Beæl guie'æ: flowered serpent

Size: 60x100cm, 2'x3' 

Weaver: Asunción Hernández Lazo

Materials ans methods: criollo sheep wool hand dyed with aniline dyes. 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 the warp. 

Desgin, patterns and symbols. 

This is a classic Beņzaa (Zapotec) design depicting the eye of the father snake, the ancient Dragon of the Anawak (North American continent). The Diamond pattern represents the balance of the four directions of the universe with the middle being the up and down fith direction. It is the balance of the four elements that become steam that carries healing in our temazcal ceremonies. In our bodies, our nave is energetic center where the energies of all organs are balanced and transformed into vital energy. The symbol of the feather snake has been called a reptile, or feather snake but everywhere else in the world it is called a Dragon, this stems from a Colonial belief that our ancestors did not have philosophical abstractions, the feathers and wings of the Dragon represent air, the reptile represents both the earth and the water where it can live and the fire is represented as energy expelled through its mouth; hence, this mythical image represents the balance of the four elements though which the ancient seers understood life. 

The patterning nesting of a Diamond within a diamond represents the expansion of the universe, the growth in our awareness as we go through cycles of learning and spiritual death and rebirth.