Red Medicine: Traditional Indigenous Rites of Birthing and Healing

List of Illustrations

ix Illustrations Figures 1. Spider hole and woman xviii 2. Meyahuel atop a turtle and alligator 41 3. Instructions on birthing 43 4. Ritual asking for a child 49 5. Tlazolteotl as defender and begetter 91 6. Hill of the Vulva 93 7. Tlazolteotl as time marker 95 8. Tlazolteotl and the Moon 97 9. Divine excrement offered to the moon 99 10. Temazkal/Sweat-bath image 103 11. Cihuatlampa 104 12. Cihuatlampa 106 13. Tlazolteotl and her broom 108 14. A cosmic parturient 110 15. Tlazolteotl and the cycle of regeneration 114 16. Maya birth vase 121 17. Tlazolteotl, spiders, and life thread 126 18. Tree ceremony 129 19. Placenta and umbilical cord 133 20. Placenta scene from Chichen Itza 135 21. Placenta in structure 136 22. Woman, child, and placenta 137 x • Illustrations 23. Placenta, conch, and woman birthed anew 138 24. Xochiquetzal with fertility belt 146 25. Umbilical cord attached to cosmos 150 26. “Jaguar Boy” emerges from Tree of Life 157 27. Scorpion time units 160 28. Creator Couple 170 29. Dream “witchery” of the Andes 176 30. Mayan forces making smoke offerings 184 31. Divine woman and Tlazolteotl 191 32. Women holding butterfly/spider in spiderweb 195 33. Elders holding a butterfly/spider 196 34. Post-Columbian Tlazolteotl 198 35. Birthing image from La medicina maya 199 36. Spider, Tlazolteotl, and cords of time 200 37. Ihiyotl 205 38. Limpia image by Martha Ramírez-Oropeza 218 39. Displacement of Indigenous medicine scene from La medicina maya 225 40. Tree of Life, Tlaltecutli, and Tlazolteotl 231 41. Mixiuhcan, Mexica “Childbearing Place” 238 Color Plates Color plates follow page 68. Hill of the Vulva Tlazolteotl and the Moon Divine excrement offered to the moon Cihuatlampa A cosmic parturient Tlazolteotl and the cycle of regeneration Placenta and umbilical cord Woman, child, and placenta Illustrations • xi Placenta, conch, and woman birthed anew Xochiquetzal with fertility belt Umbilical cord attached to cosmos “Jaguar Boy” emerges from Tree of Life Limpia image by Martha Ramírez-Oropeza Divine woman and Tlazolteotl Women holding butterfly/spider in spiderweb Elders holding a spider ...