich meat while he was working. In time, he decided to buld walls so the girls could have privacy and a bit of normalcy, even put a floor in the barn.

Lisa's favoraite past time was sitting under a very old, very large oak tree out in the field on the side of the barn. She would take her dolls with her, play, have conversations with them, read books she brought with her. This wise old oak began to become a place of solitude and comfort to her. Everyday, after school she would run to the tree to do her homework and just stay there until her Mother would call her for dinner. I didn't get the details on how she managed to cook dinner in the barn but she did.

4 months had passed by and Joe had earned enough money to put a deposit and first months rent on a house in Town. They were very excited to move into a place that had a bathroom, A/C, working plumbing, doors, their own beds, a kitchen. The night before they were set to move out of the barn, Lisa was laying in her little bed by a window here Dad had built for her (Natural light is important to our physical, mental and psychic well being according to Lisa). She peered outside the window at her special tree. She noticed it began to move it's huge limbs. Confused, knowing that trees aren't supposed to move like that, she shook her Sister Ally awake saying "Ally, the tree is moving! Wake up!!  Look, the tree is moving!!" Ally awoke grumpy asking "What?!? What do you want?!?" "The Tree outside is moving!!" whispered Lisa, trying not to wake her parents. "Lisa! Go to sleep." moaned Ally.

As Lisa looked back out the window at her tree, she noticed it was further away. She was shocked. Turning to Ally, she said "It's moving away! Ally it's moving away!" Right away Ally opened her eyes wide and sat up "What?!!?" "Come look!" said a now very excited Lisa. As Ally got out of her palet on the floor, she peered out of the window to see the huge tree was actually further away from where it always stood. Shocked, she said "What the hell?!" "Should we tell Mom & Dad?" asked lisa. "No, they'll see it in the morning, we'll tell show them then.".

The sisters watched the tree slowly move away past the field, past the horizon until they could no longer see it. They tried to go back to sleep but couldn't fall asleep until 2 hours before they had to wake up at 6am to begin the move. A few hours later, Joe woke his family up. As tired and groggy as his daughters were, they remembered what had take place and told their parents everything they had seen.

Joe and Mary had looked at each other in disbelief. "Mija, There's never been a tree out there." her Dad said. "Have you ever seen a tree? he asked his Wife. "No, I've never seen a tree there, it's just been an empty feild."