Depicting Peruvian shamanism

Depicting Peruvian shamanism

Let me talk and walk you through my latest commission - “A painting that incorporates the concepts and symbols underpinning Peruvian Shamanism”.

“A painting that incorporates the concepts and symbols underpinning Peruvian Shamanism”. That was the complex, thought-provoking challenge behind my latest commission. The canvas had to work on two levels: more superficially as a landscape image and on a deeper level as a symbol-packed scene of relevance to those involved in the practice of Peruvian Shamanism. The end result is a canvas crammed with symbolism, so let me talk and walk you through the canvas and the thinking behind it . . . Until I took on the commission, I had no idea what Peruvian Shamanism entailed, so there was months of research, discussions and planning – and even a few meditations – before I looked at starting the final canvas. A central part of the shamanic rituals is the journey around the Medicine Wheel, which is divided into 4 quarters representing different aspects of our lives. Symbolising each quarter is an ‘archetype’: serpent in the south, jaguar in the west, hummingbird in the north and eagle in the east. Thus, the priority for the image had to be the four archetypes placed in their appropriate compass point quarters around the canvas linked by a circular shape (for the Medicine Wheel) created by pattern/image/colour. To create the idea of ‘journeying’ around the wheel, pathways were obviously important. All the aspects of nature are important to the shamanic beliefs and rituals, so as many as possible had to be included. From research, discussions and going through a few shamanic meditations, I created a wish list of things to be included along with the 4 archetypes, wheel and pathways. The list included: - sun and moon (Grandfather Sun and Grandmother Moon) stars as well as Mother Earth, - water (representing the act of reflecting as well as one of the 4 elements), - bridge (taking you between worlds or taking you across turbulent waters), - fire (representing the shamanic fire ceremony as well as one of the 4 elements), - the large flat rock used in meditations to sit upon and meditate or meet your power animal, - 3 medicine stones for each quarter on the Medicine Wheel, - hollow tree stump for access to lower world With all those elements and objects in mind, my thinking turned specifically to designing the actual image and placing the different elements into the scene. First of all, the 4 archetypes had to be in specific places related to the compass point area that they represent, but the biggest problem was their size. In reality, they are vastly different in size – hummingbirds are a lot smaller than eagles or jaguars! – but each had to be the same size within the canvas . . . an exercise in perspective!! If the archetypes are positioned around the canvas, then they have to be linked in some way by the design – representing their places on the Medicine Wheel. The centre of the image needed filling; the obvious element was water – it has the symbolism of being reflective, and of flowing from one point to another thus linking the 4 archetypes. In the final image, the lake edge, aided by the bridge crossing smoothly over the turbulent water from the weir, creates a circular shape around which the 4 archetypes are placed. The path running from the bridge, behind serpent, and up to jaguar before transferring to the highlights on the trees’ roots, trunk and branch, echoes that circular shape. Hummingbird has to be in a tree of blossoms – they had to be designed bigger than the surrounding foliage to make the tiny hummingbird come closer to the viewer thus justifying why it is the same size as eagle or jaguar. As jaguars often hunt at dusk or dawn, it fitted in to put the sky top left (above jaguar) as a night sky with moon and stars, while the sky top right (above eagle) would be daylight. The section joining night and day skies would be the close-up leaves and flowers for hummingbird to be hovering in front of. Serpent is obviously on the ground in the south position, and it made sense that this was the pathway leading the viewer into the painting. That left the remainder of the bottom section either side of serpent to take as many of the other symbols as possible. Thus (reading left to right) there is the hollow tree stump (allowing access to the lower world), the fire (4th element as well as representing the fire ceremony which is an important element of shamanic ceremonies), 3 stones (representing the trio of medicine stones linked to each of the quarters) and a large flat rock on which to sit and meditate. All of these items are placed in a scene liberally sprinkled by Mother Nature with touches of colours from wildflowers. Just to complete the symbolism, the finished painting was varnished on June 21 to seal in the energy of the Summer Solstice! The canvas is now in situ at Les Vallées shamanic centre in the Mayenne department, where centre owner Margaret Robinson was delighted when she saw the finished work.

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