RITUAL ART, PHILOSOPHY,

STORY-TELLING OF
THE WICHOL CULTURAL COMUNNITY

Wichol Petroglyph depicting the duality Peyote – Corn

5 000 years old, Coamiles, Nayarit, Mexico

The Wichol Cultural Community

 The Wichol Cultural Community has ten years of experience disseminating the
Ritual Art and the Philosophy of the Wichol People, without any kind of middle-man
whatsoever from San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico, the original land of our Ancestors.
The Wichol Culture is one of the only surviving Native Cultures of the American
Continent still keeping the Precolonial Way of Life. Sharing our artistic creations
directly is essential for us, since it is the only way to avoid the merciless exploitation of
the intermediaries, giving the full benefit to the wichol artist and, at the same time,
offering you genuine wichol art at the most affordable prices possible, because we are
asking only ten pesos, or one US dollar, by one hour of artistic work including the
material used, which it is a dignifying price for you and for us.
In order to accomplish our aim, we are receiving donations and offering you
Genuine Wichol Ritual Art and the interpretation of the mythic story expressed on it.
Your donations directly support the
Wichol People in two ways: in the
traditional sense, for instance helping
Haitemai his wife and children accomplish
the ritual charge of Tau Werika – The
Eagle Sun during the forthcoming five
years, in the ancestral community of Tatei
Kie, up in the mountains of the Sierra
Madre Occidental where most of the
Wichol People are living after the
colonization. And also, on the other hand,
you are supporting our process of
adaptation to the modern life, for
instance, the education of Kupaima, who
has just finished High School and wants
to go on improving his education to
become a Professional Promoter of the
Native Cultures.
At the same time your donations are supporting the dissemination of the Wichol
Art and Philosophy by the Wichol People themselves, sharing with you the authentic
truth of our perennial way of life.

The Art of The Wichol Cultural Community

Our Art is genuine. Every piece is created as an authentic Ritual Offering, not as
merchandise. Created by heart, free-hand made without a pattern, each piece is an
original masterpiece. Every piece expresses our ancestral memories, conveying arcane
legendary stories, and thus, our entire ancestral Philosophy: our Arcane Wisdom, our
Symbolic Language, our Mythic Culture and our Ancestors’ Legacy, therefore the
Wichol Art becomes a Nierika that takes you to your own roots to acknowledge our
common essences as human beings.

The creation of
every piece begins
with the application of
a thin layer of pine
pitch, not bee’s wax,
to the carved wood
figure and then, one
by one, in a long
process that takes
hours and hours of
patience and wisdom.
As a kind of ritual, the
glass beads or the
cotton yarn strings are
applied, telling the
mythological legends
that become the tissue of our ancestral culture.
In Precolonial times, our ancestors used gold, silver, jade, emeralds, and all kinds
of precious metals and stones. Precisely these same materials were traded for glass
beads with the European conquerors. It is very meaningful that in the present times
we are using the materials received from the conquerors to create our autochthonous
art in the original way, as a Ritual Offering, overcoming in our own way the
colonization, fertilizing our seed to grow again and again in a perennial
transformation.

As we said before, every piece conveys our arcane legends in a kind of symbolic
language whose interpretation may be easier by the means of the following guide to
interpret

