DNA wise my heart smiled when what I knew was confirmed. Nahual, Aztec, Mayan nation I Am and then some and all indigenous native of the world except for the 2-4% boat owners.
During entheogen travels, experiencing and overcoming intense pain, discomfort challenges, I laid on the summer grass and cried asking a particular question....
The Answer:
Oh child, your pain is your gift.
Thank you for being here again.
Your three course Feed Your Head today service today is a share on the Shape-Shifters of my people and my personal lineage.
Appetizer
The Mayan nahual or rajawal - a word equivalent to Ruwäch q'ij from Kaqchikel - is a protective entity that accompanies a person for the rest of their life.
Meaning of the Mayan worldview
The Mayan cosmovision is the order and vision of the world based on a system of harmonious beliefs between the mental, spiritual and emotional dimensions with the Mayan cosmos.
Main Entrée mmmmm
The relationship between shamanism and power is something to think about. The shaman's status in his community is related to the use of psychoactive substances to the extent that one of the functions of drugs is to ritually separate, to mark a line between who can consume them and who cannot. As part of initiation rites, entheogens separate children from warriors, warriors from women, and initiates from neophytes. In this sense, the Huichol is one of the most democratic groups that consume psychoactive plants, such as jículi, but the consumption of kieri, and its restricted use even among shamans, indicates a principle of authority and exclusivity that must be taken into account as an organizing principle. . Until now, there is no known, ethnographically speaking, an entheogen exclusive to women and children that allows them to consolidate positions of power in a community.
When a shaman enters a state of receptivity, he does so because he has been asked to do so and is expected to comply, thus entering the universe of *reciprocity. In principle he does not act for himself, since he has already received a *gift, a distinction. Its task will be, for example, in the case of illness, to act on the patient's soul or extract the pathogenic element from the patient's body. If there is a shortage of game or food, the owner of the animals will have to be persuaded to give the men some heads of his livestock. If it comes to war, the enemy's forces will have to be weakened. This is a different knowledge and power than ordinary individuals have, as they must deal with the secret side of the world.
The Mayan culture establishes that each person is born with a nahual that protects them. To do this, they use the sacred calendar -Cholq'ij-, to determine under which representation they are.
Thus, positive characteristics are built and the weaknesses of people's personalities are identified according to their nahual or date of birth.
It should be noted that the main job of both the calendar and the nahual is to recognize the energy that human beings emit in relation to their environment.
***The tonal is the vital principle that gives life to the person, one and multiple at the same time; It manifests itself through the beating of blood in matlactli ivan ome totlalnamikilis , our twelve senses.***
Located in twelve points that trace the silhouette of the human body by their location: crown, nape, neck, navel, joint of forearms and wrists, and hamstrings and ankles; It is also the alter ego that abandons the sleeper at night to wander in the other world; and it is the one that "stays" on earth, in water or in fire, when someone suffers a fright. It is also named sitlal , star, and chicabalis , strength; They all represent the strength and vitality of the person: "We are worthless without our tonal , if our spirit is attacked," says Don Mario, ixtlamatki from Tlacotepec, "we can go to the pantheon in five minutes, we die." The spirit is what makes us live.
SinceAlfredo López Austin (1984)showed that the ancient Nahuas conceived the individual as consisting of a heavy and a light matter, that is, a material body and three soul entities: teyolía , tonalli and ihiyotl , many researchers
(Alvarado 2004,Ariel de Vidas 2003,Fagetti 1998,Hirose 2008,Ichon 1990,Islands 2008,Olavarría et al. 2009,Page 2005,Romero 2006a,Signorini and Lupo 1989,Tornez 2008,Villanueva 2007)
we have found in traditional indigenous thought the idea that the person has a vital principle, considered as a breath, a breath, a force and energy, which animates him and infuses him with life, which occupies every portion of the physical body and at the same time Time is concentrated in some points: the heart, the head, the joints. It is one and multiple at the same time, since as a whole or as a part it can be separated from it. It is ubiquitous because it can be attached to the body and at the same time be outside it, which is why it is also divisible and relatively autonomous, since it takes advantage of the night to leave— notonal perhaps , our tonal leaves—and enter the sleeping body, giving rise to dream experiences, and suddenly abandons it due to a fright. The definitive departure from it produces the death of the physical body and the beginning of the postmortem existence of the individual as a disembodied entity, which is responsible for continuing to live "its other life" in the "other world."
