Yaxchilán
Vision Serpent
c.
755 A.D.
Lintel 15 Yaxchilan
Yaxchilán
is unique in its multitude of images of Maya royalty engaged
in ceremonial rituals invoking their ancestors in the form
of what is called the Vision Serpent.
This is an isolated Vision Serpent from the lintel dubbed
The Vision Rite of Lady 6 Tun.
Many monuments at Yaxchilán depict kings and queens
engaged in the ritual of bloodletting.
If this was a city of seers, as many believe it was, then
the bloodletting ceremony was undoubtedly the ritual magic
used to start the seer on their journey.
To quote Linda Schele and David Friedel in A Forest of Kings,
¨The aim of these great cathartic rituals was the vision
quest, the opening of a portal into the Otherworld through
which gods and the ancestors could be enticed so that the
beings of this world could commune with them.¨