  1. The words Nagual, Nagualism, Nagualist. 2. The Earliest Reference to Nagualism. 3. The Naualli of the Aztecs; their Classes and Pretended Powers. 4. The Sacred Intoxicants; the Peyotl, the Ololiuhqui, the Teopatli, the Yax Ha, etc. 5. Clairvoyance and Telepathy during Intoxication. 6. The Naualli of Modern Mexico. 7. The Tonal and the Tonalpouhque; the Genethliac System of the Nahuas. 8. The Aztec Sodality of “Master Magicians.” 9. The Personal Guardian Spirit. 10. Folk-lore of the Mixe Indians. 11. Astrological Divination of the Zapotecs. 12. Similar Arts of the Mixtecs. 13. Nagualism in Chiapas, as Described by Bishop NuÑez de la Vega. 14. Nagualism Among the Quiches, Cakchiquels and Pokonchis of Guatemala. 15. The Metamorphoses of Gukumatz. 16. Modern Witchcraft in Yucatan and Central America; the Zahoris and Padrinos. 17. Fundamental Principles of Nagualism, Hatred of the Whites and of Christianity. 18. Its Organization and Extent; its Priesthood. 19. Its Influence in the Native Revolts against the Spanish Power. 20. Exalted Position of Woman in Nagualism. 21. This a Survival from Ancient Times. 22. A Native Joan of Arc. 23. Modern Queens of Nagualism. 24. The Cave-temples and the Cave-gods; Oztoteotl, Tepeyollotl, Votan, etc. 25. The Sacred Numbers, 3 and 7. 26. Fire Worship of the Nagualists. 27. Fire Rights Connected with the Pulque. 28. Fire Ceremonies of the Modern Mayas. 29. Secret Significance of Fire Worship. 30. The Chalchiuites, or Sacred Green Stones. 31. The Sacred Tree and the Tree of Life. 32. The Cross and its Symbolic Meaning. 33. The Lascivious Rites of the Nagualists. 34. Their Relation to the Symbols of the Serpent and the Phallus. 35. Confusion of Christian and Native Religious Ideas; Prayers of Nagual Priests. Their Symbolic Language. 36. The Inquisition and Nagualism. 37. Etymology of the Word Nagual. 38. The Root Na in the Maya, Zapotec and Nahuatl Languages. 39. The Doctrine of Animal Transformation in the Old World. 40. The Doctrine of Personal Spirits in the Old World. 41. Scientific Explanations of Nagual Magic. 42. Conclusion. REPRINTED FEB. 23, 1894, FROM PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC., VOL. XXXIII. This is not owing to its lack of importance, since for two hundred years past, as I shall show, it has been recognized as a cult, no less powerful than mysterious, which united many and diverse tribes of Mexico and Central America into organized opposition against the government and the religion which had been introduced from Europe; whose members had acquired and were bound together by strange faculties and an occult learning, which placed them on a par with the famed thaumaturgists and theodidacts of the Old World; and which preserved even into our own days the thoughts and forms of a long suppressed ritual. In several previous publications I have referred briefly to this secret sodality and its aims, “The Devil was accustomed to deceive these natives by appearing to them in the form of a lion, tiger, coyote, lizard, snake, bird, or other animal. To these appearances they apply the name Naguales, which is as much as to say, guardians or companions; and when such an animal dies, so does the Indian to whom it was assigned. The way such an alliance was formed was thus: The Indian repaired to some very retired spot This province of Cerquin appears to have been peopled by a tribe which belonged to the great Mayan stock, akin to those which occupied most of the area of what is now Yucatan, Tabasco, Chiapas and Guatemala. “The naualli, or magician, is he who frightens men and sucks the blood of children during the night. He is well skilled in the practice of this trade, he knows all the arts of sorcery (nauallotl) and employs them with cunning and ability; but for the benefit of men only, not for their It is evident on examining the later works of the Roman clergy in Mexico that the Church did not look with any such lenient eye on the possibly harmless, or even beneficial, exercise of these magical devices. We find a further explanation of what they were, preserved in a work of instruction to confessors, published by Father Juan Bautista, at Mexico, in the year 1600. “There are magicians who call themselves teciuhtlazque, There is an evident attempt in this somewhat confused statement to distinguish between an actual transformation, and one which only appears such to the observer. In another work of similar character, published at Mexico a few years later, the “Road to Heaven,” of Father Nicolas de Leon, we find a series of questions which a confessor should put to any of his flock suspected of these necromantic practices. They reveal to us quite clearly what these occult practitioners were believed to do. The passage reads as follows, the questions being put in the mouth of the priest: “Art thou a soothsayer? Dost thou foretell events by reading signs, or by interpreting dreams, or by water, making circles and figures on its surface? Dost thou sweep and ornament with flower garlands the places where idols are preserved? Dost thou know certain words with which to conjure for success in hunting, or to bring rain? “Dost thou suck the blood of others, or dost thou wander about at night, calling upon the Demon to help thee? Hast thou drunk peyotl, or hast thou given it to others to drink, in order to find out secrets, or to discover where stolen or lost articles were? Dost thou know how to speak to vipers in such words that they obey thee?” “Those who eat or drink of this peyotl see visions, which are sometimes frightful and sometimes ludicrous. The intoxication it causes lasts several days. The Chichimecs believed that it gave them courage in time of danger and diminished the pangs of hunger and thirst.” Its use was continued until a late date, and very probably has not yet died out. Its composition and method of preparation are given in a list of beverages prohibited by the Spanish authorities in the year 1784, as follows: “Peyote: Made from a species of vinagrilla, about the size of a billiard ball, which grows in dry and sterile soil. The natives chew it, and throw it into a wooden mortar, where it is left to ferment, some leaves of tobacco being added to give it pungency. They consume it in this form, sometimes with slices of peyote itself, in their most solemn festivities, although it dulls the intellect and induces gloomy and hurtful visions (sombras muy funestas).” The peyotl was not the only herb prized as a means of casting the soul into the condition of hypostatic union with divinity. We have abundant evidence that long after the conquest the seeds of the plant called in Nahuatl the ololiuhqui were in high “Question. Hast thou loved God above all things? Hast thou loved any created thing, adoring it, looking upon it as God, and worshiping it? “Answer. I have loved God with all my heart; but sometimes I have believed in dreams, and also I have believed in the sacred herbs, the peyotl, and the ololiuhqui; and in other such things (onicneltocac in temictli, in xiuhtzintli, in peyotl, in ololiuhqui, yhuan in occequitlamantli).” The seeds of the ololiuhqui appear to have been employed externally. They were the efficient element in the mysterious unguent known as “the divine remedy” (teopatli), about which we find some information in the works of Father Augustin de Vetancurt, who lived in Mexico in the middle of the seventeenth century. He writes: “The pagan priests made use of an ointment composed of insects, such as spiders, scorpions, centipedes and the like, which the neophytes in the temples prepared. They burned these insects in a basin, collected the ashes, and rubbed it up with green tobacco leaves, living worms and insects, and the powdered seeds of a plant called ololiuhqui, which has the power of inducing visions, and the effect of which is to destroy the reasoning powers. Under the influence of this ointment, they conversed with the Devil, and he with them, practicing his deceptions upon them. They also believed that it protected them, so they had no fear of going into the woods at night. “This was also employed by them as a remedy in various diseases, and the soothing influence of the tobacco and the ololiuhqui was attributed by them to divine agency. There are some in our own day