Nierika de Chaquira Huichol Circle - Peyote Arrow: Nierika of the Ancestral Vision - 120 cm.

◇ Technique: Calibrated 11/0 glass beads pressed onto epoxy glue on a wooden board.

◇ Dimensions: 120 x 120 x 5 cm. - 47.2 x 47.2 x 1.9 inches.

◇ Author: Mr. José Manuel de la Cruz

- Unique piece.
- Includes certificate of authenticity.

In the Wixárika worldview, the nierika is not simply an image or a ritual object: it is a portal of vision, a sacred surface where the visible and spiritual worlds converge. This work, Peyote Flechado (Peyote Arrow), 120 centimeters in diameter, crafted with hundreds of thousands of individually placed glass beads by master artist José Manuel de la Cruz, from the community of Tateikie in the Sierra Madre Occidental of Jalisco, Mexico, constitutes a visual cartography of ancestral Wixárika knowledge and a masterful manifestation of contemporary visionary art.

The composition is organized around a fundamental cosmological principle: the center as the origin of revelation. At the heart of the work appears the hikuri capitán—the principal peyote—represented as a peyote pierced by arrows, an iconography alluding to the ritual moment in which the plant deity is recognized, invoked, and symbolically pierced by ceremonial arrows. These arrows, placed between each peyote bud, do not represent violence, but rather spiritual guidance, communication, and reciprocity between humankind and the sacred forces of the universe.

For José Manuel de la Cruz, a ceremonial violinist (xaweri) and active participant in ritual pilgrimages to Wirikuta, the encounter with the peyote cactus is the origin of all vision. From a semiological perspective, this center functions as the primary signifier of the Wixárika visual system: it is the generating axis from which all iconography and all revealed experience emerges.

Around the central peyote unfolds a concentric system of sacred symbols representing the expansion of ritual consciousness. Among them are serpents, entities associated with vital energy, rain, and the connection between dimensions; scorpions, guardians of knowledge and symbols of transformation; and deer masks, manifestations of Kauyumari, the Blue Deer, mediator between human beings and the realm of vision. In the Wixárika ceremonial experience, when the pilgrim “sees” the deer, they receive from it the vision, fortune, and spiritual knowledge necessary to guide their existence.

The recurring peyote motif across multiple levels of the composition expresses a central principle of Wixárika thought: the entire universe is born and reproduces itself from the original visionary act. Each form contains and reflects the totality, configuring a fractal structure where the sacred is infinitely replicated.

Among the geometric patterns, the figure of the hummingbird also emerges, the primordial messenger that, according to Wixárika oral tradition, carried the sacred embers from Haramara, the primordial ocean, to the Sierra Madre Occidental, allowing the establishment and flourishing of ancestral communities. Its presence symbolizes the passage, memory, and continuity of ceremonial life.

Finally, in the outer ring appear the ancestral stars, representing the deified ancestors who continue to guide the collective destiny of the Wixárika people. These celestial entities constitute both the boundary and the opening of the nierika: they are the horizon from which spiritual guidance and confirmation of the cosmic order are received.

This work transcends the conventional categories of craftsmanship to enter the realm of sacred visionary art. It is not a decorative representation of traditional symbols, but rather the materialization of a ritual experience, an indigenous epistemology, and a living spiritual cartography. Each hand-placed bead constitutes an act of memory, devotion, and knowledge, transforming this piece into a true portal to ancestral vision.