The Symbolism of the Wichol Ritual Art

The Peyote or Hekoori, that means to us, the Wichol People, not a hallucinogenic
drug, but the origin of the Corn or Ekoo, our own life, since it is the basic meal not
only of the Wichol People but of all the American Continental People.
The Corn or Ikoo, our own essence, is represented as the complete plant or sometimes
as the ear.
The Deer or Maxa, means the soul of the Wichol People. When it is pictured only the
head of the Deer, it is meaning the shaman singing in a ceremony, sharing by the
songs the soul of our ancestors; when is pictured the full body of the Deer it means the
Soul of the Wichol Children dancing in a initiation trance around our Grandfather
Fire or Tatewari, sometimes figured as a Peyote cactus.
The Serpent or Koo, is the wisdom of the material things, the body wisdom or
unconsciousness, the emotions.
The Eagle or Werika, is the wisdom of the mind or consciousness, the reason.
The Scorpion or Terooka, means the duality of any power or skill, since if we misuse
ours, we sting ourselves as the scorpion when it misses the target.
The Butterfly or Kupí, is the movement, the transformation, the continuous
metamorphosis of everything.
The Lizard or Ketzé, represents our basic sense that is the hearing, since the lizard is
the beast listener among the animals. It is what it hears.
The Mountain Lion or Maye, is the hunting spirit of the shaman, or Ma’rakame, going
after the Deer Song to share it with the People.
The Turtle or Aye, is our Arcane Ancestor, coming out from the Sea of San Blas to
bring Life to Earth.
The Candle or Katira, is meaning the perennial living memory of our ancestors, our
own Life that is an essential part of all the Ritual Offerings.
The Diamond shape or Tzikuri, is the Wichol Cosmos, since we conceive ourselves in
the middle surrounded by the four cardinal points, or grandparents, or natural
elements, or any other square.
The Arrows or Ooroo, are the messages or desires from our Heart or Iyari trying to
achieve the middle of the target to be in the symmetry of balance. The Eclipse, is the
beginning of Life on Earth, since when our Father The Sun or Tau and our Mother
The Moon or Metza joined, they created the Primordial Movement.
The Double Duality or Kakauyarie, is the representation of our Natural and Human
Ancestors whose power is always dual: hot or cold, furious or calm.

Now you are able to interpret by yourself the story written in the Wichol Artistic
Ritual Offerings, since yours is the best interpretation possible, coming from your
own heart and mind and developing your own roots.

The Philosophy of The Wichol Cultural Community

 These diagrams express the essence of the Wichol Ritual Artistic Offerings which
you receive in exchange for your donation to The Wichol Cultural Community. Our
whole philosophy is contained in these two schemes, wheels, or mandalas.
This kind of concentrical design in our language is called Nierika, metaphorically
meaning at the same time:
Double Duality-Mirror-Offering-Web
Our Ritual Art, the World around, our own Life, is conceived as Nierika

The way to read a Nierika is in counter clockwise spiral sense from The Center or
Black and White Area, to The Right or Blue Area, to The Above or Yellow Area, to The
Left or Green Area, to The Below or Red Area, and then to the middle to start again,
and so on.

Then a very particular relation is set between the five areas:

The Iyari-Heart or Arcane Wisdom, through The Kwikari-Shamanic Chants or

Symbolic Language, is creating The Yeiyari-Way or Mythic Culture and this by The
Tuturi-Flowers or Ancestors’ Legacy is creating The Nierika –Double Duality-Mirror-
Offering-Web that again is triggering The Iyari-Heart or Arcane Wisdom to begin again
the Forever Lasting Spiral Movement of our Cosmos

Thence the Wichol Artistic Ritual Offerings are conceived based upon this perennial
logic:
 Our journey of creation starts in the deepest of our Heart –
Iyari
where our Arcane Wisdom dwells
then goes through the Shamanic Chants – Kwikari
expressing our Symbolic Language
developing our Pathway – Yeiyari
to embroider the tissue of our Mythic Culture
receiving the scent of the Flowers – Tuturi
inspired for the track printed by our Ancestors’ Legacy
to keep on living as the most beautiful and powerful Nierika
accomplishing our aim
to become ourselves the most fertile ancestors possible at dying

To follow we offer a poetical way to define the five areas of our Philosophical Art
or Nierika.

The Wichol Iyari – The Arcane Wisdom

The original track of the Arcane Wichol Wisdom

the Wichol Cosmos – Tzikuri
is printed just in the very motive of every one’s life
the cross shaped human Heart –Iyari
hence our primal drive becoming us Wichol People
is the passionate creation of Artistic Ritual Offerings
the frenzy of the inspiration darts us
to the vortex of the spiral –Kuyuaneneme
the center point of our own selves
in web connection with the four corners of the cosmos around
the cardinal points
 the seasons
the basic elements
the legacy of the grandparents
the craft of our hands and going of our feet
in the ecstatic autonomy of the authentic ritual of creation
staying still in movement suspended in symmetric balance
as the flying Hummingbird –Witzillin
as the central mesh of the Spider Web – Wixari

