Mercado de Sonora, a remedy for every sickness
By Oswaldo Mejía Mendiola

Oscar Martínez suffered from lovesickness, a painful and sad disease, which kept him awake every night. Flowers, serenades, chocolates, letters…nothing was ever enough to win the love of Cynthia Luna, a young girl who refused to believe in his sincere love.

Once all romantic resources had run out, and motivated by some friends’ advice, Oscar finally agreed to go to Mercado de Sonora (Sonora Market), an ideal place for lovesick thousands, from all parts of Mexico, who come to this place looking for a remedy to cure the pains of an unrequited love.

Mercado de Sonora is in Mexico City, located in Colonia Merced Balbuena in Delegación Venustiano Carranza (Mexico City is divided in delegaciones as the states are divided into municipalities). It is known for its witches, shamans and sorcerers who offer their remedies to cure lovesickness, bad luck and any sickness their visitors may suffer. 

Shamans work with incense, among other mixtures. Incense with sandalwood helps to attract good luck in business; with cinnamon or with roses it’s good for love; incense with myrrh helps strengthen intelligence and with lavender, it keeps away envy, and finally the scent of pine keeps bad spirits away. A tour around the market begins and ends with these scents.

The dynamics are easy. Visitors arrive at the market with their physical or sentimental pains, no matter how serious they might be, since there is a supposedly remedy for every disease.

For example, the powder called Yo domino a mi hombre (I dominate my man) helps to take the beloved male in hand, or Polvo del Jorobado Humillador (Powder of the Humiliating Hunchback), which helps with revenge against any enemy.

One of the most popular, Polvo amansa guapas (Powder for taming good-looking women), is good for opening the hearts of pretty and hard-to-seduce women. It might be complemented with lotions containing pheromones, if you are looking to win the love and desire of beautiful females. Ointments, amulets, stamps or magical invocations are sold every day to those who need love and, for some reason, it has been denied to them. 

Not only love may be invoked through magic in Mercado de Sonora. One can find remedies against gossipy neighbors or envious co-workers, potions to attract peace and harmony at home and lotions to attract money and job success. Some shamans are experts in helping you to get rid of bad vibes. 

Clients visit the market to purify their soul, to learn about the future through cards or conches, or to buy herbalist remedies for illness related to kidneys, obesity, infertility, lungs, diabetes, migraine, depression and other diseases which deteriorate the quality of life.

Among the rituals practiced within the market, different cult figures are venerated, so shop windows show Buddha, Jesus Christ or Santa Muerte (Holy Death), whose cult has been extended through all the country and that is constantly winning adepts.

You also can find religious figures for sale, such as San Judas Tadeo, the Virgin of Guadalupe, Saint Gabriel Archangel, the Virgin of Candelaria, San Martín Caballero or Saint Charbel. These can be made of ceramics, jute, wood, papier-mâché or even painted with oils or watercolors. The saints impress visitors with their unusual sizes or excellent craftmanship.

Black copal, wormwood, abundance seed, patchouli, sandalwood water, pega hueso, strength root, ginger, Saint Peter’s tear, quartz, saffron, oils, common rue, soaps and candles are some of the elements used by alchemists to pronounce a spell for whomever may need it.

The Mercado de Sonora is a heritage from Mesoamerican cultures. In those years, Tlatelolco was an important market for Tenochtitlan. Besides being a ceremonial center, it became a convergent site of vendors and buyers who, through barter, got benefits and covered basic needs such as love.

Neither the passing of centuries nor the modern lifestyle, full of chaos and spiritual detachment, has affected the fame of this part of the city. Every day its halls are filled with the babbling of those who see in magic a hope for curing the conflict in their lives. 

Oscar attended the Mercado de Sonora, with a faith so deep and his wish of being happy so big that he did not doubt for a second to search for spiritual relief. Bravely, he submitted to a spiritual cleansing with Siete Machos (Seven Males) lotion, black hen eggs and aromatic herbs, in order to purify his Cyrano-like soul.

Clean and confident, supplied with lotions and bearing a rose amulet, Oscar found Cynthia one evening. In her eyes, he did not seem so unpleasant as before and even less so after perceiving a sweet almost hypnotic cinnamon scent, which forced her to have coffee with her admirer.