who make use of this ointment for sorcery, shutting themselves up, and losing their reason under its influence; especially some old men and old women, who are prepared to fall an easy prey to the Devil.” The botanist Hernandez observes that another name for this plant was coaxihuitl, “serpent plant,” and adds that its seeds contain a narcotic poison, and that it is allied to the genus Solanum, of which the deadly night-shade is a familiar species. He speaks of its use in the sacred rites in these words: “Indorum sacrifici, cum videri volebant versari cum superis, ac responsa accipere ab eis, ea vescebantur planta, ut desiperent, milleque phantasmata et demonum observatium effigies circumspectarent.” Of the two plants mentioned, the ololiuhqui and the peyotl, the former was considered the more potent in spiritual virtues. “They hold it in as much veneration as if it were God,” says a theologian of the seventeenth century. Tobacco also held a prominent, though less important, place in these rites. It was employed in two forms, the one the dried leaf, picietl, which for sacred uses must be broken and rubbed up either seven or nine times; and the green leaf mixed with lime, hence called tenextlecietl (from tenextli, lime). Allied in effect to these is an intoxicant in use in southern Mexico and Yucatan, prepared from the bark of a tree called by the Mayas baal-che. The whites speak of the drink as pitarilla. It is quite popular among the natives, and they still attribute to it a sacred character, calling it yax ha, the first water, the primal fluid. They say that it was the first liquid created by God, and when He returned to His heavenly home He left this beverage and its production in charge of the gods of the rains, the four Pah-Ahtuns. “Some of these sorcerers take any shape they choose, and fly through the air with wonderful rapidity and for long distances. They will tell what is taking place in remote localities long before the news could possibly arrive. The Spaniards have known them to report mutinies, battles, revolts and deaths, occurring two hundred or three hundred leagues distant, on the very day they took place, or the day after. Plants possessing similar powers to excite vivid visions and distort the imagination, and, therefore, employed in the magical rites, were the thiuimeezque, in Michoacan, and the chacuaco, in lower California. They have not yet lost their power; we have evidence enough that many children of a larger growth in that land still listen with respect to the recitals of the mysterious faculties attributed to the nanahualtin. An observant German traveler, Carlos von Gagern, informs us that they are widely believed to be able to cause sicknesses and other ills, which must be counteracted by appropriate exorcisms, among which the reading aloud certain passages of the Bible is deemed to be one of the most potent. The learned historian, Orozco y Berra, speaks of the powers attributed at the present day to the nahual in Mexico among the lower classes, in these words: “The nahual is generally an old Indian with red eyes, who knows how to turn himself into a dog, woolly, black and ugly. The female witch can convert herself into a ball of fire; she has the power of flight, and at night will enter the windows and suck the blood of little children. These sorcerers will make little images of rags or of clay, then stick into them the thorn of the maguey and place them in some secret place; you can These tonalpouhque are referred to at length by Father Sahagun. The tonal was by no means an indefeasible possession. It was a sort of independent mascotte. So long as it remained with a person he enjoyed health and prosperity; but it could depart, go astray, become lost; and then sickness and misfortune arrived. This is signified in the Nahuatl language by the verbs tonalcaualtia, to check, stop or suspend the tonal, hence, to shock or frighten one; and tonalitlacoa, to hurt or injure the tonal, hence, to cast a spell on one, to bewitch him. This explains the real purpose of the conjuring and incantations which were carried on by the native doctor when visiting the sick. It was to recall the tonal, to force or persuade it to return; and, therefore, the ceremony bore the name “the restitution of the tonal,” and was more than any other deeply imbued with the superstitions of Nagualism. The chief officiant was called the tetonaltiani, “he who concerns himself with the tonal.” On a later page I shall give the formula recited on such an occasion. The word naualli also occurs among the ancient Nahuas in composition as a part of proper names; always with the signification of “magician,” as in that of Naualcuauhtla, a chief of the Chalcos, meaning “wizard-stick,” referring probably to the In Mexico to-day, in addition to his special personal guardian, the native will often choose another for a limited time or for a particular purpose, and this is quite consistent with the form of Christianity he has been taught. For instance, as we are informed by an observant traveler, at New Year or at corn-planting the head of a family will go to the parish church and among the various saints there displayed will select one as his guardian for the year. He will address to him his prayers for rain and sunshine, for an abundant harvest, health and prosperity, and will not neglect to back these supplications by liberal gifts. If times are good and harvests ample the Santo is rewarded with still more gifts, and his aid is sought for another term; but if luck has been bad the Indian repairs to the church at the end of the year, bestows on his holy patron a sound cursing, calls him all the bad names he can think of, and has nothing more to do with him. The most powerful person in the village is the high priest of the native cult. One who died about 1850 was called “the Thunderbolt,” and whenever he walked abroad he was preceded by a group of chosen disciples, called by the Nahuatl name tlatoques, speakers or attorneys. From this it appears that among the Zapotecs the personal spirit or nagual was fixed by the date of the birth, and not by some Next in importance to the assigning of names, according to Father Cordova, was the employment of the calendar in deciding the propriety of marriages. As the recognized object of marriage was to have sons, the couple appealed to the professional augur to decide this question before the marriage was fixed. He selected as many beans as was the sum of the numbers of the two proponents’ names, and, counting them by twos, if one remained over, it meant a son; then counting by threes any remainder also meant sons; by fours the remainder meant either sons or daughters; and by five and six the same; and if there was no remainder by any of these five divisors the marriage would result in no sons and was prohibited. It is obvious that this method of fortune-telling was most auspicious for the lovers; for I doubt if there is any combination of two numbers below fourteen which is divisible by two, three, four, five and six without remainder in any one instance. The Zapotecs were one of those nations who voluntarily submitted themselves to the Spaniards, not out of love for the Europeans, but through hatred of the Aztecs, who had conquered them in the preceding century. Their king, Coyopy, and his subjects accepted Christianity and were generally baptized; but it was the merest formality, and years afterwards Coyopy was detected secretly conducting the heathen ritual of his ancestors with all due pomp. He was arrested, sent to the city of Mexico, deprived of his power and wealth, and soon died; it is charitably supposed, from natural causes. There is no question but that he left successors to the office of pontifex maximus, and that they continued the native religious ceremonies. Unfortunately, so far as I know, there has not been published, and perhaps there does not exist, an authentic copy of the Mixtec calendar. It was nevertheless reduced to writing in the native tongue after the conquest, and a copy of it was seen by the historian Burgoa in the Mixtec town of Yanhuitlan. One of the most important older authorities on this subject is Francisco NuÑez de la Vega, a learned Dominican, who was appointed Bishop of Chiapas and Soconusco in 