![]() I felt comforted and accepted for who I was. ![]() When I learned about queer brujas like Anzaldúa, I saw myself in them. I’d identified as bisexual and queer since I was 13, and I became a burlesque dancer in college a lot of people find it awkward to talk about sex, but I always felt comfortable expressing my sexuality. I knew why I was so different and why I felt slightly deviant because of my sexuality and sexual power. I finally knew why I had so many visions, why I could speak to spirits, and why I had attracted so many good things into my life-like a scholarship and getting a job immediately after graduation-via my natural magic. ![]() She was also the first to introduce me to Nahuatl and to the deities of ancient Mexico. While to a non-bruja, all this may seem like fantasy, to me, it made as much sense as math. Anzaldúa was the first to introduce me to the spirit world: In her book Borderlands, she reveals how she can see into other worlds, describing psychic powers and animal shape-shifting. The moment I discovered the concept of being a bruja, my entire life made sense. My favorite feminist writers, like Gloria Anzaldúa and Erika Buenaflor, all identified as brujas. I dived deep into research about Chicano history. I’d decided to leave Catholicism when I was a freshman I decided to learn more about brujería, and it became a source of healing. I was affected by the pressure of elite university culture. I was severely depressed, I had been the victim of sexual assault, and I was addicted to alcohol. At the time, I had no idea this was my mediumship powers showing themselves to me-I thought everyone could see spirits.īut it wasn’t until I was in college that I fully stepped into my power. My most vivid spiritual apparition happened when, as a child, I saw La Virgen de Guadalupe appear in a hospital above my friend’s bed when he was in a coma. Like many others, I had to find my bruja power myself.īut still, my supernatural abilities showed up early in my life. I grew up with American and Mexican culture and learned English and Spanish at the same time, but my mother decided to devote herself to the Catholic church instead of continuing ancestral traditions, and I had no way to access our family’s brujería. Although I was born into a mystical family, I moved to the United States at the age of 4. I was lucky to spend my early days growing up in this environment, but my great-grandmother passed away when I was only 2, so she didn’t get a chance to teach me. The second installment in Garza’s exciting new Monster Fighter Mystery series, this bilingual book for intermediate readers also contains the author’s dramatic black and white illustrations.Like many others, I had to find my bruja power myself. Once again enlisting the aid of his cousins Michelle and Bobby, monster fighter extraordinaire Vincent Ventura is determined to get to the bottom of the puzzle surrounding his unusual new friend. When she tells him they are from a city in Mexico known as the witchcraft capital of the world, Vincent is even more convinced there are witch owls roosting in nearby trees! He also notices she has the unusual habit of turning her entire head to look at things, just like owls do. That week in art class, Vincent meets his mysterious new neighbor, Zulema Ortiz. And when the three owls land on the ground as women dressed in black, he knows there’s another monster mystery to solve! Is it … a blanket? But when it spreads its wings, he realizes it’s an enormous white owl! Two more land in the tree. Suddenly, Vincent notices something white in the tree in front of the house. Oddly, they don’t turn on any lights and the house remains pitch black, as if no one were home. Before closing the front door, the man scans the sky as if he’s looking for something. He looks out and sees a man and a girl about his age rush into the rent house at 666 Duende Street. Vincent Ventura wakes up one night to the sound of screeching tires outside his bedroom window.
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