Mictlantecuhtli

Then you get the story of Quetzalcoatl descending into Mictlan, the land of the dead, because humanity has to be made again.

He goes to Mictlantecutli and Mictlancihuatl and asks for the precious bones they guard.

And after escaping with those remains, the bones are ground.

Divine blood is then added, and a new humanity is produced.

Um, Mi- uh, I can't even say the name 'cause it's, it's [laughs] not native to me.

Uh, Mictlantecuhtli.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, if I can s- even pronounce that right.

And the, one of the first, like, when we first talked about the book, me and Julio-

Yeah

... um, was the, the, the god, uh, Mic- Mic- Mictlantecuhtli.

Ugh.

naanThe second category of gods is rain and agricultural fertility, which includes, most importantly, the rain god Tlaloc.

The third is war sacrifice, nourishment of the sun, and the earth gods, which includes the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl, underworld gods like Mictlantecutli, and Huitzilopochtli, who was basically the Aztec patron god.

Aztec lore remembers him as the one to lead the Aztecs from their homeland to Tenochtitlan, while Quetzalcoatl is known from other Mesoamerican religions, including Mayan and Toltec.

So what do I mean by war sacrifice, nourishment of the sun, and the earth gods? The Aztecs believed that the universe, throughout cosmic history, had passed through four ages, each time ending in the collapse and recreation of the cosmos.

But recently I've discovered Santa Muerte, the saint Death, that in Mexico was probably the Aztec goddess over death.

Mictlantecutli.

Yes.

I couldn't say that, so I'm glad... [laughs] Do you wanna talk more about it?

Uh, well there's Mictlantecutli and Mictlantecihuatl, which is the lord and lady of the underworld.

Mictlan being the underworld, like, a Hades of sorts, where everyone who dies, like, a normal death goes, and it's just, just a place.

It's the grave, very much like Sheol, and you go through this process where your body and soul are slowly, like, integrated into the earth.

And when you go through this several years in Mictlan, you meet the lord and lady own of Mictlan, Mictlantecutli, which is the lord, Mictlantecihuatl, which is the lady, and they're usually, like, dual aspects of the same deity.