1687, and who published at Rome, in 1702, a stately folio entitled “Constitu He begins his references to it in several passages of his Introduction or Preambulo, in which he makes some interesting statements as to the use to which the natives put their newly-acquired knowledge of writing, while at the same time they had evidently not forgotten the ancient method of recording ideas invented by their ancestors. The Bishop writes: “The Indians of New Spain retain all the errors of their time of heathenism preserved in certain writings in their own languages, explaining by abbreviated characters and by figures painted in a secret cypher “Those who are selected to become the masters of these arts are taught from early childhood how to draw and paint these characters, and are obliged to learn by heart the formulas, and the names of the ancient Nagualists, and whatever else is included in these written documents, many of which we have held in our hands, and have heard them explained by such masters whom we had imprisoned for their guilt, and who had afterwards become converted and acknowledged their sins.” The Bishop made up his mind that extreme measures should be taken to eradicate these survivals of the ancient paganism in his diocese, and he therefore promulgated the following order in the year 1692: “And because in the provinces of our diocese those Indians who are Nagualists adore their naguals, and look upon them as gods, and by their aid believe that they can foretell the future, discover hidden treasures, and fulfill their dishonest desires: we, therefore, prescribe and command that in every town an ecclesiastical prison shall be constructed at the expense of the church, and that it be provided with fetters and stocks (con grillos y cepos), and we confer authority on every priest and curate of a parish to imprison in these gaols whoever is guilty of disrespect toward our Holy Faith, and we enjoin them to treat with especial severity those who teach the doctrines of Nagualism (y con rigor mayor Á los dogmatizantes Nagualistas).” In spite of these injunctions it is evident that he failed to destroy the seeds of what he esteemed this dangerous heresy in the parishes of his diocese; for his ninth Pastoral Letter, in which he exposes at length the character of Nagualism, is dated from the metropolitan city of Ciudad Real, on May 24, 1698. As much of it is germane to my theme, I translate as follows: “There are certain bad Christians of both sexes who do not hesitate to follow the school of the Devil, and to occupy themselves with evil arts, divinations, sorceries, conjuring, enchantments, fortune-telling, and other means to forecast the future. “These are those who in all the provinces of New Spain are known by the name of Nagualists. They pretend that the birth of men is regulated by the course and movements of stars and planets, and by observing the time of day and the months in which a child is born, they prognosticate its condition and the events, prosperous or otherwise, of its life; and the worst is that these perverse men have written down their signs and rules, and thus deceive the erring and ignorant. “These Nagualists practice their arts by means of Repertories and superstitious Calendars, where are represented under their proper names all the Naguals of stars, elements, birds, fishes, brute beasts and dumb animals; with a vain note of days and months, so that they can announce which corresponds to the day of birth of the infant. This is preceded by some diabolical ceremonies, after which they designate the field or other spot, where, after seven years shall have elapsed, the Nagual will appear to ratify the bargain. As the time approaches, they instruct the child to “To such diabolical masters the intelligent Indians apply, to learn from these superstitious Calendars, dictated by the Devil, their own fortunes, and the Naguals which will be assigned to their children, even before they are baptized. In most of the Calendars, the seventh sign is the figure of a man and a snake, which they call Cuchulchan. The masters have explained it as a snake with feathers which moves in the water. This sign corresponds with Mexzichuaut, which means Cloudy Serpent, or, of the clouds. “Worse even than these are those who wander about as physicians or healers; who are none such, but magicians, enchanters, and sorcerers, who, while pretending to cure, kill whom they will. They apply their medicines by blowing on the patient, and by the use of infernal words; learned by heart by those who cannot read or write; and received in writing from their masters by those acquainted with letters. The Master never imparts this instruction to a single disciple, but always to three at a time, so that in the practice of the art it may be difficult to decide which one exerts the magical power. They blow on feathers, or sticks, or plants, and place them in the paths where they may be stepped on by those they wish to injure, thus causing chills, fevers, ugly pustules and other diseases; or they introduce into the body by such arts toads, frogs, snakes, centipedes, “We have learned by the confession of certain guilty parties how the Master begins to instruct his disciple. First he tells him to abjure God, the saints and the Virgin, not to invoke their names, and to have no fear of them. He then conducts him to the wood, glen, cave or field where the pact with the Devil is concluded, which they call ‘the agreement’ or ‘the word given’ (in Tzental quiz). In some provinces the disciple is laid on an ant-hill, and the Master standing above him calls forth a snake, colored with black, white and red, which is known as ‘the ant-mother’ (in Tzental zmezquiz). “These words and ceremonies are substantially the same in all the provinces. The healer enters the house of the invalid, asks about the sickness, lays his hand on the suffering part, and then leaves, promising to return on the day following. At the next visit he brings with him some herbs which he chews or mashes with a little water and applies to the part. Then he repeats the Pater Noster, the Ave, the Credo and the Salve and blows upon the seat of disease, afterwards pronouncing the magical words taught him by his master. He continues blowing in this manner, inhaling and exhaling, repeating under his breath these magical expressions, which are powerful to kill or to cure as he chooses, through the compact he has made with the Devil. Finally, so as to deceive the bystanders, he ends with saying in a loud voice: ‘God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.’ “This physician or healer is called in the towns of some of the provinces poxta vanegs, and the medicine gspoxil; and everything relating to healing among the Indians to which they apply these terms means also to practice sorcery; and all words derived from pox allude to the Nagual; for this in some provinces is called poxlon, and in others patzlan, and in many tzihuizin, which is something very much feared by the Indians. We have ascertained by the confessions of many who have been reconciled that the Devil at times appears to them in the shape of a ball or globe of fire in the air, with a tail like a comet. “According to the most ancient traditions of these Indians this idol, poxlon, was one of the most important and venerated they had in the old “In other parts they reverence the bones of the earlier Nagualists, preserving them in caves, where they adorn them with flowers and burn copal before them. We have discovered some of these and burned them, hoping to root out and put a stop to such evil ceremonies of the infernal sect of the Nagualists. “At present, all are not so subject to the promptings of the Devil as formerly, but there are still some so closely allied to him that they transform themselves into tigers, lions, bulls, flashes of light and globes of fire. We can say from the declaration and solemn confession of some penitents that it is proved that the Devil had carnal relations with them, both as incubus and succubus, approaching them in the form of their Nagual; and there was one woman who remained in the forest a week with the demon in the form of her Nagual, acting toward him as does an infatuated woman toward her lover (como pudiera con su proprio amigo