Itzpapalotl
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.
Itzpapalotl is a tzitzimitl, a star demon, before she is a goddess of anything, and the entry says so; the Leyenda de los Soles death and burning are attested, while the claim that she is the mother of the Mimixcoa and the label goddess of infant mortality vary between sources and modern studies. The planetary value Pluto, the zodiac values Scorpio and Capricorn, the tarot cards and the sabbat Samhain are modern Western overlays, as are the Saturn and Moon values. The Nahua tradition assigns her no planet: her own time is the eclipse and the night, and her own place is the northern sky. The Mixcoatl connection is real in the sources but is not worked out here as a family tree.
Correspondences
- Planetary Correspondence
- Pluto
Offerings
- Offerings
- ObsidianCopal incenseBlack paperWaterCacao
Sacred timing
- Sacred Timing
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- Obsidian ButterflyClawed ButterflyOne of the Tzitzimime
- Gender Expression
- Feminine
- Titles
- Obsidian ButterflyLady of the Knife WingsStar DemonMother of the Mimixcoa
- Symbols
- Obsidian butterflyKnife wingsClawsStarSkull
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneThe knife in the darkAddressItzpapalotlObsidian ButterflyRelationshipThe star that comes down when the sun is eatenWarningShe is a tzitzimitl and the tzitzimime are hungryResonanceThose who work with eclipse and obsidian the bereaved of children
- 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.
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- ObsidianThe starsThe tzitzimimeInfant deathSacrificeWarThe northThe eclipse
- 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.
- Related Deities
- TezcatlipocaMictlantecuhtliMictecacihuatlTonatiuhKali
Details
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