The animals were dying. Dying or not growing properly. A two-year-old pig was the size of six-month-old piglet. The chickens were not laying eggs. Some were dying before they were fully feathered. The cows were getting sick without a known cause. Something unexplained was infiltrating the farm. Something evil.
An ancient statue of a little person stood in the corner of the field. The locals said it had power, but the famer did not believe it. The statue had been there as long as the farmer could remember. It had been left by his father before him. Legend said it was put there to protect the farm, the land, the animals, the people. Legend said it must be fed. But the farmer thought it was an outdated ghost story. A story of a Maya spirit that belonged in a fairytale and nothing more.
And then the farmer got sick. Nothing he did helped him recover. He struggled with an unknown illness, some days feeling ok and then suddenly plunging back into pain and suffering. His young son was not growing properly. Something was preventing him from developing in the normal matter. And then the farmer's wife got ill. And then his sister. Something was definitely wrong and no matter what the farmer did, he did not seem able to solve his problems.
Finally, when all other avenues failed, the farmer, at his wit's end, went to visit the village healer, a kind man named Francisco. He told the healer of his troubles and asked for advice. Francisco told him that the statue, an alux, would need to be moved off of the farmer's property. Francisco insisted that the alux was a powerful being, created by a shaman to protect the land. If the farmer refused to feed the alux, things would only get worse.
And so the farmer, in desperation and without recourse, agreed.
So, Francisco went to work. Since an alux sleeps on Tuesdays and Fridays, all the preparations needed to be done on these days. Otherwise the alux would become aware that they were planning to move it and it might cause even more harm to the farmer, his animals, and his family.
Francisco made four crosses from a special wood called chaca, one for each corner of the farmer's property. Each cross was made with ritual and ceremony to give it power. He ground wild harvested dried plants into a fine powder that was also to be placed on the four corners of the property. He also made four candles, one for each corner, again with ritual and ceremony.
And that, my dear friends, is where this story ends. Because when we last saw Francisco, he was still in the process of making the candles, the crosses, and the plant powder.
He told us that the alux moving ceremony must be done on a Tuesday or a Friday while the being is asleep and that it must be finished completely on that day. He plans to move the statue of the little person off the farmer's land and then place the crosses, candles, and plant medicine in the four corners, drawing a line all around the property. This will keep the alux from being able to re-enter the property.
And where will they put the alux?
We don't know. Francisco said they just move it off the land and then it goes its own way.
So you will have to stay tuned to find out if it works, which of course I am convinced it will. After all, Francisco told us another story of an angry, unfed alux that was causing chickens to be born with two beaks and three feet, cows to be born with three legs and other horrible deformations. He said all of the animals on that particular piece of land were affected. But after they moved that alux, everything returned to right.
Do you believe?
I do.
Reporting back soon,
laura