Among the Nahuas of Tlacotepec, the conception of the tonal as an alter ego of the individual, as an incorporeal, subtle and invisible entity, and a vital force spread throughout the body, is of great importance to understand the notion of person, the symbolic system that refers to illness and death and, consequently, the work of the ixtlamatki , "he who knows and knows", as an agent of good, and the nahualli , agent of evil. Although the ethnographic data describe a marked and unquestionable antagonism between one and the other, it seems that some people can play both roles depending on the circumstances, that is, as a healer and a fortune teller—if the person requesting their services is sick or needs to know something they do not know. —, and as a doer of evil, when he is asked to cause harm to others or when he acts on his own account. In this case it will be said of the person: "he knows about both: good and bad."
The fact that the same person can serve as a benefactor or an evildoer does not prevent symbolic logic from alluding to an open antagonism between both characters: ixtlamatki and nahualli . In fact, their characterization refers to a set of oppositions: the powers of both come from the gift, that is, they are predestined people who are born with "little white or black clothes." The child who has "a good gift" has itzucoto , his little clothes, the veil, or icuatzaca , the little cap, white; that is, the amnion that covers the body or head of the newborn. The midwife must leave it with him because she is going to hide him in a place that only she knows. Doña Casilda toldLaura Romero (2003: 89) that the midwife who attended to his mother during childbirth took off her "little clothes": "this is done by the "envious" midwives in order to prevent the child, as he grows, from developing his faculties and "taking down his job" ». On the contrary, Doña Teresa, a tlamatki interviewed by Elizabeth Mateos, was able to keep her precious wrapping. This is the story of her birth:
Laura Romero (2003: 89Casilda Valdivia Ramírez, Tepopova), The one who cleans
Those who know. Life testimonies of traditional doctors from the Tehuacán region, 2003
"The veil was well embroidered and white, like a pumpkin, the fabric was white as a paper. Then someone came to ask my mother: “Let's see, where is your baby? Show me it!". And she told him: "No, I don't have my baby, she died." My mother kept me with everything and fabric in some cartons, and she covered me with clothing, my father already knew that I brought the gift. I didn't use the milk, it was just like that, until a month had passed, they heard a noise, I was screaming and they went to see, because I had already been born."
Another unmistakable sign of the iixtlamachillis , their gift of knowing things, is the departure of the unborn child during the night, while the mother sleeps, as they say.Valentina Glockner (2003)and Laura Romero (2003and2006b). In his wanderings through the hill, where he meets other spirits, both children and experienced ixtlamatke who teach him his future work, he must beware of encounters with the nahualme , who constitute a constant threat to his still weak and inexperienced tonal .
Knowing how to see, knowing how to dream: (in the initiation and learning process of the Nahua healers of San Sebastián Tlacotepec, Puebla, 2006)
Jesús, currently four years old, was born with the "little clothes" in the hospital, his mother deduced this from a comment by the doctor and nurse who treated her, but the clothes were thrown away with the placenta. For this and other indications, such as the emergence of a light from the womb at night—perceived by the pregnant woman's sister and mother—and a dream in which the Virgin Mary gave the future mother a shiny ring— symbol of the gift—the family believes that the boy is a future ixtlamatki , like his grandfather Mario.
On the contrary, the boys and girls who will be nahualme are born with "little black clothes.", some also remain hidden until they hide it on the hill. The child who "brings a bad gift" - explains Doña Carmen - will have the ability to become an animal: frog, turtle, squirrel, owl, buzzard, dog, viper and tecuani , ocelot, "the boss of them all." The nahual is defined as yolchichik , with a bitter heart (Fagetti 2003: 66, 72; cf.Romero 2006b: 61), it is said that iyollo amo quéli , his heart is not good, his gift is black and he is there to harm people, while ixtlamatki has a strong heart, yolchicavac , and knows how to heal because he has a good gift. The heart, yollo , is more than a vital organ, it determines the very nature of the individual, and according to its condition it generates feelings and thoughts, influences its character, its preferences and inclinations, as statedAlfredo López Austin (1984)when analyzing the conceptions of the person of the ancient Nahuas.
