My new favorite cenobitic rule!

From the Cenobitic Rule of Saint Pachomius:

"No one will be allowed to light a fire in their house without everybody else being able to do it."

Horoscopy can be fun!

I'm still learning astrology.  In fact, I'm barely conversant with Hellenic astrology, confused by Vedic, and only have the barest scraps of knowledge about the tonalpohualli (the Nahua calendar of fates), so I post this here desirous and welcoming of any commentary, knowledge, or downloads my more studied readers may have . . .

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INTERPRETATIONS:

Take it easy, take it slowly.  There's a feeling of return, unsurprising since I just returned home from spending Thankstaking with the family.  Family.  Family.  I long so hard to be there for my feymily, my land feymily in especial.  I have to prove myself.

Oh, look!  There's the wound that needs healing this Aesculapius moon, the painful inflammation that Mars and Pluto tell me to look at.  The Vulture tells me to take it slow, that it is better to be, to float, to be around but not acting, then to try to do something about it.  Healing, after all, requires bed rest not work, not repeating the same actions that caused the injury.  After all, the wound itself can affect the senses, can invert the reflexes, and causal relationships can get all fucked up when pain is a player.  Active disengagement seems to be the rule of the day -- monasticism apotheosed into cosmic significance for 24 hours or so.

Scavenge the dead flesh around the wound, the Vulture and the Fish say, find nutrition not only in nutrition (Panhyle exhorts me to not just maintain my body but to honor it and to pleasure it, and science tells me that doing so will actually improve my nutrition) but also in that which you are discarding, that which has come before.  Close the cycle of your own flesh and you become a superhero goddix, they tell me.

Change is possible today, alchemy even inevitable like the earthquake, a fulcrum point.  Time to be aware and pivot and lean as necessary and useful.

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My natal 4th and 7th houses (which currently have Mars square Pluto across them):

4th (Domum Genitorum; House of Home and Family)
--Mercury in Cancer trine Jupiter (Scorpio in the 7th) square Saturn (Libra in the 7th) conjunct True Node (Cancer in the 4th) semi-square Chiron (Taurus in the 2nd)
--True Node in Cancer conjunct Mercury (Cancer in the 4th) square Saturn (Libra in the 7th)

7th (Domum Uxoris; House of Partnerships)
--Jupiter in 0 degrees Scorpio square Sun (Cancer in the 5th) opposing Moon (Aries in the 1st) trine Mercury (Cancer in the 4th) trine Venus (Gemini in the 3rd) semisextile Uranus (0 degrees Sagittarius in the 8th) sextile Neptune (Sagittarius in the 9th) conjunct Pluto (Libra in the 7th) sextile Midheaven (Sagittarius)
--Pluto in Libra square Sun (Cancer in the 5th) opposing Moon (Aries in the 1st) trine Venus (Gemini in the 3rd) conjunct Jupiter (0 degrees Scorpio in the 7th) conjunct Saturn (Libra in the 7th) sextile Neptune (Sagittarius in the 9th) quincunx Chiron (Taurus in the 2nd) quincunx Pisces rising sextile Midheaven (Sagittarius)
--Mars in Libra square Sun (Cancer in the 5th) opposing Moon (Aries in the 1st) trine Venus (Gemini in the 3rd) conjunct Saturn (Libra in the 7th) sextile Neptune (Sagittarius in the 9th) conjunct Pluto (Libra in the 7th) biquintile Chiron (Taurus in the 2nd) quincunx Pisces rising sextile Midheaven (Sagittarius)
--Saturn in Libra square Sun (Cancer in the 5th) opposing Moon (Aries in the 1st) square Mercury (Cancer in the 4th) trine Venus (Gemini in the 3rd) conjunct Mars (Libra in the 7th) semisquare Uranus (0 degrees Sagittarius in the 8th) conjunct Pluto (Libra in the 7th) square True Node (Cancer in the 4th)

Also, interestingly, the 4th House is Cancer's house, which is my Sun (though it's in the 5th) and the 7th is Libra's.

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chaninicholas.com

Cancer

Something halting you when you go to tackle your projects? Something in you resistant to doing all your grown up work? Something in you feels like having a temper tantrum cause you don’t waaaaaant tooooooo?

The resistance should pass by Tuesday.

Some creative juice should start to thaw and get you moving towards your goals. Some ignition should start to rev your engines. Some of the overwhelm or exhaustion should start to fade come the end of the week.

But there is still this issue. This issue that you are working on. This issue that is working on you. Something around home. Something around family. Something around foundations. Something around feeling safe and secure. Something about knowing where to be. Something about wanting to be where you are.

This something is digging itself into your experience like a red hot fire poker. This something wants to get to the heart of a psychological issue that connects to your core. This something lays deep under the surface and can be unveiled through the help of an intimate other.

If a relationship is worth its weight it will trigger our deepest feelings and help us heal the open wounds.

Go slowly with this stuff. There is no rush to work things out, though some of the discomfort may urge you to resolve things ASAP. Instead try to respect what you are in the process of. Moving towards “solving” an issue before you understand it can cause more harm than good. And there is more to this issue than what you can see at the present moment. Be open to the unfolding of this. Be patient with the part of you that wants it resolved.

Getting to know ourselves through our trials and our successes requires that we be willing to know all sides of the self. The needy, the greedy, the difficult, the sweet, the soft, the loving and everything else that lies in between the extremes.

Pisces Rising

Giving yourself what you need in order to live out your life’s purpose is most likely the greatest gift you can give yourself. Set yourself up for success. Take the class. Write the proposal. Declare your intentions to yourself. Face your fears around succeeding. Face your fears around being inadequate. Face yourself with as much compassion as you can muster. You don’t have to get this whole living life thing right, but you’ll enjoy it more if you love yourself through it. Grant yourself permission to be in the human struggle.

Exactly how your success will unfold is out of your control.

You might be well entrenched in your work. You might be well down the road of your destiny. You might be very sure of how it should unfold. But the truth is that none of us really know to what degree our work and our lives are affecting the world. Thank gods. The pressure would be too much if we were always conscious of it. The weight of our responsibility would freak us out. The mere knowledge of our impact can be paralyzing sometimes.

Best not to get transfixed on it.

Best to just get busy in the doing of our lives. Best to remind our selves of the next, simplest action to perform. Best to do what is in front of us to the best of our ability.

www.azteccalendar.com:

Tonalli:
day
Ome Ollin
2 - Ollin (movement)

Trecena:
13-day period
CeCozcacuauhtli
(1 -) Cozcacuauhtli (vulture)

Xihuitl:
solar year
NahuiTecpatl
4 - Tecpatl (flint knife)


Yoaltecuhtli:
Lord of the Night
Tepeyollotl

Xiuhpohualli:
365-day calendar
19 - Tlacaxipehualiztli (II)

Long Count:
Mayan calendar
13.0.2.17.17

(Correlation: Alfonso Caso - Nicholson's veintena alignment [adjust])

The significance of this day
Day Ollin (Movement) is governed by Xolotl as its provider of tonalli (Shadow Soul) life energy. This is an auspicious day for the active principle, a bad day for the passive principle. Ollin is a day of the purified heart, signifying those moments where human beings may perceive what they are becoming. A good day for transmutation, which arrives like an earthquake that leaves in its wake the ruins of rationality, order and the preconceived.

The thirteen day period (trecena) that starts with day 1-Cozcacuauhtli (Vulture) is ruled by Xolotl. This trecena signifies the wisdom and freedom of old age; it represents the path of the setting sun. While the way of the warriorpoints to the relationship between predator and prey, this sign points to to the Third Way, which is neither: these are 13 days set aside to perfect the Way of the Scavenger. While the young heart must strategize between offense and defense, the old heart float like the clouds, stooping to earth only to take what no one else wants. These are good days for disengaging; bad days for participating.

Michael Douglas was born on day 1-Cozcacuauhtli.

antinousstars.blogspot.com:

WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY DEC. 2/3, 2015

Overnight Wednesday/Thursday, we come to the we come to the Virgo Third Quarter Moon, which brings down powerful healing energies. In Antinous Moon Magic we call this the AESCULAPIUS MOON in honor of the Classical god of the physician's art. Meditation and rituals carried out tonight are ideal for bringing down healing energies for yourself and those you love.

www.freewillastrology.com:

Cancer Horoscope for week of December 3, 2015
Verticle Oracle cardCancer (June 21-July 22)
In September of 1715, a band of Jacobite rebels gathered for a guerrilla attack on Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. Their plan was to scale the walls with rope ladders, aided by a double agent who was disguised as a castle sentry. But the scheme failed before it began. The rope ladders turned out to be too short to serve their intended purpose. The rebels retreated in disarray. Please make sure you're not like them in the coming weeks, Cancerian. If you want to engage in a strenuous action, an innovative experiment, or a bold stroke, be meticulous in your preparations. Don't scrimp on your props, accouterments, and resources.

www.astrobarry.com:

CANCER (June 21-July 22): This week's Mars-Pluto square across your solar 4th and 7th houses, Cancer, indicates a likelihood of continued emotional inflammation… which, though it would derive from inside you, could lead to a power-struggle or conflict that may or may not be directly related. In other words, don't be so sure you know who you're upset with, or for what reason. The inflaming individual in question might be an overly controlling influence in your life, causing you to feel impelled to fight back against their self-serving manipulation, on behalf of your own independence—or they may merely be the safest person in your world to lash out at or vilify, due to the psychological intimacy already established, rather than a legitimate target for your wrath. Please be warned, then, both the intensity of your reactions and the direction you're aiming them might not be circumstantially appropriate. Which is not to say, for the record, the feelings themselves aren't wholly worthy of your own respect (in terms of them signaling some deeper discontent with how you make the self/other tradeoff); you just won't want to rush into finger-pointing or tongue-lashing. As before, this same emotional edge can be constructively channeled into drafting plans for a professional plot-twist or game-change, this impulse to 'prove yourself' instead going toward a personal ambition.

