Part 1 (2/2)
The seeds of the _ololiuhqui_ appear to have been employed externally.
They were the efficient element in the mysterious unguent known as ”the divine remedy” (_teopatli_), about which we find some information in the works of Father Augustin de Vetancurt, who lived in Mexico in the middle of the seventeenth century. He writes:
”The pagan priests made use of an ointment composed of insects, such as spiders, scorpions, centipedes and the like, which the neophytes in the temples prepared. They burned these insects in a basin, collected the ashes, and rubbed it up with green tobacco leaves, living worms and insects, and the powdered seeds of a plant called _ololiuhqui_, which has the power of inducing visions, and the effect of which is to destroy the reasoning powers. Under the influence of this ointment, they conversed with the Devil, and he with them, practicing his deceptions upon them. They also believed that it protected them, so they had no fear of going into the woods at night.
”This was also employed by them as a remedy in various diseases, and the soothing influence of the tobacco and the _ololiuhqui_ was attributed by them to divine agency. There are some in our own day who make use of this ointment for sorcery, shutting themselves up, and losing their reason under its influence; especially some old men and old women, who are prepared to fall an easy prey to the Devil.”[8-]
The botanist Hernandez observes that another name for this plant was _coaxihuitl_, ”serpent plant,” and adds that its seeds contain a narcotic poison, and that it is allied to the genus _Solanum_, of which the deadly night-shade is a familiar species. He speaks of its use in the sacred rites in these words:
”Indorum sacrifici, c.u.m videri volebant versari c.u.m superis, ac responsa accipere ab eis, ea vescebantur planta, ut desiperent, milleque phantasmata et demonum observatium effigies circ.u.mspectarent.”[8-]
Of the two plants mentioned, the _ololiuhqui_ and the _peyotl_, the former was considered the more potent in spiritual virtues. ”They hold it in as much veneration as if it were G.o.d,” says a theologian of the seventeenth century.[9-*] One who partook of these herbs was called _payni_ (from the verb _pay_, to take medicine); and more especially _tlachixqui_, a Seer, referring to the mystic ”second sight,” hence a diviner or prophet (from the verb _tlachia_, to see).
Tobacco also held a prominent, though less important, place in these rites. It was employed in two forms, the one the dried leaf, _picietl_, which for sacred uses must be broken and rubbed up either seven or nine times; and the green leaf mixed with lime, hence called _tenextlecietl_ (from _tenextli_, lime).
Allied in effect to these is an intoxicant in use in southern Mexico and Yucatan, prepared from the bark of a tree called by the Mayas _baal-che_. The whites speak of the drink as _pitarilla_. It is quite popular among the natives, and they still attribute to it a sacred character, calling it _yax ha_, the first water, the primal fluid. They say that it was the first liquid created by G.o.d, and when He returned to His heavenly home He left this beverage and its production in charge of the G.o.ds of the rains, the four Pah-Ahtuns.[9-]
=5.= Intoxication of some kind was an essential part of many of these secret rites. It was regarded as a method of throwing the individual out of himself and into relation with the supernal powers. What the old historian, Father Joseph de Acosta, tells us about the clairvoyants and telepaths of the aborigines might well stand for a description of their modern representatives:
”Some of these sorcerers take any shape they choose, and fly through the air with wonderful rapidity and for long distances.
They will tell what is taking place in remote localities long before the news could possibly arrive. The Spaniards have known them to report mutinies, battles, revolts and deaths, occurring two hundred or three hundred leagues distant, on the very day they took place, or the day after.
