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Larisa and the Love Potion
by Patrick D. McMakin
I was an anthropologist, on Guam collecting research data on medicinal and mystical plants. And I
was in a dilemma.
For a year I had cultivated a rapport with three of the island's traditional herb doctors, or
suruhanos. Daily I escorted the secretive and venerable curers as they collected medicines deep in the jungle and cured patients with herbal teas and mystical body lotions containing ingredients like garlic and the ashes of white chicken feathers.
It's a common occurrence. You spend all your time in the field and your personal relationships
disintegrate while you type field notes late into the tropical nights. Then you meet another who is interested in your fieldwork and you fall in love. I'll call her Larisa.
The extremely perceptive suruhanos were quick to notice my discontent - my new source of admiration belonged to another man. Pensively they watched, but could only offer sympathy. My three informants - Juan, Miguel and Jose were bound by their Catholic faith never to direct their powers in a malevolent fashion. There was no way they could use their mysticism to help me lure Larisa to my side.
One afternoon, Miguel sat with me in the shade of a large mango tree in his backyard and told me
he knew a Trukese woman in his village who made love magic. A sorceress, unlike a curer, can
direct her powers to benefit or harm the recipient. Miguel was hesitant to mention the woman
and asked me not to tell Juan the master curer with whom I had so painstakingly developed a
relationship. As it happened Juan did find out, but he looked the other way as I was directed to
Nopuko's house.
As an anthropologist, I was excited at the prospoect of meeting a Micronesian sorceress. Inwardly I was desperate. I was devastated by Larisa's sensuous beauty. But she had determined our relationship was futile and decided she would no longer see me. I was ready to try the ancient Micronesian method of luring the woman of another man to your side.
Nopuko, a 34-year-old "souroog" or sorceress in Trukese, lives in a concrete house subdivision and takes care of her five children while her husband, an American businessman, works. She serves local Micronesians but also has Chamorros, statesiders, Filipinos and Koreans in her clientele.
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 Nopuko and granddaughter, Jackie, in Washington, 2002.
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A sorceress, like the Chamorro suruhano, uses plant medicines, message and supernatural power to cure illness. She also is believed to have the power to cause illness, both physical and mental, initiate small business failures and prepare love potions. More importantly, a moral judgement is made by the sorceress. I was required to explain my entire situation to Nopuko.
Sorcery is a sensitive activity, especially in a
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predominantly Catholic community. Nopuko takes clients only on referral from close friends, relatives and previous patients. After learning the details of a case she judges the client's belief, sincerity and motives. She then decides whether to use her knowledge and powers to intervene to cause a change. Judgements are important because misuse of her power will anger the ghost of her father, who passed on the practice to her. Also, the failure of a client to follow her instructions will cause her father's ghost to appear and Nopuko to become ill or insane.
As a countermeasure against a client's mistakes, Nopuko casually mentions that if she detects a improper behavior in her visions she will turn her malevolent abilities against him or her and cause them to fail to achieve their goals, become crazy, or possibly even die.
Nopuko was 13 years old in 1957 when her father, a Trukese sorcerer, became seriously ill. She went to visit him and he handed her a piece of paper. There were tears in his eyes as he told her that he had written down the formulas for Trukese sorcery and that it was time to give them to her and another sister and brother. Not wanting to see her father cry, she left the room. A few minutes later she heard the wailing of her mother.
Her father was dead.
Since that time, Nopuko has been recognized as having the powers of Trukese sorcery. After reaching a marriageable age, Nopuko used the formula for love magic to lure her husband to her side.
An intense seriousness in Nopuko's expression led me to believe that she firmly believed she could solve my problem.
Knowing I was familiar with local plants, Nopuko told me I must go into the jungle and collect the seeds of a large tree known as chopak on Guam. This tree is most often found in the limestone forest along the northeast coast of Guam. Walking down a steep, rocky trail in the hot afternoon, I wondered if I would be able to find the essential ingredient. It became apparent that fatiguing demands made on a client demonstrate to the sorceress that they are sincere in their desire to utilize her services. The mosquitos were fierce and I had difficulty finding mature chopak nuts because Typhoon Pamela had severely damaged the trees and they were just beginning to bear new fruit. The first stand of trees had only hollow, worm-chewed seeds, but searching further, I finally collected enough of the large brown seeds for Nopuko to make the potion.
