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Mexico and Central America

Occult science among the ancient Mexicans may be said to have been in that stage between the savage simplicities of medicine-men and the more sophisticated magical practices of the mediæval sorcerer.

The sources which inform us regarding it are unfortunately of a most scanty description and are chiefly gleaned from the works of the early missionaries to the country , and from the legends and myths of the people themselves.

Writing upon the sorcerers of Mexico, Sahagun, an early Spanish priest, states that the naualli or magician among the Mexicans is one who enchants men and sucks the blood of infants during the night. This would seem as if the writer had confounded the sorcerer with the vampire, -a mistake occasionally made by continental writers on magic. He proceeds to say that among the Mexicans this class is ignorant of nothing which appertains to sorcery, and possesses great craft and natural address; that they hire themselves out to people to work evil upon their enemies, and to cause madness and maladies.

The necromancer," he says, " is a person who has made 66 pact with a demon, and who is capable of transforming himself into various animal shapes. Such people appear to be tired of life and await death with complaisance.

The astrologer practises among the people as a diviner, and has a thorough knowledge of the various signs of the calendar, from which he is able to prognosticate the fortunes of those who employ him. This he accomplishes by weighing the power of one planet against that of another, and thus discovering the resultant applies it to the case in point. These men were called into consultation at births and deaths, as well as upon public occasions, and would dispute with much nicety on their art." The astrological system of the Mexicans was like that of their calendar of the most involved description possible, and no mere summary of it could convey anything but a hazy notion of the system, for which the reader is referred to the author's Civilisation Civilisation of Ancient Mexico, Sahagun's Historia, and United States Bureau of Ethnology. In connection with the astrological science of the Aztecs, however, it is worthy of note that the seventh calendric sign, was that under which necromancers, sorcerers and evil-doers were usually born. Says Sahagun: work their enchantments in obscurity for four nights running, when they choose a certain evil sign. They then betake themselves in the night to the houses where they desire to work their evil deeds and sorceries.

For the rest these sorcerers never know contentment, for all their days they live evilly and know no peace." "These The myths of the Mexicans give us a good working idea of the status of the enchanter or sorcerer in Aztec society.

For example we find that the Toltec god, Quetzalcoatl, who in early times was regarded as a description of culture- Mexico hero, was bewitched by the god of the incoming and rival race, Tezcatlipoca, who disguised himself as a physician and prescribed for an illness of his enemy's an enchanted draught, which made him long for the country of his origin-that is, the home of the rains. From this we may judge that potions or philtres were in vogue amongst Mexican sorcerers. In their efforts to rid themselves of the entire Toltec race, the traditional aborigines of Mexico, Tezcatlipoca is pictured as performing upon a magical drum in such a manner as to cause frenzy amongst the Toltecs, who leaped by thousands into a deep ravine hard by their city; and similar instances of the kind are occasionally to be met with. Wonderful stories are told of the feats of the Huaxteca, a people of Maya race, dwelling on the Gulf of Mexico. Sahagun relates that they could produce from space a spring with fishes, burn and restore a hut, and dismember and resurrect themselves.

The Ocuiltec of the Toluca Valley also possessed a widespread reputation as enchanters and magicians. Divination and Augury. As has been said, divination was practised among the Aztecs by means of astrology; but there were other and less-intricate methods in use.

There was in existence a College of Augurs corresponding in purpose to the Auspices of Ancient Rome, the members listening to the songs of birds, from which they drew their of which occupied themselves with observing the flight and conclusions, and pretended to interpret the speech of all winged creatures. The Calmecac, or training college of the priests, had a department where divination was taught in all its branches. A typical example of augury from birds may be found in the account of the manner in which the Mexicans fixed upon the spot for the foundation of their city. Halting after years of wandering in the vicinity of the Lake of Tezcuco, they observed a great eagle with wings outspread perched on the stump of a cactus, and holding in its talons a live serpent. Their augurs interpreted this as a good omen as it had been previously announced by an oracle, and upon the spot where the bird had alighted, they drove the first piles upon which they afterwards built the city of Mexico, -the legend of the foundation of which is still commemorated in the arms of modern Mexico. Dreams and visions played a great part in Mexican divination, and a special caste of augurs called Teopixqui, or Teotecuhtli (masters or guardians of divine things) were set apart for the purpose of interpreting dreams and of divining through dreams and visions, which was regarded as the chief route between man and the supernatural. The senses were even quickened and sharpened by the use of drugs and the ecstatic condition was induced by want of sleep, and pertinacious fixing of the mind upon one subject, the swallowing or inhalation of cerebral intoxicants such as tobacco, the maguey, coca, the snake-plant or ololiuhqui, and similar substances. As among some tribes of the American-Indians, it was probably believed that visions came to the prophet or seer pictorially, or that acts were performed before him as in a play. They also held that the soul travelled through space and was able to visit those places of which it desired to have knowledge. It is also possible that they hypnotised themselves by gazing at certain small highly-polished pieces of sandstone, or that they employed these for the same purpose as crystal-gazers employ the globe. The goddess Tozi was the patron of those who used grains of maize or red beans in divination.