On the other hand, the white or black color of the "ropita" denotes the intrinsic nature of the boy or girl who is born destined to help people or harm them because both one and the other, according to Don Mario, vits okse tlamantle, came from another form or thing; which means that the person has "another" condition, different from ordinary people, because he "brought a gift."
The relationship between Ixtlamaki and Nahualli is one of open rivalry, which is repeatedly manifested in the attacks perpetrated by the Nahualme against, for example, boys and girls who would be healers, both during pregnancy and after birth and during early childhood, Therefore, they must be protected with a special ritual in which the child is cleansed with several eggs that are buried in and around the house. Laura Romero witnessed a ritual — known as xochitlalli — that an Ixtlamatki performed for a fourteen-year-old boy as an acceptance of the gift and at the same time to protect him until the time he began to heal (2006b).
The nahual "grabs the child's spirit" because he is a predator by nature; In fact, nahualli is the one who "eats you": mitznavalcuas . The children who will be Ixtlamatke in the future are continually attacked by the Nahuales, who are envious of them and try - attacking their tonal - to prevent them from being the ones in the future, with their gift, to protect and help the people, thus counteracting their nefarious strength and power. It is said that several of the children who were born with the "ropita" died or were stripped of the powers conferred by the gift, or were even deprived of their mental faculties.
Some people have told me this, such as a woman who lost her daughter: "I had a girl who died when she was ten years old. The thing is that she was not born with the clothes that she brought from the gift, they took them away since I was pregnant. When she was born she didn't want to breastfeed and started screaming and screaming. The girl was the victim of some "envious person" who stripped her of her "little clothes." When she was born, "she was not well in her senses" and she was never able to go to school; She always got sick, until one night she started having diarrhea and the next day she died.
The nahuals are described as predators of the tonal of their victims (cf.Gabayet 2006), therefore the animal object of his transfiguration is the tekwani , the tiger, the one that eats people (cf.Pury-Toumi 1997: 97), predator par excellence, which—despite its probable extinction in the mountains that surround the town—still appears in dreams and is part of the Nahua ideology. The nahualli as tekwani is opposed by the ixtlamatki in the form of a bird, thus creating the opposition of terrestrial animals vs. celestial animalLaura Romero (2006b: 67-69)asserts that, according to some Ixtlamatke , the tekwani is the animal companion, itonalikni , of both the witch and the healer, while others consider that it can only be the alter ego of the former.
Knowing how to see, in Knowing how to dream: the initiation and learning process of the Nahua healers of San Sebastián Tlacotepec, Puebla, 2006
The tiger is dangerous due to its ferocity and its ability to move at night, however, it cannot fly, this makes birds practically invincible, thus allowing healers like Don Mario, who transforms into a dove, to flee from their enemies. adversaries. From the age of six to fourteen, this Ixtlamaki suffered the attacks of some "big men" who attacked him and became tekwanime , so he, in turn, to avoid being thrown into a well, transformed himself into a bird and fled. leaving those on earth.
The faculty of transfiguration is typical of the Nahualli ; Here lies one of the differences between the agent of evil and the ixtlamatki ; In fact,—according to Don Mario—he only takes on the shape of a bird in dreams, when he is pursued by his adversaries or when he flies over the hills and the surroundings of the town, moving through the other world, which he names teohcan , whose meaning, he clarifies, is precisely "another land." On the contrary, the nahualli not only becomes an animal in the other world, when asleep, but can - through "concentration" - appear to its enemy as a fearsome snake, an owl, a bat, a dog. , or rotate on itself and acquire the shape of a monkey.
The faculty of transformation has been considered by many anthropologists as a distinctive characteristic of the nahual.
