The "Deified" Heart: Huichol Indian Soul-Concepts and Shamanic Art
Anthropologica January 1, 2000 Hope Maclean 4 citations
Huichol Indian yarn painters in Mexico understand their art as spiritually inspired, but the process is not simply replicating a vision or dream. Based on interviews, the author shows that the Huichol concept of the soul is central: the heart is the source of shamanic inspiration and the vehicle for communicating with gods. The study builds on Mesoamerican ideas about the soul and its relation to the body, questioning assumptions about contemporary ethnic and tourist arts that arise from shamanic traditions. It suggests that indigenous artists work from their own assumptions about both process and product, not just copying images seen in visions.