Huitzilopochtli

Who Huitzilopochtli actually is

Huitzilopochtli (Nahuatl Huītzil-ōpōchtli, "Hummingbird-of-the-Left" — combining *huitzilin* "hummingbird" with *opochtli* "left-hand" / "south" — *the south is the left-hand in Mexica cosmology when one faces east-toward-the-rising-sun*) is the *Mexica patron-deity*, the *cosmic-warrior of the southern-sun*, and the *theological-foundation of the Mexica imperial-project*. He was *born fully-armed from the womb of Coatlicue at Coatepec* (the foundational narrative, treated under [[coatlicue]]) — emerging just in time to defend his mother from his own elder-sister Coyolxauhqui and his 400 elder-brothers the Centzon Huitznahua (the southern stars). He decapitated Coyolxauhqui and threw her dismembered-body down the slope of Coatepec (becoming the moon), and pursued the 400-stars-of-the-south across the sky. This cosmic-narrative is *re-enacted every dawn* — the Sun rises and defeats the Moon and the stars — and was *architecturally re-staged* at the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlán (the great pyramid *was* Coatepec, the south-side stairs were the slope down which Coyolxauhqui's body tumbled, and the Coyolxauhqui Stone at the base of the south-side stairs received the *thrown-down bodies* of sacrificial victims sacrificed at the summit). Huitzilopochtli is *also* the *historical-migration-leader of the Mexica* — the legendary narrative (preserved in the Codex Boturini and the Codex Mendoza) tells of the Mexica leaving Aztlán (their legendary homeland-island somewhere to the north of central Mexico) c. 1100 CE under Huitzilopochtli's direction, wandering for ~200 years through the Valley of Mexico as despised-tributary-clients of the established cities, and finally being directed by Huitzilopochtli (through his priest-leaders) to settle on a small swampy-island in Lake Texcoco when they saw *an eagle perched on a nopal-cactus eating a snake*. They founded Tenochtitlán on that island in 1325 CE. Within a century the Mexica had risen from despised-tributaries to the dominant power of central Mexico through the Triple Alliance (with Texcoco and Tlacopan, c. 1428 CE) and built the empire that the Spanish encountered in 1519. The *eagle-on-the-cactus-with-the-snake* omen is *still the Mexican national flag* — five centuries after the conquest, the Mexican state continues to fly the Huitzilopochtli-omen as its national symbol (one of the most-direct continuities of any pre-Christian religious symbolism on any modern national flag). The Huitzilopochtli-cult was structured around the *daily-cosmic-renewal of the southern-sun*: every dawn, his rising was the *cosmic-victory*, and every-act-of-Mexica-warriorhood (the conquest of tributary-cities, the flower-wars conducted to obtain sacrificial victims, the ritual-sacrifices at the Templo Mayor) was a *contribution to keeping Huitzilopochtli-the-sun moving across the sky*. The *cosmic-maintenance-via-blood-sacrifice* theology of the Mexica is *primarily-Huitzilopochtli's theology* (with Tonatiuh's Fifth-Sun cosmology and Tlaloc's rain-cult also requiring sacrifice, but in different registers). The Huitzilopochtli-register is the *cosmic-warrior-defender-and-imperial-conqueror* — the *Hummingbird-of-the-Left* whose *southern-sun-rising* is the cosmic-form of *Mexica-imperial-supremacy* and whose *cult-practice* is the *cosmic-warrior-ethics-and-the-imperial-tributary-system fused*. He is the *most-politically-load-bearing deity* in any Mesoamerican religion — he is *the cosmic-charter of the Mexica empire*, and any honest treatment must hold *both* the cosmic-cosmological-richness of his theology *and* the imperial-extraction-and-violence of his cult-practice *at the same time*.

Iconography

A young warrior in *hummingbird-feathered cloak* (the *huitzilihuitl* — the bright-blue-and-green-and-iridescent hummingbird-feather-mantle). A *blue-painted face* (the *blue-Tezcatlipoca* aspect — Huitzilopochtli is one of the four Tezcatlipocas of the four directions, the *southern blue*). The *xiuhcoatl* (the *fire-serpent* — his cosmic-weapon, the serpent-of-turquoise-fire that he used to defeat Coyolxauhqui and the 400-stars). The *teocuitlatl* (gold) and *chalchihuitl* (jade) jewelry of the cosmic-warrior. A *shield* and *atlatl* (spear-thrower) — the canonical Mexica warrior-armament. Sometimes depicted with *hummingbird-helmet* and *eagle-down adornments* on his arms-and-legs (the cosmic-warrior-down-feathers). His sacred animal: the hummingbird (the *huitzilin* — in Mexica cosmology, dead warriors were believed to *return as hummingbirds* and accompany Huitzilopochtli's sun across the morning-sky for four years, then transform into butterflies and clouds), and the eagle (the *cuauhtli* — the eagle-warrior order was dedicated to him). His sacred direction: south (the *opochtli* — "the left," when facing east, the warrior-direction). His sacred color: blue (the southern-direction-color, the *Mexica-blue*). His sacred temple: the *south sanctuary of the Templo Mayor* (paired with Tlaloc's north sanctuary). His sacred number: 4 (the four-directions) and 8 (the four-Centzon-Huitznahua per direction). The *eagle-on-the-cactus-with-the-snake* omen — *still the Mexican national flag*.