una muger amancebada). As a punishment for such horrible crimes our Lord has permitted that they lose their life as soon as their Nagual is killed; and that they bear on their own bodies the wound or mark of the blow which killed it; as the curas of Chamula, Copainala and other places have assured us. “The devilish seed of this Nagualism has rooted itself in the very flesh and blood of these Indians. It perseveres in their hearts through the instructions of the masters of the sect, and there is scarcely a town in these provinces in which it has not been introduced. It is a superstitious idolatry, full of monstrous incests, sodomies and detestable bestialities.” Such are the words of the Bishop of Chiapas. We learn from his thoroughly instructed and unimpeachable testimony that at the beginning of the eighteenth century Nagualism was a widespread and active institution among the Indians of southern Mexico; that it was taught and practiced by professors who were so much feared and respected that, as he tells us in another passage, they were called “masters of the towns;” There are a number of other witnesses from the seventeenth century that may be summoned to strengthen this testimony, if it needs it. The redoubtable magician was a little old man, viejezuelo, and when caught had in his possession a document giving the days of the year according to the European calendar, with the Nagual, which belonged to each one. That for January is alone given by our writer, but it is probable that the other months merely repeated the naguals corresponding to the numbers. It ran as follows: Nagual Calendar for January.
Having been informed of its day of birth, he in due time called at the residence of the parents, and told the mother to bring the child into the field behind the house. Having there invoked the demon, the nagual of the child would appear under the form of the animal or object set opposite its birthday in the calendar, a serpent were it born on the 2d of January, a flower were it on the 13th, fire were it on the 24th, and so on. The sorcerer then addressed certain prayers to the nagual to protect the little one, and told the mother to take it daily to the same spot, where its nagual would appear to it, and would finally accompany it through all its life. Some, but not all, obtained the power of transforming themselves into the nagual, and the author declares that, though he could not cite such a case from his own experience, his father knew of several, and reliable priests, religiosos de fÉ, had told him enough examples to fill volumes. The tribes to which this author refers were the Cakchiquels and Quiches, who spoke practically the same tongue. An examination of some of the old dictionaries prepared by the early missionaries furnishes further and interesting information about this obscure subject. In the Cakchiquel language of Guatemala, the word naual was applied both to the magician himself, to his necromantic art, and to the demonic agency which taught and protected him. This is shown by the following explanation, which I quote from Father Coto’s Vocabulario de la Lengua Cakchiquel, 1651, a manuscript in the library of the American Philosophical Society: “Magic or Necromancy: puz or naual; and they were accustomed to call their magicians or sorcerers by the same terms. It was a kind of magic which they invoked in order to transform themselves into eagles, lions, tigers, etc. Thus, they said, ru puz, ru naual, pedro lÆ cot, balam, ‘Peter’s power, his naual, is a lion, a tiger.’ They also applied the words puz and naual to certain trees, rocks and other inanimate objects, whence the Devil used to speak to them, and likewise to the idols which they worshiped, as gazlic che, gazlic abah, huyu, k’o ru naual, ‘The life of the tree, the life of the stone, of the hill, is its naual,’ etc.; because they believed there was life in these objects. They used to have armies and “To practice such magical arts: tin naualih (‘I practice magic’), an active verb. They use it, for instance, when a man asks his wife for something to eat or drink, and she has nothing, owing to his negligence, she will say: ‘Where do you suppose I can get what you want? Do you expect me to perform miracles—xa pe ri tin naualih—that they shall come to my hands?’ So when one is asked to lend or give something which he has not, he will exclaim: Tin naualih pe ri puvak, etc. (‘Can I perform miracles,’ etc.) “It also signifies to pretend something, concealing the truth, as xa ru naualim ara neh chu g’ ux ri tzih tan tu bijh pedro, ‘Peter is feigning this which he is saying.’ They are also accustomed to apply this word to the power which the priests exert (in the sacraments, etc.).” A long and foolish account of the witchcraft supposed to be practiced among the Pokonchis of Guatemala, also a tribe of Mayan stock, is given by the Englishman, Thomas Gage, who was cura of a parish among them about 1630, and afterwards returned to England and Protestantism. He described, at wearisome length, the supposed metamorphosis of two chiefs of neighboring tribes, the one into a lion, the other into a tiger, and the mortal combat in which they engaged, resulting in the death of one to whom Gage administered absolution. No doubt he had been worsted in a personal encounter with his old enemy, and, being a man of eighty years, had not the vigor to recover. The account is of interest only as proving that the same superstitions at that time prevailed among the Pokonchis as in other portions of Guatemala. “Truly he was a wonderful king. Every seven days he ascended to the sky, and every seven days he followed the path to the abode of the It may be said that such passages refer metaphorically to the versatility of his character, but even if this is so, the metaphors are drawn from the universal belief in Nagualism which then prevailed, and they do not express it too strongly. The German traveler, Dr. Scherzer, when he visited, in 1854, the remote hamlet of Istlavacan, in Guatemala, peopled by QuichÉ Indians, discovered that they had preserved in this respect the usages of their ancestors almost wholly unaffected by the teachings of their various Christian curates. The “Master” still assigned the naguals to the new-born infants, copal was burned to their ancient gods in remote caves, and formulas of These Zahoris, Among the native population of the State of Vera Cruz and elsewhere in southern Mexico these mysterious personages go by the name padrinos, godfathers, and are looked upon with a mixture of fear and respect. They are believed by the Indians to be able to cause sickness and domestic calamities, and are pronounced by intelligent whites to present “a combination of rascality, duplicity and trickery.” In their eyes the latter was but a cloak for the exactions, massacres and oppressions exerted by the former. To them the sacraments of the Church were the outward signs of their own subjugation and misery. They revolted against these rites in open hatred, or received them with secret repugnance and contempt. In the Mexican figurative manuscripts composed after the conquest the rite of baptism is constantly depicted as the symbol of religious persecution. Says a sympathetic student of this subject: “The act of baptism is always inserted in their records of battles and massacres. Everywhere it conveys the same idea,—making evident to the reader that the pretext for all the military expeditions of the Spaniards was the enforced conversion to Christianity of the natives; a pretext on which the Spaniards seized in order to possess themselves of the land and its treasure, to rob the Indians of their wives and daughters, to enslave them, and to spill their blood without remorse or remission. One of these documents, dated in 1526, adds a trait of savage irony. A Spanish soldier is represented dragging a fugitive Indian from a lake by a lasso around his neck; while on the shore stands a monk ready to baptize the recreant on his arrival!” No wonder that the priests of the dark ritual of Nagualism for centuries after the conquest sought to annul the effects of the hated Christian sacraments by counteracting ceremonies of their own, as we are told they did by the historian Torquemada, writing from his own point of view in