“Medicina mapuche y sabiduría ancestral en Sueño con menguante de Sonia Montecino”

In the Mapuche worldview, health is considered holistically, and healing is both physical and spiritual. In order to heal, one must access the power of plants and nature. The elements of nature are not considered mere natural resources, but rather true capsules of coded information. The intermediary between the world of plants and healing is the machi, a woman who is a shaman and healer with special sensitivity and talent. The work Sueño con menguante. Biografía de una machi (1999) by Sonia Montecino Aguirre, which recounts the life of the Machi Carmela Romero Antivil, has been selected as a case study to illustrate the significance of possessing this gift in traditional Mapuche culture.