Xiuhtecuhtli
Xiuhtecuhtli, Lord of the Turquoise, is the Aztec fire: the oldest of the gods, the Huehueteotl whose face is the wrinkled face of the hearth, the fire at the centre of the house and of the world, the lord of the year and of turquoise.
The old fire, the turquoise, the month Izcalli and the fifty-two-year New Fire are all attested; the New Fire did end with a human sacrifice, which the entry says rather than omits. The planetary value Sun, the zodiac values Leo, Aries and Sagittarius, the tarot cards and the sabbats Yule and Litha are modern Western overlays, as are the Mars and Saturn values; the Nahua tradition gives him no planet and no zodiacal rulership, and his own time is the fifty-two-year cycle and the month Izcalli. Huehueteotl is a distinct old-fire figure whom the sources and the modern literature usually treat as the same god under an older name, and the entry follows that usage while flagging it.
Correspondences
- Planetary Correspondence
- Sun
- Elemental Correspondence
- Fire
- Zodiac Affinity
- LeoAriesSagittarius
Offerings
- Offerings
- Copal incenseFireTurquoiseMaizePulquePaper
Sacred timing
- Sacred Timing
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- HuehueteotlLord of the TurquoiseThe Old FireLord of the Year
- Gender Expression
- Masculine
- Titles
- Lord of the TurquoiseThe Old FireLord of the YearHe at the Navel of the House
- Symbols
- Fire serpentTurquoise diademBrazierFire drillFifty two year bundle
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneThe old fire at the centreAddressXiuhtecuhtliHuehueteotlLord of the TurquoiseRelationshipThe fire that was here before the gods and remains at the centreWarningHe is the fire that also takesResonanceThose keeping a hearth elders those at a turning of the year
- Modern Practice
Xiuhtecuhtli is the hearth, the kept flame, the turn of the year and the courage to start a fire after everything has gone out. He is worked in ordinary domestic fire rather than in spectacle, and the historical New Fire with its captive is recorded here and not recommended.
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- FireThe hearthThe yearTimeTurquoiseThe centreThe new fireRulership
- Mythology Summary
Xiuhtecuhtli, Lord of the Turquoise, is the Aztec fire: the oldest of the gods, the Huehueteotl whose face is the wrinkled face of the hearth, the fire at the centre of the house and of the world, the lord of the year and of turquoise. The Florentine Codex and the Codex Borbonicus show him in his brazier with the turquoise diadem, honoured in the month Izcalli. At the end of every fifty-two-year cycle the New Fire was drilled on the chest of a sacrificed captive on the Hill of the Star, Huixachtitlan, and the people waited on the roofs to see whether it caught and the world would continue.
- Related Deities
- TonatiuhTezcatlipocaHuitzilopochtliHestiaBrigid
Details
- Correspondences
- ColorsRedGoldTurquoiseYellowScentsCopal whiteCopal blackCedarMetalsGoldCopperBronzeAnimalsEagleSerpentJaguar
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