The Wichol Kwikari – The Symbolic Language

The amazing artistic hands of the wichol people

perform by Heart –Iyari Shamanic Songs –Kwikari
telling stories by means of symmetrical metaphors
as colorful feathered Arrows –Ooroo
aiming to captivate the Heart – Iyari of our arcane soul-mate
the Blue Deer – Tamatz Kauyumarie
and then listen to its legendary voice to fertilize the common
roots of our global ancestral memory
The Wichol language is essentially symbolic
it is a common natural device to convey in a global way
from the bottom of the Heart –Iyari
without boundaries at all
It is a way to create without models at all
to disseminate our message without intermediaries at all
The wichol symbolic language is the virtual common ground
to communicate and share our own selves
beyond limitations of time and place
at the center point of the web
that is our Mother Earth - Yurianaka
 The Wichol Yeiyari – The Mythic Culture
The Culture is the Pathway - Yeiyari marked on the Heart
to create offerings for our Ancestors – Kakauyarixe
to become ourselves The One who Knows - Mara’kame
The way begins when we are six years old and we embroider
our second skin to be worn while spiral-dancing around our
grandfather Fire –Tate’wari at the center of the Cosmos-Tzikuri
cross point of the everlasting two opposites
Life and Death, Conscious and Unconsciousness, Masculine
and Feminine, Day and Night, You and Me,…and so on… all the
Way - Yeiyari
Dancing around the fifth spot where one becomes a person
dancing alone in absolute autonomy being all one in absolute
authenticity
To be Wichol is to be an artist all the way
to cover yourself with the mythic tissue of your own legends
to live as Wichol is to make of your life the most beautiful
masterpiece
and thence accomplish at the end of the way the Wichol
common fate becoming yourself a memorable personage
immortal at dying a fertile ancestor
starting over and over again overcoming the oblivion

The Wichol Tuturi – The Ancestors’ Legacy

The Wichol Historic Legacy
are the Flowers –Tuturi blooming all the way
 in the Path of our Ancestors – Yeiyari
Thence the wichol artistic offerings made along the way
are the fruits fertilized by the arcane voices of our
maintainers
conveyed by the Shamanic Chants –Kwikari
these fruits are carrying inside
the seminal primal impulse of
the Artistic Way of Life to inspire again the global arcane
wisdom
that sings
“What has been done in the origin of Time
once again will thus be customary
as it was customary in the beginning
those who live will exist once again”
The scent of our flowers may be different
but they are interconnected by the underground
since the beginning of our planetary journey
The Wichol aim is to make History to become mythological
to be mythical to become Legacy

The Wichol Nierika – The Wichol Art

The very same nature of the wichol artistic ritual offerings
is philosophical
since they are created and conceived as Nierika
Double Duality-Mirror-Offering-Web
concentric symmetrical designs
provoking cathartic effects
acting as a network that traps your own self
moving it downwards to the deepest inside of the spiral -
Kuyuaneneme
bringing it upwards to the surface of your skin the very
essence of your being Nierika is a Double Face Mirror that
 reflects the essence of the artist
as well as the essence of the onlooker
and connects them in the middle of the web
Nierika is a continuous feedback transference
making you know yourself by knowing the other’s selves
and the other way round
The wichol ritual art is an interactive offering
coming from the soul of one of the last surviving
seminal people on Earth - Yurianaka
The wichol ritual art connects you with your own mythical
roots
enhancing the precious value of the millenary heredity
dwelling inside you in a perennial return

Wichol Story-Telling – Wixarika Nioukieya

 Wixarika Nioukieya, means literally, the Saying of the Wichol People. The original
and essential form of Wichol Story-Telling is the ritual shamanic chanting or Kwikari,
which invokes the arcane voice of our Deer-Soul, Tamatz Kauyumarie, to know
ourselves through the mythological legends embroidered in our memories by the track
of our Ancestors. Therefore, the Wichol Story-Telling is a complete ritual
dramatization of the mythological tissue that shapes our pathway, a performance in
which we all, the entire community, actively participate in order to be ourselves.

