as important as the right plants in the right doses are, folk medicine in brazil - like everywhere else - is deeply indebted to the spiritual world and to the metaphysical - there is a saying, 'god willing, water from the kettle is medicine enough.'

in folkloric medicine, it can be impossible to separate the plants from their religious connotations - the faithful and the sick pray to and over the plants they will use to treat their sickness, and many of the plants themselves are named for saints and their afro-brazilian spiritual analogues. as is to be expected, the rezas - prayers - are a major component of the folk medicine tradition. in this context, prayer is a healing ritual.