these words: “The Father of Lies had his ministers who aided him, magicians and sorcerers, who went about from town to town, persuading the simple people to that which the Enemy of Light desired. Those who believed their deceits, and had been baptized, were washed on the head and breast by these sorcerers, who assured them that this would remove the effects of the chrism and the holy oils. I myself knew an instance where a person of prominence, who resided not far from the City of Mexico, was dying, and had received extreme unction; and when the priest had departed one of these diabolical ceremonialists entered, and washed all the parts which had been anointed by the holy oil with the intention to destroy its power.” Similar instances are recorded by Jacinto de la Serna. He adds that not only did the Masters prescribe sacrifices to the Fire in order to annul the effects of extreme unction, but they delighted to caricature the Eucharist, dividing among their congregation a narcotic yellow mushroom for the bread, and the inebriating pulque for the wine. Sometimes they adroitly concealed in the pyx, alongside the holy wafer, some little idol of their own, so that they really followed their own superstitions while seemingly adoring the Host. They assigned a purely pagan sense to the sacred formula, “Father, Son and Holy Ghost,” understanding it to be “Fire, Earth and Air,” or the like. Whoever or whatever was an enemy to that religion so brutally forced upon these miserable creatures was to them an ally and a friend. NuÑez de la Vega tells us that he found written formulas among them reading: “O Brother Antichrist, Brother Antichrist, Brother Antichrist, come to our aid!”—pathetic and desperate appeal of a wretched race, ground to earth under the iron heels of a religious and military despotism. There were certain recognized centres of the association, near which its most important dignitaries resided, and where their secret councils and most imposing ceremonies were held. One of these was Zamayac, in the province of Suchiltepec; a second near Huehuetan, Soconusco; a third at Totonicapan, Guate The high priest who resided at each of these centres exercised control over all the nagualistic teachers and practitioners in an extensive district. On the occasion of an official inquiry by the Spanish authorities it was ascertained that the high priest of Zamayac included under his rule nearly one thousand sub-priests, The unity between the members of the association over an indefinitely wide area was perfectly well known to the Spanish priests and civil authorities. The ceremonies, formulas and methods of procedure were everywhere identical or alike. This itself was justly regarded as a proof of the secret intelligence which existed among the members of this cabalistic guild. To a certain extent, and at least in some localities, as Chiapas and Guatemala, the priesthood of Nagualism was hereditary in particular families. This is especially stated by the historian OrdoÑez y Aguiar, who had exceptional opportunities for acquainting himself with the facts. A traveler of the first decade of this century, who has left us a number of curious details of the superstitions of the Christianized Indians in Mexico of that day, Benito Maria de MoxÒ, informs us that he had discovered the existence of different grades in the native soothsayers and medicine men, and that all in a given locality recognized the supremacy of one whom they referred to as “the little old man,” El Viejito. But he was unable to ascertain by what superior traits or rights he obtained this distinction. According to some authorities, the highest grade of these native hierophants bore among the Nahuas the symbolic name There is strong reason to suspect its power where, for obvious reasons, it has not been demonstrated. It has always been a mystery and a matter of surprise to the historians of Yucatan how rapidly spread the plans of the insurrection which secured lasting independence for the natives, after these plans had been agreed upon by the two chiefs, Antonio Ay and Cecilio Chi, at the remote rancho of Xihum, in July, 1847. Such unanimity of action could only have been possible through the aid of a powerful, well-disciplined and widespread secret organization. There can scarcely be a doubt they were the chiefs or masters of the redoubtable order of Nagualism in the Peninsula. There is no question that such was the case with the brief and bloody revolt of the Mayas in 1761. It suddenly broke out in a number of villages near Valladolid, Yucatan, headed by a full-blood native, Jacinto Can-Ek; but some of the participants afterwards confessed that it was the outcome of a conspiracy which had been preparing for a year. When the appointed day arrived, Jacinto boldly announced himself as the high priest of the fraternity of sorcerers, a master and teacher of magic, and the lineal successor of the famous “‘Be not afraid,’ he exclaimed, ‘of their cannons and their forts; for among the many to whom I have taught the arts of magic (el arte de brujeria) there are fifteen chosen ones, marvelous experts, who by their mystic power will enter the fortress, slay the sentinels, and throw open the gates to our warriors. I shall take the leaves of the sacred tree, and folding them into trumpets, I shall call to the four winds of heaven, and a multitude of fighting men will hasten to our aid.’” Saying this, he took a sheet of paper, held it up to show that it was blank, folded it for a moment, and then spread it out covered with writing! This deft trick convinced his simple-minded hearers of the truth of his claims and they rushed to arms. He led them, clothed in the robe of the Virgin and with her crown on his head. But neither their enthusiasm nor their leader’s art magic availed, and soon Jacinto and his followers fell victims to the stake and the gallows. After their death the dance of “the tiger,” or of Chac-Mool—the “ghost dance” of the Mayas—was prohibited; and the use of the sacred drum—the favorite instrument of the native priests—was forbidden. In fact, wherever we have any full accounts of the revolts against the Spanish domination during the three centuries of its existence in New Spain, we can manifestly trace the guiding fingers of the powerful though hidden hand of Nagualism. An earlier revolt of the Mayas in Yucatan occurred in 1585. It was led by Andres Chi, a full-blood Indian, and a descendant of the ancient royal house of the Cocomes. He also announced himself as a priest of the ancient faith, a prophet and a worker of miracles, sent to instruct his own people in a new religion and to give them an independent political existence. Seized by Not less definitely inspired by the same ideas was the Mixe Indian, known as “Don Pascual,” who led the revolt of the Tehuantepec tribes in 1661. He sent out his summons to the “thirteen governors of the Zapotecs and Chontales” to come to his aid, and the insurrection threatened to assume formidable proportions, prevented only by bringing to bear upon the natives the whole power of the Roman Church through the Bishop of Oaxaca, Cuevas Davalos. Nearly the same locality had been the scene of the revolt of the Zapotecs in 1550, when they were led by a native priest who claimed to be an incarnation of the old god Quetzalcoatl, the patron deity of the nagualists. In the city of Mexico itself, in the year 1692, there was a violent outbreak of the natives, when they destroyed three million dollars worth of property. Doubtless this was partly attributable to the scarcity of food which prevailed; but that the authorities traced it also to some secret ceremonials is evident from the law which was immediately passed forbidding the Indians to wear the piochtli, or scalp-lock, a portion of the hair preserved from birth as part of the genethliac rituals, As for the revolt of the Tzentals of Chiapas, in 1712, it was clearly and confessedly under the leadership of the nagualistic priesthood, as I shall indicate on a later page. The history of the native American race under the Spanish power in North America has never yet been written with the slightest approach to thoroughness. He who properly qualifies “Among the ruling and priestly classes of the semi-civilized nations of