Transgender Day of Remembrance

These are the murdered trans people we remember today:

Keyshia

Blige (33 years old)

Cause of death: Shooting

Location of death: Aurora, Illinois, USA

Date of death: March 7th, 2015

Tamara

Dominguez (36 years old)

Cause of death: repeatedly run over by vehicle

Location of death: Kansas City, Missouri, USA

Date of death: August 15th, 2015

Kandis

Capri (35 years old)

Cause of death: shooting

Location of death: Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Date of death: August 11th, 2015

Amber

Monroe (20 years old)

Cause of death:gunshot

Location of death:Detroit, Michigan, USA

Date of death: August 8th, 2015

Ashton

O'Hara (25 years old)

Cause of death: Stabbed to death, ran over by vehicle

Location of death: Detroit, Michigan, USA

Date of death: July 14th, 2015

Shade

Schuler (22 years old)

Cause of death: unknown, found dead in a field.

Location of death: Dallas, Texas, USA

Date of death: July 29th, 2015

K.

C. Haggard (66 years old)

Cause of death: multiple stab wounds

Location of death: Fresno, California, USA

Date of death: July 24th, 2015

India

Clarke (22 years old)

Cause of death: gunshot to the head and arm

Location of death: Tampa, Florida, USA

Date of death: July 21st, 2015

Mercedes

Williamson (17 years old)

Cause of death: Beaten to death

Location of death: Rocky Creek, Alabama, USA

Date of death: May 30th, 2015

Penny

Proud (21 years old)

Cause of death: shooting

Location of death: Tremé, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Date of death: February 10th, 2015

Taja

Gabrielle DeJesus (36 years old)

Cause of death: multiple stab wounds

Location of death: San Francisco, USA

Date of death: Feburary 8th, 2015

Bri

Golec (22 years old)

Cause of death: stabbed to death

Location of death: Akron, Ohio, USA

Date of death: February 13th, 2015

Lamia

Beard (30 years old)

Cause of death: shooting

Location of death: Norfolk, Virginia, USA

Date of death: January 17th, 2015

Papi

Edwards (20 years old)

Cause of death: shooting

Location of death: Louisville, Kentucky, USA

Date of death: January 9th, 2015

Nephi

Luthers (20 years old)

Cause of death: shooting

Location of death: Georgetown, Guyana

Date of death: July 21st, 2015

Diosvany

Muñoz Robaina (24 years old)

Cause of death: stoning

Location of death: Pinar del Río, Cuba

Date of death: April 26th, 2015

C.

N. Alves de Matos Jr (21 years old)

Cause of death: stabbed and dismembered

Location of death: São Paulo, Brazil

Date of death: September 25th, 2015

Unknown

(41 years old)

Cause of death: severe head and neck trauma

Location of death: Alicante, Spain

Date of death: July 21th, 2015

L.

A. de Souza, (22 years old)

Cause of death: found in landfill with knife in neck

Location of death: Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

Date of death: September 30th, 2015

Waleska

Rayala, (21 years old)

Cause of death: 27 stab wounds

Location of death: Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

Date of death: September 2nd, 2015

Paulinha

Cause of death: gunshots to head and chest

Location of death: Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

Date of death: September 8th, 2015

Flower,

(39 years old)

Cause of death : beaten to death

Location of death: Parintins, Amazonas, Brazil

Date of death: August 27th, 2015

V.

H.A dos Santos , (25 years old)

Cause of death : multiple gunshot wounds

Location of death: Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Date of death: August 24th, 2015

Patricia,

(29 years old)

Cause of death : unknown cause of death, thrown into bush

Location of death: Santa Terezinha, Piracicaba, Brazil

Date of death: August 3rd, 2015

Unknown,

(45 years old)

Cause of death : Gunshot wound to the head

Location of death: Alta Floresta d'Oeste, Rondônia, Brazil

Date of death: July 25th, 2015

Gabi,

(26 years old)

Cause of death : Beaten to death

Location of death: Valparaíso de Goiás, Brazil

Date of death: July 19th, 2015

Erika

Aguilera, (25 years old)

Cause of death : Gunshot wound to the back

Location of death: Dourados, Brazil

Date of death: July 16th, 2015

India

Nascimento, (29 years old)

Cause of death: Beaten to death

Location of death: Pernambuco, Brazil

Date of death: July 12th, 2015

L.

R.O. Dorta, (26 years old)

Cause of death: Decapitated

Location of death: Pernambuco, Brazil

Date of death: July 12th, 2015

Vanessa

Calaça, (27 years old)

Cause of death: Stoned to death

Location of death: Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil

Date of death: July 12th, 2015

Unknown

woman

Cause of death: multiple gunshot wounds to the back and abdomen

Location of death: Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

Date of death: June 30th, 2015

Unknown

woman

Cause of death: stab wound to the neck

Location of death: Cacoal, Rondônia, Brazil

Date of death: July 5th, 2015

Bruna

J. Mendes, (27 years old)

Cause of death: Multiple gunshot wounds

Location of death: Itapebi, Bahia, Brazil

Date of death: June 29th, 2015

Sidney

Araújo Claudino, (19 years old)

Cause of death: Shotgun gunshot wound to the chest

Location of death: Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Date of death: June 23rd, 2015

Laura

Vermont, (18 years old)

Cause of death: Beaten to death by police

Location of death: São Paulo, Brazil

Date of death: June 20th, 2015

Kauane

da Silva, (35 years old)

Cause of death: Gunshot to the head

Location of death: Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Date of death: June 13th, 2015

Unknown

woman

Cause of death: Unknown cause of death, buried in shallow grave

Location of death: Serra, Espírito Santo, Brazil.

Date of death: June 9th, 2015

Kelly

Silva, (31 years old)

Cause of death: stabbed in neck and arm

Location of death: Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Date of death: June 9th, 2015

Andréia

Amado, (29 years old)

Cause of death: Gunshot

Location of death: Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Date of death: June 4th, 2015

Carol

Melo, (30 years old)

Cause of death: strangled to death

Location of death: Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

Date of death: June 3th, 2015

Priscilla

da Silva, (23 years old)

Cause of death: Gunshot

Location of death: Dois Riachos, Alagoas, Brazil

Date of death: May 30th, 2015

Barbara

Sodre, (29 years old)

Cause of death: Stabbed to death

Location of death: Sergipe, Brazil

Date of death: May 25th, 2015

Jean

Waltrick, (27 years old)

Cause of death: multiple gunshot wounds to the head

Location of death: Lages, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Date of death: May 23rd, 2015

Vandressa

Vinnitt

Cause of death: gunshot

Location of death: Realengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Date of death: May 18th, 2015

Ticiane

Abravanel, (21 years old)

Cause of death: gunshot

Location of death: Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

Date of death: May 18th, 2015

La

Monique de Roma, (43 years old)

Cause of death: gunshot

Location of death: Butantã, São Paulo, Brazil

Date of death: May 14th, 2015

unidentified

woman

Cause of death: gunshot

Location of death: Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

Date of death: May 3rd, 2015

Stefanny

Cause of death: gunshot

Location of death: Caucaia, Ceará, Brazil

Date of death: April 30th, 2015

Job

Rodrigues da Silva, (46 years old)

Cause of death: gunshot

Location of death: Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil

Date of death: April 17th, 2015

unidentified

woman

Cause of death: beaten and strangled to death

Location of death: Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

Date of death: April 17th, 2015

Bruna,

(47 years old)

Cause of death: gunshot

Location of death: Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil

Date of death: April 16th, 2015

Bruna

Quércia, (15 years old)

Cause of death: gunshot

Location of death: Vila Velha, Espírito Santo, Brazil

Date of death: April 15th, 2015

Victória

Camargo, (29 years old)

Cause of death: gunshot

Location of death: Venâncio Aires, Brazil

Date of death: April 13th, 2015

Bruna

Michele, (20 years old)

Cause of death: beaten to death

Location of death: Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Date of death: April 13th, 2015

Vanessa

Ganzaroli, (18 years old)

Cause of death: multiple stab wounds

Location of death: Petrolina, Pernambuc, Brazil

Date of death: April 3rd, 2015

Debora

Cause of death: stoned to death

Location of death: Mogi Mirim, São Paulo, Brazil

Date of death: April 2nd, 2015

Lotinha

Cause of death: stabbed

Location of death: Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

Date of death: March 29th, 2015

Adriana,

(22 years old)

Cause of death: multiple gunshots

Location of death: Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Date of death: March 22th, 2015

Bianca

Araujo, (21 years old)

Cause of death: gunshot

Location of death: Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil

Date of death: March 20th, 2015

Michael

Lucas de Almeida Reginald, (13 years old)

Cause of death: beaten, multiple stab wounds

Location of death: Araraquara, São Paulo, Brazil

Date of death: March 18th, 2015

Natália

Ferraz, (21 years old)

Cause of death: multiple gunshots

Location of death: Caçapava, São Paulo, Brazil

Date of death: February 27th, 2015

Ygor

Fernando Oliveira Santos, (20 years old)

Cause of death: multiple gunshots

Location of death: Marechal Deodoro, Alagoas, Brazil

Date of death: February 27th, 2015

Keity,

(23 years old)

Cause of death: multiple stab wounds (10)

Location of death: Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

Date of death: February 24th, 2015

Lara,

(16 years old)

Cause of death: stoned to death

Location of death: Parauapebas, Pará, Brazil

Date of death: February 22nd, 2015

unidentified

woman

Cause of death: multiple gunshot wounds

Location of death: Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

Date of death: February 20th, 2015

Raíssa,

(19 years old)

Cause of death: multiple stab wounds to neck and chest

Location of death: Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brazil

Date of death: February 16th, 2015

Capitú

Santos, (31 years old)

Cause of death: stabbing

Location of death: Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

Date of death: February 16th, 2015

Joyce

Akira, (teen)

