Guìieâ: Warriors of the blossoming spirit

$ 9,400.00

Size: 80x150cm; 2.6x5ft

Weaver: Cristina, San Miguel del Valle

Materials and methods: criollo sheep wool hand dyed with natural dyes: Bèé (cochineal), Yagshi[i (seep willow) and Xiuhquilitl (indigo) . Handwoven on a Zapotec style loom of the 16th century adapted from European styles. Woven using a 7 threads per inch reed and wool rayon blend for warp.

Design, patterns and symbols.

Our ancestors believed that in order for our spirits to flourish we must walk the path of the warrior. This means embracing death as our counselor, because when we are made aware of our mortal existence, life takes on a more profound meaning. If we were to live life being aware that this very moment could be our last moment on earth, we would be more present and would make better decisions. When our spirit is grounded and we face our death we bring the best of ourselves, the mind stops swinging from worrying about the future or regretting the past, the mind is fully present.

The warrior's life cycle pattern is obtained by joining both hands at the fingers and curling our fingers as much as possible, this curling represents the inner journey that one must embark, it is an internal battle against all actions that draw energy from us and stops our spirit from blossoming. In order to grow, we must embark into that inner journey; just like the seed has to be buried and spend time in the darkness of the underworld in order to root and emerge, so do we need to go into that internal struggle to find our true face and our true hearts for our spirit to flourish. Our ancestors saw that our journey in life is much like those little wild flowers, we come from the underworld to grow and flourish for short period, only to go back and return to the earth. What if we don't really live here in this world but we wake up to a mortal dream?

This rug has many stripes that we call the smile pattern, smiling and laughing are actions that make our energy field vibrate and move energy around our bodies like rivers move water; we now can describe with science tha complex cocktail of beneficial molecules that are produced when we smile and laugh. Our ancestors discovered that our actions either moved our vital life force energy within our bodies or wasted it leaking it out with negative actions; therefore we were always responsible of our own well being.

I have noted before how the Dixzaa word for flower Guieea starts with the root word Guii, that means fire. Flowers were considered powerful objects because they were transmuted energy that raised from the underworld to see the light and every flower had a special gift or power to share with the world. In our Benizaa tradition we talk about the flowered snake that carries knowledge, power and wisdom, this is not a coincidence because most of the Nahuales knew how to use the chemical properties of sacred flowers to reach heightened states of perception.