Those who work with eclipse and obsidian the bereaved of children
Symbols
Obsidian butterflyKnife wingsClawsStarSkull
Mythology Summary
Itzpapalotl, Obsidian Butterfly, is a Tzitzimitl: one of the star demons who come down when the sun is eaten by an eclipse and who will come at the end of the present sun to devour the people. In the Leyenda de los Soles in the Codex Chimalpopoca she is among the Mimixcoa whom Mixcoatl-Camaxtli and his brothers ambush and kill, and she is burned; some tellings also make her the mother of the Mimixcoa, and modern studies link her with death in infancy. The Codex Borgia shows her with wings of obsidian blades, eagle or jaguar claws and a star about her head.
Modern Practice
Itzpapalotl is worked at eclipse, in obsidian, and in the places where the dark feminine is not asked to be kind. She is also approached by the bereaved of children, and the entry keeps the knife in that work rather than dressing her as a goddess of the moon.