This is the tenth of a series of 14 paintings that depict the journey of the Blue Deer from the ocean, passing through the dark world, to arrive at last to the sacred land in the east. This occurred at the beginning of time. Here we see how rat person, naika tewiyari, became exhausted and was unable to carry the gourd (adorned with a votive arrow, a tobacco gourd, an ear of corn, a candle and a plumed wand) of Our Grandfather Fire further. This had occurred to other ancestors who had submitted themselves to the arduous journey, like the rabbit and coyote. The rat broke his fast by eating a prickly pear and was transformed into his animal form forever. He is left behind while the other pilgrims struggled on. But the pilgrims were barred from advancing further by a giant, multicolored and venomous lizard named ‘imukwi or kieraka, who guards the entrance to the sacred land. This animal, similar to a Gila monster (Heloderma horridum), protects the sacred land of Wirikuta, where the
peyote grows, against all who lack proper devotion (the animal has three peyotes extending from its body).

Our Elder Brother Blue Deer, Tamatsí
Maxayuawi, saw all this, and again he meditated in search of enlightenment. His hand (top left) reaches down with a flowering vine to bless the lives of the pilgrims. The insect of death, yuwikame, symbolizing the plight of the pilgrims, straddles the vine. The five sacred waterholes of Our Mother of Water Born in the East, Tatéi Matinieri, are represented behind the lizard (as black circles with white centers). This is where Our Mothers of Water dwell and where the pilgrims are purified before entering Wirikuta. Above the oasis is a votive arrow, ‘irí, decorated with a feather, a round nierika disk and snake rattlers; next to that is a rhomboidal god’s eye offering, tsikiri, a willow and wind are depicted as wavy lines.

The Blue Deer and the Eagle, who is the two-headed eagle of the skies, and the Hummingbird reached (the sacred eastern desert called) Wirikuta through great sacrifice. Upon reaching Burnt Peak (at far right), they delivered the arrow, the corn and a bowl as offerings to the gods who live there.” (Translation of the text written behind the yarn painting and signed by the artist).

Blue Deer, Maxayuawi, is Our Elder Brother, Tamatsí, who changed into peyote on his path (at lower left). The sacrificed deer is Kauyumarie, whose blood is necessary for the offering of the cornhusk (at lower right). The Deer has an arrow with a couple of feathers hanging below each antler to communicate in every direction. The Eagle ascends over the bowl to reach its place as Our Mother Eagle Girl, Tatéi Werika Wimari. Upon reaching Burnt Peak, where Our Father Sun would appear for the first time, they delivered the votive arrow, the corn husk and the sacred gourd-bowl as offerings to the ancestors who dwell there in petrified form.

The deer, the eagle and the hummingbird, tipina, ate peyote and entered into communion with the deities in Wirikuta. The deer cried from exhaustion and joy. He painted sacred designs on himself with the colors of the tsuwiri plant (upper left). The eagle’s flight blazoned a trail of joy. The hummingbird sang with all his might; the
words of his song are the blue spots.

Then, from Burnt Peak, Reu’unaxi, the most sacred of the mountain peaks, there appeared figures of three innocent
children. The pink dots are their secrets. This vision is transmitted through the arm of the peak to the central prayer bowl, xukuri, where it is revealed. Thus, Reu’unaxi spoke to Our Elder Brother: he decreed, as symbolized by the five red crosses, that each Wixárika child was to be carried on the antlers of the deer to Wirikuta five times, and that each child must bring to Wirikuta the first fruits of the harvest of corn to be sanctified as offerings.

Details: The yellow and white elliptical figures on the bowl are grains of corn and squash seeds. The silk on the corn husk is stained with blood between the arms of the mountain. Two red and white Indian carnation flowers (marigolds), puwarite, on the corn and on the hand are life blessings. A turkey and fish appear (at top right) because they gave their blood in immolation for the sacred instruments. The deer carries a lit candle on one of its antlers.

An owl (at upper left) that has always lived in Wirikuta observes the changes in darkness. Other plants depicted in the area are: the izote, a large pink and yellow yucca tree to the right of the owl, and the maguey (with five white leaves between a foot of the owl and the root of the izote). Another plant is called “old man’s beard,” ukiratsi mixiyaya, whose white spiked stems are scattered in the
wind and stick into the flesh of whoever gets in their way (it is symbolized between the deer and the eagle).

Notes: The interpreter (Juan Negrín) originally understood tsuwiri to be the plant from which the yellow pigment is applied on the face of peyote pilgrims (seen above the neck of the deer). It may be a flowering plant in the valleys of the Sierra.

Our Elder Brother Blue Deer, Tamatsí Maxayuawi, the hummingbird, tipina, and Our Mother Young Eagle Girl, Tatéi Werika Wimari, entered the land of Wirikuta. The maize, the arrow and the bowl have been blessed with
the blood of the deer and Our Elder Brother has taken them to their corresponding spots. Thus the corn was made more fertile, the arrow was turned into a conveyor of messages and the gourd-bowl became a recipient of visions and a vessel of prayers directed to Our Mothers of Rain in particular. The rattlesnake that guards the Sacred Land to this day then appeared. This is how Wirikuta reached completion, for it was filled with the spirit of the Blue Deer. The pink and green arks at lower left center symbolize the exultation. Now, the power of Wirikuta radiates to the four corners of the world (each with its sacred waterholes) and the deer leaps from corner to corner, leaving hoof marks from which peyote, the flesh of the deer’s spirit, grows. The sacred face of Wirikuta, or its nierika, is the central disk (divided into four colors), where three blue and white hills represent the seats of Our Ancestors. Both the sacred face of Wirikuta and the seats of Our Ancestors are designed within the prayer bowl (whose rim is orange). The arrow, the candle, the corn stained with blood and two flowers with large petals, which are the sustenance of the Blue Deer, project out from this center over the perimeter of the bowl.