The Blood of Kings

This collection is the result of nearly 40 years of study, travel, and learning.

Blood sacrifice, or bloodletting, is a major part of understanding the history of the Maya. For them, physical blood was not just a life force, but something deeply sacred. They believed it held the key to connecting with the gods.

Not just any blood would do. They needed good blood, clean blood, royal blood—the best possible blood there was: the blood of kings.

They saw blood as the essence of life, and it acted as a bridge. A potent force capable of connecting the human and divine realms. They believed the gods themselves shed blood to create the world. Through bloodletting, they believed they were sharing in that same creative act with the gods.

The history of the Maya and the lore surrounding them has been a personal driving force for people around the world. I know it has been for me. I've asked questions about them throughout my life. For my generation, it was a big deal in 2012 when the Mayan calendar came to an end.

For Dell's generation, it was something completely different. His travels throughout the 1960s and 1970s took place during the height of discovery. This was when we first began learning to read the lost language of the Maya. They stopped being the peaceful astronomers we once thought them to be and became people who believed they held the universe together through their blood sacrifices.

It's difficult for me to fully express the significance of these works. The lifelong process required to create them, along with the depth of study involved, is almost incomprehensible to me. Dell could read the hieroglyphs as fluently as you're reading this now.

These works are genuine in every sense. Dell often said they were "colored to scale." He studied the Maya so intimately that he knew where every piece of clothing originated, along with the stories behind the artifacts depicted within each hieroglyph. Every detail had to be understood. He had to know what pigments, dyes, fibers, and materials were available to them so he could accurately recreate what is shown in the hieroglyphs.

The willingness to serve in the bloodletting process is the single most important part of the offering. The giver must be willing to participate and happy to do so. This offering, in its own way, is a blood sacrifice to the gods. Through one willing person, a bridge will be created between us and the universe: and all things will be made possible.