Shamanism in Moche Art and Iconography - Maya Exploration Center

create the wor-ld his "yellow intention" or "yellow purpose", areferencm to semen.They also speak of the shaman's journey aspenetration into the otherworld and in other passive sexualcontact terms (Heichel -Doimatof f 1971; 47).The Conibo novicesucks phlegm out 0.f his master throat after the master has dranktobacco juice.This happens nightly for a week and the novicesoaks up Nihue, or power, from the master which he may now buildupon(lllius 1992;65). Though from different areas and contexts,a.11 of those stories eli.tde to a concept that the fluids of ashaman have power in and of themsrlves.A scepter found in the 1987 Sipan @cravation also shows theFanged Deity having sex with a human woman inside an':er~clusurc?(F'ig~ire 70). Donnan suggests that it may represent anerotic legend involving the deity.This paper agrees withDonnan's hypothesis and %uggests further that the scene involveeritual healing in which part of the patient's treatment isintercourse with the shaman.The Mesa d~ Brujcr of the m~dern Moche shaman is 'notably .r .-absent from the depictions of pre-Inca Moche shamanism. As it isthe central el+?rnr:'nt of modern Moche healing rituals, it shorrXd bepresent in the ancient art if the two are indeed related.It. isproposed hpre that the ancient eq~livalent of the klesa de Brujn isthe enclosures roofed and/or surrounded by spears so frequently