Shaaguiibaà - Sky world. Lou Gueshliu - The Earth world

Size: 100x200cm; 3.2x6.5ft

Master Weaver: Mario Bautista Martínez

Materials and methods: criollo sheep wool hand dyed with natural dyes:  Xiuhquilitl (indigo) for sky world and Bèè (cochineal) for the earth. 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.

Patterns and symbols. 

This rug starts with a lightning pattern that represents the voice of the gods, the anouncer of rains. Some deep root acacias start putting off buds with the first lightning storms and some kind of mushrooms that grow on pine trees fruit with those first strikes of lightning. Only people that have been struck by lightning and survived are destined to be rain prayers for the community. The cycle of life pattern was woven next to illustrate the connection to the force of lightning and the teachings of thunder. Tne next pattern is the arrow fletching which represents the way of life of a warrior, a philosophy that embraces death as the greatest teacher. When someone lives life as if each moment could be one's last act on earth, when we are grounded and balanced we bring the best of ourselves. This balance is brought about by looking at the world from the eye of the feather snake, that Diamond pattern in the middle of the rug. The eye of God, as this central symbols is referred to, represents the balance of the four types of awareness found in the human body. The snake awareness that grounds us to the earth with our bodily needs found from the navel and below. The bird awareness represents our spiritual pursuits that are enabled by the organs from the navel and above (heart, brain). The left side is called Nahual and represents our intuitive and dream type of awareness that connects us to nature while the right side represents logic and language necessary to understand the cycles of the Cosmos and to find our place in the Universe. The center of this diamond pattern has a butterfly that represents the wisdom and love that comes to us when we see the world through the eye of creator. Wisdom and the understanding of love come to us when we are balanced and mature, just like a flower opens up to pollination when it is ready.