Part 1 (1/2)
Nagualism.
by Daniel G. Brinton.
=1.= The words, a _nagual_, _nagualism_, a _nagualist_, have been current in English prose for more than seventy years; they are found during that time in a variety of books published in England and the United States,[4-*] yet are not to be discovered in any dictionary of the English language; nor has _Nagualism_ a place in any of the numerous encyclopaedias or ”Conversation Lexicons,” in English, French, German or Spanish.
This is not owing to its lack of importance, since for two hundred years past, as I shall show, it has been recognized as a cult, no less powerful than mysterious, which united many and diverse tribes of Mexico and Central America into organized opposition against the government and the religion which had been introduced from Europe; whose members had acquired and were bound together by strange faculties and an occult learning, which placed them on a par with the famed thaumaturgists and theodidacts of the Old World; and which preserved even into our own days the thoughts and forms of a long suppressed ritual.
In several previous publications I have referred briefly to this secret sodality and its aims,[4-] and now believe it worth while to collect my scattered notes and present all that I have found of value about the origin, aims and significance of this Eleusinian Mystery of America. I shall trace its geographical extension and endeavor to discover what its secret influence really was and is.
=2.= The earliest description I find of its particular rites is that which the historian Herrera gives, as they prevailed in 1530, in the province of Cerquin, in the mountainous parts of Honduras. It is as follows:
”The Devil was accustomed to deceive these natives by appearing to them in the form of a lion, tiger, coyote, lizard, snake, bird, or other animal. To these appearances they apply the name _Naguales_, which is as much as to say, guardians or companions; and when such an animal dies, so does the Indian to whom it was a.s.signed. The way such an alliance was formed was thus: The Indian repaired to some very retired spot and there appealed to the streams, rocks and trees around him, and weeping, implored for himself the favors they had conferred on his ancestors. He then sacrificed a dog or a fowl, and drew blood from his tongue, or his ears, or other parts of his body, and turned to sleep. Either in his dreams or half awake, he would see some one of those animals or birds above mentioned, who would say to him, 'On such a day go hunting and the first animal or bird you see will be my form, and I shall remain your companion and _Nagual_ for all time.' Thus their friends.h.i.+p became so close that when one died so did the other; and without such a _Nagual_ the natives believe no one can become rich or powerful.”[5-*]
This province of Cerquin appears to have been peopled by a tribe which belonged to the great Mayan stock, akin to those which occupied most of the area of what is now Yucatan, Tabasco, Chiapas and Guatemala.[5-]
I shall say something later about the legendary enchantress whom their traditions recalled as the teacher of their ancestors and the founder of their nation. What I would now call attention to is the fact that in none of the dialects of the specifically Mexican or Aztecan stock of languages do we find the word _nagual_ in the sense in which it is employed in the above extract, and this is strong evidence that the origin of Nagualism is not to be sought in that stock.
=3.= We do find, however, in the Nahuatl language, which is the proper name of the Aztecan, a number of derivatives from the same root, _na_, among them this very word, _Nahuatl_, all of them containing the idea ”to know,” or ”knowledge.” The early missionaries to New Spain often speak of the _naualli_ (plural, _nanahualtin_), masters of mystic knowledge, dealers in the black art, wizards or sorcerers. They were not always evil-minded persons, though they seem to have been generally feared. The earliest source of information about them is Father Sahagun, who, in his invaluable History, has the following paragraph:
”The _naualli_, or magician, is he who frightens men and sucks the blood of children during the night. He is well skilled in the practice of this trade, he knows all the arts of sorcery (_nauallotl_) and employs them with cunning and ability; but for the benefit of men only, not for their injury. Those who have recourse to such arts for evil intents injure the bodies of their victims, cause them to lose their reason and smother them. These are wicked men and necromancers.”[6-*]
It is evident on examining the later works of the Roman clergy in Mexico that the Church did not look with any such lenient eye on the possibly harmless, or even beneficial, exercise of these magical devices. We find a further explanation of what they were, preserved in a work of instruction to confessors, published by Father Juan Bautista, at Mexico, in the year 1600.