Those who care for us

By Oorootemai

Weary and angry Tau, the Sun, said:

—I get tired on my own! Is not
anyone around who could help me?
As soon as Tau, the Sun, said such
words, Eká, the Wind, started to blow.
Everything on Yurianaka, the Earth,
began to agitate, the trees tore into
pieces, the rocks detached and fell and
the mountains began to melt and
everything started to move in disorder.
 Some moments later, dusk began, then darkness took over. Afterwards everything
was silent and still. Breaking the quietness, a loud voice called from afar.
—Hey! Who is talking and calling for help?

When Tau, the Sun, heard the strange voice he stayed motionless.
—I wonder who it may be, should I answer
or not?— He was thinking still and quiet.
Again the voice spoke:
—Hey! Can you hear me? Because I heard
what you just said!
—Who are you? —asked the distant voice.
—What should I do? Tau, the Sun, kept
thinking with increasing concern.
The voice asked again:
—Do you hear me or not? Now you should
know me better, you must think that I am
just playing —and saying so the voice begun
to fade away.
Few seconds later, behind the mountains the
clarity became visible. The wrathful face of
Metza, the Moon, projected its light over
Tau, the Sun, trying to move him aside. But
He did not move, for Tau, the Sun, is
invincible. Very angrily, Metza, the Moon
spoke to him:
—What sufferings do you speak of, that don't
let us sleep?
—I am very tired of taking care and give light
to my children—answered Tau, The Sun.
—But I am assisting you! Is my help not good
for you?—said Metza, the Moon.
—You are lying! I have never seen you
anywhere—He replied.
—No I am not lying and I also have children to care—said Metza, the Moon.
–Don’t say so! You are always hiding and lying!—fast as a dart replied Tau, the
Sun.
—If you really want to know me, go and look behind those mountains— Metza,
the Moon quietly told him.
Thus, He made his way to look where She said. Many stars, of all sizes and forms,
could be seen scattered all over the sky. After seeing all that He returned to his site.
—What did you see?—asked Metza, the Moon.
—You are right! —said Tau, the Sun—I saw all your children.
—As you have just seen—She said—I care for the Stars behind the mountains, far
away, where the horizon ends and darkness dwells.
—All right, I will never annoy anyone again—Tau, the Sun, acknowledged—but,
now the problem is that my creatures cannot rest, they are always tired.
—Why?—Metza, the Moon, asked.
 —They say they long for darkness because they feel sleepy—He answered.
—In that case, let’s rotate Yurianaka the Earth! If you agree we’ll do it—Metza
the Moon said. Then She added:
—Thus, your children will be able to rest and sleep and my Stars and I will take
care of them. My Stars will be by my side, giving them a little light. Sometimes, one of
my messengers will go to hunt feathered snakes for them.
After a while Metza the Moon spoke again:
—I also want to tell you something else, someone is annoying me, it is that, Hai,
the Cloud!—Metza the Moon, driven by despair, said—. Shockingly she stands in
front of me longing to stay with me because She needs to feed and sustain her
children, She needs to give them water and life, so She says. That is why we cannot see
each other. I try not to listen to her. In the beginning we settled in our places very
clearly, and now there is no more space for her. That is what I told her, but now you
please consider, as Tau the Sun, if may have some room for Hai the Cloud.
—Let’s rotate Yurianaka, the Earth!—Tau, the Sun, replied—regarding what you
said about Hai, the Cloud, there is no space for her here either, we are complete.
They must have thought that no one was listening, but suddenly a big shade
approached them and Eká, the Wind blew freezing the ambience. A little later it
darkened, and suddenly and unexpectedly, Tau, the Sun, and Metza, the Moon were
completely covered by Hai the Cloud.
—Do you think I am not useful! —
Hai, the Cloud, cried—you are not aware,
but I have a mission to accomplish, I am
not bothering you for no reason. I am a
special messenger, that is why I am
begging you to give me a place among
you, we could help each other! That is my
only demand!
But they immediately shouted:
—We told you before, and we are
telling you now. We don’t need anything!
We are complete!
In that very moment Hai, the Cloud,
got angry, She turned black sending
Darkness all over the Four Directions of
the Cosmos, Tzikuri, placing herself in
between Tau, the Sun, and Metza, the
Moon.
They became warmer as they felt her presence all over their faces. Hai, the
Cloud, descended melting and spilling herself all over weeping and thundering her
eyes lightning shedding her tears descending to Yurianaka, the Earth.
After they did this to Hai, the Cloud, Tau, the Sun, and Metza, the Moon, returned
to their sites. Hoping to get a place among them, someday, somehow, Hai, the Cloud,
followed them.
Despite what Tau, the Sun, and Metza, the Moon, said to Her, Hai, the Cloud
keeps on following them. Longing to this, Hai, the Cloud, keeps placing her self in
front of them but their answer is always the same and She always descends in the
same way all the way to Yurianaka, the Earth.

