TobaccoArrowsCopal incenseThe first kill of the huntDeer bonePulque
Invocation Approach
Tone
The hunters attention
Address
MixcoatlCamaxtliCloud Serpent
Relationship
The one who opens the way for the hunt
Warning
He is a war god as much as a hunter
Resonance
Hunters trackers those who live by skill in the wild
Symbols
Bow and arrowsDeer antlerMilky wayFire drillRed and white body stripesBlack mask
Mythology Summary
Mixcoatl, Cloud Serpent, is the Aztec and Chichimec god of the hunt, of the fire drill and of the Milky Way, called Camaxtli in Tlaxcala and Huejotzingo where he was the chief god. The Leyenda de los Soles in the Codex Chimalpopoca makes him the one who drills the first fire and who, with his brothers, ambushes and kills the four hundred Mimixcoa; it also makes him the father of Quetzalcoatl on Chimalma, and then the victim of his own brothers Apanecatl, Zolton and Cuilton, whom Quetzalcoatl kills in turn. His veintena is Quecholli, the hunt month.
Modern Practice
Mixcoatl is called on before a hunt or any work that depends on reading ground and weather, and for the first fire of a new undertaking. He is a god of people who live by skill away from cities, and the entry keeps that edge rather than domesticating him.