Listen, Mija: Ep. 6 - Book Recommendations
- Jen Lezan
- Jul 25
- 3 min read
In our recent episode we explored the many facets of the Latinx spirutal journey. You can listen to the whole episode here! Below you will find a round up of book suggestions we mentioned in the episode!
🔮 1. _“Brujas: The Magic and Power of Witches of Color” by Lorraine Monteagut
Why it’s essential:
A deeply personal and political exploration of how BIPOC witches—especially Latinx millennials—are reclaiming ancestral practices. Includes interviews, rituals, and guidance on integrating spirituality into daily life.
🌿 2. _“Curanderismo: Soul Retrieval” by Erika Buenaflor
Why it’s essential:
Erika Buenaflor, a practicing curandera with Indigenous roots, shares ancient Mesoamerican healing traditions, including soul retrieval techniques, ritual baths, and plant medicine.
🔥 3. _“Witchery: Embrace the Witch Within” by Juliet Diaz
Why it’s essential:
Juliet Diaz, a Cuban-Puerto Rican bruja and healer, writes about spiritual awakening, working with ancestors, and decolonizing your spiritual path. It’s accessible, empowering, and rooted in personal storytelling.
🧿 4. _“The Mexican-American Experience in Texas: Spirituality, Healing, and Community” by Martha P. Cotera (Contributor)
Why it’s essential:
This book dives into how curanderismo and Indigenous healing have survived colonization and adapted within Mexican-American communities, especially in Texas.
🕯️ 5. _“American Brujeria: Modern Mexican-American Folk Magic” by J. Allen Cross
Why it’s essential:
Though the author is not Latinx, this book offers respectful insights into the Mexican-American magical tradition, including folk saints like La Santa Muerte, protection spells, and traditional Catholic syncretism.
✨ 6. _“You Are the Medicine: 13 Moons of Indigenous Wisdom, Ancestral Connection, and Animal Spirit Guidance” by Asha Frost
Why it’s essential:
While not specifically Latinx, this book offers decolonized spiritual wisdom from an Indigenous perspective that resonates with many Latinx brujxs reclaiming earth-based practices.
Additional book suggestions!
Woman Who Glows in the Dark - Elina Avila : Elena Avila, a trained psychiatric nurse and curandera, shares her personal journey of healing as a Mexican-American woman straddling two worlds: Western medicine and traditional Mesoamerican spiritual practices. Blending storytelling, case studies, and Indigenous wisdom, she reveals how curanderismo—a holistic system of healing that addresses the physical, emotional, and spiritual—can transform trauma, grief, and disconnection.
Mexican Sorcery: A Practical Guide to Brujeria de Rancho - Laura Davila: This is a practical and deeply rooted manual on Brujería de Rancho—a rural Mexican form of folk magic and spiritual healing. Laura Dávila, a practicing bruja and yerbera, shares the teachings passed down from her grandmother and community elders. It includes rituals, recipes, herbal wisdom, and protection spells based on ancestral Mexican cosmologies.
My Broken Language - Quiara Alegria Hudes: Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes (co-writer of In the Heights) tells her powerful coming-of-age story as a queer Boricua growing up in a spiritual, matriarchal family in 1980s-90s Philadelphia. Navigating poverty, language barriers, Catholic guilt, and generational silence, Hudes explores what it means to inherit a rich but fractured cultural identity.
Cleansing Rites of Curanderismo - Erika Buenaflor: Erika Buenaflor, a modern-day curandera with academic and Indigenous training, offers a comprehensive guide to limpias—spiritual cleansings used by Mesoamerican shamans to heal the soul, remove energetic blockages, and restore balance. Drawing from ancient Nahua and Maya traditions, she outlines how these rites work on an energetic and emotional level.
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