Mixcoatl
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 account and the Tlaxcalan cult of Camaxtli are solid; the Milky Way identification rests on the colonial gloss that Iztac Mixcoatl is the white cloud serpent of the nebula, which is well established but is an equation made by sixteenth-century writers. The relation between Mixcoatl and Xipe Totec and Tlatlauhqui Tezcatlipoca is genuinely unresolved in the sources and the entry does not pretend otherwise. The planetary value Mars, the zodiac values Sagittarius and Aries, the tarot cards and the sabbats Lughnasadh and Mabon are modern Western overlays; the Nahua tradition gives him no planet, and his own time is Quecholli. The Saturday and Uranus values are overlay too, and the weekdays throughout this entry follow the Hellenistic planetary week, not the tonalpohualli.
Correspondences
- Planetary Correspondence
- Mars
- Zodiac Affinity
- SagittariusAries
Offerings
- Offerings
- TobaccoArrowsCopal incenseThe first kill of the huntDeer bonePulque
Sacred timing
- Sacred Timing
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- CamaxtliCamaxtleCloud SerpentIztac MixcoatlWhite Cloud Serpent
- Gender Expression
- Masculine
- Titles
- Cloud SerpentLord of the HuntPatron of the ChichimecLord of the Milky WayThe Fire Drill
- Symbols
- Bow and arrowsDeer antlerMilky wayFire drillRed and white body stripesBlack mask
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneThe hunters attentionAddressMixcoatlCamaxtliCloud SerpentRelationshipThe one who opens the way for the huntWarningHe is a war god as much as a hunterResonanceHunters trackers those who live by skill in the wild
- 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.
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- The huntThe milky wayFire and the fire drillWarThe chichimecThe wildernessThe stars
- 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.
- Related Deities
- QuetzalcoatlTezcatlipocaHuitzilopochtliTonatiuhTlaloc
Details
- Correspondences
- ColorsRedWhiteBlackScentsCopal whiteTobaccoCedarMetalsCopperIronBronzeAnimalsDeerJaguarEagleSerpentCoyote
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