Shaman of the Benediction

This is an amazing sculpture by Bill Worrell, a Texas artist who has dedicated his career to creating works of art inspired by ancient Native American pictographs and petrogylphs that he discovered in Texas caves. 

It is almost 8 ft high and faces the setting sun not far from our open air spa. He is a shaman, with the head of a stylized deer, surrounded by sacred symbols representing the divine infinite, the earth, the sun, and the spirit we all share. Bill created this in gratitude for a great personal blessing in his life.

In Bill's words: "If we could amalgamate a priest, a lawyer, a chiropractor, a medical doctor, and a judge into a single entity, there would then exist an individual who could perform the tasts of the ancient shaman of the Lower Pecos.

"This person did not choose to be a shaman, he or she was chosen, appointed, or called to be a shaman, and he or she practically always denied, refuted, or resisted this calling until a severe illness, usually to the point of death, fell upon this individual. This is what made the person submit to the calling.

"Duties and gifts then included the healing of the sick, the arbitration of disputes, and the making of restitution with The Great Spirits of those things taken from nature that fed and clothed the people. The ancients believed that the shamans could transform themselves into different states of conscousness, thus the representations of those entering the dream world, or spirit journeys. These symbols have been inspired by the wonderful artwork of the ancient Lower Pecos People."

In Bill's words, it "is dedicated to all of my Benedictine brothers in the Monstery of Christ in the Desert."

To read more about Bill and his work, visit his site.