”To practice this art the sorcerers, usually old women, shut themselves in a house, and intoxicate themselves to the degree of losing their reason. The next day they are ready to reply to questions.”[10-*]
Plants possessing similar powers to excite vivid visions and distort the imagination, and, therefore, employed in the magical rites, were the _thiuimeezque_, in Michoacan, and the _chacuaco_, in lower California.[10-]
=6.= In spite of all effort, the various cla.s.ses of wonder-workers continued to thrive in Mexico. We find in a book of sermons published by the Jesuit Father, Ignacio de Paredes, in the Nahuatl language, in 1757, that he strenuously warns his hearers against invoking, consulting, or calling upon ”the devilish spell-binders, the nagualists, and those who conjure with smoke.”[10-]
They have not yet lost their power; we have evidence enough that many children of a larger growth in that land still listen with respect to the recitals of the mysterious faculties attributed to the _nanahualtin_. An observant German traveler, Carlos von Gagern, informs us that they are widely believed to be able to cause sicknesses and other ills, which must be counteracted by appropriate exorcisms, among which the reading aloud certain pa.s.sages of the Bible is deemed to be one of the most potent.[10--]
The learned historian, Orozco y Berra, speaks of the powers attributed at the present day to the _nahual_ in Mexico among the lower cla.s.ses, in these words:
”The _nahual_ is generally an old Indian with red eyes, who knows how to turn himself into a dog, woolly, black and ugly. The female witch can convert herself into a ball of fire; she has the power of flight, and at night will enter the windows and suck the blood of little children. These sorcerers will make little images of rags or of clay, then stick into them the thorn of the maguey and place them in some secret place; you can be sure that the person against whom the conjuration is practiced will feel pain in the part where the thorn is inserted. There still exist among them the medicine-men, who treat the sick by means of strange contortions, call upon the spirits, p.r.o.nounce magical incantations, blow upon the part where the pain is, and draw forth from the patient thorns, worms, or pieces of stone. They know how to prepare drinks which will bring on sickness, and if the patients are cured by others the convalescents are particular to throw something of their own away, as a lock of hair, or a part of their clothing. Those who possess the evil eye can, by merely looking at children, deprive them of beauty and health, and even cause their death.”[11-*]
=7.= As I have said, nowhere in the records of purely Mexican, that is, Aztecan, Nagualism do we find the word _nagual_ employed in the sense given in the pa.s.sage quoted from Herrera, that is as a personal guardian spirit or tutelary genius. These tribes had, indeed, a belief in some such protecting power, and held that it was connected with the day on which each person is born. They called it the _tonalli_ of a person, a word translated to mean that which is peculiar to him, which makes his individuality, his self. The radical from which it is derived is _tona_, to warm, or to be warm, from which are also derived _tonatiuh_, the sun.
_Tonalli_, which in composition loses its last syllable, is likewise the word for heat, summer, soul, spirit and day, and also for the share or portion which belongs to one. Thus, _to-tonal_ is spirit or soul in general; _no-tonal_, my spirit; _no-tonal in ipan no-tlacat_, ”the sign under which I was born,” _i. e._, the astrological day-sign. From this came the verb _tonalpoa_, to count or estimate the signs, that is, to cast the horoscope of a person; and _tonalpouhque_, the diviners whose business it was to practice this art.[11-]
These _tonalpouhque_ are referred to at length by Father Sahagun.[11-]
He distinguishes them from the _naualli_, though it is clear that they corresponded in functions to the nagualistic priests of the southern tribes. From the number and name of the day of birth they forecast the destiny of the child, and stated the power or spiritual influence which should govern its career.
The _tonal_ was by no means an indefeasible possession. It was a sort of independent _mascotte_. So long as it remained with a person he enjoyed health and prosperity; but it could depart, go astray, become lost; and then sickness and misfortune arrived. This is signified in the Nahuatl language by the verbs _tonalcaualtia_, to check, stop or suspend the _tonal_, hence, to shock or frighten one; and _tonalitlacoa_, to hurt or injure the _tonal_, hence, to cast a spell on one, to bewitch him.
This explains the real purpose of the conjuring and incantations which were carried on by the native doctor when visiting the sick. It was to recall the _tonal_, to force or persuade it to return; and, therefore, the ceremony bore the name ”the rest.i.tution of the _tonal_,” and was more than any other deeply imbued with the superst.i.tions of Nagualism.
The chief officiant was called the _tetonaltiani_, ”he who concerns himself with the tonal.” On a later page I shall give the formula recited on such an occasion.
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