Monday, October 5, 2015

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."

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