Our Curanderismo Practice
3rd generation faith healer
Don Pedrito Jaramillo was a healer from Los Olmos, a ranch near the town of Falfurrias, Texas. As a Curandero (Mexican faith Healer), he used herbs, mud, water and spiritual prayer to heal his followers. When our grandmother was young, she was quite ill and her mother took her to visit with Don Pedrito. I can still recall our grandmother Angelita telling us the story that he healed her with spiritual prayers and water. My grandmother’s experience and interaction with Don Pedrito, I believe, was the beginning of the practice of curanderismo (Mexican faith healing) and spiritual prayers and healings in our family. She was touched by a famous curandero from south Texas and wanted to pursue the practice and the tradition of Curanderismo. This practice was passed to my Mother Lucia, also a well known and special healer in the Corpus Christi, Texas community. Now I have the privilege to continue this spiritual healing practice with my husband Doron by my side.
A Curandero or curandera can be a specialist in traditional herbal medicine or can administer and provide mental, emotional and spiritual support. They can be sobadores (massagers), parteras (midwifes) and perform spiritual prayer work and candle work. These are traditional healers in the Latino communities and their customs, traditions and rituals are passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth.
Growing up in a yerberia (herb shop), my grandmother and mother whispered ancient recetas (rituals) in my ear and confided to our customers their Curandero wisdom. While my grandmother, my mother & customers exchanged and shared their favorite oraciones (prayers) for protection & money, while they discussed which saumerio espiritual (herbal incense) could banish evil spirits, what powerful relic or medallion to place inside the specially prepared reliquia (charm bag) for legal problems, love problems, too much envidia (envy) and different herbs and herbal waters they recommended for banos espirituales (herbal baths) &limpias espirituales (herbal cleansings), I felt invigorated and protected by so much ancient wisdom.
Many Latino families have the Tio/Tia that has knowledge of herbs, the abuela or abuelo that knows which saint helps you with a certain situation and the techniques are unique and different, but we all exchange and share our faith with each other on a daily basis at our shop. And just as my Mom and my Abuelita loved and honored our customers and our traditions, my husband and I continue our prayer work, our cleansings and candle work and spiritual healings with the same passion and devotion as our ancestors. The beautiful and vibrant legacy grows and evolves each year, and in my family for 80 years now.
My Abuela Angelita and my beautiful Madre Lucia (who is still alive and 90 years old) devoted themselves to Mexican herbal medicine and they shared many antique recipes with me. So my husband and I continue to share this invaluable information with our customers. I have always been amazed that our obsession and immersion as a Latino people with herbs stems back 12,000 years with our ancestors, the Olmecs, the Mayan, the Aztec, the Incas, all people of immense herbal knowledge.
The mystical world of Curanderismo is a magical world of prayer work with saints and angels, candle altars sprinkled with blessing oils, herbs and crystals & fragrant incenses to honor and cleanse our petitions and our ancestors. As Faith Healers, here at the Tex-Mex Curios, we provide guidance on traditional herbal medicine for various ailments as well listen to each individual customer who shares their most intimate problems and places their trust in our hands.
We feel humbled and blessed to serve, support and comfort you in this journey where you are the most important persona and moving forward we hope to have you be a part of our legacy and be your Curandero Connection.
Sincerely,
Doron and Ana, Spiritual Faith Healers at the Tex-Mex Curios, since 1944.
TEX-MEX Curios Inc. Herbal Remedies Candles & Spiritual Products.
3rd generation faith healers
We are 3rd generation faith healers and we continue the practice of folk healing at our store. As herbalist we provide consultation on the use of herbal medicine for a variety of health issues.As spiritual healers, we combine our healing energies and do our best to help our customers focus on positive solutions for their journey in life.
We are grateful every day for the privilege of continuing the traditions passed down by my grandparents and my mother Lucia and look forward for you to become part of the curandero connection famila.
For information on our “Trabajos or Job” view our Trabajos Services.
3rd generation faith healer
This is my husband Doran Avaknin, who was born and raised in Israel. He performs spiritual cleansing at our store for protection from evil, money problems, peace in the home, difficult court cases, love and health issues or whatever problem the customer needs to address.
He has a loyal following and has performed hundreds of spiritual cleansings in our community . His practice as a faith healer combines his healing energy from the holy land with traditional curanderismo practices. He is truly gifted, a calm mentally strong man with a big heart, I could not see my world without him. In a private setting he will pray over you in Hebrew and lift the negative energy and mental burden.
He will consult with you and provide you with spiritual options so you can focus on positive solutions.
View our Cleansing Services section for more information. (link to the cleansing section)
2nd Generation Owner
Lucia Chapa: My beautiful mother is a 2nd generation herbalist that continued operations of the store when my grandmother passed away. She continued the practice of curanderismo and expanded the line of herbs and spiritual products.
She also expanded our line of candles, spiritual oils, incense, holy waters, prayer books, charms and Mexican curio. She created her own line of spiritual incense and charms which sell to this day. Over the years, my Mother has helped thousands of people heal with natural medicine. Just like my Grandmother, she has a loyal following for both spiritual and natural healing consultation.
She is well known in the community and at 90 she continues to work at the store and consult with customers.
Here is a picture of my grandfather Alfonso Orea and my grandmother Angelita Garza Orea inside our store. Growing up in the Corpus Christi community, my grandmother discovered that there was a demand for products and services particular to the Latino traditions.
She felt at the time that there was not a place where Latinos to go to find a connection to their roots. With this idea in mind, my grandparents opened Tex-Mex Curios in 1944 to offer curanderismo services and sell goods from Mexico. She studied extensively the benefits of healing with plants and became a well known herbalist in the community. Because of the knowledge that she passed down to the second and third generation, our business developed a personal line of herbal medicine, known as TMC herbs.
View our herbal remedies section for information on our Natural TMC remedies recommended for various health conditions.
My grandparents also introduced spiritual products such as candles, spiritual waters, incense oils, spiritual charms to assist the customers with hope, faith and healing. As a child I still have memories of my grandmothers devoted customers coming to our store opening their hearts to her as she quietly listened and recommended guidance for their specific problems. My grandparents had vision and we have been in business in the same location for almost 80 years.
Here is a picture of our store today. The customs and practices of curanderismo have continued to evolve over time, however the practice of folk healing remains constant.
Additional products that have become popular with our customers are crystals, evil eye products sage, palo santo. We developed our own line of spiritual candles with modern prayers that are more relatable to keep up with the times. We offer products on Etsy, Ebay and now Amazon. This world moves fast and we will continue to offer our customers the latest curandero products.