God's eye

Key takeaways

God's eye belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect God's eye to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of God's eye from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A God's eye (in Spanish, Ojo de Dios) is a spiritual and votive object made by weaving a design out of yarn upon a wooden cross. Often several colors are used. They are commonly found in Mexican, Peruvian, and Latin American communities, among both Indigenous and Catholic peoples. Ojos de Dios are common in the Pueblos of New Mexico. Often they reflect a confidence in all-seeing Providence. Some believers think the spiritual eye of the Ojos de Dios has the power to see and understand things unknown to the physical eye. During Spanish colonial times in New Mexico from the 16th to the 19th centuries, Ojos de Dios (God's Eyes) were placed where people worked, or where they walked along a trail. In other parts of the Americas, artisans weave complicated or variegated versions of the traditional Ojos de Dios, selling them as decorations or religious objects. There has also been a huge increase in the use of Ojos de Dios as an easy and fun craft for children. The Ojo de Dios or God's eye is a ritual tool that was believed to protect those while they pray, a magical object, and an ancient cultural symbol evoking the weaving motif and its spiritual associations for the Huichol and Tepehuan people of western Mexico. The Huichol or Wixaritari call their God's Eyes Tsikuri, which means "the power to see and understand things unknown." When a child is born, the father weaves the central eye, then one color is added for every year of the child's life until the child reaches the age of five. Original Tepehuan Crosses are extremely rare to come by. Many are made for the tourist market, but they do not carry the same traditional and spiritual significance.

Nierika, Nieli'ka

In the traditional Huichol rancho, the nieli'ka or nierika is an important ritual artifact. Negrín states that one of the principal meanings of "nierika" is that of "a metaphysical vision, an aspect of a god or a collective ancestor," and is the same term the Tepehuán people use to refer to deities. Negrín quotes Lumholtz as stating that for the Huichol and Tepehuan "a nierika means a picture, an appearance, or a sacred representation." The term nierika is etymologically rooted in the verb nieriya, "to see". Nierika are found in Huichol and Tepehuans' most sacred places: house shrines (xiriki), springs, caves and temples. Some Natives of northwest Mexico and throughout the southwest U.S. have had visions during peyote ceremonies in which they received guidance from gods who appeared before them in many shapes, though the eyes of the God were so intense and overwhelming that many Natives could only see the eye of the God. To show others the vision they had, they made the God's eye - woven on sticks with handspun yarn, colored with various types of berries, flowers, and other materials to capture the essence of their vision. Negrín states that: "The votive nierika is generally a round offering, symbolizing an ancestor and prayer offerings sanctified by the blood of a sacrificed animal." Nierika as a ritual object may be attached to votive arrows with bamboo and yarn, or wood-and-wax-embedded objects. Similarly, Lumholtz states that the nierika "evokes an ancestor, thanks it with blood offerings, and invokes its favors." The nierika may take different forms and fabrication may differ greatly: a small round or square tablet with a hole in the center covered on one or both sides with a mixture of beeswax and pine resin into which threads of yarn are pressed; when the image is not round, it may be considered a resting mat for the ancestors, or a prayer mat or itari. Negrín states the elaborate interwoven nierika that Lumholtz called namma (which is close to the pronunciation of Namkha) from which originated the detailed and now prized yarn paintings of the commercial art world, are now rarely if ever seen. Namma were generally rectangular or square in shape, with yarn woven onto a grid of bamboo sticks. These God's Eyes are also called by the Spanish term ojo de dios. One understanding of the ojo de dios according to Harvey is of a: "wand" (the eye) through which the eye of god will see the supplicant. Harvey states that: "The cross of the ojo de dios is that of the legendary four directions: earth, fire, water, and air."

See also Dreamcatcher Nazar (amulet) Namkha Witch ball

Notes

References Noel, Thomas J. (1989). "Colorado Catholicism". Archived from the original on 2013-09-22. Retrieved 2013-03-31. Mager, Lynn (2012). "Traveling the Trail - El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail". U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved 2013-03-31. Corelis, Angela (undated?). "Huichol Indians, their Art and Symbols". (accessed: Sunday, 7 January 2007) Hale, Vincent (2001). "Eye of God (Ojo de Dios)". (accessed: Sunday, January 7, 2007). Lumholtz, Carl S. (?). Symbolism of the Huichol Indians, Volume III, 1900-1907. Negrín, Juan (2003). "Nerika". (accessed: Sunday, 7 January 2007) Valadez, Susana (1994). "The Huichols: A Culture in Transition". Archived from the original on 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2007-01-07. Zelaya, Jose (2005). Arte del Pueblo. (accessed: Sunday, January 7, 2007)

External links

Wixárika Research Center "Ojo de Dios Huichol - Símbolo de enlace con la energía del entorno". Cultura10 (in Spanish). September 23, 2018. "El Ojo De Dios Huichol, Un Amuleto De Protección y Cosmovisión". El que siembra, cosecha (in Spanish). May 15, 2014. Durán, Angeline (February 14, 2018). "What's A God's Eye?". Ancient Southwest.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with God's eye

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what God's eye claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to God's eye before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about God's eye ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of God's eye

In research: God's eye appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses God's eye in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: God's eye is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1960s fads and trends, Amulets, Art in New Mexico, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for God's eye outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study God's eye in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what God's eye means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain God's eye out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is God's eye in simple terms?

A God's eye (in Spanish, Ojo de Dios) is a spiritual and votive object made by weaving a design out of yarn upon a wooden cross. Often several colors are used.

Why does God's eye matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study God's eye?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on God's eye.