Cause of death: multiple gunshot wounds

Location of death: Mangabeira, Joao Pessoa, Brazil

Date of death: February 8th, 2015

Pata,

(35 years old)

Cause of death: strangled to death

Location of death: Macapá, Amapá, Brazil

Date of death: February 7th, 2015

Didinha,

(18 years old)

Cause of death: multiple gunshot wounds

Location of death: Vitória de Santo Antão, Pernambuco, Brazil

Date of death: February 1st, 2015

unidentified

woman

Cause of death: gunshot

Location of death: Lorena, São Paulo, Brazil

Date of death: March 17th, 2015

LÉO,

(26 years old)

Cause of death: gunshot

Location of death: Vitoria da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil

Date of death: January 26th, 2015

Piu

da Silva, (25 years old)

Cause of death: beaten, multiple gunshot wounds

Location of death: Nilópolis, Rio de Janeiroa, Brazil Date of death: January 22nd, 2015

unidentified

woman

Cause of death: gunshot wound

Location of death: Peshawar, Pakistan

Date of death: April 6th, 2015

unidentified

woman

Cause of death: gunshot wound

Location of death: Peshawar, Pakistan

Date of death: April 6th, 2015

Diana

Sacayán, (39 years old)

Cause of death: multiple stab wounds

Location of death: Flores, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Date of death: October 11th, 2015

Marcela

Chocobar, (26 years old)

Cause of death: dismembered and burned

Location of death: Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz, Argentina

Date of death: September 4th, 2015

Francela

Méndez

Cause of death: stab wounds

Location of death: Las Palmeras, Sonsonate, El Salvador.

Date of death: May 31st, 2015

Fernanda

"Coty" Olmos (59 years old)

Cause of death: stab wounds, suffocated with bag over head

Location of death: Santa Fe, Argentina

Date of death: September 25th, 2015

Yoshi

Tsuchida (38 years old)

Cause of death: face cut off, bag around head

Location of death: Tokyo, Japan

Date of death: November 13th, 2015

Leticya

Santos Ignácio (21 years old)

Cause of death: gunshot to the forehead

Location of death: São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, Brazil

Date of death: October 12th, 2015

unidentified

woman (19 years old)

Cause of death: gunshot to the face

Location of death: Taguatinga, Brazil

Date of death: October 7th, 2015

Miscilene

(25 years old)

Cause of death: blunt force trauma to the head

Location of death: Bahia, Brazil

Date of death: October 12th, 2015

Miscilene

(20 years old)

Cause of death: gunshots

Location of death: Ponta Porã, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Date of death: October 20th, 2015

Tiffany

Latifah (24 years old)

Cause of death: stab wound to the neck

Location of death: Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

Date of death: October 30th, 2015

unidentified

woman

Cause of death: gunshot wounds to head and abdomen

Location of death: Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Pernambuco, Brazil

Date of death: October 28th, 2015

Tiffany

Latifah (17 years old)

Cause of death: gunshot wounds to face and back

Location of death: Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Date of death: November 2nd, 2015

Anusha

Cause of death: murdered and burned

Location of death: Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India

Date of death: September 24th, 2015

Pravalika

(24 years old)

Cause of death: bludgeoned to death

Location of death: Telangany, India

Date of death: January 16th, 2015

Religious Head-Covering for Men in Pachomius's Rule

I have rarely seen religious proscriptions for men to cover their head, so it's always noteworthy to find a new one . . .

"When coming from the sinaxis, the brothers, who are leaving one by one, to their cells or to the refectory, will meditate about any passage of Scripture and no one will have their heads covered when they meditate.
      And when they had come to the refectory, they will sit by order of the places that have been given and will cover 
their head."

Interesting bit from the Cenobitic Rule of St. Pachomius the Great

"Do not stay sitting without doing anything during the sinaxis, but prepare with a watching hand the rushes that will serve to weave the strings of the dorm mats. Nevertheless, avoid being tired, he who has a weak body, will be given a permission to interrupt his duty from time to time."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #56

"Take the example of the goddess of water and floods, Chalchiuhtlicue. In the Codex Tonalamatl Aubin we find an extraordinary and obscure image that signifies the relationship of Chalchiuhtlicue and Tlazolteotl with tlazolli (figure 27). There we see Chalchiuhtlicue with Tlazolteotl's head emanating from between her legs like an outstretched penis. The image may represent Chalchiuhtlicue giving birth to Tlazolteotl, but at the same time, the goddess of tlazolli's long neck has become Chalchiuhtlicue's phallus. In Chalchiuhtlicue's more standard image, like that of the Codex Borbonicus (figure 28), we see her unleashing the floods from beneath her throne, and we witness people caught in the torrents of water." Her nose ornament serves to present her as a fertility goddess, and one of the images across from her is Tlazolteotl's headdress. Here the people caught in the stream may be a man and a woman sacrificed to the goddess, although they may also symbolize men and women born to the cleansing effects of Chalchiuhtlicue's water. (When midwives bathed newborns, they would call upon Chalchiuhtlicue.)
Chalchiuhtlicue controls the water and bathes the newborn child, ridding her/him of dirt. The important ceremony, bringing the child into the world, was partially controlled by this goddess, and, by implication, by Tlazolteotl as well. The two were paired, as the art historian Eloise Quinones-Keber maintains, because of the association between dirt and cleanliness. Tlazolteotl's "dual association with generation and filth is recognized; the latter is part of her name.... Thus the pairing of Tlaztolteotl teotl and Chalchiuhtlicue ... may have been intended for contrasting purposes, one representing filth, the other the cleansing with water that followed"

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #55

"Tezcatlipoca, both in and outside of Toxcatl, both before and after the conquest, existed as a complex figure that moved beyond both Spanish conceptions of gender and Catholic moral frameworks in which sex equaled sin: Nahuas imagined him as a woman giving birth (just as they imagined the woman as a warrior), a man playing a masculine role, a trickster disappearing into the smoky mirror to alter his body into a body that appeared feminine, and a masculine warrior figure; he promoted sexual trickery and seduction, engaged in sexual activity as a woman and as a man, and seduced and even raped Xochiquetzal. This imaginary framework confounds contemporary analysts perhaps even more than it disturbed Spanish priests. Such deified sexuality shows us that the phallic warrior god can be a goddess too and a woman giving birth."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #54

"We know from a wide variety of texts that Nahuas viewed cihuateteo as dangerous warriors. And indeed this suggests the importance of the connection between Tezcatlipoca and Xochiquetzal as well as something of Tezcatlipoca's gender ambiguity. He signified a woman giving birth to a child at least partly because Nahua mythology represented the woman in childbirth birth as a warrior; in this, she is a reverse image of Tezcatlipoca, the warrior god who became a woman giving birth to a child.
I also note the awesome power of cihuateteo in warfare. For, when a woman died in childbirth, her body was believed to confer great strength on warriors, such that the midwives would try to protect the woman's body. When the entourage carried the body away, warriors attacked them, and the midwives protected themselves and the dead woman with shields. The warriors sought to break off the middle finger or a lock of hair from the dead woman.  If successful they would insert the hair or finger into their shields to make them fiercer in war. Further, we may note at least one key similarity between the image of Tezcatlipoca and preconquest images of cihuateteo (see figures 2 and 23): cihuateteo too have sexual excess emanating from their mouths. As I noted earlier, Nahua thought promoted a discourse that equated much feminine sexuality with excess. Cihuateteo, key feared signifiers of this excess, promoted the same erotic orality as we witnessed in Tezcatlipoca. In figure 2, we see that the cihuateotl has a centipede coming out of her mouth; in figure 23, we see a serpentine figure emanating from the mouth. In each case, the elements signify sexual excess, both through the figures coming out of the mouths and through the exposed breasts of the cihuateteo. We further witness that the cihuateteo wear both skirts and loincloths.
The eyes hanging from their sockets, and the skirt in figure 23 (with the crossbones) intend to signify the appropriate fear that the population would have for these individuals. In another image from the same text (figure 24), the cihuateotl had backward-pointing feet, signifying her as a figure walking backward, thus representing disorder."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #53

"Perhaps most important here, the text pictures Tezcatlipoca opposite Xochiquetzal. As the tlacuilo arranges the codex in couplets, he viewed Tezcatlipoca as Xochiquetzal's partner. In the image of Xochiquetzal (figure 22), three animals emanate from beneath her: a snake, a centipede, and an unknown feline. The snake and centipede, most often associated with Tlazolteotl, signified sexual excess. As animals of the dirt, they formed part of the tlazolli complex, the snake associated with the phallus and the earth, and the centipede associated also with the earth and with women who have died in childbirth. The batten Xochiquetzal holds signifies her role as a goddess of weaving, and that plus her headdress and facial paint would identify her to any Nahua familiar with her images."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #52

"We discover at the end of this chapter of the Florentine Codex that another man had lived the entire year with the Tezcatlipoca ixiptla. This man appears to have been an ixiptla of Huitzilopochtli. Klein suggests a sexual relationship between the two men, an interpretation that seems entirely plausible."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #51

"This positioning of the ixiptla suggests the ambiguous sexual comportment and obscure gender of Tezcatlipoca. If this god gives birth to sexual excess, then he would seem to take the female position not just in sexual intercourse, but also in the entire panoply of activities required to give birth to a child. At the same time he remains a highly ranked warrior fighting battles; he sustains his position as a masculine man. Again we must consult figure 16, where he possesses a decorated shield, arrows, spears, and several club-like items and the center of his chest is decorated with a flint knife. This figure is far from androgynous, but rather signifies a hypermasculine ideal even while it asserts feminine sexuality."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #50