A Wichol Story
By Kupí ha’ute

When One, who has been made out of The Corn – Ikoo, is iniciated in the
knowledge of The Peyote – Hekoori, One turns into The Mountain Lion – Maye, the
wise hunter.
Thence, One hunts The Deer – Maxa and listening carefully, as does The Lizard –
Ketze, to the chants of the hunted deer, One will achieve the wisdom of The Earth, The
Serpent – Kü and the Wisdom of The Heaven, The Eagle – Werika.

Since then, One will be led by the

voice of The Arcane Shaman –
Mara'kame, the one who knows
everything, The Blue Deer, Tamatz
Kauyumarie, and One will have the
twofold power of The Scorpion–Terüka.
Thence One will be forever dancing
around our Grandfather The Fire –
Tatewari, just at the center of The Cosmos
– Tziküri.
Having in the hands a couple of
feathered sticks – Müwieri, One
concentrates the energy from around, and
then singing, One throws The Arrows –
Ürü, always on target, forever in
perennial metamorphosis as The
Butterfly – Küpi, always changing, always
in balance, staying still in movement, as
the amazingly colorfull Hummingbird –
Witzilliwitl –Witzillopotztli – Wichol –
Wixarika.

These are my thoughts

 By Ha’itzarika
They say that I am Wichol
that I would never abandon my land where are my roots,
they say I do this because I do not want to learn other things.

And some others say

—Just let her die there, for she does not listen to what we say—
and then they walk passing me with indifference.

They do not say this today, nor did

they say it yesterday, they say it every day
covering their heads with mantles and
looking through black smoke.
They say my way of life is not good
I feed my Ancestors
I bathe in the Ocean and I leave
offerings there
but they just laugh.

Leave me alone for I will die in my

home Where my ancestors rest.

It is not that I don’t want to learn for

I understand things
as I understand what my Ancestors
tell me.

So, please don’t say that I don’t want

to learn.

If I were eagle
By Haitzarika

If I were eagle
I would ramble up in the sky
Moving my wings I’d go far away
 to the other side of the sea
Towards the West where the sun sets
Sitting at the top of the pine trees
I’d keep watching over my grandfather’s animals
I would go and bathe in the Ocean

From the top of the cliff

I would look after every creature on Earth
I would follow the chant of the Shaman
Leading me to the East where the Sun rises
It does not matter if someone hunts me
Looking for the wisdom of my feathers
For I would be always in the songs of the Shamans
Not me, but my feathers, will speak for me
They can see
They can hear
They will print our trace

Let's keep on sharing we have 10 years of

experience disseminating our Ritual Art and
Philosophy around the Planet!
 Please contact us and we e-mail to you Wichol
Story Telling and beautiful images of our Ritual Life
and Art !

wicholart@yahoo.com or kupihaute@yahoo.com
 The Peyote or Hikuri is a Ritual Plant that We, the Wichol People, since
the Beginning of Time, conceive as the origin of the Corn Plant, our own
Life. Since the Peyote is an endangered species, our millenary Way of Life
is also disappearing. Those who mistake our Ritual Plant for a
hallucinogenic drug are contributing to the annihilation of we both and
then of one of the last surviving Cultural Seeds of the entire Planet.