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The Upright Province: A warlock society in southern Chile

Speaking about Chiloé is to speak of a place where people still live in “that time,” where one hears not only nature but also the silence, at times ominous... And when we sink into sleep and vivid lucid dreams transport us, morning will reveal that those were glimpses into the cave. Are these pages a glimpseof the Great House? Does Sergio own the Alchemy Key that will open its doors to us?It is interesting to read British naturalist Charles Darwin’s accounts of his experiences in Chiloé (1833-1835). In them, he describes the pro-Hispanic character of the Chilotes—though they were ethnically mixed and indigenous—and notes their complaints about Chilean authorities. Here I quote: “And it is only because we are poor Indians and know nothing, but it was not so when we had a King.” Also, Darwin alludes to the island's religiousness: “...and they are all Christians.... They however to this day hold superstitious communication in caves with the devil; the particulars of the ceremony are not known...” Chiloé was first converted by the Franciscans and later by Jesuits, who left behind an astonishing number of churches as their legacy on the island. Why so many? One might wonder. It is worth remembering that the Christian Church often establishes itself by overpowering and replacing local religious cults at their own ceremonial sites... The witchcraft of the Upright Province is suggestively presented as a hidden side of the syncretic Andean Baroque. Social unrest and ancestral cults provide fertile ground for the emergence of a secret society.The 1880 trial reveals the Majority as a parallel legislative power, but also as a parallel and secret medicine and religion, accessible only to those initiated into the Art.As we write these words, we long for the bucolic afternoons of endless conversation with Sergio, surrounded by countless volumes and installments of his library. We hope that Sergio, given his search, which we share, into the world of the fantastic and the supernatural, into symbolism, and his practical experience

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