”There are magicians who call themselves _teciuhtlazque_,[6-]
and also by the term _nanahualtin_, who conjure the clouds when there is danger of hail, so that the crops may not be injured. They can also make a stick look like a serpent, a mat like a centipede, a piece of stone like a scorpion, and similar deceptions. Others of these _nanahualtin_ will transform themselves to all appearances (segun la aparencia), into a tiger, a dog or a weasel. Others again will take the form of an owl, a c.o.c.k, or a weasel; and when one is preparing to seize them, they will appear now as a c.o.c.k, now as an owl, and again as a weasel. These call themselves _nanahualtin_.”[6-]
There is an evident attempt in this somewhat confused statement to distinguish between an actual transformation, and one which only appears such to the observer.
In another work of similar character, published at Mexico a few years later, the ”Road to Heaven,” of Father Nicolas de Leon, we find a series of questions which a confessor should put to any of his flock suspected of these necromantic practices. They reveal to us quite clearly what these occult pract.i.tioners were believed to do. The pa.s.sage reads as follows, the questions being put in the mouth of the priest:
”Art thou a soothsayer? Dost thou foretell events by reading signs, or by interpreting dreams, or by water, making circles and figures on its surface? Dost thou sweep and ornament with flower garlands the places where idols are preserved? Dost thou know certain words with which to conjure for success in hunting, or to bring rain?
”Dost thou suck the blood of others, or dost thou wander about at night, calling upon the Demon to help thee? Hast thou drunk _peyotl_, or hast thou given it to others to drink, in order to find out secrets, or to discover where stolen or lost articles were? Dost thou know how to speak to vipers in such words that they obey thee?”[6--]
=4.= This interesting pa.s.sage lets in considerable light on the claims and practices of the nagualists. Not the least important item is that of their use of the intoxicant, _peyotl_, a decoction of which it appears played a prominent part in their ceremonies. This is the native Nahuatl name of a certain plant, having a white, tuberous root, which is the part employed. It is mentioned as ”pellote” or ”peyote” in the _Farmacopea Mexicana_ as a popular remedy, but its botanical name is not added. According to Paso y Troncoso, it is one of the Compositae, a species of the genus _Cacalia_.[7-*] It is referred to in several pa.s.sages by Father Sahagun, who says that it grows in southern Mexico, and that the Aztecs derived their knowledge of it from the older ”Chichimecs.” It was used as an intoxicant.
”Those who eat or drink of this _peyotl_ see visions, which are sometimes frightful and sometimes ludicrous. The intoxication it causes lasts several days. The Chichimecs believed that it gave them courage in time of danger and diminished the pangs of hunger and thirst.”[7-]
Its use was continued until a late date, and very probably has not yet died out. Its composition and method of preparation are given in a list of beverages prohibited by the Spanish authorities in the year 1784, as follows:
”_Peyote_: Made from a species of vinagrilla, about the size of a billiard ball, which grows in dry and sterile soil. The natives chew it, and throw it into a wooden mortar, where it is left to ferment, some leaves of tobacco being added to give it pungency.
They consume it in this form, sometimes with slices of _peyote_ itself, in their most solemn festivities, although it dulls the intellect and induces gloomy and hurtful visions (sombras muy funestas).”[7-]
The _peyotl_ was not the only herb prized as a means of casting the soul into the condition of hypostatic union with divinity. We have abundant evidence that long after the conquest the seeds of the plant called in Nahuatl the _ololiuhqui_ were in high esteem for this purpose. In the Confessionary of Father Bartholome de Alva the priest is supposed to inquire and learn as follows:
”_Question._ Hast thou loved G.o.d above all things? Hast thou loved any created thing, adoring it, looking upon it as G.o.d, and wors.h.i.+ping it?
”_Answer._ I have loved G.o.d with all my heart; but sometimes I have believed in dreams, and also I have believed in the sacred herbs, the _peyotl_, and the _ololiuhqui_; and in other such things (_onicneltocac in temictli, in xiuhtzintli, in peyotl, in ololiuhqui, yhuan in occequitlamantli_).”[8-*]