Woman Ruler Woman Rule |
||
The day began, and the night, and time… Our first mothers and our first fathers multiplied. They built many houses. And they also built houses for the gods. Their domain grew large: there were many many of them--they were crowded--they quarreled among themselves, over houses and women, disturbing the bones and skulls of the dead. Then they broke apart into nine lineages, putting an end to quarrels over sisters and daughters Now comes the time when Shield Jaguar is born and it is in 648-year. Lady Pacal was his mother--she who is my cousin, born of my mother's brother; Bird Jaguar was his father, blood lord of Split-Sky, of the lineage of Penis Jaguar, the lineage founder… I, Lady Xoc, daughter of Lady Tahal-Tun, marry Shield Jaguar, my cousin once removed. Some years pass while his father still lives. After his death Shield Jaguar goes into battle and captures a great lord of a near kingdom. Now he can come out as king, now he can embody the Tree of the World and uphold the sky. He sits in reign, Lord-of-the-Lords of Split-Sky, and I, the vision conjurer, sit beside him. Now my childbearing years are ending, alas! Our children have not lived and prospered. Now my husband must take another wife to bear the heir. Her son will be my son. I the shaman, I the divining woman, I Lady Lord, I Lady Xoc will let blood and conjure the Vision Serpent, will manifest the gods and ancestors. An heir has been born to my husband of Lady Ik Skull, second wife. He is Bird Jaguar like his grandfather, born 709-year 8-month 24-day. Now the good day for celebration has come. Now the birth may be celebrated on this 709-year 10-month 28-day. Now I have built my Great House. I commissioned it. I designed it. It is twenty-five years since we came to the throne. My husband, my dear old man, now six and seventy, goes to take captives for the dedication of my House… Such a House has no woman ever built before me! Now my old husband is ninety-three. His death time nears. A few days after the summer solstice he takes Bird Jaguar to the highest point in Split-Sky. Together they hold the staff of flags up to Heart of Sky. This is preparation for the great bloodletting that must be done in four days, at the beginning of the eleventh tun in the fifteenth katun--741-year 7-month-1-day… Lady Ik Skull lets blood from her tongue. Lady Great Skull Zero and her brother Lord Great Skull Zero let blood from their tongues. Bird Jaguar lets blood from his penis. I am too old to let blood now, too old, but I, with my old husband, preside… Lady Ik Skull, mother of my son Bird Jaguar, from the Otherworld calls forth the Tlaloc Serpent with the God of the Eveningstar-War in its mouth… It is done. [Bird Jaguar] the king-to-be is recognized. He sits beside the king on the right. Lady Great Skull sits on his right. I sit beside the king on the left, where I have always sat. Lady Ik Skull sits on my left. The holy conch shells trumpet. Music plays. Dancers dance. My old husband Lord King Shield Jaguar has today joined the Lords of the Dead in Xibalba the Otherworld this 742-year 6-month-19-day. No longer does he sit beside me. Alas! Now Lord Bird Jaguar acts in his place. After I die he will take the steps necessary to come out as king: taking captives to be sacrificed; calling forth the vision serpent; producing an heir. Then he will embody the Tree of the World and uphold the sky. Then he will sit in reign as Lord-of-the-lords. * * * * * The heart of Maya spiritual life, itself the heart of all Maya life, was bloodletting and sacrifice. Shaman kings and queens pierced their tongues or penises with sharp obsidian blades and stingray spines and then pulled ropes through the wounds, soaking up the pouring blood with absorbent papers which they then offered: spectacular shamans like Lady Xoc tugged thorn-encrusted ropes through their bleeding wounds. This blood and the blood of sacrifice was the spiritual food that gods, ancestors (and thus the Maya people) required to continue the cycle of existence. With this blood offering, the shaman-sovereign conjured the vision serpent that opened the portal to the Otherworlds. Through this opening between the worlds, the shaman entered and made communion with gods and ancestors and, like the sacred World Tree which the ruler personified and embodied, ritually linked the three sacred realms of Skyworld, Earthworld and Netherworld. |
||
*home *the book *contents *artSand *links *about Elin Sand *contact Elin Sand at womanruler@yahoo.com webdesign by Blissland |
