Milagros Read online

  Milagros

  A Book of Miracles

  Helen Thompson

  Artwork by Paddy Bruce

  To Charles.

  —H.T.

  This book is dedicated to all the miracles through Bill W. and Dr. Bob.

  They are good medicine.

  —P.B.

  Contents

  Introduction

  1. Head-Knowing Is Wisdom.

  Body: Pain is real when you think it is.

  Mind: Thought is the way your brain talks to you.

  Spirit: Knowledge is best when it becomes wisdom.

  2. Heart-How We Love.

  Body: If your heart is aching, it is telling you something.

  Mind: Loving is what your heart does best.

  Spirit: Share what you have in your heart.

  3. Hand-Your Hands Connect You to Others.

  Body: Touch is the balm to ease pain.

  Mind: Your hands are for welcoming others.

  Spirit: Let yourself receive what the world has to offer.

  4. Foot-Your Feet Support Your Journey Through Life.

  Body: Get up and go!

  Mind: Meet your challenges with purpose.

  Spirit: Your journey can be full of joy.

  5. Mouth-Our Words Are as Good as Our Deeds.

  Body: Your mouth is for communicating.

  Mind: Careless talk can hurt yourself and others.

  Spirit: Kind words will last forever.

  Making Your Own Milagros

  Bibliography

  About the Author and the Illustrator

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  INTRODUCTION

  THE SPANISH WORD milagro is usually translated as “miracle.” We live today in a world that seems short of miracles, a world where the miracles that do happen go unremarked. Based on traditional Mexican talismans, the tiny, personal charms known as milagros remind us that miracles can be small, they can be numerous, and they can happen every day. Often intensely personal, milagros are individual and universal, and they offer a way to close the gap between the spiritual and the commonplace.

  As charming folk art, milagros are talismans against illness, trouble, and pain. But they are more than just a quaint remedy for problems. They are symbolic of a covenant between a believer and a higher spirit, tangible testimony that a promise has been fulfilled—a marriage has been saved, an ailing parent has been restored to good health, a love has been found. Whether you look at their place in your life as a symbol that you are trying something new or as a means to focus yourself on a transition, milagros offer an alternative approach to spirituality.

  From the earliest of times, humankind has wanted to communicate with a higher power. We have been giving thanks and propitiation in the form of offerings to gods for thousands of years. The early Sumerians, Persians, Minoans, and Egyptians gave votive gifts depicting animals and people, and evidence of milagros as an ancient custom exists throughout Europe—from Greece, where offerings were given to Aesculapius, the Greek god of healing, north and west into what is now Ireland and Scandinavia. Charms have been offered by such illustrious historical figures as Anne of Austria, who showed her gratitude for giving birth to an heir to the French throne with a small, winged, silver representation of the infant; and “Hernán Cortés” conqueror of Mexico, who is believed to have presented a gold scorpion emblazoned with emeralds, rubies, and pearls at the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe to show his indebtedness for having been saved from a scorpion bite.

  Adopted into the rituals of Christianity as a way to thank the saints for answered prayers, the pagan tradition of milagros found its way to the Americas with the Catholic conquistadores. Because the invaders destroyed holy sites throughout the Americas and punished the indigenous peoples for practicing their religion, many traditions of worship have been lost. However, the newly Christianized people of these places took up milagros and their use has continued to endure. Where parts of Guatemala were plagued long ago by pest infestations, grasshopper milagros have been discovered; and the Inca were most likely placing their faith in the fertility of the ground when they planted gold effigies of maize leaves and cobs during sowing festivals. Offerings have been found in as far-flung places as the sacred mounds of Peru, the pyramids of Mexico, the ancient kivas of the American Southwest, and the sacred pools in the Yucatan peninsula.

  In Latin America and in areas of the United States where there is a large Hispanic population, offerings are even today a common sight. The little silvery milagros are often found piled in bowls, affixed to crosses with tiny silver nails, or placed at a church altar or a makeshift household shrine. Milagros come in an endlessly imaginative variety of shapes, sizes, and materials. Sometimes quite sumptuous—bejeweled, elaborately carved, or finely wrought from precious metals—they can be humble, too. Quality has no correlation to sincerity or to outcome. Your milagros are reminders that any act of devotion, no matter how small, is worthy.

  That milagros still hold power to affect our troubles testifies to the endurance of a belief system that has eluded repression and destruction to survive for centuries. Perhaps the very modesty of milagros—or their folksy and unassuming status in a complex religious system—has enabled these unsophisticated representations to endure in a modern world wildly and unimaginably different from that which they originated in. Their unthreatening, even whimsical, charm may also account for their increasing popularity in the United States. Engulfed in a mass “pop” culture and sated with consumer goods, we may look at milagros as a way to connect to the durable belief systems of ancient cultures.

