More excerpts from Brinton’s 1989 Nagualism (see previous posts), with my comments in italics…
Fr Nicolas de Leon on the deep reverence for Fire:
“If any of their old superstitions has remained more deeply rooted than another in the hearts of these Indians, both men and women, it is this about fire and its worship, and about making new fire and preserving it for a year in secret places. We should be on the watch for this, and when in their confessions they speak of what the Fire said and how the Fire wept, expressions which we are apt to pass by as unintelligible, we must lay our hands on them [physical punishment!] for reprehension. We should also be on the watch for their baptism by Fire, a ceremony called the yiahuiltoca, shortly after the birth of a child when they bestow on it the surnames; nor must the lying-in women and their assistants be permitted to speak of Fire as the father and mother of all things and the author of nature; because it is a common saying with them that Fire is present at the birth and death of every creature.” [43]
This curious ceremony derived its name from the yiahuitli, a plant not unlike the absinthe, the powdered leaves of which, according to Father Sahagun, the natives were accustomed to throw into the flames as an offering to the fire. Long after the conquest, and probably to this day, the same custom prevails in Mexico, the fumes and odor of the burning leaves being considered very salubrious and purifying to the air of the sick room. [43. Absinthe is in the Artemesia family, which includes Mugwort/Ai and Desert Sage, all used as purificatory, cleansing, protective, and blessing agents, especially by smudging, around the world.]
yiahuiltoca: throwing of the yiauhtli, throwing upon. It was done on 4th day after childbirth, and fire was kept burning in house all that time, but never carried out, for the sake of the child. [44]
Jacinto de la Serna also describes this ceremony, to which he gives the name tlecuixtliliztli, “which means that they pass the infant over the fire;” and elsewhere he adds : ” The worship of fire is the greatest stumbling-block to these wretched idolaters.” [44]
The Confessional Manual of Bartholomé de Alva follows a pattern of churchmen interrogating European pagans that began in the 5th century as a way to root out Pagan observances and beliefs, continued to be used to stamp out the old religions in later centuries, and was exported to the Americas and other European colonies to suppress indigenous religions:
“Dost thou possess at this very time little idols of green stone, or frogs made of it (in chalehiuh coconeme, clialehiuh tamazeltin)
“Dost thou put them out in the sun to be warmed? Dost thou keep them wrapped in cotton coverings, with great respect and veneration?
“Dost thou believe, and hold for very truth, that these green stones give thee food and drink, even as thy ancestors believed, who died in their idolatry ? Dost thou believe that they give thee success and prosperity and good things, and all that thou hast or wishest? Because we know very well that many of you so believe at this very time.” * [46-47, from Alva, Confessionario en Lengua Mexicana, fol. 9]
The Aztec ceremony of “calling back the tonal” was a rite of soul-retrieval and healing. This beautiful invocation recorded by Jacinto de la Serna places the healing in the hands of Chalchiutlicue, “precious-stone-skirted” Goddess of the Waters:
“Ho there ! Come to my aid, mother mine of the skirt of precious stones. What keeps thee away, gray ghost, white ghost?” Is the obstacle white, or is it yellow? See, I place here the yellow enchantment and the white enchantment.’ [tobacco and water]
“I, the Master of the Masters of enchantments, have come, I, who formed thee and gave thee life. Thou, mother mine of the starry skirt, thou, goddess of the stars, who givest life, why hast thou turned against this one?
“Adverse spirit and darkened star, I shall sink thee in the breadth and depth of the waters. I, master of spells, speak to thee. Ho there ! Mother mine, whose skirt is made of gems, come, seek with me the shining spirit who dwells in the house of light,’ that we may know what god or mighty power thus destroys and crushes to earth this unfortunate one. Green and black spirit of sickness, leave him and seek thy prey elsewhere.
“Green and yellow ghost, who art wandering, as if lost, over mountains and plains, I seek thee, I desire thee ; return to him whom thou hast abandoned. Thou, the nine times beaten, the nine times smitten, see that thou fail me not. Come hither, mother mine, whose robe is of precious gems ; one water, two waters ; one rabbit, two rabbits ; one deer, two deers ; one alligator, two alligators.’
