Showing posts with label Huichol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Huichol. Show all posts

Sunday, May 9, 2021

The Huichol Mask

An excerpt from my soon-to-be released memoir, Riding Spirit Horse: A Journey into Shamanism. Copyright © 2021 by Michael Drake.
 
I made my first pilgrimage to the Maya pyramids and ceremonial centers of Mexico in March of 1995. It was an empowering, transformational journey of self-discovery--the culmination of a lifelong dream to explore the pyramidal temples found at Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Palenque and Tulum. I spent about a week in Playa del Carmen, a coastal resort town along the Yucatan Peninsula’s Riviera Maya strip of Caribbean shoreline. The Riviera Maya is known for its palm-lined beaches and one of the largest coral reefs in the world. The beaches of Playa del Carmen are famous for their white powdery sand and crystal clear turquoise waters.
 
One afternoon, I went shopping for some gifts and souvenirs to take back home with me. While walking along Quinta Avenida (5th Avenue), a pedestrian-only walkway through downtown Playa del Carmen, I discovered a colorfully dressed street vendor selling his beadwork. He was a Huichol indigenous artist from Guadalajara. The Huichol, or peyote people, are known for their yarn paintings and papier-mache masks covered in small, brightly colored beads. Yarn paintings consist of commercial yarn pressed into boards coated with wax and resin and are derived from a ceremonial tablet called a neirika.
 
The beaded art is a relatively new innovation and is crafted using glass, plastic or metal beads pressed onto a wooden or papier-mache form covered in beeswax. Common bead art forms include masks, bowls and figurines. Like all Huichol art, the bead work depicts the prominent patterns and symbols featured in Huichol shamanic traditions. The most common motifs are related to the three most important elements in Huichol religion, the deer, corn and peyote. The first two are important as primary sources of food, and the last is valued for its psychoactive properties. Eating the peyote cactus is at the heart of the tribe's spiritual knowledge and core to their existence, connecting them to their ancestors and guardian spirits through psychedelic visions.  

Huichol masks are akin to mirrors that reflect the patterns of face paintings worn during sacred ceremonies. The Huichol people understand themselves to be mirrors of the gods. The Huichol believe that you must look past the ego reflected in a mirror in order to enter the place they call the "original times," before the present separation occurred between matter and spirit, between life and death, between the natural and the supernatural, and between the sexes. They are a culture based on being at one with the Cosmos. The very purpose of life is to reach a state of unity and continuity between man, nature, society and the supernatural.
 
The shaman-artist had some small beaded masks displayed on his table. I asked him if he had any larger masks. He pulled a bundle out from under the table and unwrapped a beautiful life-size human mask. The intricate design featured a radiant sun on the forehead, a stalk of blue corn on each side of the head, a double-headed peyote eagle on each cheek, a prayer arrow on the ridge of the nose, and a deer on the chin. I asked him how much? He said 300 pesos, or about 50 dollars. We settled on the price, but the artisan needed to finish the beadwork. He asked if I could come back later in the day. I agreed to return later that evening to buy the mask and continued shopping other vendors.
 
With great anticipation, I returned in the evening to purchase the finished mask. As I carried the mask back to my hotel, it felt warmer and warmer until it was hot in my hands. When I got back to my room, I noticed a tepo or sacred drum (which is the voice of the gods for the Huichol) in the mouth of the mask. The symbolism was a metaphor for a "talking drum," the name I chose for my entrepreneurial publishing company. This meaningful synchronicity convinced me that the mask was meant for me. I later discovered that wearing the mask during meditation induces a blissful state of unity consciousness with the deities that the mask both represents and embodies. It’s a way of communing with the essence of these deities, channeling them to deepen shamanic trance, to honor them and more. To learn more, read my blog post, The Power of Masks.

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Huichol Prayer Arrows

Huichol Indians in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico make prayer arrows to send intent of prayer to heal others. People who live near the Huichol call them "Virarica, the healing people." They are a culture based on being at "One" with the natural environment. The prayer arrow is a tool to send healing thoughts and intent for the purpose of goodness. The prayer can be used to heal anyone or anything without boundaries. The intent can be any type of healing from a cut finger to a broken heart. It can never be used for harm.

The feathers atop the prayer arrow represent the winged ones who are the messengers between man and Creator. The woven "God's Eye" in the middle represents the Nierika, which is a gateway to the spiritual realm, a realm of clarity, vision and understanding. Using the Nierika as a focal point during meditation, one's consciousness passes through a gateway to the realm of spirit, helping the seeker to find clarity regarding their life path, a solution to a specific problem or guidance in an endeavor.

To infuse the prayer arrow with healing intent, the Huichol hold the arrow close to their heart. This is what the Huichol call the "kapuri," or life force. We are all connected to this life force. After sending healing prayers into the arrow, it is stuck into the earth. Our Earth Mother then transmits the healing energy to wherever it was intended.

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Battling for the Earth: the Huicholes

In the fight for the land against mining multinationals, the Huicholes represent us all. They are the last Peyote Guardians.

In his two-hour indie documentary, Huicholes: The Last Peyote Guardians, Hernán Vilchez captures one of the last Mesoamerican civilizations to preserve their distinctive way of life in an ever-globalizing world – still able, until now. The Huicholes tribe has been a largely resilient culture that lives in parallel to contemporary Mexico. Carbon dating proves their people’s existence long before Christ and their beliefs predate those of mainstream religions, practicing an early form of animistic and pantheistic mysticism.

Every year they perform an 800-kilometre pilgrimage to the top of the Cerro Quemado, a sacred mountain in the fertile semi-desert area of Catorce, where the hallucinogenic Peyote cactus grows. Eating the fleshy gourd is at the heart of the tribe’s spiritual knowledge and core to their existence, connecting them to their ancestors and guardian spirits through psychedelic visions.

The earth where the cacti cultivate has evaded drought – which is widespread in surrounding regions – but is now falling foul to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). N.A.F.T.A. grants mining concessions to Canadian multinationals out to quarry natural riches in the Huicholes’ holy land. Read more.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Ancient Wisdom for the Modern World

Huichol Yarn Painting
The Huichols, an indigenous tribe that lives in the mountainous region of central Mexico, are some of the happiest, healthiest, wisest people on earth. Many of them are shamans, and a surprising number of their tribe surpass 100 and work in the fields up until the day they die. Shaman-healer Brant Secunda traveled to Mexicoas a young man and was invited to live with the Huichols for 12 years, where he became the adopted grandson of a shaman named Don José Matsuwa, who lived to be 110. There are many lessons he learned from the Huichols, which he now writes about and teaches to others. One of them is how to cultivate a personal bond with nature. In the modern world we often get so caught up in our busy lives that we forget to honor our inherent connection with the natural world. Read more.