  The most widely used shapes for milagros are those that represent body parts such as feet, heart, hand, head, and lungs—all those nooks and crannies of the body where ailments settle in and stay. The contemporary interpretation of milagros you’ll find in this book (utilizing popular anatomic shapes) is an introduction to the ways and the wisdom of an age-old culture. May learning about these small miracles enhance your life forever.

  CHAPTER ONE

  HEAD

  KNOWING IS WISDOM

  YOUR HEAD IS your own personal fountain of wisdom. You use it to think and to reason, to plan and to dream.

  Head milagros have as much variation as heads do in real life, and represent all ages, shapes, and sizes. Male milagro heads might have beards or mustaches, lots of hair, or be “balding.” Milagros of female heads can have distinctive, elaborate hairdos, and some even have earrings. They can be shown in profile, full face, or even in a three-dimensional form.

  A photograph can serve as a contemporary version of the head milagro: It is not uncommon to see snapshots of happy infants or smiling husbands and wives placed on statues of favorite saints as a show of gratitude. Sometimes the photo represents the person before calamity struck: a reminder of the state to which the stricken person hopes to return.

  El dolor es real cuando usted piensa gue lo es.

  Pain is real when you think it is.

  BODY

  OUR HEADS ARE where our thought processes begin, where we register our pain, and where we consider the sometimes difficult task of asking for help to alleviate the pain. Head milagros are traditionally offered for “real” pain—headaches, memory loss, difficulty learning, and injury or trauma. But they are also offered for more ineffable problems, such as mental illness.

  Young and old alike can benefit from the miraculous powers of milagros. A young mother went to a silversmith to have a special milagro made for her baby, who suffered from a tumor on the head. The milagro—accurately representing the large growth on the side of her baby’s head—was offered to Saint Francis with a prayer for a cure. Soon after, the tumor disappeared and the grateful mother continued offering head-shaped milagros for a year aft
erward in gratitude.

  If you suffer from infirmities associated with your head, such as headaches, take a moment to think about the message your head is sending you. Aspects of your life are hurting you. If you find that you rush from project to project, worry about what may lie ahead, and toss and turn at night because you can’t get the day’s problems out of your mind, then it is time to stop and give yourself a mental break.

  Use your head milagro as a way to focus on the habits in your life that make it a strain to think a thought through to the end. Think of thought as a limpid river, not as a turbulent and chaotic whirlpool that is drowning you. Avoid using stimulants to energize your thoughts, or depressants to discourage unhappy thoughts. Remember that your thoughts are your head’s way of healing itself—learn to listen to yourself thinking, and take your thoughts seriously.

  El pensamiento es el modo gué su cerebro le habla a usted.

  Thought is the way your brain talks to you.

  MIND

  PAYING ATTENTION TO our thoughts is an activity few of us take seriously. We are more likely to exert our efforts toward suppressing thoughts that come to mind—devaluing them by classifying them as worries, or, if they are pleasant, as daydreams. Placing milagros on shrines or tucking them into the hem of the garment of a favorite saint’s statue can be a way to come to terms with unbearable memories and remind yourself to lay those worrying fears to rest.

  The folk traditions of milagros, simple expressions occurring in humble sites such as yard shrines or roadside altars commonly seen in the American Southwest, can be an effective method of lifting sadness. Milagros are frequently left at Catholic churches, and sometimes petitioners will show great ingenuity in placing a milagro just where they think it needs to be.

  A sterling-silver representation of a woman’s head hangs nearly ten feet above the floor on a statue of the Virgin holding the infant Jesus at a church in Tucson, Arizona. The milagro was placed there by a grieving son for his recently departed mother. He had brought a ladder to the church in order to put the milagro in the Virgin’s hand, just where he hoped his mother’s soul sat on its way to heaven. By going to the trouble of making such a grand gesture, the young man was able to exchange comfort for his grief.

  Anguish is a burden that can be lightened.

  Our minds have capabilities that we often underestimate. When we are worried or depressed, we may be unable to see beyond our troubled mental state. Often, embarrassed by inability to wrest ourselves free from fear and anguish, we are unable to seek the help we need. We must remember that, as when the young man bore the little milagro as well as the heavier weight of his own grief up the ladder to place the silver head in the Virgin’s hand, the burden of anguish can be lightened. Let the head milagro occupy your thoughts. Use it as a reminder that your mind will tell you the truth.

  El conocimiento es mejor se convierte en sabiduria.

  Knowledge is best when it becomes wisdom.

