JadeTurquoiseFlowersCacaoCopal incenseTeaching knowledgeActs of creation
Invocation Approach
Tone
Reverent recognition of creator teacher
Address
Feathered SerpentLord Quetzalcoatl
Relationship
Teacher of sacred knowledge
Warning
Demands sacrifice for creation
Resonance
Creators teachers those who give knowledge
Symbols
Feathered serpentWindMorning starSpiral
Mythology Summary
Quetzalcoatl is the Mesoamerican feathered serpent, the wind (as Ehecatl) and the morning-star aspect of Venus, credited in the Nahua accounts with the creation of humanity from the bones of the ancestors, with agriculture, the calendar and writing, and the patron of the priestly arts; his morning-star aspect is properly Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, a distinct lord of the day. Narratives of his exile and promised return are traditional, but the later story that he was a white god whom the Mexica took for Cortes is a colonial construction and is not part of the tradition. Whether he opposed human sacrifice is contested: the reformed Tollan of Ce Acatl Topiltzin is presented that way in some tellings, but it is not a settled attribute.
Modern Practice
Patron of knowledge-sharers, creators, teachers. Invoked for wisdom work, creative acts, teaching. Teaches that knowledge is sacred gift, creation requires sacrifice, that earth and sky must unite.