"As we will see, Tezcatlipoca could use both masculine and feminine notions of sexuality to control all. An example occurs in a book of prognostications. On a day that he controlled, known as One Death (ce miquiztli), people honored Tezcatlipoca by giving pleasure to their slaves. Here one must pay attention to Tezcatlipoca's alter ego, Titlacauan (which literally translates as "we are his/her slaves"). On One Death, Titlacauan forces masters to treat their slaves well, and slaves during the day in essence become the masters. This day, then, reverses the social order in a temporary manner, thus befitting a day possessed by Titlacauan. If, however, on this day an individual mistreats his or her slave, Tezcatlipoca mocks and curses that person, then sacrifices and eats him or her. To prevent such a sacrifice, the person thus threatened calls Tezcatlipoca/ Titlacauan a cuiloni, a word that has been translated as puto, "faggot;' meaning the male penetrated during sex with another man. The individual uses Tezcatlipoca/Titlacauan's sexuality as an insult, but Tezcatlipoca does not take this as an insult and simply follows through on his original intent (by sacrificing the individual). Perhaps more important, the narrative pursues Titlacauan as the specific attribute of Tezcatlipoca to be criticized as a cuiloni. This suggests not that Tezcatlipoca had a specific sexual identity, but rather that one aspect of him, Titlacauan, the enslaved aspect of Tezcatlipoca, relates to a passive sexual construct linked to sacrificial discourse."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #49

"Tezcatlipoca and Tlazolteotl were the lords of the tlazolli complex. Thus asserting a heterosexual dyad, one might assume the fundamental normativity of this complex. Yet Tezcatlipoca hardly seems male, and, as we will see, Tlazolteotl hardly seems female. Instead, the two together signify the marriage and marginalia of the tlazolli complex."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #48

"Perhaps the tlacuilo plays with a concept in the Nahua imaginary: Tezcatlipoca becomes a fertile being who must play both the masculine and the feminine role, for, as a powerful deity he must reproduce the cosmos in order to produce ritual."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #47

"In figure 16 we see Tezcatlipoca decked out in all of his warrior gear. The figure connects the twenty-day signs with parts of the body of the black Tezcatlipoca. The image also relates the day signs to the magical and curative aspects of his body in its parts.  Tezcatlipoca here signifies aggressive warrior masculinity through his possession of many weapons (darts, clubs, arrows, knives) and through the signifiers of death: the skulls of humans and the heads of animals. He will fight off all enemies and defend the community. He also signifies phallic sexual prowess through his long loincloth.  Yet, emanating from his mouth we find two flower glyphs strung together gether with an element resembling a Nahua signifier of birth, the umbilical cord. These elements suggest that Tezcatlipoca, through his mouth, gives birth to sexual behaviors deemed excessive. Of course, the flower signifies more than excessive sex, and this image has traditionally been interpreted as showing Tezcatlipoca singing, a fact I do not dispute.  . . . Since Tezcatlipoca's tongue gave birth to the flower, his tongue and mouth signify fertility, perhaps through rituals designed to maintain the fertility of humans and the earth. The positioning of sexual excess in Tezcatlipoca's mouth signifies both his excessive nature, as discussed by Klein, and his link to the feminine.  In an image from the same text, Tlazolteotl gives birth to the same glyph (see figure 3, in chapter 2). She, however, gives birth from an umbilical cord between her legs. Tezcatlipoca cannot give birth in a similar manner, as his long, heavily decorated loincloth points out. His masculinity thus assured by the loincloth, Tezcatlipoca seemingly vomits up sex and fertility.  The mouth here signifies Tezcatlipoca's erotic orality, but, as we will see, the penetration of the mouth with sexual excess signifies feminine sexuality in preconquest and early colonial imagery. Tezcatlipoca remains after the production of this image a central figure in the Nahua pantheon, a powerful god who signifies a masculine ideal. Yet the position of the flowers emanating from the mouth suggests Tezcatlipoca's concurrent effeminacy (he gives birth, his sexual behavior is out of control), even as he maintains his masculine prowess through both warfare and the phallus."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #46

"Nevertheless, building upon Klein, I argue that Tezcatlipoca's complex sexuality is central not only to his position but also to the ways in which Nahua commoners and nobles imagined him and gave his being cultural value."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #45

"Or could Klein's notion of the "ideal, married man" still be too wedded to Western concepts of normativity? While I agree with Klein that Nahuas [sic] viewed Tezcatlipoca's sexuality as excessive in relation to the quotidian realities of masculine sexual comportment, I argue that his sexuality signified the necessity of multivalent sexual behaviors in the ritual construction of fertility."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #44

"In an article based on her Dumbarton Oaks talk, Klein expanded on her claim of Tezcatlipoca's bisexuality. She argued that Nahuas [sic] viewed Tezcatlipoca as sexually immature, and that he "represented the sexual behavior that was fundamentally opposite to that of the ideal, married man." Hence the god's sexuality signified a world turned upside down, a system unacceptable for the "ideal" man. Further, Tezcatlipoca had an ambiguous gender identity that Nahuas found unacceptable among humans."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #43

"Juan Vernal, who had lived his entire life in Iguala, stated that he had used this spell many times to kill highwaymen who had come to rob him. He begins the incantation by invoking several gods, including Yaotl, an appellation that literally translates as "war, warrior, enemy" and that is also the name of an ancient war god, used here to refer to Tezcatlipoca. Juan asserts that he will "give pleasure" to his "older sisters," using the term alhuia, pleasure, as a metaphor for his fight. Nahuas commonly used this term to refer specifically to sexual pleasure. He also uses the term nohueltihuan, "my older sisters," as a fictive kinship term feminizing his attackers. By pleasuring his enemies, Juan develops an imaginary incestuous relationship with his older sisters in which he penetrates and overpowers them. Juan asks Yaotl/Tezcatlipoca to provide him with a weapon with which to defeat his enemies. He further demands that the gods make his enemies weak and him strong. And he asserts his strength through the use of a metaphor for fertility: "The stones will become drunk, the trees will become drunk; the land will become drunk at my will." Juan goes on to assert the power of the gods by stating, "I am the priest, I am Yaotl." But his enemies "are accompanying my older sister, Xochiquetzal. They are bringing that which will be her breath, her cotton fluff, and her ball of thread, with which they will give me." Juan then will close the incantation by stating that his enemies will be covered with blood. He also will add some terms in the final stanzas of the incantation, including tonacametzin, "sacred sustenance thigh;"' and several other elements that refer to the land."

The first glimmer of Pete's somewhat unfortunate Lacanian Freudianism and his subsequent obsession with the emasculating power of being penetrated.  While certainly many cultures have drawn a connection between the sexual "top" and power, I find much of Freud's commentary on such a little beyond-the-pale and even unbelievable.  Also, as a committed "bottom", a non-binary/genderqueer transperson, and a transfeminine person, I often find it distasteful, oppressive, offensive, and almost always just plain not reflective of my own reality and the realities of those in my community.  From the last point there, I extrapolate that, at the very least, such interpretations, are missing something, if not that they are entirely false.

I would have expected better from Pete Sigal, as he seems to be an openly kinky gay man, who I would have assumed would have known better.

That being said, I do find it quite believable that Juan Vernal intended the penetration of his enemies in this curse to be a way of describing his power and victory over them.

Alsoalso, I love the mind-feel of the term "sacred sustenance thigh".  It does fun things in my brain.  Just saying ;-)

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #42

"In this chapter I will show that the Nahuas [sic] viewed the warrior deity as a set of characteristics that combined male and female, incorporated notions of violent masculinity and maternal care, and signified fertility. Thus Tezcatlipoca, an icon of Nahua warrior masculinity, still revered today in much of Mexico, combined masculine and feminine attributes in a bisexual whole; and Tlazolteotl, a mother goddess who signified the excesses of feminine sexuality, had a phallus. We shall see that the presence of these and other deities makes it impossible to place Nahua thoughts, histories, and memories into binary formations of gender and sexuality."


I don't think Pete really developed the fascinating idea of the warrior deity incorporating notions of maternal care, sadly, as the specific gendered connection there (war/mother) is more fascinating to me, I think, than the general gender connection (male/female).  He does, however, quite ably demonstrate the bigender (what he calls bisexual, following perhaps the biological terminology) nature of the two deities and also of warfare in that chapter.

Wait a minute, realizing upon reflection that he does so by connecting war to sex.  Really, Pete, are you conflating sex with maternality?  Cuz while one certainly can connect to (and, one might say, is a prerequisite of) the other, they are certainly not inherently the same thing!

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #41

"filthy happiness (tlaelpaquiliztli)."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #40

"some modern-day Nahua communities have Virgin Marys who engage in ritualized sexual activity."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #39

"The priests used the term tlatlacolli to stand in for "sin." Tlatlacolli in the Nahua universe related to the damage done to somebody or something, thing, not to the intent of the act."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #38

"Confession in the preconquest Nahua world did not invoke the same sense of individualization as Catholic confessional rites. Rather, one would confess to losing one's way along the path, tripping, taking a detour, tour, or entering the tlazolli complex when it was not ritually appropriate to do so.
The logic of the confession that Molina had wanted to impart to the Nahuas [sic] was that one had to give to the confessor one's inner sense of self; one had to impart the truth of oneself, never hiding sin. One's own truth, he would go on, had to come from a searing search within oneself, within one's heart. Then one could properly confess and effectively avoid the fires of hell. In a similar vein, an early confessional manual, published by the Dominicans in Mexico in 1548, begins: "I, who am a sinner, confess before God," where the word for confess, yolcuitia, means "to name the heart;' suggesting the internalization of the self and the creation of a confessing being who will reveal all before the priest, God's representative."

