This paper evaluates the religious aspects of traditional Mexican medicine, with a specific focus on the perspective of modern curanderas – female folk healers – living in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico. It explores how they perceive susto and espanto, and how community norms shape health--related matters. Their ideas serve as reference points for analysis of overall experiences as female folk healers. Moreover, the medical aspect of their work, interwoven with religious pluralism establishes curanderismo as a religious medicine. The interpretative framework draws from Arthur Kleinman’s healthcare systems theory, emphasising culture’s influence on illness perception. This analysis stresses the role of spiritually dangerous ailments, regulated by both belief-oriented and laic norms, in upholding social order. Furthermore, the deeply rooted religious aspects of curanderismo, nature integrate nature into its healing practice.

In 1955, the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office condemned Bolesław Piasecki’s collection of articles entitled Zagadnienia istotne (Essential Issues), published a year earlier, as well as the weekly “Dziś i Jutro” (“Today and Tommorow”), which had been published in Warsaw since 1945. In this way, the Holy See left no illusions about the lack of ecclesiastical legitimacy for the discourse of circles which defined themselves at the time as “socially progressive Catholics” and which supported the communist transformation of the country. In writing and publishing Zagadnienia istotne, Piasecki was carrying out a complex intellectual and semiotic operation. One of its aims was to systemically justify the shape of this specific discourse, which promoted a space for the co-occurrence of two axiologies: Marxist-Leninist and Catholic. In the preface to the book, Piasecki attempted to reconcile contradictions contained in the two worldviews and to eliminate the paradoxes that arose as a result. An analysis of the evaluations drawn up by the clergymen entrusted by the Holy Office to write an opinion prior to the issuing of the decree makes it possible to reconstruct the manner in which Piasecki’s text was read from a dogmatic perspective. It also allows us to trace the arguments and techniques by which the authors of the reviews upheld the worldview modified by the author of the book.

The article explores the transformations in the image of the most popular Mexican folk saint, Santa Muerte (Saint Death). Based on photographic documentation and in-depth interviews conducted during field research in Mexico in 2022 and 2023, an analysis of iconographic changes has been carried out, particularly evident in the case of Santa Muerte figurines. By examining the most widespread variants of figurines available in devotional and esoteric product shops, one can observe the influence of Afro-Caribbean beliefs, pre-Columbian heritage, medieval and baroque aesthetics, as well as local folklore and popular culture, which directly shape the iconographic sphere of Santa Muerte’s cult. Examples include the color palette and manner of decorating the figurines, the saint’s attributes, and offerings. The article illustrates how current iconographic transformations reflect changes in beliefs, rituals, and perceptions of Santa Muerte both among her followers and those outside this community.