Villa Rojas (1963),Foster (1944),Aguirre Beltrán (1987),López Austin (1984),Fabregas (1969), among others, andRoberto Martínez (2006aand2006b)
More recently, they have shown the great variety of traits that are hidden under this adjective and the multiple purposes for which transfiguration is used. The people of Acuexcomac, a town of Nahua origin located at the foot of the Tentzo mountain range, in the state of Puebla, told me about several types of nahuales that have already disappeared: the "nahualito de agua", which provided rain for all the cornfields; the one who took care of the town from other nahuales who tried to steal the bells; the nahual-woman, who—like a turkey—sucked the blood of small children, an activity that has in common with the nahualli of Tlacotepec: the appropriation of the mental strength and spirit of the victim through the suction of blood, that both share with many charactersthat today—in the towns—they fly at night transformed into balls of fire,5and that undoubtedly derive from the pre-Hispanic tlahuipuchtli , the "luminous incense burner", which was - according to the ancient sources consulted by López Austin (1967: 93)— a nahual that turned into fire.
The xikovatl has a similarity to this character .
***The Xikovatl is not a Nahualli.
However, the procedure that both follow to achieve transfiguration is similar: when the person—man or woman—is asleep, “their spirit comes out,” it becomes fire and takes flight, releasing light, the ability of those born with a tangled umbilical cord. on the neck and crossed over the chest, "which gives it the power to fly" (Fagetti 2003: 65-66).
The name indicates that it is a “fire snake”: “the men,” explains Doña Carmen, “take the shape of a ball of fire, “like a balloon,” and move quickly; while women move with their arms stretched forward and have long hair, which is why they leave a trail of fire behind them, as if it were the tail of a kite" (ibid . , p. 66).
The xikovame are good because they take care of the town from other xikovame , who come from outside to do harm, as happened a long time ago when the church bells were stolen.
However, there are also those who point out, like Don Mario, that the xikovatl 's main activity is theft: "he can enter large stores to bring things, so that nothing is missing in the house."
Regarding this character,Romero (2006b: 80) mentions that he achieves the conversion into a fireball by removing the "guts" from his belly and replacing them with the embers of the stove, " which explains why "they send out sparks when they fly."
In Tlacotepec, perhaps, the nahuals were powerful people who used their powers to punish those who violated the rules of community life.
A man—grandson of a well-known Nahualli now deceased—says that before the Nahuales also exercised the right of pernada: they had the privilege of enjoying the bride's virginity. Even today we know of a very old woman, belonging to a ranch in the municipality of Tlacotepec, feared by the Nahualli, who punishes the neighbors who do not invite her to her parties, causing them some harm.
The Nahuales seem to have lost the role of guardians of the social order and ancient customs; now we are rather faced with a predominantly malevolent character, who uses his powers to harm and does so in multiple ways. As suggested Roberto Martínez (2006a), it is likely that the Mesoamerican Nahualli , like the tlamatini , were specialists in divination, healing, weather control, and the protection of the community and its resources, and that due to the "diabolization" of the term—promoted by evangelizers — only the negative attributes have been preserved in many towns. Apparently, the nahual is a bivalent character, who could - depending on the circumstances - do good or evil, protect the community from theft and attacks by other nahuals, as well as harm his enemies and steal from homes.
Tlacotepec is an example of how negative traits have prevailed in the characterization of the Nahualli , and there are several expressions that describe its action such as tepipina , "it sucks you", when someone at night in the form of a bat enters the house to suck the blood of those who are asleep; mitsnavalkua , which means "the nahual eats you", when the nahualli appropriates the victim's tonal and devours it, causing a sudden death; and texoxa , translated "bewitches you." The ability to "eat people's hearts" characterized teyollocuani , while texoxani was "he who casts a spell" or "sends grains to the people", as suggested byAlfredo López Austin (1967: 92 and 88). Texoxa can be translated as "bewitch" in a general sense; Let's say that in town people frequently use expressions in Spanish such as "do evil" and "do witchcraft" to refer to the action of intentionally harming someone; but okixoxke , they put something on it..., refers more precisely to the action of introducing something into the victim's body: a thorn, a piece of meat, a bone, a viper, a ball, which gradually begins to affect the person. undermine your health. And whoever can do it is a witch!, a word frequently used to translate nahualli .
