My Secret Place - December 2009

By Erika Wanenmacher, as told to Devon Jackson

My secret place has to do with my most recent work, Ditch Witch. It’s not the ditch itself, but a specific spot where the ditch paths, or acequia paths, cross. I used that for my artwork. Ditch Witch came out of my regular life—from walking the dog, Kevin, out to this spot for about two years. It’s extra special, and it’s in the city. And all around it is this riparian habitat. It’s pretty spectacular. It’s along a ditch and a big open field, and there are a lot of coyotes around there. So I started making a Coyote shrine, because it’s at a crossroads. In magical terms, that’s where gods and goddesses and the guardians of the crossroads are. Coyotes are an incarnation of them—so are Hecate and Hermes—and they’re generally messengers who cross back and forth between our world and theirs.

So this Coyote spot is kind of where I pay my dues. It’s like giving homage to these messengers, to the other side—Here’s my toll money for getting across.

It kind of mirrors my entire creative process. This Coyote altar has things that I pick up and put there specifically—found objects like partially filled whiskey bottles, or purses and wallets probably discarded by thieves. I once had a Belgian banknote that I’d found and stuffed into a bottle and left there, and it disappeared.

About 15 years ago this woman, Kay Turner, asked me why women make altars, for a book she wrote called Beautiful Necessity: The Art and Meaning of Women’s Altars (Thames & Hudson, 1999). I think it’s in women’s DNA to make altars. I have an altar in my kitchen, in my studio. All over. There’s one on top of my TV set. But this one in the ditch is pretty mindful and specific.

I go there alone, and if other people are around, I bypass it. I’m stealthy when other people are there. I keep it rough-looking on purpose. It’s a fragile spot, but it’s also powerful, and it has deepened my magical practice.

It’s a very generous spot, too, and that’s what makes it special. You know that saying, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” Well, out there, what do you do when you meet Coyote?

Santa Fe-based mixed-media and installation artist Erika Wanenmacher, who calls herself a Culture Witch, creates work that evokes nature and culture. She’s exhibited nationally and internationally, and shows in New Mexico at Linda Durham Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, where Ditch Witch was exhibited in summer 2009. For info: www.erikawanenmacher.com; www.lindadurham.com