Xochipilli

The Flower Prince
Pronounced: Sho-CHEE-pee-lee
Also known as: Macuilxochitl
Origin: Aztec

Xochipilli is the lord of flowers, love, maize, beauty, fun, games, music, art, dance, shamanism, and prophecy. He is the patron of all
life's pleasures; the very essence of creative potential and masculine beauty, responsible for sexual lust and desire. If you lack libido and
desire, ask him to provide the spark. Xochipilli radiates the warm, fertilizing powers of the sun. If you lack any kind of creative energy,
he can provide that, too. Xochipilli breaks artists' creative blocks.
Xochipilli rules sexuality. His rituals incorporate sexual fasting: prescribed periods of celibacy. He punishes those who anger him with
boils, hemorrhoids, and venereal disease. He can heal these ailments, too. Xochipilli protects souls of dead warriors who return to Earth
as hummingbirds.
Favored people: Warriors, dancers, singers, florists, artists, those who create beauty

Iconography: A fifteenth-century statue of Xochipilli was unearthed on the side of the volcano Popocatepetl near Mexico City. He
sits cross-legged on a pedestal, mouth half open, and eyes up-tilted: he appears entranced. The base of his pedestal is ornamented with
images of flowers, including tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum), Ololiúqui (Turbina corymbosa), Sinicuichi (Heimia salicifolia) and
possibly cahua xochitl (Quararibea funebris). One flower remains unidentified. Psilocybe aztecorum mushrooms are also depicted.
Consort: Mayahuel
Attribute: His scepter has a string of hearts attached
Spirit allies: Tlaloc, Cinteotl, and especially his twin sister, Xochiquetzal
Time: High noon
Planet: Sun
Bird: Hummingbird
Plants: Xochipilli rules shamanic, potentially psychoactive plants and mushrooms, including tobacco;
morning glory; and Sinicuichi also known as the Sun-Opener.
Offerings: Devotees ornament their bodies with tattoos of flowers.
See also: Ahuiateteo; Huitzilopochtli; Mayahuel; Xochiquetzal; Xochitl

Xochiquetzal

Ololiúqui, a species of

Precious Flower; Quetzal Flower
Pronounced: Sho-CHEE-ket-zul

Xochiquetzal, beautiful Aztec goddess of love, pleasure, flowers, and vegetation, is the lady of birds and butterflies, the very essence
of youthful female sexuality and generative, creative power. Xochiquetzal is the inventor of artistic crafts. She presides over
menstruation, conception, pregnancy, and childbirth. According to myth, Xochiquetzal was the very first to menstruate, have sex, and
give birth. She first menstruated after being bitten on her vagina by a bat, which sprang from Quetzalcoatl's semen. The very first flowers
emerged in response to that bite, too. The ever-charming and seductive Xochiquetzal resides in Tamoanchan, the Aztec Paradise, where
she guards the Tree of Life. Allegedly one touch of its flowers ensures happiness, fidelity, and good fortune.
Xochiquetzal is sometimes identified as the sister with whom Quetzalcoatl engaged in incest, causing the downfall of the
Toltec empire and forcing him to flee .

• The conquistadors identified her with Eve.
• Veneration of Xochiquetzal may survive under the guise of Our Lady of Ocotlan, a Mexican Madonna.
Favored people: Artists, artisans who create luxury items, including embroiderers, feather-workers, metalworkers, painters,
sculptors, and weavers. Also florists, housewives, young mothers, pregnant women, prostitutes, sex workers, midwives, healers.

M anifestation: Xochiquetzal has long black hair with bangs cut in the style the Aztecs associated with young women. Her face
may be painted with flowers, or she may sport facial tattoos. Xochiquetzal is always young, beautiful, sexy, and alluring. In reality, she's
thousands of years old, but she looks like a young girl. Xochiquetzal
never l ooks scary (even when she's being scary). She is
accompanied by a retinue of birds and butterflies
Iconography: She is portrayed wearing a quetzal feather headdress and a jeweled butterfly nose ornament. In Codex Vaticanus B,
her menstrual blood is portrayed as a single flower emerging from her vagina.
Consort: Tlaloc (although she eventually left him for the very persistent Tezcatlipoca)
Spirit ally: Her twin brother, Xochipilli
Element: Fire
Planet: Moon
M etal: gold
Flower: All, but especially Aztec marigolds (Tagetes erecta ), called Cempazuchil in Nahuatl.
Creatures: Hummingbirds, quetzal, butterflies. Dr. Carlos Beutelspacher, author of Butterflies of Ancient Mexico, theorizes that
Xochiquetzal's specific butterfly is the Western Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio multicaudatus).
Offerings: Flowers! Also the traditional crafts that she loves. Patronize artisans in her honor. Xochiquetzal drinks Mexican hot
chocolate. Devotees obtain flower tattoos.
See also: Itzpapalotl; Quetzalcoatl; Tezcatlipoca; Tlaloc; Xochipilli; Xochitl; Xtabay

