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Phillip Lovato
 
Late one summer night, when Philip Lovato was a child, he had a visitor - a Spirit of the Southwest - enter his young life. Ever since, many of these deities have come forth in his dreams, always in a reassuring, protective manner.

Philip Lovato was raised in the rural community of Belen, New Mexico, in an adobe home built by his grandfather. His New Mexico roots reach back at least four generations. Although Philip spent a brief time in California when he was a youngster, he returned to New Mexico – as if beckoned homeward by the Southwest Spirits. He now resides in the mountains of northern New Mexico with his lovely wife, who is also an artist.

Fascinated by the dazzling, ever-changing colors of dichroic glass, Philip Lovato decided to teach himself to work with this mesmerizing medium. After much experimentation, he has successfully refined his technique and now creates intricately detailed wall plaques and jewelry, many of which capture the images of his sacred Southwest Spirits.

Spirits of the Southwest
In ancient times, throughout the American southwest, peoples’ everyday life and religion were strongly influenced by spiritual beings. They believed these Spirits controlled the weather, seasons ("moons"), crops, fertility, water sources, health, hunting success, one’s fate, and more. Over centuries, as the Anasazi and other southwest Amerinds re-colonized, these mystical beings and their powers remained in the peoples’ lives, but slowly evolved, taking on new images and (possibly) new monikers - kachinas (ka’-cinas), yei, animal hunter and prey gods, mountain dancers, etc.

As Spanish Conquistadores, Sephardic Jews, the Spanish Inquisition, and – later – people from other areas entered the Southwest, there was a glorious, blurred intermingling of cultures. But even today, the great Spirits of the Southwest and their never-failing powers remain unchanged; they represent and control the forces of nature and all life.

If you have any doubt as to the presence of these Spirits, a single night spent in the desert – cloaked in the velvety, deep blue-blackness of the skies, the stars so bright you can almost (but not quite!) touch them, surrounded by the sounds of the many desert creatures – listen carefully, for you may hear the footsteps of the Spirits as they rise over the mountain peaks and descend into the valleys of the Land of Enchantment, and enter your soul. You will never again doubt their powers or their presence...

 
 
 
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