Quotes from _Magic from Brazil_ #8

"Iemanja bore three sons:  Ogum, Oxossi, and Exu.  All her children left home -- Ogum to conquer the world, Oxossi to pursue a meditative life in the forest, and Exu to see what the world had to offer.  Only Exu returned.  At first, his mother was delighted to see him.  As they talked, he became agitated and finally blurted out that he had searched the planet in vain to find a woman to equal her perfection, and that because of his failure to discover one he new he was destoned to possess her and her alone.  Then he grabbed his mother and tried to violate her.  In the struggle, Exu ripped open her breasts.  When he saw what he had done, he recoiled in horror and shame, and fled, banished from the kingdom of heaven, never to return.  From the copious tears Iemanja shed the oceans were formed, and from her torn breasts were born all the other gods."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #37

"the Nahuatl term teyolia, which will be used later in other confessional manuals in a variety of contexts. Nor does he use the Nahuatl term tetonal, which he elsewhere translates as "soul." For the Nahuas before the conquest, the term teyolia referred to the entity within the body that went to the land of the gods after death. . . . However, the term could only approximate the Christian concept of the soul, and preconquest Nahua thought does not ever distinguish teyolia from the body. However, for Christianized Nahuas after the conquest, as historian Alfredo Lopez Austin notes, the teyolia was directly identified with the soul."

Quotes from _Magic from Brazil_ #7

"The story goes that Iansa was a bright, intelligent, impetuous girl eager to know everything about the world.  Because of her fervently sexual nature she chose to serve an apprenticeship (so to speak) by seducing all the male Orixas, and convincing them that in return for her favors, they should teach her their secrets.  From Oxossi she learned to hunt, and from his son, Logun-Ode, to fish.  Ogum taught her to wield a sword, and Oxaguia showed her how to use a shield for protection.  Obaluaie initiated her into the mysteries of the spirits of the dead.  Even Exu let her in on the enigmas of fire and enchantment.  When she set her cap for Xango, however, she got more than she bargained for.  Although he revealed to her the magic of thunder and lightning, she fell for him madly and irrevocably, and felt the burning passion and heartache of love.  From their union were born the Ibeji twins."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #36

"the practice of bathing in the temazcal. Duran explains that when bathhouses were built, idols were placed underneath them. Then men and women went to bathe together, for it was considered a bad omen to bathe without a person of the other sex around."

Quotes from _Magic from Brazil_ #6

"In Africa, [Iamsa] is so ferocious that she brandishes a short beard, which she conceals behind a small veil.  This characteristic has not translated to her Brazilian persona."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #35

"The Nahuatl text suggests an interpretation somewhat different from Sahagun's Spanish: "Tlazolteotl: also called Ixcuina and called Tlaelquani. As to being called Tlazolteotl, it was said that was because her realm and domain were the dust and the trash: the life of desire, the pleasurable life. It was said that she was the ruler of the pleasurable life"
. . . .
Auilnemiliztli, for example, which occurs at the end of the quoted passage in the form "aujlnemjlizcutl, derives from auil-, "pleasure, a term used for prostitutes. The life described emanates from the tlazolli complex and signifies excess. But unlike in the Spanish, we find nothing in the way of moral condemnation in the Nahuatl text.
. . . .
And thus the Historia continues: "Confession: It was said that Tlazolteotl inspired and offered trash, dust, and the pleasurable life. Similarly, she forgave.... washed, and bathed one." This world of Tlazolteotl, in which she controls both the pleasurable life that Sahagun so wishes to condemn, and the process of confession, which Sahagun so wishes to promote mote (though in a different form), remains very seductive for our friar, his aides, and their informants.  . . . But as the clerics attempted to engage in a binary division between the dirt and the cleanliness, they needed to beware that both fell under the rubric of the tlazolli complex. And the "heart-straightening" process of preconquest Nahua confession (in which neyolmelahualiztli, the word used to describe the process that literally refers to the straightening of one's heart)"

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #34

"cuilonj ("passive partner in sodomy")
tecuilontianj ("active partner in sodomy")
patlachpul ("lesbian" [?])
tetlanochilianj ("procurer")"

{a short glossary of four Nahuatl words Sahagun wrote into his text}

Select Sections from The Carmelite Rule of St. Albert #6

"21 [XVI, xviii]
The apostle therefore recommends silence, when he tells us to work in it; the prophet too
testifies that silence is the promotion of justice; and again, in silence and in hope will be your
strength. Therefore we lay down that from the recitation of Compline you are to maintain
silence until after Prime the following day. At other times, though silence is not to be so
strictly observed, you are to be diligent in avoiding much talking, since scripture states and
experience likewise teaches, sin is not absent where there is much talking; also he who is
careless in speech will experience evil, and the one who uses many words harms his soul.
Again the Lord says in the gospel: an account will have to given on the day of judgement for
every vain word. Each of you is to weigh his words and have a proper restraint for his mouth,
so that he may not stumble and fall through speech and his fall be irreparable and fatal. He is
with the prophet to guard his ways so that he does not offend through the tongue. Silence,
which is the promotion of justice, is to be diligently and carefully observed."



"[21] The Apostle would have us keep silence, for in silence he tells us to work. As the Prophet also makes known to us: Silence is the way to foster holiness. Elsewhere he says: Your strength will lie in silence and hope. For this reason I lay down that you are to keep silence from after Compline until after Prime the next day. At other times, although you need not keep silence so strictly, be careful not to indulge in a great deal of talk, for as Scripture has it - and experience teaches us no less - Sin will not be wanting where there is much talk, and He who is careless in speech will come to harm; and elsewhere: The use of many words brings harm to the speaker’s soul. And our Lord says in the Gospel: Every rash word uttered will have to be accounted for on judgment day. Make a balance then, each of you, to weigh his words in; keep a tight rein on your mouths, lest you should stumble and fall in speech, and your fall be irreparable and prove mortal. Like the Prophet, watch your step lest your tongue give offence, and employ every care in keeping silent, which is the way to foster holiness."

Quotes from _Magic From Brazil_ #5

"Devotees do not believe that the Orixa itself incorporates into a medium, but that some part of the deity's powers is transmitted through a lesser evolved spirit that works for the Orixa.  This is why a thousand Iansas, for example, can descend into as many terreiros every night."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #33

"This goddess had three names: the one where she was called Tlazolteotl, which means goddess of carnality; the second name is Ixcuina ... who was made up of four sisters ... who were said to be goddesses of carnality.... The third name of this goddess was Tlaelquani, which means one who commits dirty deeds; carnal men and women confessed their sins to these goddesses."'

{actually a quote from Sahagun}

Select Sections from The Carmelite Rule of St. Albert #5

"[17] You are to abstain from meat, except as a remedy for sickness or feebleness. But as, when you are on a journey, you more often than not have to beg your way, outside your own houses you may eat foodstuffs that have been cooked with meat, so as to avoid giving trouble to your hosts. At sea, however, meat may be eaten."

I did not know that the Carmelites were vegetarians!

Quotes from _Magic From Brazil_ #4

"Most followers believe that the Orixas evolved without needing to pass through incarnations in order to achieve perfection."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #32

"A priest recorded the following incantation in Nahuatl from a 1620s idolatry investigation: "Come fire, come water, come incense. Come you, Tlazolteteo,... come see me, night tlazolli, white tlazolli, green tlazolli. I have come. I am the priest.... Beware of rising up against me."  The curer then harnessed the power of the Tlazolteteo (the plural of Tlazolteotl), the trash goddesses, to cure the patient of his illness, an unnamed disease coming from sexual activity, represented here as tlazolli.  In fact they had pluralized her-likely likely signifying that these commoners viewed Tlazolteotl as a composite of a series of deities. In other texts recorded in these investigations, the trash goddesses also mandated the growth of maize and performed their role as goddesses of childbirth."

Select Sections from The Carmelite Rule of St. Albert #4

"16 [XII, xiv]
You are to fast every day except Sundays from the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross until
Easter Sunday, unless illness or bodily weakness, or other just cause counsels a lifting of the
fast, since necessity has no law."

"Necessity has no law" indeed!  Khaire Ananke, khaire!

Quotes from _Magic from Brazil_ #3

"The Orixas . . . do not expend their energies by performing mechanical actions like the elementals in Western Magick."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #31

"Tlazolteotl in this image wears her traditional headdress and contains glyphs of the moon, now on her backpack instead of her clothing. She also wears a skull on her back, and she now wears two excess skins: one animal and one human. In a pot, she carries a human head and hand, perhaps those of a child."

Select Sections from The Carmelite Rule of St. Albert #3

"15 [XI/xiii]
On Sundays, or other days if necessary, you shall discuss the welfare of the group and the
salvation of souls; at this time excesses and faults of the brothers, if such come to light, are to
be corrected in the middle way of charity."

"15 [XI, xiii] On Sundays, or other days if necessary, you shall discuss the
preservation of order and the salvation of souls; at this time excesses and faults
of the brothers, if such come to light, are to be corrected with boundless charity"

"[15] On Sundays too, or other days if necessary, you should discuss matters of discipline and your spiritual welfare; and on this occasion the indiscretions and failings of the brothers, if any be found at fault, should be lovingly corrected."

I find it fascinating how absolutely different these three translations from the Latin are!  I obviously prefer the first, as I think it actually challenges the community and helps foster their growth, but it's important to know how such a small thing can have such huge effects.

Also, yay for Land Meeting being something similar to this!

Quotes from _Magic From Brazil_ #2

"In African myth, when the great All Father, Olorun, finished creating the world and everything in it, He retired to His lofty realm for a well-deserved rest.  In His place He left certain lieutenants who exercised His will on the material plane.  These divine intermediaries between God and man are called the Orixas.  This is why in the Yoruba language the name means "minor god," that is, a potency second only to the will of the All Father."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #30

"Rather than gender as a reified category, we witness gender as an aspect that needs ritual disarticulation and reformation in order to build and maintain social structure. This relates to modern Western society as explicated by Butler, in which the ritualized performance of gender takes place on a daily basis, but contrasts with the masking of the performance from the performers (except in clearly delineated subcultural forms like the performance of drag)."

Select Sections from The Carmelite Rule of St. Albert #2

"12 [IX/x]
None of the brothers is to claim something as his own; everything is to be in common and is
to be distributed to each one by the Prior—that is, the brother deputed by him to this office—
having regard to the age and needs of each one."


