A Visit to Papa Jim's Botanica

Botanicas, for those unfamiliar with the term, refers broadly speaking to retail stores that sell a variety of items and services, often related to Latin American folk magic and alternative medicine. San Antonio have several, most of them located in the southern, mostly Mexican, part of the city. The largest one in San Antonio is Papa Jim's Botanica. Visiting Papa Jim's is a bit of a strange experience. You get the feeling that you are in a esoteric supermarket with rows of incense, candles, statues, oils and anything else you might need. In contrast to many other botanicas most of the items and services are provided in English. This is probably not mainly to court the non-hispanic people who visit the store, but because a rapidly growing section of Mexicans in San Antonio no longer speak Spanish.

In the sale section some things stand out. The most obvious being the enormous popularity of Santa Muerte, a personification of death who can help her devotees with a variety of requests. 

Santa Muerte is a Mexican folk saint, who by various people will be described as an angel, saint or even a goddess (the later based on a probably erroneous identification of her with the Aztec goddess of the underworld Mictecacihuatl). The cult around her have grown rapidly in the last decade in both Mexico and in the United States. 

The saint is highly controversial due to her popularity among drug cartels and people connected to it. Still most people who consider themselves her devotes are ordinary people, mainly poor urban workers and people regarded as social outcasts in various forms. Today her cult is starting to spread outside these groups and there is also a growing interest in her outside Mexican communities. There is, as we can see here also a large commerce around her.

The other notable thing is the syncretism, the items sold come from a variety of traditions one would expect to find like Santeria, Bruja, Curandero and Catholicism, but there is also items and books related to Wicca, Satanism, New Age and Western Esotericism. For example, one of the most popular items at the store is The Witches Calender by Llwellyn. In contrast to what one will find in most Western Magical traditions the focus is very practical. The main question is if it works, not spiritual development or a re-enchantment of the world. Neither are there any moral concerns as to what you need the items for. You want to get your boyfriend back or ruin his life, get more money or make the law stay away, regardless, there is something here to help.

Papa Jim's is a good place to start if one happens to be in San Antonio and want to start exploring the world of Mexican folk magic. The people who work there are friendly and very helpful and most of the items very cheap. There is also a large variety of items to chose from. For academics like myself the place is almost like a smorgosbord when looking for examples of cultural syncretism and the problematic division of the sacred and the profane. 

And if when you have finished visiting Papa Jim's Botanica feel to buy a pet-fish on the way home, right next to the botanica is Papa Jim's Tropical Fish.