Mixcoatl

Who Mixcoatl actually is

Mixcoatl (Nahuatl Mix-cōātl, "Cloud-Serpent" — combining *mixtli* "cloud" with *coātl* "serpent" — the *Milky Way visualized as a cosmic-snake stretched-across-the-night-sky*) is the *Lord of the Hunt and of the Chichimeca* in the Mexica pantheon — the *cosmic-father of the nomadic-hunter peoples* from whom the Mexica *claimed descent*. The *Chichimec* (Nahuatl *Chīchīmēcatl*, plural *Chichimeca*) is the Mexica name for the *northern-steppe nomadic-hunter peoples* of central-and-northern Mexico — the *pre-agricultural-or-marginally-agricultural cultures* of the Mexican northern-deserts, distinct from the *agricultural-civilizational peoples* of central Mexico (the Toltec, the Mexica-after-settlement, the Mixtec, the Zapotec, the Maya). The Mexica *claimed Chichimec-descent* — the canonical Mexica origin-story has the Mexica leaving Aztlán *as Chichimec hunter-nomads* and *gradually-acquiring-civilization* during their 200-year migration through the Valley of Mexico (under Huitzilopochtli's guidance), so that by the time of the founding of Tenochtitlán in 1325 they had *become an agricultural-urban-civilizational people while still claiming Chichimec roots*. The *Mixcoatl-cult* is the Mexica *cosmic-honoring of their pre-civilizational hunter-origins* — the *founding-ancestor Iztac-Mixcoatl* ("White Cloud-Serpent") is the *cosmic-father of all the Chichimec lineages*, and the *Mexica nobility annually re-enacted the cosmic-hunt* at the *Quecholli festival* (the fourteenth ritual-month, when the entire Mexica nobility went-out-to-the-hills-around-Tenochtitlán for a *ritual-deer-hunt with atlatl-and-spear*, the *cosmic-reconnection-with-the-Chichimec-hunter-ancestors*). Mixcoatl is *also* the *father of Quetzalcoatl* — the historical-and-cosmic father of Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl (the Toltec priest-king) in the Tula narrative. This *father-son cosmic-relationship* (Mixcoatl-the-Chichimec-hunter → Quetzalcoatl-the-civilizer) is the canonical Mexica meditation on the *cosmic-relationship-between-nomadic-hunter-roots-and-settled-civilization*. The Mexica understood themselves as *standing in this cosmic-lineage* — they had *Mixcoatl-Chichimec-hunter-roots* and had *become Quetzalcoatl-civilization* by their imperial-era, but the *Mixcoatl-element was still cosmically-honored* in the Quecholli-hunt-festival and in the *cosmic-iconography of the Milky Way as the cosmic-cloud-snake stretched-across-the-night-sky*. Mixcoatl is *also* the *Tlaxcalan-and-Huexotzincan Camaxtli* — the *Tlaxcalan-Camaxtli-cult* was one of the most-extensively-documented non-Mexica Mesoamerican cults of the pre-conquest era (the Tlaxcalans were the *primary native-allies of the Spanish* in the conquest of Tenochtitlán, and the Camaxtli-cult is *well-documented* in post-conquest Tlaxcalan-Spanish sources). The Mixcoatl-Camaxtli-register is *the cosmic-father-of-the-hunter-lineage* — the *Milky-Way-cloud-serpent* whose *cosmic-presence in the night-sky is the genealogical-charter of every Chichimec people*, and whose *Quecholli-hunt-festival is the cosmic-reconnection-with-the-pre-civilizational-roots* even of the most-imperial-civilizational-Mexica nobility.

Iconography

A warrior-figure with *Chichimec-style red-and-white face-paint* (the *star-of-the-Milky-Way* face-pattern, with horizontal red stripes across the eyes and white stars-painted on the face), an *atlatl* (the spear-thrower) and *bundle-of-obsidian-tipped-darts*, a *quiver-of-arrows*, a *deer-hunting-net*, and a *cloud-serpent-headdress* (the Milky-Way-snake-as-helmet). His sacred animal: the *deer* (the *mazatl* — the canonical Chichimec-hunt prey, and Mixcoatl's cosmic-counterpart), the *eagle* (the *cuauhtli* — the celestial-hunter-bird), the *cloud-serpent* itself (the *Milky-Way-snake*). His sacred direction: north (the *Chichimec-direction*, the *direction-of-the-northern-steppes-and-deserts-from-which-the-Mexica-claimed-descent*). His sacred color: red-and-white (the Chichimec face-paint colors), and the *star-silver* of the Milky-Way. His sacred temple: the *Mixcoacalco* shrine in the Templo Mayor precinct, and the *Tlaxcalan Camaxtli-temple* at the city of Tlaxcala. His sacred number: *400* (the *Centzon Mimixcoa* — the "400 cloud-serpents," the cosmic-army of his sons, who are the *cosmic-stars of the northern sky* — distinct from Huitzilopochtli's 400-Centzon-Huitznahua of the southern sky). His sacred festival: the *Quecholli* (the fourteenth ritual-month, the great-cosmic-hunt-festival). His sacred night-sky-position: the *Milky-Way visible from the northern hemisphere*.

