"WAWEME" IS A MINOR BEE-GODDESS OF THE ABORIGINAL HUICHOL SHAMANS FROM WEST CENTRAL MEXICO. THE HUICHOL INDIANS WERE BELIEVED TO HAVE DESCENDED FROM THE
TOLTECS AND THE AZTECS. SHE WAS THE GUARDIAN OF THE SHAMANS AND IS BELIEVED TO BE THE INCARNATION OF A PLANT WHICH IS KNOWN AS "WAWE'," A POSSIBLE HALLUCINOGEN. HOWEVER, SHE IS PRIMARILY REGARDED AS THE "MOTHER OF CANDLES" AND THE "MYSTERY OF THE FLAME."
I KNOW LITTLE ABOUT THIS GODDESS; I DO NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT SHE LOOKED LIKE, BUT CAN IMAGINE SHE WAS A BEE-LIKE CREATURE. I DO KNOW, HOWEVER, THE FOLLOWING MYTH ABOUT THIS MYSTERIOUS GODDESS. THE MYTH TELLS US HOW BEESWAX FIRST FIRST CAME INTO BEING. IT SEEMS THAT ONE DAY THE SEA GODS (WAWEME'S ANCESTORS) FOUND THAT NO MATTER WHAT THEY DID, THEY COULD NOT LIGHT THEIR CANDLES. TATEVALI (GRANDFATHER FIRE) REALIZED THAT PERHAPS WAWEME MUST BE MAD ABOUT SOMETHING, SO HE SUGGESTED THAT THREE YOUNG MEN SHOULD GO OUT AND SEARCH FOR HER, HOPING THAT WHEN THEY FOUND HER THEY COULD SOOTHE HER ANGER. THE THREE YOUNG MEN VOLUNTEERED AND SET OUT IN SEARCH OF THE GODDESS. FOR SEVERAL DAYS, THEY SEARCHED AND SEARCHED THE SIERRA, BUT THERE WAS NO SIGN OF HER. AT THIS POINT, ONE OF THE YOUNG MEN BECAME VERY DEPRESSED AND COULD NOT GO ON.
TATEVALI STEPPED IN AND INFORMED THE OTHER TWO BOYS THAT WAWEME HAD COME TO VISIT HIM IN A DREAM; THAT, IF THEY CAME TO LOOK FOR HER AGAIN, SHE PROMISED THAT SHE WOULD SHOW HERSELF. SO, THERE WERE ONLY TWO YOUNG MEN WHO RETURNED TO THE SIERRA AND STILL THEY DID NOT FIND HER. SOON THEREAFTER, THEY PARTED COMPANY; ONE YOUTH HAD BECOME EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED AND DID NOT WANT TO GO ON. BUT, THE ALL-SEEING WAWEME TOOK NOTICE OF THIS AND DECIDED TO MAKE AN APPEARANCE TO THE ONE YOUTH WHO HAD REMAINED FAITHFUL, AND SHE TAUGHT HIM EVERYTHING THERE WAS TO KNOW ABOUT THE HUICHOL METHOD OF SHAMANISM...EVEN SHOWING HIM HOW HE COULD SHAPESHIFT INTO A BEE AND GATHER HONEY.
HOWEVER, HER TUTELAGE WAS NOT FREE, AND, DURING THIS TIME, WAWEME DEMANDED THAT OFFERINGS OF ONLY THE SWEETEST OF HONEY, A SACRED FOOD, AND HER STUDENT WAS MORE THAN HAPPY TO COMPLY, BUT THE OTHER YOUTH, THE ONE WHO HAD ABANDONED THE QUEST, TRIED HIS BEST, BUT COULD FIND NOTHING BUT SERPENTS AND A TASTELESS, BITTER HONEY TO GIVE THE GODDESS AS AN OFFERING. AND, HE GREW MORE AND MORE FRUSTRATED AS HE SAW HIS FRIEND RETURN TIME AFTER TIME WITH THE SWEETEST OF HONEY. HE DEMANDED TO KNOW HIS COMPANION'S SECRET, BUT THE FACT WAS, HE HAD NOT EARNED A RIGHT TO THIS SACRED KNOWLEDGE. AND TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY, THE STUDENT SHAMAN (HONEY BOY) FLEW OFF AND SOON RETURNED WITH LEGS THAT WERE FILLED WITH HONEY. THE HONEY BOY TOOK A MACHETE AND BEGAN TO HACK AT HIS FLESH, AND HONEY BEGAN TO FLOW FROM HIS VEINS INSTEAD OF BLOOD. HIS FRIEND WAS AT FIRST IN A STATE OF SHOCK, BUT THEN, THINKING HE MIGHT DO THE SAME, TOOK THE MACHETE AND HACKED AT HIS OWN LEGS...ONLY TO CAUSE HIMSELF THE GREATEST OF INJURY.
THIS WAS ALL TOO MUCH FOR HIM. INJURED AND JEALOUS OVER HIS FRIEND'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GODDESS, HE MURDERED THE HONEY BOY AND DISPOSED OF THE REMAINS IN AN EARTHEN OVEN. AND IT WAS AFTER THE HONEY BOY'S DEATH THAT A BEE COULD BE SEEN EMERGING FROM HIS HEART AND TOOK REFUGE IN A NEARBY PINE TREE, WATCHING WHILE THE LIFELESS BODY WAS CONSUMED BY THE FIRE. AND AS IT BURNED, A SINGLE DROP OF BEESWAX SPURTED FROM THE SEARING FLESH AND FELL UPON THE EARTH. THE ALL-SEEING WAWEME, SEEING WHAT A HORRIBLE CRIME HAD TRANSPIRED, THEN TRANSFORMED THE MURDERER INTO A HERON WHO, FROM THAT DAY ON, WOULD ONLY BE ABLE TO CONSUME REPTILES.
AFTERWARDS, WAWEME DREAMED ABOUT HER SWEET HONEY BOY LIVING IN HIS PINE TREE, AND IN THE DREAM, HE ADVISED HER THAT SHE SHOULD TAKE THE PORTION OF WAX FROM HIS REMAINS BACK TO HER HOUSE. WAWEME DID AS HE INSTRUCTED, AND ONCE SAFELY AT HOME, SHE BEGAN TO FASHION CANDLES FROM THE WAX AND MADE WICKS FROM AGAVE FIBER. WHY, SHE EVEN LEARNED HOW TO LIGHT THEM. MIRACULOUSLY, THE SMALL BIT OF WAX CONTINUED TO INCREASE UNTIL SHE HAD ENOUGH ON HAND TO FASHION SEVERAL CANDLES. AND THIS IS HOW THE HUICHOL RITUAL CANDLES WERE FIRST MADE.
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