After many days of research into the ancient Mayan curandera goddess Ixchel, I began imagining life as an Ancient Maya. A vision formed of an inky, boundless night sky. I painted that first. While the paint dried, I watched the movie Fantastic Fungi and felt sure that the ancient Maya, who were expert astronomers, masterful architects, and wrote books on bark paper in 500 BCE, knew about the healing properties of fungi. For the ground I wove together life and death with mycelium, and over that painted a soft green lush patch of land blooming with mushrooms, ferns, and flowers for the goddess to stand upon. She after all, inhabited the abundant plant life in the Yucatan peninsula. The temple in my painting was inspired by the ancient ruins that exist on The Isla Mujeres, an island sacred to women and dedicated to Ixchel. It is said that the windows of the temple were designed so the tower could serve as a lighthouse. My re-imagining of Ixchel shows her with a golden double snake crown. Ixchel was depicted with a snake on her head more than 2500 years ago. Snakes are a symbol of rebirth and immortality in many cultures. Two snakes are a symbol of healing in medicine today. Ixchel was also depicted with a rabbit— a sign of fertility, of health, and of spring, the season of revival. Her name, in Mayan hieroglyphics is Chak Chel, which translates to large rainbow. It is told that the goddess waned from maiden to crone with the cycles of the moon. I composed a rainbow around the moon which frames her head, and decorated her with jewelry depicting the metals and gems of the ancient Maya: jade, coral, gold, and copper. Ixchel is still revered in Mayan culture today.