I love finding examples of way-old Catholic/Christian communistic sentiment!

Quotes from _Magic From Brazil_ #1

"Seven commandments of the Law of Umbanda must be memorized by all devotees.  Translated, they are:
1.  Do not do to your neighbor what you would not wish him or her to do to you.
2.  Do not covet what is not yours.
3.  Help the needy without asking questions.
4.  Respect all religions because they come from God.
5.  Do not criticize what you do not understand.
6.  Fulfill your mission even if it means personal sacrifice.
7.  Defend yourself from evil doers and resist evil.
Besides the seven commandments for mediums, filhos-de-santos (cult followers) must attend all ceremonies.  They are obliged to stretch out before their superiors with heads touching the floor in a gesture of obeisance meant to teach humility (known as bater cabeca, "beating the head").  They are bound to help the leaders and their assistants; and they must always wear clean, correct clothing.
Mediums are required to behave in a dignified manner, not eat heavy meals, not consume meat from Thursday night through Friday, have faith in their spirit guides and terrestrial superiors, not share their knowledge or frequent other centros, and never perform a service for anyone outside their own place of worship."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #29

"According to the Dominican friar Diego Duran, the Huastecs participated in the Ochpaniztli ceremony by guarding the woman representing Tlazolteotl, who was to be sacrificed. After the sacrifice, they fought against the warriors of Tenochtitlan in a mock battle:
A bloody fray took place among them. With sticks and stones countless men came to the combat and fight, something awesome to see, all armed with their quivers, swords, and shields. Fighting all the way, they went to the shrine of the goddess ... that stood at the entrance of the city, called the Shrine of the Woman. The man wearing the skin and maguey-fiber clothes of the woman went behind, among the Huaxtecs. One of these was dressed in white, another in red, another other in yellow, yet another in green, each holding his broom high in his hands." The Huastecs had lost their swords, now replaced with brooms. The movement from sword to broom in the Nahua conceptual universe moved them from the male sphere to the female. The castration works to feminize the Huastecs so as to make them less of a threat. Instead of engaging in ritualistic sexual aggression, a masculine culine activity, they will engage in sweeping and cleaning, a feminine activity. While in Nahua society there was no shame to the feminine sphere, for men such a maneuver would have moved them away from their proper roles, and effectively disempowered them. They could continue tinue to perform productive roles, but unlike the priest from Tenochtitlan, who will wear the slain woman's skin, the Huastecs would no longer be able to perform warrior functions-they would sweep. In both cases, violence and mutilation moved the ceremony forward to maintain gender balance and complementarity. In removing the Huastecs' phalluses luses and placing brooms in their hands, the ritual practitioners effectively controlled the outsiders and protected the city-state of Tenochtitlan. The contrast with the Tenochtitlan priest is instructive: he will take the woman's skin with him as he fights. Her skin in essence empowers him through a ritual gender transformation. Yet the same gender transformation disempowered the Huastecs."

Select Sections from The Carmelite Rule of St. Albert #1

"11 [VIII, ix]
Those who have learned to say the canonical hours with the clerics should do so according to
the practice of the holy Fathers and the approved custom of the Church. Those who do not
know the hours are to say the Our Father twenty-five times for the night office—except for
Sunday and solemn feasts when this number is doubled, so that the Our Father is said fifty
times. It is to said seven times for the morning Lauds and for the other Hours, except for
Vespers when it must be said fifteen times."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #28

"In a recent book, Catherine DiCesare has argued that this particular set of paintings signifies not Ochpaniztli, but rather a particular historical ceremony intended to prevent famine and make the earth become more fertile. In either case, this image shows that the tlacuilo wants Tlazolteotl to signify the ritual renewal of the earth. We see Tlazolteotl toward the bottom of the picture, not in the center, dedicated to Chicomecoatl, the maize goddess. This signifies the conjunction of several goddesses related to the fertility of the earth. In the center of the image we see a powerful priest of Tenochtitlan wearing the flayed skin of a woman said to be the goddess of maize. Here, even with the maize goddess at the center, the ritual requires the presence of Tlazolteotl, encouraging the phallic priests (figure 9).
Tlazolteotl is on the right side of the page at the bottom. She wears her traditional headdress, is fully clothed, and she carries a broom in her left hand. Facing Tlazolteotl is a central priest, said to be from Tenochtitlan. This extensively arrayed priest wears an ornate gown and robe, beautifully colored in red, orange, green, and blue. The priest himself is colored black. He holds in his right hand a long blue snake that emanates from his body in a seemingly phallic manner. Behind him are two other priests, wearing headdresses, masks, and loincloths. They place their right hands on their hyperextended phalluses, made from paper. These priests are not colored in, and they appear to be imagined as similar to Tlazolteotl, who also is not colored in. They are called in the Spanish gloss Huastecs, and we know from other descriptions of this ceremony that this is a representation that Nahuas traditionally gave these priests. As Huastecs, people from the gulf coast, also the area from which Tlazolteotl's image emanates, these priests signified partial outsiders with hypermasculine sexual desires. The joke is on them, though. Upon the successful seduction, presumably including penetration, orgasm, and conception, as this, after all, must lead to a successful harvest, Tlazolteotl will in effect castrate the Huastec priests as she will take away their phalluses and the priests later will have only brooms, a symbol of Tlazolteotl, and of course the ostensible purpose of the ritual in which temples, houses, and streets are swept."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #27

"The Codex Borbonicus, for example, presents Tlazolteotl as mother and seductress. Here we first see Tlazolteotl in a section designed for prognostications, in which she gives birth. Tlazolteotl in this image retains her traditional cotton headdress, along with her traditional necklace. We also can note the presence of moon glyphs on her headdress, huipil, and the blanket beneath her, signifying that Tlazolteotl is a lunar deity. In this image she gives birth to Cinteotl, the god of maize. This act signifies that Tlazolteotl represents fertility of the gods, humans, and the earth. The staple crop, maize, is central to the maintenance of community and the fertility of the earth.  Tlazolteotl also wears the skin of an animal sacrificed to her. And present in the picture is a disguised Tezcatlipoca, "Smoking Mirror," a god often partnered with Tlazolteotl. Between the two of them we see entwined figures of a snake and a centipede, both signifying sexual excess and tlazolli. As I have noted, the snake is also seen as phallic, while the centipede is a symbol of tlazolli and dirt, and hence of Tlazolteotl. Beneath Tlazolteotl and Tezcatlipoca, we see a severed head and a skull on a skull rack. So here Tlazolteotl signifies birth and death, moderation and excess. The tlacuilo wants his readers to know that Tlazolteotl is an important goddess who will maintain the fertility of humans and the earth, but that she also is a dangerous goddess, one who will encourage excess and destruction.
We should note further, however, that the tlacuilo does not condemn the production of excess. The excess signified here is necessary for the completion of the ritual. Mikhail Bakhtin has pointed out that ritualization can and does allow, even mandates, excess that must remain unacceptable in daily life. Hence, here the figure of Tlazolteotl signifies ritual discourse itself, pointing to excess, violence, and death at the same time as she signifies the maintenance of life and the continuity of the people. Indeed, for the community to continue to exist, Tlazolteotl and her priests must engage in violent excess."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #26

"the Ochpaniztli, or "sweeping;' ceremony began with musicians announcing the beginning of the festivities, followed by the participation of priests and other notables. The nobles danced, engaged in mock battles, swept temples, streets, and houses, and sacrificed captives."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #25

"In the image from the Codex Mendoza (figure 6), we see that the tlacuilo places his quill upon a text, just as he speaks with an individual, who presumably tells the tlacuilo what to write. The tlacuilo also speaks back to the person across from him. In Nahua concepts of the tlacuilo's world, then, the tlacuilo neither reproduces a reality placed in front of him (he is not a realistic painter), nor does he simply write down what he is told. Rather, he engages in a creative, reflective, and interactive process that stresses the oral nature of the text he will produce."

Yes!  This!  This is a kind of literature I can really get behind!

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #24

"The Nahuas [sic] viewed tlacuilos [painters, writers, and scribes] as reflective artists. Before the Spanish conquest, Nahuas wrote texts in the form of various types of images painted on paper made from the bark of a tree or the hide of a deer, or on stone edifices."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #23

"So what was the province of Tlazolteotl at the time of the conquest? Evidently, it was wide-reaching. When one wished to confess, one "unburdened one's heart" to her. As a goddess linked with the moon and the fertility of the earth, Tlazolteotl was seen as controlling childbirth and the spinning of cotton. Those who had syphilis and other sexual diseases asked her to rid them of the diseases. Those men and women who wished to perform sexual magic, to seduce a lover or to ward off another, summoned Tlazolteotl. So the Nahuas [sic] did not see Tlazolteotl as a demon of any kind. Rather, they believed her to be a goddess: a mother goddess, a goddess of fertility, but also one who could provoke an individual into sexual excess. She could signify both trash and cleanliness, both excess and moderation."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #22

"[The phrase] yn tlazolli yn teuhtli, "trash and dust", [was] used by Catholic priests in an attempt to express sexual excess and sin by means of the Nahua avoidance of excess, but actually related to Tlazolteotl"

I had not heard this difrasismo before reading this book.  One of the side things that fascinates me about studying Nahua culture is to see the complete fumbles made by the colonizers (like this one) and to ponder the consequences of those fumbles . . . Kallisti and 23 skiddoo!