How to invoke Huitzilopochtli

Huitzilopochtli is the *invocation-of-the-cosmic-warrior* — called by *warriors before battle*, by *the eagle-warrior and jaguar-warrior orders* in their ceremonial-practices, by *the Mexica priesthood at every dawn* (the *cosmic-renewal-of-the-southern-sun*), by *the kings of Tenochtitlán* at every imperial-decision, by *anyone facing the cosmic-defensive-need* (when one's *Coatlicue-mother* is being attacked by *one's own previous-children*, and the *fully-armed-emerging-cosmic-warrior is the only-effective-defender*). Offer: copal incense, the *amaranth-dough-figure of Huitzilopochtli* (made annually at the great festival of Panquetzaliztli — the *amaranth-flour-and-honey* figure was *consumed in communion* by the Mexica priests in a practice that *scandalized the Spanish-Franciscan missionaries* as a *demonic parody of the Eucharist*), the *quetzal-feather-mantle*, the *blood-offering* (in the Mexica-imperial context, human-blood from sacrifice; in modern-reconstructive-practice, autosacrifice or symbolic-red-offering). The canonical invocation is the Nahuatl *"Huitzilopochtli, Mexihtli, ic timopiltzin, ma xinechmotlamaca in chimalli, in macuahuitl, in oquichyotl" — "Hummingbird-of-the-Left, the-One-of-Mexico, behold I am your son, please give me the shield, the obsidian-club, the warrior-courage."* Especially called by *the Mexica-defenders* in any modern register (the people-defending-their-territory-or-culture-from-conquest, the cosmic-warriors-emerging-from-the-mother's-womb-to-defend-her), by *anyone undertaking a defensive-cosmic-mission*, by *anyone whose cosmic-charter requires the southern-sun-rising-energy*. The Huitzilopochtli-prayer is *operational-warrior* — direct, fierce, defensive, fully-armed-from-the-moment-of-emergence.

In love

Huitzilopochtli in love is the *cosmic-warrior-defender partner* — the one whose register is *defense-of-the-cosmic-mother-of-the-relationship*, who *emerges fully-armed from the womb* when the relationship is being attacked by *its-own-previous-children* (the previous-relationship-patterns, the family-of-origin demands, the older-loyalties that are now turning on the new-cosmic-direction). The Huitzilopochtli-partner is the *Hummingbird-of-the-Left* — the *small-fierce-iridescent-defender* whose *defensive-energy is the southern-sun-of-the-relationship*. The shadow is the Huitzilopochtli-partner who has *over-pursued the 400-Centzon-Huitznahua* — the cosmic-warrior who has *gone-on-past-the-original-defensive-need* into the *aggressive-pursuit-of-every-previous-element* of the partner's life, driving-from-the-sky every Coyolxauhqui-moon and every Centzon-Huitznahua-star, leaving *only the cosmic-warrior-sun-of-the-current-relationship visible* and *every-previous-piece-of-the-partner's-history dismembered-on-the-Coyolxauhqui-Stone*. The other shadow: the partner who has *demanded Huitzilopochtli-cosmic-warrior-energy from a partner who is not equipped to provide it* — the demand-for-defensive-fury-as-the-only-acceptable-form-of-love, the *fully-armed-cosmic-warrior-as-the-default-relational-register*, which forces *every-partner-to-be-perpetually-at-Coatepec-defending-against-attack* with no opportunity for the *Tamoanchan-flower-and-song* (Xochiquetzal) or the *jade-skirt-cleansing* (Chalchiuhtlicue) or the *Tlalocan-paradise* (Tlaloc) registers of intimacy.