In the semantic field of witchcraft and nahualism we also find Okitlalilihke , they put something..., which in a specific discursive context inevitably alludes to evil. In the same sense, omitskavilihke , they left it to you..., means that the damage has been placed in a certain place with the intention of affecting a certain person. Okinexikolitake can be translated as "they envied him with their sight", that is, "they kept an eye on him." It contains the word nexikole , perhaps the most important in this set of expressions, as it refers to envy; mitsnexikolita means "they envy you", but these terms do not simply refer to a feeling, but to the action, that is, that someone who envies you is also harming you. The term witch, in this case, conforms to the symbolic representations analyzed, however, we must clarify that the agent of Nahua evil, the nahualli , has powers that a witch does not necessarily possess, so the category nahualismo is broader than the of witchcraft.
The actions of the Nahuales are disapproved of in the town, however, through conversations with healing specialists we can realize that many people are victims of evil perpetrated against them. Envy, problems between neighbors and relatives, unresolved conflicts or conflicts that leave one of the parties dissatisfied, frequently lead people to think about witchcraft as a possible solution to the need for revenge, revenge or punishment, since the Nahualli acts in a hidden, protected by its animal appearance that makes it unrecognizable and most of the time exempts it from any suspicion. People guard against witchcraft, for example, by removing clothes hanging in the yard, as someone could steal a garment and make a doll with it, one of the techniques used to cause harm; She is attentive to any noise coming from the roof of the house and its surroundings, because there are tzinacame – nahuals that look like bats – that come in to “suck”; Likewise, the stove is monitored in the kitchen, separated from the bedroom, to prevent someone from entering and burying some eggs under the embers, which the witch prepares by naming the person and mentioning the damage he intends to inflict on them. The nahual can not only hide under an animal disguise, he can enter a house without being perceived and steal any object that will be used to commit his misdeeds, thanks to certain characteristics that distinguish him.
In Tlacotepec, nahualli is in principle any man or woman whose tonal, almost always sheltered by the darkness of the night, leaves the sleeping body to become an animal. The power of the nahualli lies therefore in the ability to make his alter ego take on the appearance of some animal: turkey, pig, cat, donkey, dog, owl, bat, viper, tecuani , among others, as well as commanding "with the power of the spirit", "with the thought", some animal that appears and scares the person it wants to harm, as happened to a man, who - in his cornfield - had to face twelve vipers. The nahual also directs his attacks at the victim's double acting in the other world, in such a way that she will dream, for example, that a tiger is attacking her. Everything that happens in the other world and is experienced by the tonal affects the person, since the tonal is his alter ego, his "other self", which, away from the physical body, can suffer all kinds of mishaps.Don Mario explains the capacity for transformation in this way: nahualli mocopa okuilli , the nahual becomes animal because its tonal takes on the appearance of an animal, whose appearance and size also make one suspect that it is not just any specimen. For her part, Doña Carmen says that the tonal leaves the body taking the animal form and "the skin remains" of the individual (Fagetti 2003: 72). On the contrary, Laura Romero (2006b: 187) mentions that the "faculty of nagualization" is an attribute of special people, such as both the ixtlamatke and the nagual-witches, who "use the bodies of animals to "transport themselves"; By introducing their tonal into the body of an animal they acquire its attributes. Which denotes clear discrepancies between the Ixtlamatke of Tlacotepec regarding the transformation; Don Mario, for example, is blunt in highlighting the characteristics that differentiate him from a Nahualli : he is a bird only in dreams and is not a Nahualli because he is bad by nature.
In addition to the ability to make the tonal take on the appearance of an animal, which implies that the person is asleep or "concentrated" somewhere, there is another procedure for transfiguration: the one followed by a young man hanging from a branch of a tree, making a machicuepa and falling to the ground turned into a monkey, leaving the friend who witnessed the prodigy stupefied.