Further instructions found me purchasing a bottle of aftershave lotion. I rarely use aftershave lotion, but I quickly purchased what I learned was the base ingredient of Nopuko's primary love magic potion.
I brought the bottle of after shave and chopak nuts to Nopuko and set them on her kitchen table. She called her daughter and told her to bring the metal grater. The nuts were peeled and the inner portion grated into a carved wooden bowl. Also included were gratings of a piece of perfumed plant that Nopuko had brought from her last visit to Truk. The strange and naturally sweet-smelling wood does not grow on Guam. After grating the mixture, Nopuko's daughter painstakingly added the granules to the aftershave lotion by pushing them through the tiny opening in the bottle with a toothpick. I was given the bottle and the strict instructions that are heard by all clients.
The client must never discard or lose the love potion. It is applied to the face or neck in the usual manner, once in the morning and once in the evening before dinner. The person wearing the potion must walk ahead of others when in public, avoiding close contact with members of the opposite sex other than the desired mate. Eventually the desired member of the classic love triangle will be lured to the client. When this happens, Nopuko advises that the client be patient and let the desired lover speak first. The client must always let the desired mate come to him. If the mate speaks negatively to the client on the future of their relationship, the client must act unconcerned and never show frustration. If possible, encounters with the member of the love triangle to be removed must be avoided, but if they occur, the client should refrain from other than casual conversation.
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While the client is using the love potion, Nopuko is aware of the names of the people involved and is concentrating on making the magic work by altered states of consciousness, visions and speaking to the ghost of her father. She need not have seen the members of the love triangle or the intended mate in order to cause a change.
Once the love potion has taken effect, the client reports to the sorceress on its progress. If there are difficulties, a stronger potion may be prescribed. Early in our relationship, I asked Nopuko what I could give her for her services. She told me that she
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 When Nopuko first met her husband, 1965.
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never asks for a fixed figure, but that any payment or gratuity should be in direct proportion to the intensity of the love I felt for Larisa.
Nopuko said that I had to secretly apply the scent to a place where Larisa would detect it. I hadn't seen Larisa in weeks.
The night was cool and a nearly full moon lit the roadside as I walked to Larisa's house in the dead still of the late night. It was a short walk. I didn't want to drive. If detected, it would be easier to hide in the brush than to speed away in my old car with its unmistakable engine sound.
Even if the love potion doesn't work, I thought, I was enjoying the mystique. No lights were on in her house as I quietly approached. Where could I put the magic scent so she would be sure to smell it? Withdrawing the bottle from my pocket, I spread the scent along the frame of the screen door. Moving to her car, I applied it to the door handles. The wind caused the trees to rustle their leaves and I looked up to see dark rain clouds covering the sky. An evening squall would wash away the scent. I opened the car and applied the scent to the inside. Quickly, I walked back to the main road feeling strangely content. The wind carried the scent far from the car. I wondered what Larisa would think in the morning. With no concept of the intricacies of Micronesian love magic, there would only be unfounded speculation as to why her car smelled like a French bordello in the middle of Guam.
As I walked home in the gentle rain, I realized that the most difficult facet of the experience had now descended upon me with its full weight. I had followed every instruction. I had maintained a confidence through it all. The waiting was now a period of interchanging anticipation, doubt, wonder, and intense hope.
The next morning it all melted into amazement when I heard Larisa's knock on my door. I couldn't determine whether it was a natural course of events or mysticism that brought her, but I didn't care. The important thing was the immediate reality of that lingering kiss in the night.
Would she return? I didn't know the answer, and predicting the future is one thing that neither anthropology nor Trukese sorcery can do.
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If you have a problem in your lovelife, email Nopuko. Maybe she can help.
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