excerpted from The WASP and El Curandero
As Fr. Bob, Episcopal priest, once explained, The Other is that entity that is so completely not me, so unknowable because it is so foreign, that it carries the numinous qualities of the divine. Moses met The Other in the burning bush and then later came down off Mt. Horeb with white hair to prove it. We attract that which we fear.”
~~~
When referring to my The Other I am basically referring to Alberto Salinas, El Curandero. He lived in and breathed the air of Mexican Folk Culture. Well, I did too, as I crawled into bed with that culture (acculturated).
What created the condition of “The Rub” (the transcendent function), by which I hoped to individuate, was Alberto’s connection with a Magical World View-especially since he channeled the spirit of the dead Mexican folk saint, El Ni~no Fidencio, which practice qualified him as a shaman. To my way of thinking, this made him a card-carrying member of The Other World. And he was my spiritual director.
The Other in The Other World tensioned against me as the WASP in McAllen, Texas. Forbidden desire was powerful. Something had to give.
Katherine Brittain 
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