It is frequently mentioned that the nahualli acts to take revenge on a neighbor or close family member, as a result of some conflict that he prefers to "solve" in a hidden way instead of openly confronting those involved. Therefore, the reasons that drive him to harm others are the same ones that motivate the witch. The power inherent in the nahual lies in his thought: "He is nahualli , just by saying something in his heart, someone is going to get sick." Don Mario explains that a nahual thinks about the harm he wants to do to an enemy, concentrates and sends it, for example, to his house or to the place where he works: his cornfield or the coffee plantation. Then, when walking, the victim will suddenly feel a sting in the foot, as if a thorn had penetrated it. He cannot simply remove it because it is not visible, he must turn to a specialist to free him from the evil by cleaning with egg, while before the extraction of the evil was done through suction. Everything happens "spiritually": the healing powers of the ixtlamatki are also deployed through "concentration", as Don Mario says, and through rituals always accompanied by prayers.
Both the ixtlamatki and the nahualli , then, operate in the other world. It is his alter ego that properly acts, that of the healer and that of the nahual; the former in order to repair the damage done by the latter to his patient's tonal . Don Mario calls "another world", teohcan , the dimension of reality coexisting and co-present to the waking world: this world. Teohcan appears in dream experiences as an "ugly, not even worth getting into" place, where there are hills, caves, basements, jungles, wild animals, herbs that cannot be touched because they belong to the Tepechane - owner of the hill -, and where there are also "other people who live there on the hill." On the trails of Teohcan , where “you will almost see as if it were daytime,” the tonalme get lost and can no longer find their way back; By passing through there they risk being captured.
In the cleansing rites, ixtlamatki invokes the hills ( tepeme ), called by the grandparents "our parents": Tsitsintepetl , Cuixtepetl , Istaktepetl and Kovatepetl , ancient deities that protect their children, who live in the towns that the same hills surround. They ask them for help to find the patient's tonal who is lost due to a scare or locked in a cave. But the hills also listen to the nahualme , which reveals their ambiguous nature: benevolent and malevolent.
In conclusion, we can affirm that what has been called nahualism is a complex phenomenon that we still do not know exhaustively. It involves men and women, who—most of the time, due to having a gift from birth—generally transform themselves into animals in order to protect their people or commit various malevolent acts, such as stealing animals, money, vegetables, scaring people, depriving small children of their lives by sucking their blood... When the nahual attacks his victim with the purpose of causing harm, attacking his alter ego in dreams or "introducing" a foreign object through thought on his body, or making a doll, we are faced with someone who acts as a witch. In fact, the word "witch" is usually used - and not only in Tlacotepec - to translate the word "nahual", when it refers to someone, man or woman, capable of inflicting harm on another(s) according to the principles and practice governing witchcraft; that is, causing illnesses, misfortunes, accidents, and even death, through the manipulation of non-ordinary forces and powers (cf.Fagetti 2004: 53). However, while the sorcerer - it is stated - can become such through a pact with the devil, or in the fulfillment of a destiny, apparently the nahual is nahual only by predestination, and in the case of the Sierra Negra because He was born with "little black clothes." Likewise, the component that seems exclusive to the nahual: the power of transformation, at present - from the data that I have been able to collect in some towns - does not necessarily define witches, despite the fact that it once characterized European witches since, as We know that among their perversions they included the transformation into an animal, a cat above all, in order to operate their curses and participate in the Sabbat night meetings (Ginzburg 2008). Therefore, the transfiguration into an animal is not necessarily an attribute of the sorcerer—as in the case of the nahual—but it is common for him to act in dreams, attacking his victims and fighting against the agents of good.
Nahualism and witchcraft are linked to the departures of the spirit during the night, with the hunting and predation of the alter egos of the people that nahuals and witches stalk and violate, and their actions are opposed to that of the healers who remedy and repair the evil. So, witchcraft and nahualism also resemble shamanism, and sorcerers and nahuales share certain attributes with shamans. Because shamans, to free and recover the spirits of the sick, face and fight their enemies in the realm of dreams, guiding their own alter ego in its journeys through the other world. Likewise, they "concentrate," and then they "see" and "know" what is happening: they respond to the questions their patients ask them; They diagnose diseases and know how and why they originated; They communicate with divine and nature beings, because they dominate dreams and trance (Fagetti 2010), the “techniques of ecstasy” (Eliade 1982). Therefore, we can define shamanism as…a symbolic-magical-religious system that bases its roots on the worldview and religious experience of a people, where knowledge is combined with the praxis carried out by men and women who possess the gift. The shaman is born with the gift that gives him the power of divination and healing. He masters the techniques of ecstasy, through dreams and different forms of trance - non-ordinary states of consciousness - he enters another dimension of reality, the other world, where he knows the answers to the questions that his interlocutors ask him about the life, illness, misfortune and death. He is empowered to communicate with the divinities, the spirits of nature and the dead, acting as mediator between them and those who request his intervention, thus fulfilling his mission as argonaut of the invisible world, healer, fortune teller, clairvoyant, psychopomp, therapist. of the soul, spiritual guide and caretaker of vital and cosmic balance (Fagetti 2010).
