AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE SACRED SUN :

In memoriam of Abuelo Domingo Choc Che

In this delicate historical moment in which we are still paying

the lockdown effects deriving from Covid 19, it seems that for
many the attitude of fear towards the others has drastically
heightened allowing their conflicts to emerge and eventually
ending up in violence.
On June 6, this time in Guatemala, Father Abuelo Domingo Choc Che,
was tortured for ten hours and burned alive in San Luis Peten on
charges of witchcraft, after a life of study, at the age of 56.
The video of his execution went viral on the web.
As we are about to approach the Summer Solstice, the major feast
of light, I wish that the light of the stake of Tata Domingo may
be transmuted into the light of a sun, he may be remembered in
the prayers and invocations of those who follow a path analogous
to his.
That the teaching of this horror may lead to a step forward to the
education of the masses who still demonize the figure of the
witch.

He was a spiritual leader and member of the Mayan Council

"Releb'aal Saq'e", engaged in ethnobotanical work, environmental
and cultural preservation of Q'Eqchi people.

His specialty in Mayan science was “Aj’ilonel"(healing) and

"Ajq'ij”.
One of the tasks of an "Aj q'ij" is to count the 260 days of the
Mayan calendar using red coral beads and perform protective
rituals against the dangers of violence and war.
Mayan culture is also a holistic culture: the knowledge and use of
medicinal plants, prayers and healing ceremonies are intrinsically
linked to each other in a work of communion with the elemental and
ancestral forces.

Spirit loss says the Aj ilonel is incurable by western medicine

(“Maya resurgence in Guatemala”).

A growing number of persons are gradually realizing the need for

an inclusive approach in healing that contemplates the multiple
stratifications we are made of.

Without entering too much onto the various scientific disciplines,

their effectiveness or rather their abuse, holistic arts remain
preventive, as it is true there are diseases that cannot be cured
with medicine.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to believe that the murder of

Domingo happened free from personal interests. The real monster,
the real virus is man with his burden of ignorance, fear,
insecurity and thirst for power.
What does it mean to be a witch nowadays?
Why is there still so much fragmentation between the masses and
the practitioners themselves?

How much do the dynamics of control and power really weight into a
group
(How much do they affects also the esoteric circles)?

In 2020, it is simply unacceptable to burn someone on charges of

witchcraft and yet the past lives on in the present, because the
hatred produced by ignorance is an actual danger: ignorance is
true black magic.

Especially in less developed societies, as it can be in Asia (or

even in remote areas of the West) where the genuine indigenous
cultures still survive,

the dualism inherited from the expansion of Christianity (after

the various dominations)made most of them, not only losing their
own cultural roots but condemning also any separate practice from
God worship, such as ancestral Mayan spirituality in this case.

The low level of education, and not only in rural areas, causes
the population to act without any conscience or measures. This
obviously leads to the fear, deeply rooted in every culture of
diversity and the unknown.

As I have been able to see both the term "witch" and the current
identity of the contemporary witches, do not match at all: in the
Philippines, for example "the witch" is a mixture of folklore and
criminal activities; the aim of a witch is to “curse to death” the
loved ones.
I know of cases of people who claim that one or more members of
their family died because of a curse.

Where the laws are lacking or when the laws are too strict,
undertaking a violent act, such as a public execution "burning in
the plaza so everyone can see" would be entirely plausible even in
2020 unfortunately.

How much power give these communities to certain figures? (the

priest, the politician, the doctor, etc.)
When, someone's influence becomes a threat to others?

Also in Guatemala, according to one of the killers, father Domingo

was the responsible of the death of a member of his family.

Religious fanaticism triggers strong racism, It seems not to be

the first time that a Mayan leader has been the target of the
majorities of evangelical groups co-existing in the same
territory.
It still remains a matter of control and power as testified by "La
violencia" a ferocious civil war aimed at the repression of the
Indigenous majority underway from 1978 to 1985, among the most
recent phenomena...