"As a child, making spirals on walls and ojos de dios from Popsicle-sticks and yarn in school provided me with feelings of peace and protection.  In this process, I have increased my self discipline for transforming emotive and spiritual imaginations into material art, especially when faced with the challenge of expressing my aesthetic and working with concepts of healing meditations, sisterhood and self-realization.

 

El ojo de dios" or "god's eye" is a simple weaving made across two sticks and is thought to have originated with the Huichol Indians of Jalisco and Nayarit. The Huichol or ‘Wixáritari’ people call their god's eyes "sikuli," which means "the power to see and understand things unknown." Hung in a child's hair or on the walls of homes, or tied to the ends of arrows, the Sikuli's main purpose is to ensure children a long and healthy life. When a child is born, the father weaves the central eye. Then one eye is added for every year of the child's life until the youngster reaches the age of five. The resulting design is the shape of a cross that symbolizes the four elements of earth, air, fire and water. 

 

     The  ‘Wixáritari’ believe the design of the Sikuli has the power to heal and to protect. The Sikuli is hung on the wall and used in ceremonies and prayer. The colors used have different meanings: RED - life itself; YELLOW - sun moon & stars; BLUE - sky & water; BROWN - soil; GREEN - vegetation; BLACK - death. They can also be used as good luck symbols. Only two other places in the world (besides the ‘Wixáritari’ in Mexico) are said to weave them, Chile and Tibet.