I wrote about this experience a long time ago but it was lost in some technical difficulties I had on the blog last year. But I just thought of it and really wanted to rewrite and share it again. There are no photos of the actual medicine man and surrounding area, it just didn’t feel appropriate to whip out a camera.
A couple years ago we were driving around in some back country in Westmoreland, on our way to Darliston. Our driver lived in the area and was familiar with it and asked if we’d like to see a Jamaican medicine man…of course the answer was YES! So he detoured off the main road and up a narrow road to the top of a hill where we saw a house and probably 40 people just sitting around in the yard. It was kind of eerie when we got out the car because it was dead silent.
Our driver told us that the way it works is that you sit in the yard with all the other people and the medicine man comes out on his stoop and just hand picks each person. There is no line-up because he picks who ever he wants. We were also told that many people here would wait all day and never get chosen, which means you had to go home and come back another day to try again.
My friend and I sat there for about two hours enduring stares and whispers going on around us. I can imagine they were wondering why on earth two white girls were here and how we even found the place. It was a hot day and thankfully a random guy showed up selling ice cream out of a cooler on the back of his bike so we indulged.
The silence up here was deafening, I guess it was proper to wait in silence. We saw several people be chosen for their turn so I decided to ask our driver what exactly happens when you are chosen? He said that you go up to the porch of the house where the medicine man is and you just sit down next to him. You don’t ask questions, he just proceeds to talk to you and tell you what’s on his mind about you. There is “no charge” for the session however it’s customary to leave a donation or whatever you can pay.
We never did get chosen as the sun started to set and I was definitely disappointed because I would have loved to experience this, even though I am Christian and this definitely doesn’t fall under that category. People started leaving the yard as dusk fell so we assumed the selection process was over for the day.
It was a once in a lifetime experience just being in that yard, it’s hard to describe the overall mood and feeling up there. Kind of creepy but sort of sacred at the same time.
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