Amanda Rivkin

Mexico City Faith Healer

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO. Alicia Barrera Rosales, 32, awaits a ritual bath in the courtyard of Margarita Velasco Ortega's house on June 23, 2008. Barrera Rosales visited Velasco Ortega's stall at the Mercado de Sonora four days before seeking help with her romantic and financial future.
  
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO. Yoruba faith healer Margarita Velasco Ortega tears up spices for a ritual bath with the help of her son-in-law and the woman at the center of the ceremony, Alicia Barrera Rosales, 32, at Velasco Ortega's house in the Agricola Oriente section of Mexico City on June 23, 2008.
   
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO. Yoruba faith healer Margarita Velasco Ortega prepares traditional Afro-Caribbean remedies in her kitchen in the Agricola Oriente section of Mexico City on June 23, 2008.
     
  
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO. Yoruba faith healer Margarita Velasco Ortega assists Alicia Barrera Rosales, 32, in a ritual bath and bucket shower as part of a ceremony in the Afro-Caribbean faith on June 23, 2008.
   
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO. Yoruba faith healer Margarita Velasco Ortega is rubbed with a pigeon as part of a ceremony in her courtyard on June 23, 2008. After all members of the ceremony are rubbed in pigeons, the pigeons head is cut off and then covered in honey.
   
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO. Yoruba faith healer Margarita Velasco Ortega listens to Alicia Barrera Rosales' reply to whether or not she felt she had lost her head during a consultation at the Mercado de Sonora, a market specializing in articles and healers of the Afro-Caribbean faith, near Merced on June 19, 2008.
     
  
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO. Yoruba faith healer Margarita Velasco Ortega touches Alicia Barrera Rosales' finger during a consultation at the Mercado de Sonora, a market specializing in articles and healers of the Afro-Caribbean faith, near Merced on June 19, 2008.
   
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO. Alicia Barrera Rosales, 32, sits with cotton and coconut on her face, throat, arms and legs in the private chapel in Yoruba faith healer Margarita Velasco Ortega's home in the Agricola Oriente section of Mexico City on June 23, 2008.
   
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO. Yoruba faith healer Margarita Velasco Ortega assists Alicia Barrera Rosales, 32, in a ritual bath and bucket shower as part of a ceremony in the Afro-Caribbean faith on June 23, 2008.
     
  
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO. Alicia Barrera Rosales, 32, in the private chapel in Yoruba faith healer Margarita Velasco Ortega's home in the Agricola Oriente section of Mexico City on June 23, 2008.
   
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO. Alicia Barrera Rosales, 32, sits in the private chapel in Yoruba faith healer Margarita Velasco Ortega's home in the Agricola Oriente section of Mexico City on June 23, 2008.