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Maria Lionza      2004 Francisco Lopez      Venezuela                                                   Art Medium: Coloured pencil. Description: El Tarot de Maria Lionza was published in Caracas in 2004. The Minors are conventional with non emblematic pips and simple images for the Courts, but the Majors are a series of rather fine drawings probably in coloured pencil but possibly in pastels. The imagery is for the most part conventional. It is based on the legendary figure Marķa Lionza, the central figure in one of the most widespread indigenous religions in Venezuela. The religious cult which developed in her name is a blend of African, indigenous, and Catholic beliefs similar to the Caribbean Santerķa and she is revered as a goddess of nature, love, peace, and harmony. Some people believe that Maria Lionza was a real historical figure born in 1502 to an Indian Chief from the region of Yarucay. Her name comes from Maria de la Onza (Mary of the Jaguar) derived in turn from the full name 'Santa Maria de la Onza Talavera de Prato de Nivar' ascribed to her by the Catholic Church in order to obscure and Christianise her cult. She is also known by her followers as "La Reina" ("The Queen"). Her cult was revived in the 1940's when writers and artists were looking back to Venezuela's pre-European period in response to a number of archaeological discoveries in the late 1930s and there was a conscious attempt to link her to this rediscovered past. An interesting legend has grown up around the supposed historical character: