H
up this back door of hell. The four buildings above ground were the only ones which still remained open, and Ihey had a court and chambers like those underground and the ruins of these have lasted even to the present day. We must not close this chapter on Mcxican magic without some reference to the physical apparatus of the Mexican magician. Perhaps the nost striking emblem of his craft was the namlli ir disguise, a cloak which gave him a resemblance to some animal and which was symbolical of...
Chapter V
THE DEMONOLOGY OF MEXICO HE demonhood of ancient Mexico was, perhaps, the most gruesome which ever haunted any race of men. It took many shapes, and varied somewhat with locality, and it scarcely resembles any recognizable system of demonology, European or Asiatic. Those demons most dreaded were the Tzitzimime, or monsters descending from above, who were, indeed, the stars. The interpreter of the Codex Telleriano says of them The proper significat ion of this name is the fall of the demons,...
Mexican Astrology
THE Mexican system of Astrology, although it has considerable resemblances with those of Europe and Asia, is really a system of native growth and origin, and must be studied separately from all others. It is based on what is known as the tonalamafl, or so-called calendar of the Aztecs. But I v ill deal with it here very practically, in order that students of other astrologies may compare it with the system they study, and because it is ccrtainly time that this particular American system should...
Info Wrk
reading signs, or by interpreting dreams, or by water, making circles or figures on its surface Dost thou suck the blood of others, or dost thou wander about at night, calling upon the Demon to help thee Ilast thou drunk peyotl, or given it to others to dr'i.k, in order to find out secrets Dost thou know how to speak to serpents in such words that they obey thee The intoxicant peyotl, which the natives used to induce trance, is a species of vmagrilla having a white tuberous root, which was the...
F
place as bronze did with the Neolithic peoples, and came to be regarded as the chief agency through which the necessities of life were acquired. But when the Nahua embraced a more settled existence the nourishment of the gods had necessarily to be maintained by other means than the sacrifice of deer, which were gradually disappearing. Slaves and war-captives were sacrificed n the place of deer, their wrists and ankles being tied together precisely in the manner n which a deer is trussed by the...