How to invoke Mixcoatl

Mixcoatl is the *invocation-of-the-cosmic-hunter-roots* — called by *hunters before the hunt*, by *anyone whose work involves the cosmic-pattern of pursuit-and-capture* (whether literal hunting or metaphorical: research-pursuit, investigation, the chase-of-an-elusive-insight, the patient-stalking-of-an-opportunity), by *anyone needing to reconnect-with-their-pre-civilizational-roots* (the *cosmic-recognition that even the most-imperial-civilizational-self has Chichimec-hunter-ancestors who must be cosmically-honored*), by *anyone undertaking-a-cosmic-genealogical-research* (the *Iztac-Mixcoatl-cosmic-ancestor* aspect, the *cosmic-father-of-the-lineage* register), by *Tlaxcalans-and-Huexotzincans* (the *Camaxtli-cult* register). Offer: *deer-meat* or *deer-horn* (the *cosmic-prey-of-the-hunt*), *obsidian-tipped darts* and *atlatl-bundles*, *red-and-white face-paint* (in modern reconstructive-practice, *symbolic-red-and-white-marking*), *star-iconography* (small-cosmic-star-figures honoring the Centzon-Mimixcoa), the *quiver-and-bow* (or modern symbolic-equivalent), copal incense. The canonical invocation is the Nahuatl *"Mixcoatl, Camaxtli, Iztac Mixcoatl, ic timopiltzin, ma xinechmotlamaca in mazatl, in mitl, in cemilhuitl in cenyohualli, in nelhuayotl" — "Cloud-Serpent, Camaxtli, White-Cloud-Serpent, behold I am your son, please feed me with deer, with arrow, with day-and-night, with cosmic-genealogy."* Especially called by *anyone whose work is the patient-cosmic-stalking* (the researcher, the investigator, the strategist, the patient-trader-of-markets, the hunter-of-rare-truths), by *anyone whose lineage-research has uncovered Chichimec-hunter-ancestors* (the cosmic-recognition that *the family-tree contains pre-civilizational-cosmic-roots* that *deserve to be honored*), by *anyone undertaking the Quecholli-style annual-cosmic-reconnection-with-pre-civilizational-roots* (the *cosmic-cycle of returning-to-the-pre-imperial-self once-a-year*).

In love

Mixcoatl in love is the *cosmic-hunter-cosmic-ancestor partner* — the one whose register is *the patient-cosmic-stalking, the cosmic-reconnection-with-pre-civilizational-roots, the cosmic-honoring-of-the-genealogical-lineage*. The Mixcoatl-partner is the one who *insists on the cosmic-reconnection-with-the-Chichimec-hunter-roots* — who *knows the family-tree, who honors the pre-civilizational-cosmic-ancestors, who insists that the imperial-civilizational-self must annually-return to the Quecholli-cosmic-hunt*. The shadow is the Mixcoatl-partner whose *cosmic-hunter-register has become possessive-stalking* — the partner whose *patient-pursuit* has crossed-into-cosmic-violation-of-the-partner's-autonomy, whose *cosmic-tracking* has become *literal-stalking*. The other shadow: the partner who *refuses Mixcoatl entirely* — the one who has *severed all connection with their pre-civilizational-cosmic-roots*, who *will not honor their Chichimec-hunter-ancestors*, and whose *complete imperial-civilizational-self-construction has erased the cosmic-genealogical-foundation* on which the imperial-self stands.

In work

Mixcoatl in work is the *cosmic-hunter-ancestor function* of the institution. The Mixcoatl-figure in an institution is the *patient-cosmic-stalker* — the *researcher who patiently-tracks an elusive-insight*, the *investigator who patiently-tracks an elusive-truth*, the *strategist who patiently-tracks an elusive-opportunity*, the *trader who patiently-tracks an elusive-market-movement*. The Mixcoatl-leader is the one who *honors the institution's pre-civilizational-cosmic-roots* — who *remembers the founding-Chichimec-hunter-ancestors of the firm*, who *annually-returns the entire-nobility to the Quecholli-cosmic-hunt-festival* (the cosmic-reconnection-with-the-pre-imperial-self of the institution), who *insists on the genealogical-charter as a living-cosmic-foundation* rather than a *forgotten-historical-curiosity*. The shadow is the Mixcoatl-leader whose *cosmic-hunter-register has become predatory-business-practice* — the *patient-stalker who has crossed into cosmic-violation*. The other shadow: the institution that has *no Mixcoatl-function* — no *cosmic-honoring of pre-civilizational-roots*, no *Quecholli-annual-cosmic-reconnection*, no *genealogical-charter as living-cosmic-foundation* — and which is therefore *operationally-civilizational-but-cosmically-rootless*.