“Lo ! I myself am here ; I am most furious; I make the loudest noise of all; I respect no one; even sticks and stones tremble before me. What god or mighty power dare face me, me, a child of gods and goddesses?”
“I have come to seek and call back the tonal of this sick one, wherever it is, whithersoever it has wandered, be it nine times wandered, even unto the nine junctures and the nine unions. Wherever it is, I summon it to return, I order it to return, and to heal and clean this heart and this head.” [52-3]
[Brinton’s] Explanations.
1. The appeal is to Water, regarded as the universal Mother. The “skirt of precious stones ” refers to the green of the precious green stones, a color sacred to water.
2. The question is addressed to the tonal.
3. The yellow enchantment is tobacco ; the white, a cup of water.
4. That is, assigned the form of the nagual belonging to the sick man.
5. This appeal is directed to the Milky Way.
6. The threat is addressed to the tonal, to Irighten it into returning.
7. The ” shining spirit ” is the Fire-god.
8. The yellow tobacco, prepared ceremonially in the manner indicated.
9. These are names of days in the native calendar which are invoked.
10. The priest speaks in the person of his god.
11. Referring to the Nahuatl belief that there are nine upper and nine under worlds. [53. This belief is also found among the Mongols and many other peoples]
Symbolic Expressions of the Nagualists [also taken by Brinton from de la Serna]:
Blood. -“The red woman with snakes on her gown” (referring to the veins).
Copal Gum.- “The white woman” (from the whitish color of the fresh gum).
Cords (for carrying burdens).- “The snake that does woman’s work” (because women sit still to knit, and the cord works while itself is carried).
Drunkenness. – “My resting time, ” or “when I am getting my breath.”
The Earth.- ‘”The mirror that smokes” (because of the mists that rise from it); “the rabbit with its mouth upward” (the rabbit, in opposition to the one they see in the moon; with its mouth upward, because of the mists which rise from it lilie the breath exhaled from the mouth); “the flower which contains everything” (as all fruit proceeds from flowers, so does all vegetable life proceed from the earth, which is therefore spoken of as a flower) ; “the flower which bites the mouths” (a flower, for the reason given; it eats the mouths, because all things necessarily return to it, and are swallowed by it).
Fingers. – “The five fates,” or “the five works,” or “the five fields” (because by the use of his fingers man works out his own destiny. Hence also the worship of the Hand among the Nahuas as the god Maitl, and among the Mayas as the god Kab, both which words mean “hand “)
Fire. – “Our Father of the Four Reeds” (because the ceremony of making the new fire was held on the day Four Reeds, 4 Acall) ; “the shining rose ;” ” the yellow flyer ;” ” the red-haired one ;” “the yellow spirit.”
A Knife of Copper. – “The yellow Chichimec” (because the Chichimecs were alleged to tear out the bowels of their enemies).
The Maguey Plant. – “My sister, the eight in a row” (because it was planted in this manner).
A Head. – “That which is divided in two, and yet has neither beginning, middle nor end” (because it always lies in two directions from a person, and yet all roads lead into others and thus never end).
Sickness. – “The red woman;” “the breath of the flume;” “our mother the comet” (all referring to the lever) ; “the Chichimec ” (because it aims to destroy life, like these savage warriors) ; ” the spider ” (because ot its venomous nature).
Smoke. – “The old wife” (i. e., of the fire).
The Sun. – “Our holy and pockified Uncle” (referring to the myth of Nanahuatl, who was syphilitic, and leaping into the flames of a fire rose as the sun).
Tobacco. – “The nine (or seven) times beaten” (because for sacred purposes it was rubbed up this number of times) ; ” the enchanted gray one” (from its color and use in conjuring).
Water. – “The Green Woman” (from the greenness which follows moisture) ; “our Mother, whose robe is of precious stones” (from the green or vegetable life resembling the turquoise, emerald, jade, etc.). [53-4]
This text is a precious record of Nahua sacred language, and shows the rich language of symbol as it was employed in invocation, incantation, and ceremonial.
Max Dashu
Source: Daniel G. Brinton, Nagualism. A Study Of Native American Folk-Lore And History.
Philadelphia: Maccalla & Company, 1894
The full text can be downloaded here: http://hdl.handle.net/2186/ksl:brinag00/brinag00.pdf
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