  SPIRIT

  WE ARE RATIONAL creatures who can think our way into and out of almost any situation. But there are some occasions—and often they are forced on us—when we have no alternative but to seek spiritual assistance. Some of the faithful who offer milagros do so only after they have exhausted every other option. Making a pilgrimage, whether to a shrine or to a place of one’s own choice, can be psychologically satisfying simply because it fulfills a need to do “something.” Should all else fail, we at least have the satisfaction of knowing that we have tried everything. But keep in mind also that it is a wise person who realizes that to extend one’s self to a higher power can enlist the kind of help that comes only with faith. Offering a milagro, or focusing on one in private, can deepen your commitment to faith. And it can release your mind from the confines of thought.

  In Central America, a favorite pilgrimage site is Cartago, the original capital of Costa Rica. The patron saint of Costa Rica is Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles, and a church dedicated to her sits at the base of the Irazu volcano. A little bubbling spring inside the basilica—in a shrine to La Negrita (the Little Black Virgin)—is believed to have curative powers, and the shrine of La Negrita is bedecked with milagros, testimonials, and photographs of those healed by her powers. She is said to have cured sickness and mental derangement and to have averted disasters. Simply the hope of such divine intervention in response to a milagro offering can effect a cure.

  There are none among us who have not let our intelligence get the better of us. But when you find yourself under dire circumstances, you should not limit yourself to relying solely on your intelligence; in times of spiritual anguish, leave behind your rationality. Use your head milagro to help set your mind free. Accept that your mind can only do so much: Beyond your mind is another realm of expression that you can prepare yourself to receive.

  Use your head milagro to help set your mind free.

  CHAPTER TWO

  HEART

  HOW WE LOVE

  YOUR HEART IS sacred. It symbolizes how you love, why you love, who you love. And perhaps more than any other characteristic you have, the way that you love defines who you are.

  It is no coincidence that, of all the milagros, the heart is the image most commonly offered at shrines. Because we can feel so many levels of pain in our hearts—physical, emotional, and spiritual—supplications for help are often the most heartfelt. But these offerings aren’t usually in the shape of the valentine we in the U.S. use as a symbol of the heart—instead, traditional milagros are anatomically correct hearts, sometimes even with blood vessels coursing across the front.

  You will see these hearts, even if they are tiny representations of the kind commonly seen in Mexico, pierced by a sword, topped with a rising flame, or encircled with a crown of thorns. Valentine-shaped hearts also come pierced with a sword, usually signifying an unhappy love affair or the loss of a loved one; the image of a rising flame around the heart may be to give thanks for a renewed love or for the discovery of a soul mate.

  Si su corazón le duele, le está diciendo algo a usted.

  If your heart is aching, it is telling you something.

  BODY

  DOES YOUR HEART ache? If your answer is yes, what does this ache mean? If you suffer from ailments associated with your heart—such as heartburn or palpitations—stop and consider what your heart may be saying to you. Listen to your heart and take the message literally: Aspects of your life are causing you pain. Do you find yourself rushing around from the moment you get up in the morning until the minute you close your eyes in sleep at night? You may be grabbing a meal on the run—particularly food that isn’t nutritious—and gulping it down without thinking about the effects on your body. Perhaps you are depending on the temporary jolt of caffeine from coffee or chocolate to get you through your daily obligations. As palliatives, fast food and caffeine are merely temporary solutions to a harried lifestyle.

  A heart milagro, in addition to symbolizing your love for others, also signifies love and care toward yourself and your own heart. In Latin American countries, you might see a thankful and newly recovered patient wearing a small heart milagro affixed to his or her lapel. Such was the case of a survivor of a heart operation. His prognosis was for only seven more years of life. For those seven years, he wore a heart milagro on the left side of his jacket, over his heart. After seven years had passed and he was blessed with continued robust health, he removed the milagro and donated it to his patron saint.

  Look to your heart milagro as a reminder that it is time to quit rushing. Use it to focus. Try eating a pear on a park bench instead of resorting to a candy bar; sit still and listen to your heartbeat for five minutes rather than chug coffee. Hang the milagro where you will see it when you are prone to rush, and you’ll remember it carries a message worth slowing down for.

  Querer es lo gué su corazó hace major.

  Loving is what your heart does best.

  MIND

  LISTEN TO THE message of your heart. Taking this first step will put y
ou on the path to emotional as well as physical health. You can help yourself hear that message and begin healing by putting your worries down in writing. Still a proven way of unburdening the soul, this custom has long been associated with milagros, which often come with notes attached. Carefully composed supplications, painstakingly typed thank-yous, and inscribed photographs of loved ones suggest that the lines of communication between the earthly and the spiritual are open and in working order, with the milagros acting as catalyst.

  Sometimes you may simply need to ask for help, like the woman who attached a heartfelt plea of a silver kneeling-woman milagro at a statue of Saint Francis. “Please give me the strength and courage just to keep on going,” it read. It is likely that the act of leaving a note on the statue lifted the supplicant’s spirits. Sharing our troubles in such a way nearly always lessens the burden of them.