Puma Staff Bearer
in Ecstatic Trance
Wari culture
9" x 7"

The Winged Staff bearer (apparently a puma, from its unspotted coat) adopts the characteristic pose of the Cosmic Deity’s mythical entourage, the knee bent in homage and the head thrown back in ecstasy. The upturned position of the head signals the experience of leaving ordinary reality for another dimension under the spell of a psychotropic plant. Indeed, when the figure is viewed sideways (as when it was originally being woven on the loom), it appears to be flying through space, its wing unfurled over its head.

Multidirectional readings are a fundamental principle of Andean design. So there is every reason to assume that Wari tapestry-weavers would take advantage of the difference in perspective facilitated by weaving the garment in a horizontal direction but wearing it in a vertical one, thus evoking the theme of magical transformation.