For the Mayans, the world was a complex and awesome place, alive with sacred power. This power was part of the landscape, of the fabric of space and time, of thing both living and inanimate, and of the forces of nature--storms, wind, mist, smoke, rain, earth, sky, and water. Zoomorphs, that is creatures that feature a variety of animal traits, such as this striking terracotta animal figure, were imbued with this sacred power. Although they resided in the Mayan over and underworlds, their magic affected worldly phenomena as well as the supernatural. As we experience the zoomorphic figure, with its wide-open mouth raised to the heavens, our imagination soars through the Mayan Universe, conjuring up images of ancient invocations and incantations to the spirits of the past.