I can't remember what this is called, but I bought it in Oaxaca last summer. It's painted ceramic, and is used in limpia, which is a spiritual cleansing ritual. Copal, a tree resin, is put in the basin and burned like an incense. The curandero (healer) holds this dish with legs and waves the smoke all around you for purification. Looking at this drawing, I can almost smell burning copal and hear the crashing of the waves during the limpia I experienced on a Mexican beach.
The healers of Mexico consider sadness, called triste, an illness, as well as susto, extreme fright that causes the spirit to leave the body. In the US we call susto post traumatic stress disorder. I drew this because, in talking to a few people, I realized I wasn't alone in my sadness and overwhelm last week, and thought it might help to start out the new one with some purification.
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