America, there has always existed a mysterious bond, a secret organization, which all the disasters to which they have been subjected have not destroyed. It is to its present existence that we may attribute those simultaneous movements of the aborigines of Mexico and Central America, which have more than once threatened the complete subversion of the Spanish power.” That mysterious bond, that secret organization, is Nagualism. The veracious Pascual de Andagoya asserts from his own knowledge that some of these female adepts had attained the rare and peculiar power of being in two places at once, as much as a league and a half apart; According to an author intimately familiar with the Mexican nagualists, the art they claimed to possess of transforming themselves into the lower animals was taught their predecessors by a woman, a native Circe, a mighty enchantress, whose usual name was Quilaztli (the etymology of which is unknown), but who bore also four others, representing her four metamorphoses, Cohuacihuatl, the Serpent Woman; Quauhcihuatl, the Eagle Woman; Yaocihuatl, the Warrior Woman; and Tzitzimecihuatl, the Specter Woman. The powers of these queens of magic extended widely among their sex. We read in the chronicles of ancient Mexico that when Nezahualpilli, the king, oppressed the tribes of the coast, the tierra caliente, they sent against him, not their warriors, but their witches. These cast upon him their fatal spells, so that when he walked forth from his palace, blood burst from his mouth, and he fell prone and dead. In Guatemala, as in ancient Delphos, the gods were believed to speak through the mouths of these inspired seeresses, and at the celebration of victories they enjoyed a privilege so strange and horrible that I quote it from the old manuscript before me without venturing a translation: “... Despues de sacrificar los antiguos algun hombre, despedaÇandolo, si era de los que avian cogido en guerra, dicen que guardaban el When Captain Pedro de Alvarado, in the year 1524, was marching upon Quetzaltanango, in Guatemala, just such a fearful old witch took her stand at the summit of the pass, with her familiar in the shape of a dog, and “by spells and nagualistic incantations” undertook to prevent his approach. As in the earliest, so in the latest accounts. The last revolt of the Indians of Chiapas occurred among the Zotzils in 1869. The cause of it was the seizure and imprisonment by the Spanish authorities of a “mystical woman,” known to the whites as Santa Rosa, who, together with one of their ahaus or chieftains, had been suspected of fomenting sedition. The natives marched thousands strong against the city of San Cristobal, where the prisoners were, and secured their liberation; but their leader, Ignacio Galindo, was entrapped and shot by the Spaniards, and the mutiny was soon quelled. Her authority was absolute, and she was merciless in requiring obedience to it. The disobedient were flayed alive or roasted over a slow fire. She and all her followers took particular pleasure in manifesting their hatred and contempt for the religion of their oppressors. They defiled the sacred vessels of the churches, imitated with buffoonery the ceremonies of the mass, which she herself performed, and stoned to death the priests whom they caught. Of course, her attempt against the power of Spain was hopeless. It failed after a bitter and protracted conquest, characterized by the utmost inhumanity on both sides. But when her followers were scattered and killed, when the victorious whites had again in their hands all the power and resources of the country, not their most diligent search, nor the temptation of any reward, enabled them to capture Maria Candelaria, the heroine of the bloody drama. With a few trusty followers she escaped to the forest, and was never again heard of. More unfortunate were her friends and lieutenants, the priestesses of Guistiupan and Yajalon, who had valiantly seconded Maria in her patriotic endeavors. Seized by the Spaniards, they met the fate which we can easily imagine, though the historian has mercifully thrown a veil on its details. The late distinguished Americanist, the AbbÉ Brasseur de Bourbourg, during his long travels in Mexico and Central America, had occasion more than once to come in contact with this trait of the ancient faith of the Nagualists, still alive in their descendants. Among the Zapotecs of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec he saw one of the queens of the mystic fraternity, and he describes her with a warmth which proves that he had not lost his eye for the beautiful. “She wore a piece of light-green stuff loosely folded around her form at the hips, and falling to a little distance above the ankle; a jacket of red silk gauze with short sleeves and embroidered with gold, clothed the upper part of her person, veiling her bosom, upon which lay a chain of heavy gold pieces, pierced and strung on a cord. Her rich black hair was divided on the forehead, and drawn back in two splendid tresses fastened with blue ribbons, while a white muslin kerchief encircled her head like the calantica of the ancient Egyptians. Never in my life have I seen a more striking figure of an Isis or a Cleopatra. “There was something strange in her expression. Her eyes were the blackest and the brightest in the world; but there were moments when she suddenly paused, leaned against the billiard table or the wall, and they became fixed and dead like those of a corpse. Then a fiery glance would shoot from beneath her dark lashes, sending a chill to the heart of the one to whom it was directed. Was it madness, or was it, as those around her believed, a momentary absence of soul, an absorption of her spirit into its nagual, a transportation into an unknown world? Who shall decide?” Wherever in later days the Catholic priests found out the We cannot err in regarding Oztoteotl as merely another name of the Nahuatl divinity, Tepeyollotl, the Heart, or Inside, of the Mountain, who in the Codex Borgia and the Codex Vaticanus is represented seated upon or in a cavern. His name may equally well be translated “the Heart of the Place,” or “of the Town.” Dr. Eduard Seler has shown beyond reasonable question that this divinity did not originally belong to the Aztec Pantheon, but was introduced from the South, either from the Zapotecs, the Mixtecs, or the Mayan tribes, beyond these. The rites of all of these were conducted in caverns, and there have been preserved several interesting descriptions of the contents of these sacred places. That relating to the “dark house of Votan” is given thus in the work of the Bishop of Chiapas: “Votan is the third hero who is named in the calendar, and some of his descendants still reside in the town of Teopisca, where they are known as Votans. He is sometimes referred to as Lord of the Sacred Drum, and he is said to have seen the great wall (which must have been the Tower of Babel), and to have divided this land among the Indians, and given to each tribe its language. “All of these were taken from the cave, and publicly burned in the plaza of Huehuetan on the occasion of our first diocesan visit there in 1691, having been delivered to us by the lady in charge and the guardians. All the Indians have great respect for this Votan, and in some places they call him ‘the Heart of the Towns.’” The English priest, Thomas Gage, who was curate of a parish among the Pokonchi Indians of Guatemala about 1630, relates his discovery of such a cave, in which the idol was preserved, and gives this description of it: “We found the Idol standing upon a low stool covered with a linen cloth. The substance of it was wood, black shining like jet, as if it had been painted or smoked; the form was of a man’s head unto the shoulders, without either Beard or Mustachoes; his look was grim, with a wrinkled forehead, and broad staring eyes. “They boasted of this their god, saying that he had plainly told them they should not believe anything I preached of Christ, but follow the old ways of their forefathers.” The black color here mentioned was a relic of ancient symbolism, referring to the night, darkness, and the obscurity of the holy cavern. Vetancurt informs us that the priests of the ancient paganism were accustomed to