Secrets of the Talking Jaguar: Memoirs from the Living Heart of a Mayan Village [Paperback]

Twenty-five years ago, a young musician and painter namedMartin Prechtelwandered through the brilliant landscapes of Mexico and Guatemala. Arriving at Santiago Atitlan, a Tzutujil Mayan village on the breathtaking shores of Lake Atitlan,Prechtelmet Nicolas Chiviliu Tacaxoy--perhaps the most famous shaman in Tzutujil history--who believedPrechtelwas the new student he had asked the gods to provide. For the next thirteen years,Prechtelstudied the ancient Tzutujil culture and became a village chief and a famous shaman in his own right.InSecrets of the Talking Jaguar,Prechtelbrings to vivid life the sights, sounds, scents, and colors of Santiago Atitlan: its magical personalities, its beauty, its material poverty and spiritual richness, its eight-hundred-year-old rituals juxtaposed with quintessential small-town gossip. The story of his education is a tale filled with enchantment, danger, passion, and hope.Martín Prechtel is a spiritual activist and the author of The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praiseand The Unlikely Peace at Cuchumaquic. Prechtel is a prominent thinker, writer and educator of Indigenous history, language and soulfulness. He teaches at his international school, Bolad’s Kitchen in his native New Mexico.US