Demonstrating the various roles played by shamans in favor of the health and well-being of individuals and communities does not mean affirming that they are always good, rather I believe that we are faced with a set of attributes, faculties and powers that define certain specialists. : nahuales, witches, shamans, who, through dreams and trance, act in the other world with the purpose of doing good or seeking evil. Continuing with research on Nahualism, witchcraft and shamanism is essential to reveal knowledge that still escapes our understanding.
Ferreti Antonella 2010
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According to academic Isabel Lagarriga Attias, the figure of the nahual appears in a large part of the ethnic groups of Mexico. This figure emerged before colonization and it was believed that a magician could transform into another being, mainly a jaguar, snake, bird, dog, weasel and others. According to other legends, sorcerers could also transform into fireballs, meteors, or small human-shaped beings. Therefore, the term nahual refers to both the person and the animal they become.
The nahual in ancient and modern times
In pre-colonial times, being nahual was “linked to the sign under which one was born.” According to the academic Aguirre Beltrán, the Nahuales were born under the sign Cequiahuitl. Although according to other experts, the noble children who were offered “into the water on the day of Ceechecatl, which was dedicated to Quetzalcóatl,” were also likely to be nahuales.
On the other hand, one of the legends indicates that the nahuals disappeared from their mothers' wombs on four occasions. Another myth indicates that the Nahuales knew everything about Mictlán and that they lived in the temple.
Nahuales could be good or bad. If they were good, a wise person was considered, with powers of divination, helps others, can attract rain and repel hail. In contrast, if a nahual is evil, this person is described as an evil sorcerer who seeks to affect people.
In several communities, the population firmly believes that nahuals transform into animals at night, with the sole purpose of harming others. Attias points out that “if the animal is trapped and remains unfree until dawn, its death is imminent. In the event of being injured when in the form of an animal, the next day, the nahual who has already recovered his human identity, will show the traces of the abuse he suffered, in the part of the body that was affected in the animal.
There are more macabre versions about the nahual. According to this version, the nahual leaves the human body and enters the body of the victim so that he becomes sick, sucks his blood and eats his heart.
Currently as we have mantioned, it is also believed that the nahual can travel long distances, stealing animals or food. Other versions indicate that nahuals from rival towns confront each other to defend their communiti
Dessert for a turtle
The Nahuatl people are indigenous to Mesoamerica, primarily inhabiting areas of present-day Mexico and Central America.
The Nahuatl people have a deep spiritual connection with the animal kingdom, viewing animals as sacred beings with symbolic significance. Animals often feature prominently in their mythology and religious rituals.
**History:** The Nahual civilization is known for its rich history, including the rise and fall of powerful city-states such as Tenochtitlan, Tlaxcala, and Texcoco. They were also subjected to Spanish colonization, which drastically altered their way of life.
**Ceremonies:** Nahual ceremonies often involve elaborate rituals, music, dance, and offerings to gods and ancestors. Important ceremonies include those dedicated to agricultural cycles, honoring deities, and marking significant life events.
**Practices:** Nahual practices encompass a wide range of cultural and religious activities, including agriculture, crafts, medicine, and storytelling. They have a complex calendar system and are known for their intricate artwork, including murals, sculptures, and codices.