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #21

"The term Nahuas used to stand in for sexual activity, tlalticpacayotl, was a term both burdened with and buttressed by the tlazolli complex. The term linked with the earth, seen as a generative being, always signifying fertility. But the earth also spawned both dirt and danger. One always needed to use care to prevent too much dirt from coming into one's life (hence the young nobleman needed to avoid too much tlalticpacayotl). And while one needed to feast (moderately) on the earth, one needed to be wary of that which the earth produced: dangerous animals and poisonous plants could kill."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #20

"Figure 5 shows Tlazolteotl's position in the Ochpaniztli ritual. This was an annual event in which entire communities came out to dance, engage in mock battles, and sweep the community. Nahuas [sic] viewed the ritual as purifying the community and preparing the people for war; it thus was central to the maintenance of the city-state: it maintained the city's internal hierarchy and also established divisions between insiders and outsiders."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #19

"Since femininity controlled the sexual sphere (as it controlled the earth), Nahuas [sic] viewed goddesses, women, feminine males, and female animals as those who policed the sexual boundaries between moderation and excess."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #18

"Here, Tlazolteotl through her loincloth and skirt, and her ambiguously gendered name, presents within her own self the complementarity of male and female-the necessity of having both genders within in order to accomplish the activities that the Nahuas desired her to accomplish."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #17

"In the Borgia Codex we find an image (figure 3) in which Tlazolteotl gives birth to a glyph of a flower, symbolizing Tlazolteotl as the mother of fertility and sexual excess. Several other elements of this image are noteworthy. First, and most immediately apparent, Tlazolteotl is naked except for her headgear and her necklace, her nakedness signifying sexual excess, since this is what the nudity of women in preconquest manuscripts scripts always appears to have signified. Second, Tlazolteotl's headdress and earrings are made of a spindle and unspun cotton, signifying her as the goddess of spinning cotton. Third, her right foot sits on a flint knife, an implement used in blood sacrifice. Fourth, her legs are tied, either with rope or with two snakes whose heads do not appear; the act of tying Tlazolteotl presents her as a deity linked with the earth. Finally, Tlazolteotl has no navel, perhaps suggesting divine birth.
The image is part of a set of images of divination, so we should note here that the elements connected to Tlazolteotl's body, such as the flower and the flint knife, are day signs within the Nahua calendar. Tlazolteotl in this image is the patroness of these particular day signs, so she modifies the days in some way, leading to prognostications. In other words, one might suggest that somebody born on the particular day that Tlazolteotl controls would engage in sexually excessive activities.
In another preconquest image (figure 4), from the Codex Laud, we find Tlazolteotl handing a child to a female death figure. Tlazolteotl was a goddess closely linked with childbirth, and this image represents the dangers involved in the birth process. We also see that Tlazolteotl wears a snake as a belt. Nahua lore envisioned the snake as signifying sexual excess and as a phallic symbol; Nahuas also linked it with the tlazolli complex, as they envisioned the snake as one of the key powerful and dangerous animals emanating from the dirt of the earth. In this image, Tlazolteotl is topless, but she wears two bottom garments: the loincloth of a man and the skirt of a woman. A third preconquest image (figure 5), from the Codex Fejevary Mayer, shows Tlazolteotl holding two brooms, signifying her role as the goddess in charge of cleaning trash. In this image, Tlazolteotl, again topless, wears two snakes, both wrapped around her, one with a head emanating from her mouth, the other with a head coming out from beneath her skirt. The phallic implications seem clear.
These three preconquest images, taken together, signify three elements of Tlazolteotl's preconquest identity that are important for my methodological discussion: her gender, her sexual role, and her ritual purpose. In two of these illustrations, Tlazolteotl's image signifies gender ambiguity in a traditional Nahua frame. In all preconquest Nahua iconography, men are identified by the presence of a loincloth, a phallic image designed to allude symbolically to the presence of the penis.  But in figure 4 Tlazolteotl wears a loincloth and a skirt, which, as we shall see, is not an uncommon occurrence for a powerful goddess; in figure 5 the snake emanating from beneath Tlazolteotl's skirt suggests the presence of a phallus. Further, the name Tlazolteotl, literally translated as "deity of trash;' has an ambiguous gender, and both boys and girls could be named Tlazolteotl. Could Tlazolteotl have been a deity who signified both male and female? If so, how can we deem her a goddess? How can we even use gendered pronouns to describe Tlazolteotl?"

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #16

"Instead, we find at least three different identifying categories [related to sexuality/gender], all of which changed through time. Those categories include one that we can associate with a particular type of act, one related to aesthetics and gender comportment, and one that we cannot identify."

Sadly, though I think Pete does pick these categories out and discuss them, I think he lacks a bit of organizational magick to really tie them into this sentence and to let everything kind of cohere.

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #15

"Rituals performed before the conquest, often produced by the nobles of the city, focused extensively on promoting fertility. In doing so, the ritual practitioners radically altered the human body so as to produce the liminal body, the body that existed in between the human and the divine. This liminal body incorporated the masculine and the feminine in one body."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #14

"I note the close association between scorpions and other "animals of the dirt" with the tlazolli complex. The "dirty" animals played a major role in ritual discourse, at least when that discourse invoked tlazolli. In an image from a preconquest codex (see figure 2), a feared cihuateotl (plural, cihuateteo), a woman who has died in childbirth, has a centipede emanating from her mouth. Nahuas [sic] feared her for her ability to spill tlazolli out into the social sphere, thus killing people, particularly children.
. . .
Finally, she wears both a loincloth and a skirt. Only Nahua men wore loincloths, and the images always picture Nahua commoner men in loincloths, while women wore and were pictured in skirts. This signified the cihuateteo as in-between figures, ambiguous entities that always skirted around the edges of life and death, human and god, man and woman. This liminality is the key component of the entire tlazolli complex, and indeed of Nahua sexuality itself.
Tlazolli first relates to trash. Second, it forms excrement, waste. Third, it creates life through its use in fertility (fertilizing the crops). Fourth, it takes life, allowing a gateway to death. Fifth, it is specifically gendered: the Nahuas link tlazolli to women and femininity, but also to an indeterminate, in-between notion, perhaps moving femininity beyond gender. Finally, as Burkhart points out, tlazolli signifies chaos."

That last paragraph, though, should be tremendously useful to me as a way to explain to folk what tlazolli is (and thus who Tlazolteotl is).  It's a thing I understand implicitly, but which other people seem to have trouble clicking with, and this paragraph succinctly and quickly hits six important and seemingly different elements of the concept!  Thank you, Pete!

Also, "perhaps moving femininity beyond gender"?  As a coercively-assigned-male-at-birth transfeminine nonbinary genderqueer (who is not a woman), these five words have excited me more than almost anything in this book has!

Alsoalso, this section has left me wondering how I can bring the cihuateteo into my practice more.  Are there good rituals, prayers, places, stories for them?  I will need to do more research!

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #13

"We can think of the tlazolli complex in a schematic form as an intersecting matrix with four vectors: household (feminine) labor, the earth, pleasure, and ritual."


A matrix (the word-choice is itself fascinating, as it recalls a Gloria Anzaldua poem about Tlazolteotl!) that Pete Sigal then almost entirely leaves behind for the rest of the book, ignoring both household labor AND the earth in his analysis.

There are times when I really wish that academics would read their introductions >.<

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #12

"The Nahuas [sic] did not privilege vaginal intercourse as the only or even the primary intimate act needed to produce a child, and they thus connected many other elements with the continuity of life."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #11

"In the Nahua universe, tlazolli always interfered with daily productivity. A commoner could never engage in his or her standard pursuits without regularly coming into contact with tlazolli. The commoner man, by farming the earth, contacted the tlazolli on a regular basis: the earth itself, the fertilizer used in conjunction with the planting, the dirt left on the harvested maize. The commoner woman, when in the household, came into contact with the tlazolli in her daily ritual of sweeping but also in her maintenance of the hearth, when she cleaned the dirt off the wood, and in her cooking activities. And all people, commoners and nobles, came into contact with excrement."

If the Catholics who taught me for seventeen years were right that God [sic] is omnipresent, than what conclusion must I draw from my own particular observations (and then backed up by this quotation) then that God is tlazolli, God is trash, God is shit?  Tlazocamati, Tlazolteotl!

Quotes from The Flower and the Scorpion #10

"So when Nahuas [sic] discussed tlazolli, they did so not to eliminate all tlazolli from life but rather to control the placement of the undigested remainders: the forces that created tlazolli formed a necessary part of life and needed appropriate respect, but they could not and should not be unleashed in an uncontrolled manner into the community."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #9

"[F]rom the fertile earth-itself made up of tlazolli-emanated all life forces."

Quotes from _The Flower and the Scorpion_ #8

"The process of living inevitably brought one into contact with tlazolli. Maize grew from the mud, from the body of the tainted earth deity. One linked oneself with the earth by eating cultivated foods and also by acts of tlalticpaccayotl, 'earthliness'-sexual activity.The souls of unweaned children free from these contaminations could go back up to the creator deity's heaven; others were in effect claimed by the earth and had to go down into mictlan [the land of the dead, the underworld]."

Quotes from The Flower and the Scorpion #7

"The trash, rubbish, and excrement that make up the tlazolli complex signified to the Nahuas a disruption to the cleanliness needed to function. This disruption was a necessary part of life, but it required care so that the trash did not take over."

Quotes from The Flower and the Scorpion #6

"In general, tlazolli consists of little bits and pieces of things, which might once have belonged somewhere but now, through processes of decay, deterioration, or digestion, have become formless and unconnected; these fragments are now scattered about, interfering with things that are new and tidy."

Quotes from The Flower and the Scorpion #5

"The tlazolli complex links closely with the notion that while excess is necessary for the continuation of the community, ritual practitioners must always work to control the nature of the tlazolli or else the community will become infused with excess and disease."

This is beautifully similar to many discourses about fire and even to thematics of things like Western or noir movies!

It also seems to resonate with my assertion that only the filthy can wash away the filth, for the dirtying is the same magickal act as the cleaning.

Quotes from The Flower and the Scorpion #4

"Simply put, Nahuas did not believe that sexual activity, or any other activity based on human choice, could place them in spiritual danger. Rather, the only things that could influence one's position in relation to the gods were carefully honed skills and particular types of luck."

