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COATLICUE
CINTEOTL
EUEUCOYOTL
HUITZILOPOCHTLI
ITZCOLIUHQUI
ITZPAPALOTL
MICTLAN
OMETEOTL
QUETZALCOATL
TEZCATLIPOCA
TLALOC
TLALOCAN
TLILLAN-TLAPALLAN
TLAZOLTEOTL
TONATIUH
XIPE TOTEC
XIUHTECUHTLI
Resources:
CHALCHIHUITLCUE
Lady Precious Green, wife of Tlaloc. Goddess of storms and water. Personification of youthful
beauty, vitality and violence. In some illustrations she is shown holding the head of
Tlazolteotl, the goddess of the witches, between her legs. Chalchihuitlcue is the whirlpool,
the wind on the waters, all young and growing things, the beginning of life and creation.
Earth monster. In the darkness and chaos before the Creation, the female Earth Monster
swam in the waters of the earth devouring all that she saw. When the gods Quetzalcoatl
and Tezcatlipoca decided to impose form upon the Earth, they changed themselves into
serpents and struggled with the Earth Monster until they broke her in two. Coatlicue's
lower part then rose to form the heavens and her upper part descended to form the earth.
Coatlicue has an endless, ravenous appetite for human hearts and will not bear fruit
unless given human blood
The corn god, the giver of food, god of fertility and regeneration. Cinteotl is
protected by the rain gods Tlaloc and Chalchihuitlcue.
The Old, Old Coyote. Associated with gaiety and sex. A god of spontaneity, of ostentatious
ornament, of unexpected pleasure and sorrow. A trickster and troublemaker. Considered unlucky.
God of war, son of Coatlicue. Principal god of the Aztecs. When Coatlicue became pregnant
with Huitzilopochtli, her daughter Coyolxauhqui incited her brothers, the Centzon Huitznahua
(the Four Hundred Stars) to destroy Coatlicue, because her pregnancy brought disgrace on
the family. Still in the womb, Huitzilopochtli swore to defend his mother and immediately
on being born put on battle armor and war paint. After defeating the Four Hundred Stars,
Huitzilopochtli slew his sister and cast her down the hill at Templo Mayor where her body
broke to pieces on striking the bottom. Priests at Templo Mayor killed prisoners in the same
way, these sacrifices being replicas of mythical events designed to keep the daily battle
between day and night and the birth of the God of War ever in the minds of the people. Often
considered synonomous with QUETZALCOATL.
The Twisted Obsidian One, the God of the Curved Obsidian Blade. God of darkness and
destruction. Blinded and cast down from the heavens, Itzcoliuhqui strikes out randomly
at his victims.
Obsidian Butterfly. Beautiful, demonic, armed with the claws of a jaguar. The female
counterpart of Itzcoliuhqui.
Below the world of living men there are nine underworlds, the lowest of which is Mictlan,
the Land of the Dead ruled by Mictlantechupi and his consort Mictlancihuntl. Souls who win
no merit in life come here after death, but they do not suffer as in the Christian hell.
Instead they merely endure a rather drab and colorless existence before passing again
into the world of the living. As a man disappears into the West, the direction of the
dead, the seeds of his rebirth are sown.
"God of the Near and Close," "He Who Is at the Center," the god above all, the being both
male and female who created all life and existence. Ometeotl is dualistic, embodying both
male and female, light and dark, positive and negative, yes and no. Ometoetol occupies
Omeyocan, the highest of the Aztecs' thirteen heavens, and the four heavens immediately
below Omeyocan are a mystery about which no one knows very much. Below the five highest
heavens is a region of strife and tempest, where Ometeotl breaks into his many facets or
aspects.
The Feathered Serpent. The Precious Twin who lifts the sun out of darkness, god of the
winds and the breath of life, First Lord of the Toltecs. Lawgiver, civilizer, creator of
the calender. Demons tempted Quetzalcoatl constantly to commit murder and human sacrifice,
but his love was too great for him to succumb. To atone for great sins, Quetzcoatl threw
himself on into a funeral pyre, where his ashes rose to the heavens as a flock of birds
carrying his heart to the star Venus. A frieze in the palace at Teotihuacan shows his
first entry into the world in the shape of a chrysalis, from which he struggles to emerge
as a butterfly, the symbol of perfection. Quetzalcoatl is by far the most compassionate of
the Azec gods -- he only demands one human sacrifice a year. Often considered synonomous
with HUITZILOPOTCHLI.
The Prince of This World, the Mirror that Smokes, the One Always at the Shoulder, the Shadow.
A trickster, revered particularly by soldiers and magicians. The name refers to the black
obsidian mirrors used by magicians which become cloudy when scrying. A god of wealth and
power, Tezcatlopoca's favors can only be won by those willing to face his terrors. Ruler
over the early years of a man's life.
Lord of all sources of water, clouds, rain, lightening, mountain springs, and weather.
Kingdom of Tlaloc, a heaven of sensual delights, of rainbows, butterflies and flowers, of
simple-minded and shallow pleasures. Souls spend only four years here before returning to
the land of the living. Unless it strives for higher and nobler things while living, a soul
is destined for this endless round of mortal life and Tlalocan. When a life had been
particularly evil, a soul might journey instead to Mictlan.
The land of the fleshless. The Land of the Black and Red, the colors signifying wisdom. A
paradise for those who successfully follow the teachings of Quetzalcoatl. Those souls who
come to Tlillan-Tlapallan have learned to live without fleshly bodies, a state greatly to
be desired.
Eater of filth, devourer of sins, goddess of witches and witchcraft. Tlazolteotl has power
over all forms of unclean behavior, usually sexual. Confessing sins to Tlazolteotl, one is
cleansed. The goddess has four forms or aspects, corresponding to the phases of the moon: a
young and carefree temptress, the lover of Quetzalcoatl; the Goddess of gambling and
uncertainty; the Great Priestess who consumes and destroys the sins of mankind; and frightful
old crone, persecutor and destroyer of youth.
God of the Sun. Poor and ill, Tonatiuh cast himself into the flames, and being burnt up,
was resurrected. Daily Tonatiuh repeats his passage across the heavens, down into darkness,
and back again into the sky. With him Tonatiuh carries all brave warriors who have died in
battle and all brave women who have died in childbirth. The greatest heroes Tonatiuh carries
with him to the greatest heights. In Tonatiuhican, the House of the Sun, dwell those who
have won even greater enlightenment than those who dwell in Tlillan-Tlapallan.
Lord of the Spring, god of newly planted seed and of pentitential torture. A pockmarked saviour
who tears out his eyes and flays himself in penance to the gods, thus persuading the gods to
give maize to men. Giving up his pockmarked skin, Xipe Totec is then clad in robes of gold.
Lord of fire, Lord of the Pole Star, pivot of the universe, one of the forms of the Supreme
Deity. The lord of every flame, from those which burn in the temples to those which burn in
the lowliest huts. XOLOTL The god with backward feet who brought Man as well as Fire from the
underworlds. Bringer of misfortune. The evil aspect of the star Venus. Quetzalcoatl's
deformed twin.
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