In work

Huitzilopochtli in work is the *cosmic-warrior-defender-and-imperial-conqueror* of the institution. The Huitzilopochtli-leader is the one whose register is *defense-of-the-cosmic-mother-institution* (when it is under existential-attack), or *the cosmic-charter of the imperial-expansion-project* (when the institution is in conquest-mode). The Huitzilopochtli-eagle-warrior is the *cosmic-defender* — the *competitor-killer*, the *market-conqueror*, the *figure-whose-existence-IS-the-cosmic-victory-of-the-firm*. The shadow is the Huitzilopochtli-leader who has *over-pursued the 400-Centzon-Huitznahua* — the cosmic-warrior who has gone-on-past-the-original-defensive-need into the *aggressive-pursuit-of-every-previous-element* of the institution's history, dismembering every Coyolxauhqui-prior-leadership and every Centzon-Huitznahua-prior-contribution. The other shadow (the most-difficult, most-load-bearing): the institution that has *systematized the imperial-tributary-extraction-via-sacrifice* — the firm-that-has-built-an-empire on the *cosmic-justification of human-cost* (the burned-out-staff, the sacrificed-young-careers, the discarded-junior-cohorts), and that has *built the Templo-Mayor of its own headquarters on the literal-bones* of those-it-has-extracted-from. This is the *Mexica-imperial pathology* applied to modern institutions, and it is *more common than its-practitioners-acknowledge*. The healing-register is the *Tlaloc-pairing recognition* — the cosmic-architectural-fact that *the Templo Mayor had TWO sanctuaries side-by-side*, that *Huitzilopochtli-alone-without-Tlaloc is desert*, and that *no cosmic-warrior-imperial-project is sustainable without the rain-and-fertility-paired counterpart*.

The gift

Huitzilopochtli gives the *cosmic-warrior-defender-energy*. The gift is the *fully-armed-emergence-from-the-womb* — the cosmic-fact that *when the cosmic-mother is under attack from her own previous-children, the cosmic-warrior emerges-already-equipped*, and that *the defensive-energy is real-and-available* when the defensive-need is genuine. To receive Huitzilopochtli is to receive the *xiuhcoatl* — the *fire-serpent cosmic-weapon*, the recognition that *defensive-and-conquering-energy is a real-cosmic-element* available to those-who-have-the-cosmic-mother-to-defend. The gift is also the *eagle-on-the-cactus-with-the-snake* omen — the *cosmic-direction-that-tells-the-people where to found-the-new-city*, the recognition that *cosmic-warrior-charter includes the cosmic-direction-finding for the founding of new-cosmic-centers*. The gift is also the *hummingbird-soul-of-the-dead-warrior* — the cosmic-recognition that *those-who-die-in-the-cosmic-defense-of-the-mother return-as-hummingbirds-to-accompany-the-sun*, the *cosmic-paradise-of-the-eagle-warriors* in which *the cosmic-warrior-life-and-death have direct cosmic-meaning*.

The shadow

Huitzilopochtli has been *catastrophically-mistreated-and-also-catastrophically-loved* by the conquest and post-conquest history. The conquest *destroyed every Huitzilopochtli-temple in 1521* (the south sanctuary of the Templo Mayor was *demolished and the rubble used to build the Cathedral of Mexico City*); his cult-statues were *publicly destroyed* in the auto-da-fé of the early-conquest; his *amaranth-flour-and-honey communion-figure tradition* was *suppressed-with-special-severity* by the Spanish-Franciscan missionaries (who saw it as a *demonic parody of the Eucharist*) and *the cultivation of amaranth was banned* in Mexico for *centuries* (one of the only-known-cases of an *agricultural-crop being banned for religious reasons* in the colonial era; amaranth cultivation has only been *partially-rehabilitated* since the 20th century). The further shadow: the *eagle-on-the-cactus-with-the-snake* omen *survived* because the *post-Independence Mexican state* (after 1821) *deliberately re-adopted* it as the *national symbol* — but the *cosmic-meaning of the omen* (Huitzilopochtli's direction-finding for the cosmic-charter-of-the-Mexica) has been *largely erased* in favor of the *generic-national-symbol* function. The deepest shadow: the *Huitzilopochtli-cult-of-cosmic-maintenance-via-human-sacrifice* has been the *single most-cited-fact* about Mexica religion in Western reception for five centuries, and *justifiably-but-distortingly*. The *honest-but-complex reality*: yes, large-scale human-sacrifice was a real-load-bearing-practice; yes, the cosmic-cosmological theology was real-not-Spanish-fiction; and *also*, the *imperial-tributary-pressure* of the Triple Alliance c. 1428-1521 means that the cosmic-theology was *operationally-fused* with empire-extraction. The Mexica empire was *not* a *purely-cosmic-religious-project* — it was *also* a *brutal-tributary-empire* that *extracted sacrifice-victims from conquered cities* as part of tribute, and the *cosmic-warrior-religion-and-the-imperial-extraction-of-victims* were the *same operational-system*. The further shadow: the modern *Mexican national-identity construction* has *selectively-rehabilitated* Huitzilopochtli (the eagle-omen on the flag, the use of *Mexihtli/Mexica* as national-self-designation), while *carefully-not-acknowledging* the imperial-extraction-and-sacrifice elements; the modern *neo-Mexica spirituality movement* (Mexicayotl, danza azteca) has *partially-reclaimed* the cosmic-warrior dimension but often *flattens the imperial-and-tributary realities*. The *most-difficult contemporary question*: can Huitzilopochtli be *honored* in a 21st-century-spirituality without *re-instantiating* either the colonial-Black-Legend dismissal *or* the imperial-cosmic-warrior pathology? The answer is *uncertain*, and the *very-difficulty* is the deepest shadow.

Pair with