In Machi ritual practices, wholeness or balance is associated with well-being and health, therefore the performative element of gender takes precedence over the concept of gender associated with sex. In order to achieve wholeness, it is necessary to encompass masculine and feminine principles, as well as those of youth and old age. When performing healing rituals, a machi will “assume masculine, feminine, and co-gendered identities,” moving between these identities or combining them (Bacigalupo, 2007, p. 45). These co-gendered identities are fundamental to machi ritual practices. Due to the performative aspects associated with adopting co-gendered identities, machi men will dress in traditional women's clothing. This allows them to express and embody the feminine aspects associated with healing and fertility. Altered states of consciousness such as dreams, visions, and trance states are also considered feminine characteristics. Similarly, machi women have the ability to adopt masculine aspects associated with war, aggression, and hunting, although they do not dress in masculine clothing. These ideas continue to shape perceptions regarding gender in modern-day Chile and persist in influencing Chilean attitudes toward machi. Due to the co-gendered identities associated with Mapuche shamanism, machi are considered effeminate and deviant in a country where concepts of power and prestige are closely linked to ideas of masculinity. As a result, machi are further marginalized and ostracized. These views do not only apply to machi men, but extend to female practitioners who are labeled as witches. However, machi men are forced to struggle to legitimize themselves and validate their religious practice...... middle of paper ......2: Cuadro 5.1 Poblacion Total, por Pertenencia Algun PuebloIndigena y Tipo de Pueblo… [File data ] Retrieved from http://www.censo.cl/tabulados.aspxJung, CG1954. The practical use of dream analysis. The practice of psychotherapy. Pantheon Books.New York.Selby, Jennifer2013 Notes from the Field: An Interview with Ana Mariella Bacigalupo. Anthropology News. Retrieved from http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2013/09/06/notes-from-the-field-an-interview-with-ana-mariella-bacigalupo/Starr Sered, Susan1994 Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions dominated by women. Oxford University Press. New York.Tedlock, Barbara2005 The woman in the body of the shaman: Recovering the feminine in religion and medicine.Bantam Dell. New York.Villalobos, Sergio R.1992 Chile and Su Historia. Editorial Universitaria, SA Santiago de Chile.