rub their faces and bodies with an ointment of fat and pine soot when they went to sacrifice in the forests, so that they looked as black as In some parts the principal idol found in the caves was the “It was seated in an armchair which served for a throne, and was clothed in a mantle, which fell from the shoulders to the feet. This was richly adorned with precious stones, which, according to the native custom, were sewed into the texture of the cloth. The figure also wore shoulder straps, collars, bracelets and fastenings of silver. From its forehead rose a crown of beautiful feathers of different colors arranged so that one color should alternate with another. The left hand was resting on the arm of the chair, while in the right was a sharp cutlass with silver mountings. At its feet were several vases of fine stone, as marble and alabaster, in which were offerings of blood and meat, obtained from the sacrifices.” The same writer refers to other examples of these sacred caves which he had seen in his journeys. One was near the town of Teremendo, where the sides and roof had been artificially dressed into the shape of huge arches. A natural altar had been provided in a similar manner, and on it, at the time of his visit, were numerous idols in the figures of men and animals, and before them fresh offerings of copal and food. Elsewhere he refers to many such caverns still in use as places resorted to by the natives in la gran Sierra de Tlascala. These extracts prove the extent of this peculiar worship and the number of these subterranean temples in recent generations. The fame of some of the greater ones of the past still survives, as the vast grotto of Chalcatongo, near Achiutla, which was the sepulchral vault of its ancient kings; that of Totomachiapa, a The intimate meaning of this cave-cult was the worship of the Earth. The Cave God, the Heart of the Hills, really typified the Earth, the Soil, from whose dark recesses flow the limpid streams and spring the tender shoots of the food-plants, as well as the great trees. To the native Mexican, the Earth was the provider of food and drink, the common Father of All; so that to this day, when he would take a solemn oath, he stoops to the earth, touches it with his hand, and repeats the solemn formula: Cuix amo nechitla in toteotzin? “Does not our Great God see me?” The number nine, that is, 3 x 3, recurs so frequently in the conjuration formulas of the Mexican sorcerers that de la Serna exclaims: “It was the Devil himself who inculcated into them this superstition about the number nine.” The three and the seven were the ruling numbers in the genealogical trees of the Pipiles of San Salvador. The “tree” was painted with seven branches representing degrees of relationship within which marriage was forbidden unless a man had performed some distinguished exploit in war, when he could marry beyond the nearest three degrees of relationship. The indications are that the nagualists derived these numbers from the third and seventh days of the calendar “month” of twenty days. Tepeololtec, the Cave God, was patron of the third day and also “Lord of Animals,” the transformation into which was the test of nagualistic power. The most important symbol was Fire. It was regarded as the primal element and the immediate source of life. Father Nicolas de Leon has the following suggestive passage in this connection: “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 for reprehension. We should also be on the watch for their baptism by Fire, a ceremony called the yiahuiltoca, 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. 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.” This was distinctly a survival of an ancient doctrine which connected the God of Fire with the Gods of Drunkenness, as we may gather from the following quotation from the history composed by Father Diego Duran: “The octli was a favorite offering to the gods, and especially to the God of Fire. Sometimes it was placed before a fire in vases, sometimes Among the ancient Aztecs the god of fire was called the To transform themselves into a globe or ball of fire was, as we have seen (antÈ, p. 21), a power claimed by expert nagualists, and to handle it with impunity, or to blow it from the mouth, was one of their commonest exhibitions. Nothing so much proved their superiority as thus to master this potent element. These green stones, called chalchiuitl, of jadeite, nephrite, green quartz, or the like, were accounted of peculiar religious significance throughout southern Mexico, and probably to this day many are preserved among the indigenous population as amulets and charms. They were often carved into images, either in human form or representing a frog, the latter apparently the symbol of the waters and of fertility. BartholomÈ de Alva refers to them in a passage of his Confessionary. The priest asks the penitent: “Dost thou possess at this very time little idols of green stone, or frogs made of it (in chalchiuh coconeme, chalchiuh tamazoltin)? “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 Down to quite a recent date, and perhaps still, these green stones are employed in certain ceremonies in vogue among the Indians of Oaxaca in order to ensure a plenteous maize harvest. The largest ear of corn in the field is selected and wrapped up in a cloth with some of these chalchiuite. At the next corn-planting it is taken to the field and buried in the soil. This is believed to be a relic of the worship of the ancient Zapotec divinity, Quiegolani, who presided over cultivated fields. They are still in use among the natives as lucky stones or amulets. In the Zotzil insurrection of 1869, already referred to, one was found suspended to the neck of one of the slain Indians. It came into the possession of M. Maler, who has described and figured it. From specimens of these amulets preserved in museums it is seen that any greenish stone was selected, preferably those yielding a high, vitreous polish, as jadeite, turquoise, emerald, chlormelanite or precious serpentine. The color gave the sacred character, and this, it seems to me, was distinctly meant to be symbolic of water and its effects, the green of growing plants, and hence of fertility, abundance and prosperity. Sacred trees were familiar to the old Mexican cult, and, what is curious, the same name was applied to such as to the fire, The conventionalized form of this tree in the Mexican figurative paintings strongly resembles a cross. Examples of it are numerous and unmistakable, as, for instance, the cruciform tree of life rising from a head with a protruding tongue, in the Vienna Codex. When the mysterious metamorphosis of the individual into his or her nagual was about to take place, the person must Huge phalli of stone have been discovered, one, for instance, on the Cerro de las Navajas, not far from the city of Mexico, We may explain these as in some way connected with the worship of Pantecatl, the male divinity who presided over profligate love, and of Tlazolteotl, the Venus Impudica of the Aztec pantheon; and it is not without significance that the cave-temple of Votan, whose contents were destroyed by the Bishop of Chiapas, in 1691 (see above, p. 39), was located at Tlazoaloyan, both names being derived from a root signifying sexual action. The rituals and prayers of the nagualists bear witness to this. It is very visible in those I have quoted from NuÑez de Prayer of an Ah-Kih. “O Jesus Christ my God: thou God the Son, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, art my only God. Today, on this day, at this hour, on this day Tihax, I call upon the holy souls which accompany the sun-rising and the sun-setting of the day: with these holy souls I call upon thee, O chief of the genii, thou who dwellest in this mountain of Siba Raxquin; come, ye holy spirits of Juan Vachiac, of Don Domingo Vachiac, of Juan Ixquiaptap, the holy souls of Francisco Excoquieh, of Diego Soom, of Juan Fay, of Alonzo Tzep; I call the holy souls of Diego Tziquin and of Don Pedro Noh: you, O priests, to whom all things are revealed, and thou, chief of the genii, you, lords of the mountains, lords of the plains, thou, Don Purupeto Martin, come, accept this incense, accept to-day this candle. “Come also, my mother