THE MUSHROOM DOCTOR by Camila Martinez Doña Julieta's mother Regina was said to be the curandera (traditional native doctor) who taught the legendary Maria Sabina of Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca, Mexico. Deeper into the mountains far from the village of Huautla, lived Doña Julieta's family. It is into this hidden Mazatec world Camila is adopted. She shares stories of her traveling in and out of this magical realm over twenty years as an adventurous young woman studying ethnobotany and developing her apprenticeship with the heiress and daughter of Maria Sabina's initiatrix, Doña Julieta and land of the female village curanderas, their sacred mushroom tradition becoming known, shifting into the future and greater global culture. Camila is a conduit of the knowledge and spirit of this traditional native medicine and bridges realms as the trail requires. As the only American female apprentice of Doña Julieta, she is uniquely able to give us a special view. Come meet an extraordinary woman as we are welcomed to sit by her kitchen fire. Be amazed and delighted. Leila Castle, author, Earth Walking Sky Dancers
About the Author: Camila Martinez, M.A. is a curandera, yogini, filmmaker, photographer, author, poet, radio producer, eco-warrior, seed mother, translator, and sustainability consultant. She is an inter- national speaker, teacher and consultant. Apprenticing under Doña Julieta in the Sierra Mazateca, Oaxaca, Mexico for twenty years, she learned the healing ways of the sacred mushrooms for which this region is renowned. She is also the first western woman to receive a graduate degree in Ayurveda and Tibetan Medicine. A holder of several lineages, she has been adopted into numerous tribes. She is the founder of The Institute of Traditional Native Medicine in northern California, USA. Her work has been dedicated for the benefit of indigenous people and women. For the past fifteen years she has worked intensively as the director of The Maya Seed Ark Project with the Maya in three countries on sustainability and food security, emphasizing emergency seed banks. She produced two films on GMOs and seed saving in Spanish and two Mayan dialects: Alarma! No a los Transgenicos, and Las Enseñanzas de las Madres de las Semillas, and the English language film The Seed Mother's Transmissions. Practitioner of The Gift Economy, she devotes her efforts to the raising of consciousness and healing on our planet.