Raquel Bessudo

Raquel Bessudo (México DF) “The gift of sight” / Hawiya Wixukuta miemek / In search of a solution for Wirikuta

 amuletos-01









Function to inform, and bring awareness on the importance of preserving Wirikua desert as a natural and spiritual reserve
Activation Passing along your knowledge of the cause, and giving support activates this amuletSteps for activation:1. The host receives the amulet.2. Reads the manual and information3. If you like you can register and ad comments and/or photos at: www.raquelbessudo-joyaviva.tumblr.com This will allow me to follow it’s journey.
Materials A purse made by hands of a Huichol artisan. Leather, plastic beads, -7 lens (diminishing), +7 lens (magnifying).
Engage Price for each amulet is $35 US dls; contact www.raquelbessudo.tumblr.com

In the ceremony were the Wirikuta pilgrimage ends, the Jicareros (xukuri’+akete, guardians of the temples) eat Peyote Hikuri and it accompanies them in their search for obtaining Nierika “de ability to see”. Nierika is an ideal reality of thought which can be accessed through clarity and compassion. They try finding in it light and transparency

I once heard that in order to really understand something that is beyond your comprehension you need to zoom in and zoom out, and then zoom in again (you look at the details, you look at the bigger picture and then you look back into the details), then you clarify your vision.

The lenses in this amulet represent this Nierika, both as the tool that clarifies your vision, and a symbol to represent the need to sympathize with what the Wixarika (Huichol) people are fighting for. For us that are so caught up in an every day life, that we loose the ability to see and understand the necessities of others. So when you look through the lenses, you are able stop for a second, zoom in, zoom out and focus onto something with a change of perspective.

There are people that may feel far from you, but we all have to think of each other to create a better world.  And this is what the Wixarika people are asking from the government and the world:  Knowledge and understanding of each other. There is a need to create sources of work, but there are ways to do it without such  great ecological disaster and the destruction of their sacred route.

How you use the amulet is very personal. You could look through the lenses as a ritual or you could just keep them in the bag as a remainder.

The first amulets are part of a set of five which represent the sacred points were their deities inhabit. And represent the directions I wish them to take:

  • Teakata (Santa Catarina, Jalisco), centre
  • Huaxamanaka (Cerro Gordo, Durango), north
  • Waxiwe (San Blas, Nayarit), west
  • Xapawleyeta (Isla de los Alacranes del Lago Chapala, Jalisco), south
  • Wirikuta, east.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

(This is the text that you find is inside of the purse)

Instructions:

This amulet is activated from hand to hand and by word of mouth. It works and survives like the Huichol tradition, with human contact and lived experiences.

Keep this amulet as a reminder of the need to allow yourself to change your perspective in order to recognize and understand the necessities of others

Give it to somebody you would like to share the intention of the amulet with.

The main purpose of this amulet is to inform, and create consciousness about the importance of the preservation of Wirikua dessert as a natural and spiritual reserve.

Steps for its activation:

1. Receive the amulet

2. Read the text

3. Register, and please leave a comment and/or images in relation to the project at:

www.raquelbessud-joyaviva.tumblr.com

This will help me to keep track of the route the amulet takes

Information:

The mining and agro industrial concessions given by the Mexican government in the Wirikuta dessert are putting in greate risk the continuity of the Wixárika people together with causing an irreversible ecological damage.

Every year the Wixarika people make a pilgrimage starting from Waxiwe, San Blas, Nayarit; the west, for the Huichols “ where life originates” and ends in the peak of the mountain that they call Pariteka “ where the sun is born”

This Pilgrimage is what sustains the continuity of the Wixárika culture, their history is orally transmitted, and through out this route it is re-told year after year from the beginning to the new generations.

A partial or total destruction of the Wirikuta dessert would mean the end for the heart of Wixarika people, whose vision of the universe does not separates us humans from nature.

This purse was had made by wixarika artisan Esmeralda Carrillo Carrillo, from the Santa Catarina Cuexcomatitlan community in Jalisco State, Mexico.

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7 thoughts on “Raquel Bessudo

  1. Aprecio muchísimo este trabajo, primero porque conjunta artistas en ciudad y artistas en campo. Las tradiciones, el conocimiento y la sabiduría de los ancestros no se encuentra escrita en papel, se transmite de forma oral y energética por generaciones. Esta pieza me hizo revivirlo que además es una linda forma de compartir entre nuestras redes sociales, tecnológicas o vivas. Esta perspectiva me hace recordar que aunque pensemos que las cosas suceden lejos de nosotros, en realidad están mas cerca de lo que queremos ver.

    “Cuando muchas mentes trabajan al unísono, el efecto de sus pensamientos se multiplica exponencialmente. Es el poder inherente de los grupos de oración, de los círculos de curación, de los cánticos entonados al unísono y del culto practicado en masa. La idea de conciencia universal no es un vago concepto de la Nueva Era, sino una firme realidad científica. Si conseguimos controlarla y utilizarla, transformaremos el mundo. Este es un hallazgo fundamental de la ciencia noética” Dan Brown.

  2. monedero huichol
    hola! me parece interesantisimo el proyecto, ademas de la hermosura y la profundidad del mensaje de la joya, y de la joya misma. el monedero verde esta conmigo, me llamo Celeste, vivo en san luis potosi y me ha acompañado y protegido con su mensaje a la tierra sagrada de Wirikuta. gracias por compartir.
    Celeste

  3. Pingback: Joyaviva opens in Mexico City, 10 April 2014 | Joyaviva

  4. Es maravilloso ser parte de este proyecto en donde por un tiempo sentí que me pertenecía un objeto que me permitía ver la vida desde dos perspectivas diferentes, ser el eslabón para compartirlo y ampliar la visión de alguien más. El amuleto continuo su viaje, pero mi visión más amplia permaneció….

    Rocío

    El amuleto se lo di a Celeste y ella a su vez se lo dio a una amiga y esta ahora en Argentina, ella escribió:

    A veces me nace ponerlo en mi brújula. Sacar las lupas y hacer bizcos hasta marear y a veces me gusta buscarlo en una mochila o cajón a tientas y me siento muy feliz de sentirlo en mi mano.
    Soporta el agua de ríos Amazonas! E ir colgado contra el viento en bici. Lo quiero mucho…

  5. Now one of the amulets has traveled across the Pacific and takes a rest in my house in Auckland, New Zealand. I love the look of it, its meaning and intention and the lovely packaging. It is very well made, a real treasure. Many years ago I traveled through Mexico and was particularly fascinated by the Huichol people, their culture and art works. At some stage I worked at a cafe, workshop and gallery called La Tortuga near Puerto Vallarta. The owners, an English couple were (are?) working with Huichol people and were exhibiting their mind blowing art and craft. I felt incredibly lucky to be able to spend so much time surrounded by the intense and intricate imagery reflecting a complex and extended consciousness about the world. The arrival of Raquel’s amulet is timely, I need to be able to change my perspectives a lot. I play with the lenses, zoom in and out on my situation in my mind and think about the wide spaces of the desert and the ocean. It makes me feel connected. Gracias!

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