Holy Mary, the Lord of Esquipulas, the Lord of Capetagua, the beloved Mary of Chiantla, with her who dwells at San Lorenzo, and also Mary of Sorrows, Mary Saint Anna, Mary Tibureia, Mary of Carmen, with Saint Michael the Archangel, the captain St. James, St. Christoval, St. Sebastian, St. Nicolas, St. Bonaventura, St. Bernardin, St. Andrew, St. Thomas, St. Bartholomew, and thou my beloved mother St. Catherine, thou beloved Mary of the Conception, Mary of the Rosary, thou lord and king Pascual, be here present. “And thou, Frost, and thou, excellent Wind, thou, God of the plain, thou, God of Quiac-Basulup, thou, God of Retal-Uleu, thou, lord of San Gregorio, thou, lord of Chii-Masa. [These are mountains and localities, and in the original there follow the names of more than a hundred others. The prayer concludes as follows:] “... I who appoint myself godfather and godmother, I who ask, I the witness and brother of this man who asks, of this man who makes himself, your son, O holy souls, I ask, do not let any evil happen unto him, nor let him be unhappy for any cause. “I the priest, I who speak, I who burn this incense, I who light this candle, I who pray for him, I who take him under my protection, I ask you that he may obtain his subsistence with facility. Thou, God, canst provide him with money; let him not fall ill of fever; I ask that he shall “And I who up to this time have spoken for him to you, I ask you that sickness may visit his enemies. So order it, that when his enemies go forth from their houses, they may meet sickness; order it, that wherever they go, they may meet troubles; do your offices of injury to them, wheresoever they are met; do this that I pray, O holy souls. God be with you; God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit: Amen, Jesus.” Most of such invocations are expressed in terms far more recondite and symbolic than the above. We have many such preserved in the work of Jacinto de la Serna, which supply ample material to acquaint us with the peculiarities of the sacred and secret language of the nagualists. I shall quote but one, that employed in the curious ceremony of “calling back the tonal,” referred to on a previous page. I append an explanation of its obscure metaphors. Invocation for the Restitution of the Tonal. “Ho there! Come to my aid, mother mine of the skirt of precious stones! “I, the Master of the Masters of enchantments, have come, I, who formed thee and gave thee life. “Adverse spirit and darkened star, I shall sink thee in the breadth and depth of the waters. “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. “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? Explanations. From the same work of de la Serna I collect the following list of symbolic expressions. It might easily be extended, but these will be sufficient to show the figurative obscurities which they threw around their formulas of conjuration, but which were by no means devoid of coherence and instruction to those who could understand them. Symbolic Expressions of the Nagualists. 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 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 Acatl); “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 Road.—“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 flame;” “our mother the comet” (all referring to the fever); “the Chichimec” (because it aims to destroy life, like these savage warriors); “the spider” (because of 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.). Energetic inquisitors, however, conceded very grudgingly this exemption. In the imposing auto de fÉ celebrated in the city of Mexico, in 1659, a half-breed, Bernardo del Carpio by name, son of a full-blood Indian mother, accused of blasphemy, etc., endeavored to escape the Holy Office by pleading his Indian blood; but his appeal was disallowed, and the precedent established that any admixture whatever of European blood brought the accused within the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. The opinions on this subject have been diverse and positive. Most writers have assumed that it is a Nahuatl, or pure Mexican, word; while an eminent authority, Dr. Stoll, is not less certain that it is from a radical belonging to the neighboring great stock of the Mayan dialects, and especially the Quiche, of Guatemala. To illustrate this I shall subjoin several series of words derived from the same radical which is at the basis of the word nagual, the series, three in number, being taken from the three radically diverse, though geographically contiguous, linguistic stocks, the Maya, the Zapotec and the Nahuatl. From the Maya, of Yucatan. From Maya Dialects. Quiche-Cakchiquel.
Tzental.
From the Zapotec, of Oaxaca.
From the Nahuatl, of Mexico.
The root na, to know, is the primitive monosyllabic stem to which we trace all of them. Nahual means knowledge, especially mystic knowledge, the Gnosis, the knowledge of the hidden and secret things of nature; easily enough confounded in uncultivated minds with sorcery and magic. Nor in the Nahuatl language—although its very name is derived from it It is true that de la Serna derives the Mexican naualli, a sorcerer, from the verb nahualtia, to mask or disguise oneself, “because a naualli is one who masks or disguises himself under the form of some lower animal, which is his nagual;” Therefore, if the term nagual, and many of its associates and derivatives, were at first borrowed from the Zapotec language, a necessary Along with the names of the days and the hieroglyphs which mark them, and the complicated arithmetical methods by means of which they were employed, were carried most of the doctrines of the Nagualists, and the name by which they in time became known from central Mexico quite to Nicaragua and beyond. The mysterious words have now, indeed, lost much of their ancient significance. In a recent dictionary of the Spanish of Mexico nagual is defined as “a witch; a word used to frighten children and make them behave,” Among the Lacandons, of Mayan stock, who inhabit the forests on the upper waters of the Usumacinta river, at the present day the term naguate or nagutlat is said to be applied to any one “who is entitled to respect and obedience by age and merit;” Even in such a detail as the direct connection of the name of the person with his power of change do we find extraordinary parallelisms between the superstition of the red man of America and the peasant of Germany. As in Mexico the nagual was assigned to the infant by a form of baptism, so in Europe the peasants of east Prussia hold that if the godparent at the time of naming and baptism thinks of a wolf, the infant will acquire the power of becoming one; and in Hesse to pronounce the name of the person in the presence of the animal into which he has been changed will restore him to human shape. Many a member of the Church of Rome substitutes for the daimon of the Platonists the patron saint after whom he is named, or whom he has chosen from the calendar, the hagiology, of his Church. This analogy did not fail to strike the early missionaries, and they saw in the Indian priest selecting the nagual of the child a hideous and diabolical caricature of the holy rites. But what was their horror when they found that the similarity proceeded so far that the pagan priest also performed a kind of baptismal sacrament with water; and that in the Mexican picture-writing the sign which represents the natal day, the tonal, by which the individual demon is denoted, was none other than the sign of the cross, as we have seen. This left no doubt as to the devilish origin of the whole business, which was further supported by the wondrous thaumaturgic powers of its professors. Moreover, is there anything incredible in the reports of the spectators? Are we not familiar with the hypnotic or mesmeric conditions in which the subject sees, hears and feels just what the master tells him to feel and see? The tricks of cutting oneself or others, of swallowing broken glass, of handling venomous reptiles, are well-known performances of the sect of the Aissaoua in northern Africa, and nowadays one does not have to go off the boulevards of Paris to see them repeated. The phenomena of thought transference, of telepathy, of clairvoy |
|