Rotwork might be particularly interested in this quotation, as they have been delving into an antihumanist perspective of late, thanks to their own reading (Straw Dogs, by ???).

I see this differently, though, not anti-humanist but a "new" humanism.  It is not our activities or our choices or our morality that might influence our position with the gods or the afterlife or whatnot -- and in fact it accepts the anti-humanist positioning of luck and fate! -- but our skills might be what our place in the cosmos is based upon.  It also, obvi, resonates with the classical Greek concept of arete and, possibly, Diuus Imperator Hadrianus's devoted worship of Disciplina.

Quote from The Flower and the Scorpion #3

"While the flower will remain partially unknowable, knowable, an entity that exceeds our ability to understand Nahua discourse course in a foreign cultural framework, I will show that it primarily related lated to intimate connections with others and itself signified fertility in all of its forms.
From the root xoch:
Xochitl. flower
Xochtia. to utter witticisms or make people laugh
Xochuia. to enchant, bewitch, or seduce a woman"

This one is just a quick linguistic note, one of two I've found in the text so far that points at a group of words related by stem as a way of getting at what might be called a subverbal meaning complex (I'm certain there's a better technical term for this), or a "root meaning".  It seems that "xoch" doesn't just mean "flower", despite the -itl suffix just meaning, essentially, "this is a noun".  The -tia suffix, for example, is causative, so xochtia means "to make people xoch, to cause xoch-ing".  The idea and the image of a flower doesn't just mean that thing in the garden with the pretty petals.  It's a much larger associative symbol-set.

Like any and all languages, of course, including English and Spanish.

Quotes from The Flower and Scorpion #2

"According to Nahua cosmology humans came upon the earth, created by the gods after several attempts. These humans needed to respect the gods by performing ritual ceremonies designed to move time forward and thus allow for the continued survival of the deities. These humans had bodies made up of a variety of substances that could be exchanged at particular (ritually important) moments. Moreover, the human body always maintained a very close connection to both the natural world and the world of the gods. Hence a Nahua could not view the human body in isolation from the existence of the gods or from the centrality of plants, animals, and the earth. And humans could also alter their bodies, though only in ritually appropriate ways, and only with the support of the gods."

Still from the first few pages, this quotation oddly seems much more in line with other interpretations I have read -- primarily those of Miguel Léon-Portilla, who it would seem might be closer to the Nahua cultural strand than Pete Sigal -- than later in the book, where Pete presents a much more Freudian interpretation of Nahua ceremony, ritual, and (especially) sacrifice.  He describes these things later in the book not as moving time forward (which would vibe with Miguel's interpretations of the centrality of ollin/motion and seemingly the etymological connections between teyolia/lifeforce, yollotl/heart, and ollin), but as renewal of fertility by engaging with necessary-but-dangerous excess and also as Freudian castration play, gender inversion, and the power of being "penetrated" (even if by a tecpatl/knife rather than a tepolli/penis).  It's very confusing.

But this one paragraph does seem like a nice little summation about the role of humans in the Nahua cosmology; I don't recall Miguel ever providing anything so succinctly broad, so I will be using this until I can find something better . . .

Quotes from The Flower and the Scorpion #1

"Tlazolteotl's image appears above the small door to the steam bath (temazcal) -- Tlazolteotl, the "deity of trash;' guarded the steam bath because she, along with a series of related fertility goddesses, controlled the process in which individuals cleansed themselves, both metaphorically, through ritual, and literally, through washing ing one's body.  The Nahuas [sic] did not distinguish between the metaphorical and literal cleanings, because when one cleaned oneself, one also kept at bay all of the other things signified by the term tlazolli"

Later posts in this series will include a wee bit of commentary on why I pulled whatever quotation I am posting out of the text, but this one from the first few pages really seems to need little if any comment.

Chalca Cihuacuicatl ("The Chalca Woman's Song") sung to the Mexica tlatoani (ruler) Axayacatl 15 years after the Mexica conquered Chalco

Please do not stick your hand in my skirts,
Little boy,
King,
Little Axayacatl,
Perhaps I am painted,
My little hand is itching,
Again and again
You want to seize my breast,
Even my heart.

Now perhaps you will ruin my body painting.
You will lie watching
The coming of the green quechol bird flower.
I will put you inside of me.
Your chin lies there.
I will rock you in my arms.

It is a quetzal popcorn flower,
A flamingo raven flower.
You lie on your flower-strewn mat.
It lies there inside . . . no longer.

A Quick Note About the Book I'm Reading

This Pete Sigal guy is getting a little too Freudian in his description of the New Fire Ceremony/the Bundling of Our Years. I've been enjoying some of his insights into Tlazolteotl and trash-and-dust and the gender of the gods, but I'm finding Miguel Leon-Portilla's interpretations of sacrifice much more compelling (and even believable).

Although I will say, I'm finding myself fascinated by the resonances of Sigal's perspectives with some of the thematics of Western movies (and maybe even a chunk of noir movies, too) -- the gun is the only thing that can protect civilization from barbarians (interpreted both racistically as Indians, yes, but particularly as bandits and criminals and thugs) but anyone wielding the gun is himself [sic] barbaric. This is very similar to Sigal's claims about how the Nahua view/ed fertility, trash-and-dust, excess, fire, gender, et cetera.

Remember

Remember Palmyra. Remember almost 1900 years of history, now gone -- Bel's temple has been destroyed now, too. Remember Ba'al Shemim and Bel, two great gods perhaps now homeless. Give them a home. Resist Daesh's unIslamic attempts to wipe our collective polytheistic pasts from the world. Resist the Sixth Great Extinction's extension into the noosphere -- I don't know how I can save the animals, but praise and honoring and worship and storytelling and prayer and altars and shrines and memory (simple memory! Mnemosyne's small, important gift!) might save the gods.

Tess Dawson said that [n]o matter how powerless we feel at seeing this rampant horrific destruction and violation, we have the two powers that matter most: Memory and Devotion. We should use them well. These are the two ways we can feed the gods -- who have existence and agency well removed from anything we humans might do, thank you very much! But they are still creatures of the noosphere. Their substance is stories and relationships and rituals and songs and poems and dance and all that memetic stuff (they are independent beings like us, only they have memes where we have genes, you see) -- and the gods need them very very much right now. Please feed them, I beg of you. Just as animals are independent sovereign beings nonetheless being killed in vast numbers by us humans, so it is true of the gods, for the noosphere is as much part of the ecosystem as the biosphere, the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the lithosphere, the magnetosphere . . .

‪#‎thisiswhyweneedpolytheism #deityconservationeffort‬ #fuckyourairearthfirewater #wehaveatmosbioshydroslithospedosmagnetosnoos #andtheyallmakeuptheoikos

Ba'al Zebub, may you join with Bel Marduk (who, it is to be hoped, shall confuse Daesh for the primordial dragon Tiamat and utterly kill them in the same way) and with Ba'al Shemin and with al-Lat and with all the others in these vengeance efforts.  may all they do be made dust, and may it happen soon.

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Reading List

My current spiritual reading is The Flower and the Scorpion: Sexuality and Ritual in Early Nahua Culture by Pete Sigal.

I think, since that book is focused on Tlazolteotl, I will progress through the mup pantheon in reverse alphabetical order, each deity in turn as a focus for my spiritual reading, interspersed with texts about monasticism in various traditions. Thus, the list as it stands is (NOTA BENE:  The vast majority of these books I do not yet own; some of them can be acquired legally ior illegally from the net, but not all -- if anyone wants to buy me a gift, buy me the next on the list!):

Catholic Monasticism: The Carmelite Rule of St. Albert
Pombagira:  Pomba Gira & the Quimbanda of Mbumba Nzila, by Nicholaj de Marcos Frisvold
Orthodox Monasticism: The Rule, by St. Pachomius the Great
Melek Ta'us:
Hindu Monasticism: Upadesasahasri, by Sri Adi Shankara
Inanna:
Buddhist Monasticism: Vinaya Pitaka
Hoor-paar-kraat: The Equinox Volume I, Number 1
Jewish Monasticism: Nazir, in the Mishnah and/or Talmud
Hermaphroditos:
Taoist Monasticism: Xuen Feng Qing Hui Lu
Eris:  Zen Without Zen Masters, by the Count of Five
Catholic Monasticism: The Seven Storey Mountain, by Thomas Merton
Azathoth:
Orthodox Monasticism
Ardhanarishvara:  Skanda Purana
Hindu Monasticism:
Antinous:  Beloved and God, by Royston Lambert
Buddhist Monasticism:
Deep Reality: Quantum Psychology, by Robert Anton Wilson
Jewish Monasticism:
Lacuna: On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems, by Kurt Godel
Taoist Monasticism:

Antarctica Expedition, Panhyle, and dies mortus Willi Ninja sanctus

Today plays host to three mup holidays:

1) On this day in 1930, Miskatonic University sent its first expedition to explore Antarctica, who were the first modern humans to discover -- and be killed by -- the Elder Things.  Its a minor holiday, but let it be one in which the most ancient of histories resurfaces, and let us all be as lucky as Doctor William Dyer when it does.

Or, if you're feeling nasty, think of today as the day the ancient (but far less ancient than an Elder Thing city or the overthrow of the Elder Thing overlords by the biorobotic super-eukaryotic shoggoths!) histories destroyed and defiled by Daesh rise to wreak upon them the same insanity and death the Elder Thing city dealt to that ill-starred Miskatonic expedition.  Ba'al Shemim and Bel will have their way with you, Daesh, I can assure you of that.

2) Like every 2nd day of the month, today is the day to honor Panhyle, the transmale member of the Tetrad+++.  I will be reading Merri-Todd's hymn to him tonight with my Antinous prayer as my honoring of him.

3) the dies mortus of Willi Ninja sanctus, the inventor of voguing.  In his honor, I post these videos:

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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/giazd-05xj8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

And 27 years after that first video was shot, voguing led to this:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KGW6xK9SzxM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>