**Population:** It's difficult to estimate the exact number of Nahual people today due to various factors such as urbanization, assimilation, and lack of comprehensive data. However, efforts are being made to preserve their languages, traditions, and cultural heritage.Nahual Shamanism plays a significant role in Nahua culture, shaping their relationship with the animal kingdom. Nahua shamans, known as "tlamatinime" or "nahualli," act as intermediaries between the human and spiritual realms, often invoking the aid of animal spirits during their rituals and healing practices.
In Nahual cosmology, animals are seen as manifestations of divine forces and are believed to possess spiritual qualities that can influence human affairs. Shamans communicate with animal spirits through trance-like states induced by chanting, drumming, and ingesting hallucinogenic substances such as peyote or mushrooms.
The Nahual view animals as sacred beings with unique powers and attributes. Each animal is associated with specific traits and symbolism, reflecting its role in the natural world and its significance in the spiritual realm. For example, the jaguar represents strength, agility, and transformation, while the serpent symbolizes wisdom, rebirth, and the underworld.
Shamans often perform rituals and ceremonies to honor animal spirits, seeking their guidance and protection. Animal sacrifice may be part of these rituals, as a means of offering gratitude and establishing a reciprocal relationship with the spiritual world.
The relationship between shamans and the animal kingdom in Nahual culture is deeply intertwined with their understanding of the interconnectedness of all living beings. By engaging with animal spirits, shamans seek to maintain balance and harmony within the natural and supernatural realms, ensuring the well-being of their communities and fostering spiritual growth and enlightenment.
Quote morsels
From "Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico" by Miguel León-Portilla:
1. "We have come to govern you, to place you under our rule, to take away your sovereignty, to take away your rights of government. We come as lords. You shall be our subjects and servants."
2. "The earth shook with a great rumbling sound, and even the walls of the houses cracked and split from fear of the great thunder."
From "The Codex Borgia: A Full-Color Restoration of the Ancient Mexican Manuscript" by Gisele Díaz and Alan Rodgers:
1. "It is said that when the sun comes, all that exists on the face of the earth is seen; when it sets, it is night."
2. "They were given divine power to make things that are not seen, things hidden from us; they knew the ways of all divinities."
Gratitude for joining me again. I shared quite a bit about the Nahual on X/Twitter spaces, definitely available for deep dive one on one's regarding this my path and people. Always available to work with you shamanically if it serves all. I work *WiTh people not For people and if my guardians and your highest self & guardians agree as well.
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Traditional Multimedia Art on Canvas
References Books Authors Extras
Alfredo López Austin (1984)
Human body and ideology, 2 volumes, 1984
Alvarado 2004
Bind life, cut death. The ritual system of the Mexicans of Durango, 2004
Ariel de Vidas 2003
Thunder no longer lives here. Representation of marginality and construction of teneek identity (Huasteca Veracruzana, Mexico), 2003
Fagetti 1998
Tentzonhuehue. The symbolism of the body and nature, 1998
Hirose 2008
The human being as a cosmic axis: conceptions of the body and the person among the Mayans of the Chenes region, Campeche, 2008
Ichon 1990
The religion of the Totonacas of the mountains, 1990
Islands 2008
Initiation, illness and healing: Huichol shamanism, 2008
Olavarría et al. 2009
The flower body. Ethnography of a yoeme notion, 2009
Page 2005
The command of the gods. Ethnomedicine among the Tzotzils of Chamula and Chenalhó, Chiapas, 2005
Romero 2006a
Worldview, body and illness: the horror among the Nahuas of Tlacotepec de Díaz, Puebla, 2006
Signorini and Lupo 1989
The three axes of life. Souls, body, diseases among the Nahuas of the Sierra de Puebla, 1989
Tornez 2008
The rite of the Santa Rosa among the Otomíes of the municipality of Pantepec, Puebla", 2008
Villanueva 2007
Entheogens and dreams in the shamanic practice of the Chota Shiné of the Sierra Mazateca, 2007
Valentina Glockner (2003)Jovita Lezama Sánchez, Temaquixti Midwife
Those who know. Life testimonies of traditional doctors from the Tehuacán region, 2003
Laura Romero (2003Casilda Valdivia Ramírez, Tepopova, The one who cleans
Those who know. Life testimonies of traditional doctors from the Tehuacán region, 2003
2006b)
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