Tonal is an animal spirit that
protects you. From him you acquire especial qualities and teachings to guide
you along the journey of life.
This series of drawings was created
with the intention of capturing all those intangible wishes we want to share
with our children. Qualities such as wisdom, strength, health, love for nature. The meaning of each “Tonal” is
determined by the skills you decide to
assign him, is then that he gets his magical powers.
Each Tonal carries with him an Ojo de Dios that aids him on his work as
a guardian. In the Huichol culture, when a baby is born an Ojo de Dios or "Tsik
ri" is made for him and offered to the universe asking for his good growth. This Ojo de Dios represents the five cardinal
directions - east, west, north, south and center - of the Huichol cosmogony. It
is through this amulet that gods can observe each child personally. For every
round to the sun and until age 5, the child receives an Ojo de Dios , forming then his own cosmic tree.
The term Tonal is taken from the Toltec culture in which the
Nagual and Tonal constitute a whole entity , being one the intangible and the other the tangible of life in the
universe.
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