This is my first painting during the Pandemic of 2020. First I researched the ancient Mayan curandera
goddess Ixchel, then I began imagining life as an Ancient Maya. A vision formed of an
inky, boundless night sky. I painted that first. While the paint dried, I
watched the movie Fantastic Fungi and felt sure that the ancient Maya, who were
expert astronomers, masterful architects, and wrote books on bark paper in 500
BCE, knew about the healing properties of fungi. For the ground I wove together
life and death with mycelium, and over that painted a soft green lush patch of
land blooming with mushrooms, ferns, and flowers for the goddess to stand upon.
She after all, inhabited the abundant plant life in the Yucatan peninsula.
The temple in my painting was inspired by the ancient ruins
that exist on The Isla Mujeres, an island sacred to women and dedicated to
Ixchel. It is said that the windows of the temple were designed so the tower
could serve as a lighthouse.
My re-imagining of Ixchel shows her with a golden double
snake crown. Ixchel was depicted with a snake on her head more than 2500 years
ago. Snakes are a symbol of rebirth and immortality in many cultures. Two
snakes are a symbol of healing in medicine today. Ixchel was also depicted with
a rabbit – a sign of fertility, of health, and of spring, the season of
revival. Her name, in Mayan hieroglyphics is Chak Chel, which translates to
large rainbow. It is told that the goddess waned from maiden to crone with the
cycles of the moon. I composed a rainbow around the moon which frames her head,
and decorated her with jewelry depicting the metals and gems of the ancient
Maya: jade, coral, gold, and copper. Ixchel is still revered in Mayan culture
today.
