The Reaper

A Paracas/Nazca Textile By Clifford C. Richey September 2009

Illustration 1: Based on a drawing by Sally Schacter Paracas/Nazca Textile The overall Form of this scene is one of a Square which is the sign for a house or domain. The imagery is one of a figure holding three Seed Pods (left -brown) shorthand for many and two Larger Pods (right, olive) the two being plural and the relatively larger size meaning great in its hands. The Great Ones. . The Image may represent, the one who holds the seeds. The harvester, The angry one (expression, showing of teeth). The Feet are not human feet but rather the Paws of a Jaguar (The Jaguar was the night time phase of the sun, the sun beneath the earth). The figure presents the general theme of the message, the Harvest or Reaper.

The House, The Domain Within It

The Harvester The Great Tumi Knife, The Great Ray Of The Sun The Great Man His Hands , His Stewards Hold The Many Pods, The Many Containers The Great Ones

His Angry Face, His Angry Appearance The Paws of the Jaguar, The Sun's Hands The Vertical Places The Places of Water The Vertical Place Of The Seeds, Their Faces The Female-Spirits, Their Appearance Their Long Flights On The Sides (of the earth) Held As In A Bowl Below The Mouth, The Spring On The Hillside In The West Taken Upwards On The Side Taken Upwards Here The Journey …............. Arising In The West His Face, His Appearance The Hand, The Eye (of the sun) The Steward, Venus Below Contained Within A Dark Place The Opening In the Earth (There are 6 hole signs that make the Form for arising on each side of the hillside appears to be a count but what this refers to is unknown)

In The East Taken Upwards On The side Taken Upwards Here Arising In the East The Eye, Venus Below Moving Up The Hillside The Hand Surrounded By Darkness The Vertical Place Above The Hilltop

The Imagery of the figure is framed By Imagery of two Serpents (streams of water) and the Heads of Birds (fliers or flights). The Eyes of the Serpents and Birds are the gesture signs for holes-in-thesurface. There are ten holes which may be a count of the levels of the under-world plus one for the earth's surface. The Serpents are at the bottom in the underworld. Their Heads are the compound signs for turning-places. The Serpent's Mouths indicate sources of water. The Eyes , as stated above are hole signs. The Teeth of the Serpent's represent (on the right side) location-place-the house. Followed by the Fangs, places-far-below. The Teeth of the Serpent (on the left side) are female-house plus the Fang, far below. The the tooth to the left represents male-spirit plus the Fang, far below. The male-spirit-farbelow. The Neck of the Serpent's (light blue) represents vertical-places. The Body of the Serpents is composed of Hook shaped signs meaning taken -upwards. The signs when the Eyes (holes) are included, create the Imagery of three Bird Heads on each side indicating, many-flights-on-the sides. The topmost Bird's Beaks (Mouths, water-sources) terminate in a dark-hillside sign. The Brim of the figure's Hat appears to be a compound sign that is made from the signs for: the Circular location sign, long- turning-on-the side signs, and female-openings signs that make up a doorway or gateway sign. The Overall Form of the Brim of the Hat is reminiscent of the Imagery on many Nazca ceramics that is in the shape of a Feline Head with Long Whiskers. Such Imagery represents the Jaguar or the Sun in its night phase. This may also be the reason why the hill sign was colored in black for darkness. This message seems to be related to that part of the cosmology where the Sun and the spirits have been in the under-world and are just beginning to emerge at the earth's surface which is still in darkness. There are more Hook shaped signs (orange) on each side of the figure's face. These signs, again, mean taken-upwards and the the ones on the right terminate in the Image of a Foot (red) meaning a journey. There are other signs (white background) that appear to be intentional but their Form is not clearly understood. However the white space between the orange Hook signs and the Brim of the Hat are clearly in the Form of Arms and Hands (warriors and stewards of the sun). These signs let us know whose spirits are arriving at the surface of the hillside. We will now move on the the largest imagery in the figure. This Imagery is translated first due to its size but in dealing with non-linear material it is difficult to translate it in the proper order all at once into English. We will attempt to place the messages in their proper order later on.

He Stands Holding the Pods. The Containers of The Seeds The Great Tumi Knife, The Great Warrior The Great Man

This Imagery (dark blue) is in the form of a Tumi-knife (a sign for warrior and by relative size, a Great Warrior. As Dual Imagery the knife is also a phallic sign for male, A Great Man. A possibly sinister translation of this figure is the metaphor of the one who cuts or harvests the seeds. The seeds, of course, representing the spirits (the seeds planted in the earth) so this nice agricultural scene may have held a darker meaning of warriors having been killed. We take note that the seeds in the design of the figure's Clothing appear to be Beans. By the Imagery alone we can see that these beans represent spirits as they all have faces ( their appearance or as they appear). If some kind of distinction was made between the different kinds of seeds it is unknown. Some of the faces look like Skulls meaning the death or the dead. Some of the Faces appear to be dots arranged in triangles meaning female-spirits. The imagery is not too clear so we will not attempt to translate each Image. But we can see that the Bean on the right shoulder contain the sign of a Finger (pointing a direction –here) pointing to the upper Arm (light Blue) which is a vertical-place sign. This is followed by a horizontal (darker green) surface-place sign. Next we come to the Imagery of a Hand (skin-tone), the steward of the sun. The hand is further composed of signs that relate to the house and places-female. Below or held in the Hand are the two Seed Pods. The is a single Large vertical place at the top of which is the held as in a bowl