Charms and Amulets. The amulet was regarded in Mexico as a personal fetish. The Tepitoton, or diminutive household deities of the Mexicans were also fetishistic. It is probable that most of the Mexican amulets were modelled on the various ornaments of the gods. Thus the traveller's staff carved in the shape of a serpent like that of Quetzalcoatl was undoubtedly of this nature, and was even occasionally sacrificed to. The frog was a favourite model for an amulet. As elsewhere, the thunderthe thunderbolts thrown by the gods were supposed to be flint stones, and were cherished as amulets of much virtue, and as symbols of the fecundating rains.

Vampirism. As has been seen, Sahagun confounds the Mexican necromancer with the vampire, and it is interit is interesting to note that this folk-belief must have originated in America independently of any European connection. But we find another instance of what would seem something like vampirism in Mexico. This is found in connection with the ciupipiltin or ghosts of women who have died in childbirth. These haunt the cross-roads, crying and wailing for the little ones they have left behind them. But as in many other countries, notably in Burma, they are malevolent their evil tendencies probably being caused by jealousy of the happiness of the living. Lest they should enter their houses and injure their children, the Mexicans at certain times of the year stopped up every possible hole and crevice. The appearance of these ghosts (Sahagun describes them as goddesses") at cross-roads is highly significant, for we know that the burial of criminals at such junctions was merely a survival of a similar disposal of the corpse of the vampire, whose head was cut off and laid at his side, and who was entombed at cross -roads for the purpose of confusing him as to his whereabouts. 66

Nagualism. Both in Mexico and Central America a religio-magical system called Nagualism obtained , the purpose of which was to bring occult influence against the whites for their destruction. The rites of this strange cult usually took place in caverns and other deserted localities, and were naturally derived to a large extent from those of the suppressed native religion. Each native worshipper possessed a magical or animal spirit-guide, with which he was endowed early in life. This system certainly flourished as lately as half a century ago, and there is good reason to believe that it is not yet extinct.

Central America. - Notices upon magic and sorcery amongst the Maya, Kiche, and other Central American peoples are even rarer than those which relate to Mexico, to Mexico, and we have to fall back almost solely upon the native legends to glean anything concerning the subject at all. at all.

The great storehouse of Central American legend is the Popol Vuh, for an account of which the reader is referred to the author's Popol Vuh, London, 1909. We find in this interesting native mythi-history, that some of the elder gods are regarded as magicians, and the hero-twins , Xblanque and Hun-ahpu, whom they sent to earth to rid it of the Titan Vukub-cakix, are undoubtedly possessed of magical powers. As boys we find them equipped with magic tools, which enable them to get through an enormous amount of work in a single day, and when they descend into Xibalba, the Kiche Hades, for the purpose of avenging their father and uncle, they take full advantage of their magical propensities in combating the natives of that drear abode. Xibalba itself possesses sorcerers, for we find two within its borders, Xulu and Pacaw, who assist the hero -gods in many of their necromantic practices.

As regards divination, we find that the Maya possessed a caste of augurs, called Cocomes or the Listeners; and prophecy appears to have been periodically practised by their priests. In the so-called books of Chilan Balam which are native compilations of events occurring in Central America previous to the Spanish Conquest, we find certain prophecies regarding, amongst other things, the coming of the Spaniards. These appear to have been given forth by a priest who bore the title, not the name, of " Chilan Balam," whose offices were those of divination and astrology but these pronouncements seem to have been coloured Midiwiwin at a later date by Christian thought, and hardly to be of a genuine aboriginal character. There are certain astrolocertain astrological receips in the books, all of which are simply borrowed from European almanacs of the century between 1550 and 1650. Amulets were in great vogue amongst the Maya, and they had the same fear of the last five days of the year as had the Mexicans, who regarded them as nemontemi or unlucky, and did no work of any description upon them. These days the Maya called uyayayab, and they considered that a demon entered their towns and villages at the beginning of this period. To avert this, they carried an image of him through the village in the hopes that he might afterwards avoid it .

Mezazoth, The: A schedule which, when fastened on the doorpost, possessed talismanic qualities. It is said in the Talmud that whoever has the mezazoth fixed on his door, and is provided with certain personal charms, is protected from