Warlock of Chiloé

The Warlocks of Chiloé ("Brujo de Chiloé" or "Brujo chilote" in the Spanish language) are people of Chiloé Archipelago said to practise witchcraft linked to Chilote mythology. The warlocks may be real, purported or legendary persons. The source of the witchcraft is often attributed to a legendary encounter between Basque navigator José de Moraleda y Montero and Huilliche machi Chillpila who defeated Moraleda in a duel of witchcraft obtaining a book of European magic as reward. Belief in witchcraft has been common in the archipelago reaching such influence, that in 1880 Chilean authorities put on trial warlocks said to rule the archipelago trough a secret society.[1]

There is currently a character in Chile known as "El Brujo" (see El Brujo (cartoon) ), which originally appeared in the Caleuche Comic magazine and now appears in the pages of the magazine Heroes . It is a rather loose and self-centered superhero, whose powers and abilities are based on Chiloe witchcraft. The macuñ is here a layer, and its allies are an invunche (that contrary to the legend is a very intelligent being, for being a failed experiment, as he himself explains) and a flying one (that also, contrary to the legend, is young and beautiful, for the same reason).

In 2014, the Chilean visual artist Patricio Paretti made the animated television series "Magallanes, un cuento mágico", aired by UMAGTV , which had as its central character "Don Eleuterio", a Chiloe Warlock who lived in Punta Arenas and who he told supernatural stories that happened in Chilean Patagonia. The audiovisual work was inspired by various local beliefs, mainly myths, legends and witchcraft from the Big Island of Chiloé . In one of the episodes, "The bowels of death", a witch uses a macuñ or magic breastplate both to fly, to become bad light, as well as to become an animal. The macuñ is shown as a stylized piece of leather similar to a corset, made with baby skin and horsehair threads. The same episode makes mention of hexes with cemetery land, a vital element for the realization of black magic by sorcerers.[2]

References
  1. "Juicio a los brujos de Chiloé". Memoria Chilena (in Spanish). Biblioteca Nacional de Chile. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  2. Paretti Studio, MAGALLANES, UN CUENTO MÁGICO - Trailer, retrieved 2018-12-26

See also
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