Secrets of the Talking Jaguar: Memoirs from the Living Heart of a Mayan Village

by Martin Prechtel

Book Overview

Twenty-five years ago, a young musician and painter named Martin Prechtel wandered through the brilliant landscapes of Mexico and Guatemala. Arriving at Santiago Atitlan, a Tzutujil Mayan village on the breathtaking shores of Lake Atitlan, Prechtel met Nicolas Chiviliu Tacaxoy--perhaps the most famous shaman in Tzutujil history--who believed Prechtel was the new student he had asked the gods to provide. For the next thirteen years, Prechtel studied...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0874779707
• ISBN13: 9780874779707
• Release Date: August 1999
• Publisher: Tarcherperigee
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.2" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Enlightening,Entertaining and Wonderous Journey

This review refers to "Secrets of the Talking Jaguar" by Martin Pretchel... This book is a rare treat. It's a look at the Mayan culture as never revealed before and is told in a way that will keep you involved and entertained as you become enlightened by Martin Pretchel's remarkable story. It's an incredible journey, one you may not want to end. Pretchel's own journeys of travel and self-discovery are the basis for the first part of the story. He'll keep you smiling(and maybe even chuckling out loud sometimes) with his wonderful sense of humor, as he describes his wanderings and the fantastick encounters along the way. He is down on his luck when out of the blue he is "found" by an old Shaman who tells him it's about time he arrived. The Shaman takes him to a remote Guatamalan village, that is not yet ravaged by modern civilazation. It becomes the home he has been searching for, the people he felt he belonged to, and while training to be the next Shaman of the village, learns the wonders of a deeply rich and rewarding life. The ways of the villagers may seem primitave, but everything they do and believe in has great meaning,and is never self-serving. Their sense of the earth and everything connected with nature is incredibly intuitive and complex. Pretchel's, vivid descriptions of the ceremonies, the costumes, the land and even the food will bring wonderful pictures of this world to your mind.The detalied description of his training to become a Shaman are amazing and adventurous. This book was a wonderful journey to the "heart of the indigenous soul". It's a precious history of an important culture, that had to give way to the modern world. I could hardly put it down and wanted to start it over the minute I finished it. Pretchel's written account is an invaluable history lesson and a lovely tribute to all indigenous souls! enjoy...Laurie

Enlightening and Entertaining

This review refers to "Secrets of the Talking Jaguar" by Martin Pretchel... This book is a rare treat. It's a look at the Mayan culture as never revealed before and is told in a way that will keep you involved and entertained as you become enlightened by Martin Pretchel's remarkable story. It's an incredible journey, one you may not want to end. Pretchel's own journeys of travel and self-discovery are the basis for the first part of the story. He'll keep you smiling(and maybe even chuckling out loud sometimes) with his wonderful sense of humor, as he describes his wanderings and the fantastick encounters along the way. He is down on his luck when out of the blue he is "found" by an old Shaman who tells him it's about time he arrived. The Shaman takes him to a remote Guatamalan village, that is not yet ravaged by modern civilazation. It becomes the home he has been searching for, the people he felt he belonged to, and while training to be the next Shaman of the village, learns the wonders of a deeply rich and rewarding life. The ways of the villagers may seem primitave, but everything they do and believe in has great meaning,and is never self-serving. Their sense of the earth and everything connected with nature is incredibly intuitive and complex. Pretchel's, vivid descriptions of the ceremonies, the costumes, the land and even the food will bring wonderful pictures of this world to your mind.The detalied description of his training to become a Shaman are amazing and adventurous. This book was a wonderful journey to the "heart of the indigenous soul". It's a precious history of an important culture, that had to give way to the modern world. I could hardly put it down and wanted to start it over the minute I finished it. Pretchel's written account is an invaluable history lesson and a lovely tribute to all indigenous souls! enjoy...Laurie

A Classic Novel: A Journey to the Navel of the Earth

Let me begin with: WOW, what a book. Prechtel and Bly's collaboration on this wonderful insight into the soul of the Mayan people is so much more useful than an anthropological study of the Maya. Prechtel's perspective is that of an insider and reading this book is like reading primary source material. I doubt there is a comparable work available (at least not among the books and articles I have read). From Prechtel's mentor Chiv to his vivid descriptions of Mayan folklore, there is a thread binding the observations in this book that made the reading of it a real and emotional experience. I lived in Guatemala for 2 years as a child and for me reading this book was also a reminder of myself. Far from a dry, rigid, academic piece, The Secrets of the Talking Jaguar is for everyone with an interest in Guatemala, the Maya, justice and spirituality. Thank you Martin Prechtel.

a wonderfully written work

I'm astonished that this book is not better known. Perhaps it's 'cause the title makes it sound like yet another addition to the awful genre of new-age pop shamanism garbage. But nothing could be further from the case! This is easily the finest work written on Meso-American shamanic practice -- and surely the most significant work on the topic since Mr. Castaneda's earliest books. But The Talking Jaguar is a thousand times more grounded, detailed and genuine than Castaneda's problematic work, since it is written from a position deeply embedded within the particular tradition that it is translating for us. Perhaps most remarkable is the luminous eloquence of Prechtel's language -- the book is written in a style that carries something of the flavor of the indigenous oral tradition, a style worthy of the reverence accorded by most oral peoples to the beauty of living language. That so many experiences and insights rooted in indigenous, participatory, oral modes of awareness managed to be translated onto the written page, without losing their ancestral wildness, is something of a wonder. It's a landmark text, a kind of talisman filled with clues for those working on behalf of the wild, more-than-human earth. Don't miss it.

READ THIS BOOK...REGARDLESS OF SKIN COLOR

A previous reviewer called this "a rip-off of Indian culture" after seeing the author in person at a book signing and later "researching" his background. . . . . Please, do not judge a book by its cover or a shaman by his skin. At least read the book's intro by Robert Bly and what he says about "Secrets of the Talking Jaguar."SHAMANS: "The Mayans call shamans "spirit-lawyers," that is, men or women who go to the spirits and try to argue them into giving a benefit of some sort to human beings. Mayan tradition does not teach that the Gods want people to be sinless or perfect, but to believe that the Gods love beauty, eloquence, fine clothes, great music, fine poems, bravery, high animal spirits, and gratitude." TONGUES LIKE PUPPIES: "At conferences I've seen men and women weep when Martin Prechtel talks of the complex and rich village life of the Maya. The listeners realize how much more open their lives in youth would have been if their beauty had been honored as the young ones are honored in Santiago Atitlan, and if they'd had a chance to be kissed by the invisible faces "'with tongues like puppies.'" They also weep when they realize how men and women, though they speak separate languages, can fly together like the two wings of a bird."INDIGENOUS SOUL " . . . If we can be quiet, this book will be a bucket that drops down toward the water of our indigenous soul. All the words that Martin writes here amount to a meditation on this soul as a natural force. Whether we are Swiss or Mayan or American, the indigenous soul, threatened all over the globe, still lives inside each of us. We can rejoice in its abundance, its ingenuity, its determination not only to exist but also to continue giving its gifts, if we will turn and meet it."Bly says it all. You will experience a "Journey to the Heart of the Indigenous Soul" no matter what your ethnic background or skin color. The indigenous soul is within all of us. Read this book and decide for yourself. -- Bill Arena