La Virgin Morena

This was the first true Tabla de Luz, votive tablet of light, as the use of reflective gold and silver beads gives the work an icon-like illumination and adds to the intensity of the image. Here the Virgin is portrayed in traditional style, except for the omission of the angel under the crescent. The artist has researched this apparition of the Virgin and the resultant miraculous image on the tilma of Indian Juan Diego and most of the experts claim that the putti-style angel was a later addition perhaps made by a European artist, or at least an artist influenced by that style. The black crescent that most consider to be the moon, the artist believes more likely to be the horns of a bull. As such, the crescent represents the dominant, generative male paradigm, while the Virgin standing on the crescent symbolizes a higher place of reverence given to Her. The ancient tradition of portraying the Virgin standing on the horns is one that persists cross-culturally through the millennia, hearkening back to goddess images of Mithos and Crete.

The archetypal Virgin and the adoration of Her very thecal image appears worldwide and predates Christianity by thousands of years. The Blessed Virgin of the Nauhuatl-speaking culture of Mexico was named Tonanzin, though her titles of praise are legion. The Mexican people honored her image and worshiped her presence in the virgin earth long before Catholicism arrived on the continent. La Virgin Morena was exhibited in the Taos Open Art Show of 1994. It was purchased by Victor Villaseñor as a birthday gift for his mother, Guadalupe Villaseñor, and resides in her collection in Carlsbad, CA.