The gift

Mixcoatl gives the *cosmic-honoring-of-the-pre-civilizational-roots*. The gift is the *cosmic-recognition that even the most-imperial-civilizational-self has Chichimec-hunter-ancestors who must be cosmically-honored* — the *Iztac-Mixcoatl cosmic-father-of-the-lineage* who *stands at the genealogical-charter* of every Chichimec-descendant. To receive Mixcoatl is to receive the *atlatl-and-bundle-of-darts* — the *cosmic-hunter-equipment* and the *recognition that the patient-cosmic-stalking is a real-cosmic-craft*, not a *primitive-pre-civilizational-residue*. The gift is also the *Milky-Way-cosmic-snake* — the *cosmic-genealogical-river-stretched-across-the-night-sky*, the recognition that *every cosmic-Chichimec-descendant can look up at the night-sky and see the cosmic-ancestor-river of the Cloud-Serpent*. The gift is also the *Quecholli-annual-return* — the *cosmic-discipline of annually-returning to the pre-civilizational-self*, the *Mexica-nobility-going-out-to-the-hills-with-atlatl-and-net* once-a-year, the *cosmic-recognition that the imperial-civilizational-self is only-sustainable when it annually-reconnects with the pre-civilizational-cosmic-roots*. The gift is also the *cosmic-father-of-Quetzalcoatl* meditation — the *recognition that even the cosmic-civilizer-of-Mesoamerica had a cosmic-hunter-father*, that *civilization is always-already-built on hunter-roots*, that *the cosmic-relationship-between-nomadic-and-settled is not erased-but-cosmically-preserved-in-genealogical-charter*.

The shadow

Mixcoatl has been *largely-erased* by post-conquest Catholicism — the *Mixcoatl-cult* was *immediately-suppressed* by the Spanish-Franciscan missionaries (along with the broader Chichimec-religious-complex), and the *Quecholli-hunt-festival* was *banned*. The *Tlaxcalan Camaxtli-cult* survived slightly-longer (because the Tlaxcalans were Spanish-allies and received some-degree of post-conquest-protection), but was also eventually-suppressed. The *modern survival* of Mixcoatl is *minimal* — unlike Mictlantecuhtli (Day-of-the-Dead) or Chalchiuhtlicue (Catholic baptism) or Coatlicue (Virgin of Guadalupe) or Tlaloc (folk-rain-petitioning), Mixcoatl has *no significant Catholic-syncretic-survival*. The further shadow: the *Mexica-Chichimec-descent-claim* itself has been *historically-contested* — modern scholars debate the degree to which the Mexica *actually-descended-from Chichimec hunter-nomads* versus the degree to which they *constructed-the-Chichimec-descent-narrative for political-and-cosmic legitimation* (the Chichimec-descent-claim *legitimated the Mexica imperial-rise* by positioning the Mexica as the *cosmic-inheritors-of-the-Mixcoatl-lineage-AND-the-Quetzalcoatl-civilizational-tradition*, the *cosmic-bridge-between-hunter-and-civilizer*). The deepest shadow: the *modern Mexican national-identity construction* has *largely-erased the Chichimec-cosmic-foundation* in favor of the *Mexica-Aztec-imperial heritage* — the *Mixcoatl-Chichimec-hunter-ancestor cosmology* has been *politically-flattened* in favor of the *Huitzilopochtli-eagle-warrior-imperial-cosmology*, and the *cosmic-recognition that every Mexican has Chichimec-hunter-cosmic-roots* has been *erased* from the national-narrative. The further shadow: the *modern Chichimec-descendant peoples* (the contemporary Otomí, Pame, Chichimeca Jonaz, Huichol, and other peoples of central-and-northern Mexico who are the *actual contemporary-Chichimec-cosmic-heirs*) have been *systematically marginalized* by the modern Mexican-state in favor of the *generic-Mexica-Aztec national heritage* — the cosmic-and-political-erasure of the *contemporary Chichimec-cosmic-lineage* is one of the *quietest-and-most-consequential* historical-injustices in modern Mexico. The further shadow: the *cosmic-genealogical-charter function* of Mixcoatl-cosmology (the *cosmic-recognition of pre-civilizational-cosmic-roots*) has been *largely-replaced* in modern global-culture by *DNA-genealogical-testing* (23andMe, AncestryDNA), which provides a *technologically-mediated cosmic-genealogical-charter* without the *cosmic-philosophical depth* of the *Iztac-Mixcoatl-cosmic-ancestor-tradition*.

Pair with