sign in the center of the Clothing. On each side is a very long necked Bird Head meaning long-flights on the sides (of the earth) The Pods appear to have been composed from the signs for contained-in and on-the-side. The Stem of the Pods is a narrow, vertical, place sign. This place sign is connected to the (orange) taken-upward signs. The left side of the figure holding the seeds has similar meaning except for there being three seeds, many seeds and the signs for turning-place signs above the Hand. The turning-place of the many stewards of the sun. The turning-place sign is above the Hand while the Stems of the Seeds are below. Thus the turning place above (the sky) and the many levels-places (the Fingers positioned one above the other) of the seeds (the spirits) of the Hand below. Part of the Tumi knife (top center) is in the Form for the compound sign, held-as-in-a-bowl-unseen. This is directly under the Imagery of the Mouth (a water-source) the teeth of which represent a multitude of places. The water-source, a spring and its bowl like pool are directly under the sign (brown) for a hill. The right hand side shows the profile of a stepped hillside and at it s top a tall vertical place sign –a place above (the sky). The white area is in the Form of a stylized hand with its Finger pointing downward. The Eye, (The eye of the sunVenus, below). The sign elements that make up the Eye are the signs for, contained-within-a-darkplace. This means that at this time Venus is below the earth. On the left hand side the hillside sign is not so clearly stepped as on the right, The steps were converted to the sign for motion or moving and the Eye is composed of the signs for female and place. The area around the Eye is black as the sign for, surrounded in darkness. The Hair line for the figure is made from the signs for holes. There are twelve such signs and they are in the Stance or arranged to create the Form for the sign meaning arising. is repeated on both side of the figure's Face as Venus arises on both sides of the earth. The total count of the hole signs gives up the count for the twelve levels of the sky above. The rationale for the six levels on each side is unknown. There is a Hand image (pink) on the left shoulder of the figure that probably equates the Hand or steward of the sun with the Eye of the Sun -Venus. The Hand imagery is composed of the signs for a doorway or gateway. The right hand shoulder imagery (pink) is that of the Triangular female sign and the sign for an opening-place, an opening in the earth. Finally we come to the Feet of the figure. We know the foot means a journey. Further, the Foot is in the imagery of a foot with Claws. The feet are composed form the signs for a vertical place, a place sign, and the sign for water. It is likely that the clawed feet refer to the Paws of the Jaguar (the sun) The Hands of the Sun in vertical places, watery places. Because this scene is described in heavily metaphorical wording the exact meaning of the figure is somewhat uncertain. At first glance it appear to be a farmer harvesting legumes but one also notes the clawed feet of the jaguar, and the vague jaguar emblem on the figure's forehead or hat one tends to think in terms of Jaguar warriors. The large portion of the body in clothing with depictions of seeds upon it is in the shape of a large tumi knife usually related to priests and sacrifice or at least warriors. Therefore the image of a peaceful farmer is contradicted by the signs out of which the imagery is composed. We have found that many Nazca battle scenes are not scene of real battles but metaphorical battles that take place in the afterlife. It seems, from what we know at this point in time, that the main imagery found in such scenes was intended to present an association with a known situation or topic. In this scene's case we might be justified in saying that the main figure represents a harvester or reaper

something akin the the meaning of the Grim Reaper in English. After all this harvester is harvesting seed that once placed or buried in the ground are considered to be human-spirits (spirits that have faces) that arise to the surface of the earth likened to the sprouting of the seed. Perhaps after large number of translations are made patterns may be found that will assist us in learning how to differentiate better between what was intended to be strictly allegorical and that which was intended to be read literally. For the moment we will have to be content with determining this though what the combination of signs can tell us about whether the subject metaphorical or not. For example, many dogs show up in Nazca scenes. The association for dog is its essence. Dogs bark and warn people of impending danger so their sign can be considered as the word for a prediction or prophecy. How can we distinguish the difference between a prophecy and a prophet. This appears to have been resolved by making the image of a human combined with the features of a dog. If the scene we have translated above was of a real farmer harvesting his crops it is doubtful he would wear and angry face. --especially at harvest time. It is even more doubtful that any farmer would have clawed feet. The figure's hands are human hands but his feet are jaguar feet. Such a combination should quickly alert us alert us that this is not an everyday farmer. This reaper is a reaper of the one who hunts at night –the jaguar. His human hands tell us that he is a human hand in the service of the sun. Among the Inca such warriors were called rays of the sun. The reaper's feet are jaguar paws or hands of the jaguar, the two become equated. Once translated Nazca messages have the quality of a song or poem. The themes seem to based on expressing the basic cosmology in various poetic ways and therefore similar signs (words) show up in very different appearing scenes. We can compare a Nazca combat scenes with this agricultural scene and, at first glance, they would seem to be about very different themes. Yet we can see from this and earlier papers that such is not the case. What appears to have been important was the cosmology and how it could be rendered in an artistic and creative manner through metaphor. Christianity today uses such themes to relate the story of the birth of Christ. Just as the Nazca did the story is repeated over and over again in manger scenes. Depending on time and geography such scenes may look a bit different as the Kings may appear more or less regal and the animals around the manger may change a bit in number and type but the basic story remains pretty much the same. The difference is that the Manger themes are themes only and unlike the Nazca themes cannot be interpreted further by viewing the scenes in greater detail. We also are beginning to learn that the signs and imagery do not appear to represent deities or monsters. The signs and imagery are all words, many of them compounded to create new words or meanings. It is the result of such compounding that often presents such a strange, overall, appearance to the modern viewer that one would think the scenes are the result of myth, legend, or drug induced visions.