Xochitl

Pronounced: Show-CHEE-tul

In Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, Xochitl literally means "flower" but also possesses other implications:
• Xochitl names a type of power implicit in beauty, goodness, love, and purity.
• Xochitl is the power of creativity. Art may be a physical expression of this power.
• Xochitl means "to flower," as in to bloom or blossom.
• Xochitl also refers to genitals. Xochitl—the title of a small 1938 painting by Frida Kahlo, sometimes called The Flower of Life—
portrays a flower consisting of two parts, one resembling a vulva, the other a phallus.
Xochitl is the root word in the names of the twin deities Xochiquetzal and Xochipilli who epitomize this power. Xochitl is also the
name of a goddess who is the perfect embodiment of this force. Usually Xochitl refers to Xochiquetzal but may refer to Mayahuel, her
brother's wife. In Frida Kahlo's originally private but now published letters written to her lover, photographer Nikolas Muray, this
contemporary goddess adopts Xochitl as her nom d'amour.
See also: Kahlo, Frida; Malinalxochitl; Mayahuel; Xochipilli; Xochiquetzal

Xolotl
Pronounced: Sho-Low-tul

In Meso-American cosmology, the assistance of a dog is required to reach the next realm. When someone dies, a spirit dog is
expected to appear to lead the soul on the lengthy, arduous journey to the realm of death. Xolotl supervises that journey. A spirit of
death, he is simultaneouslyman and dog, living and dead. Xolotl is a magical crossroads spirit who lives in many realms at once.
Xolotl is Quetzalcoatl's alter ego; his shadow side or double. In Aztec terminology, Xolotl is Quetzalcoatl's
nahualli ("nagual":
sacred animal double and ally). Xolotl is Quetzalcoatl's faithful, devoted companion, assistant, and guide. His name refers to the concept
of twinship. Throughout the Americas, twins were simultaneously feared and respected—perceived as extremely dangerous but also
sacred.
Xolotl is the evening star, counterpart of Quetzalcoatl, the morning star. Every night, Xolotl pushes the sun into darkness and guides it
on its journey through the Underworld. Xolotl accompanied Quetzalcoatl when he went to steal bones from Mictlan.
• Xolotl is the root word from which the modern word cholo ("gangster") derives.
• Xolotl has dominion over ailments and physical disorders.
Favored people: Twins
M anifestation: Xolotl may manifest as a man, a skeleton, a dog, or a man with a dog's head. Whether man or dog, one ear is
usually ragged, like a dog with sores or a constant ear infection. His face is deeply furrowed.
Attribute: A flint knife
Planet: Venus
Element: Fire
Creature: His namesake, the Xoloitzcuintli breed of dog (also known as the Mexican Hairless) as well as creatures that undergo
transformation and metamorphosis, like tadpoles to frogs and caterpillars to butterflies or snakes that shed their skin and appear
renewed.
Offerings: Xolotl accepts contributions made on behalf of Xoloitzcuintli dogs (as for example Xoloitzcuintli Rescue).
See also: Cihuacoatl; Mictlantecuhtli; Quetzalcoatl; Tezcatlipoca

Xtabay
Also known as: Ixtabey; Xtabey; Xkeban; Xtabai

Pronounced: Shh-tah-bay or Ish-ta-bay
Xtabay, Mayan jungle goddess, is the subject of many legends told throughout the Mayan and Mayan-influenced world, most of them
horror stories. Xtabay lives near lakes, rivers, and sources of freshwater. She is a spirit of wild nature, surrounded by birds, beasts, and
intoxicating flowers. Most tales in which she stars portray her as a sexy, seductive killer, a spirit to be avoided, but these negative
associations may derive from Christian denigration of a powerful Pagan goddess.
Xtabay may originally have been the goddess of the Tree of Life. Consistently portrayed as lascivious, she is a goddess of love and
sex. The clue that she is more than the demon of the woods, as she is sometimes called, derives from the tree with which she is so
closely associated.
Xtabay is associated with sacred kapok trees (also known as silk cotton trees), identified with the Tree of Life in Mayan cosmology.
As it is so closely identified with traditional Mayan and Caribbean religion, it was vilified post-Christianity. (Attempts to eradicate
Haitian Vodou have historically involved chopping down kapoks, also known as Mapou trees.)
The kapok is a massive tree with a buttressed root system, potentially extending over thirty feet from the main trunk. These aboveground roots create the equivalent of caves. Xtabay sits among these roots, singing and combing her gorgeous
long hair using cactus
spines as a comb. Depending on legend and perspective, Xtabay inhabits the tree because she's its goddess or because it's a
convenient hideout for her nefarious deeds.

Yma Sumac's song, "Xtabay (Lure of the Unknown Love)," refers to an elusive Andean/Inca spirit of the same name. Men
catch a glimpse of Peruvian Xtabay and fall madly, hopelessly in love, becoming forever unsatisfied with mortal relationships.
They compulsively search for Xtabay, who may never be seen again, thus dooming the men to eternal loneliness or even
suicide.

Xtabay resembles a Siren/mermaid, combing her hair and singing. Her victims are young men out alone late at night. In a world where
men are more likely to prey on women and men typically have more freedom and safety to walk around alone after dark, Xtabay turns
the tables. Allegedly her voice draws victims near, but they may approach assuming that she's a lady of easy virtue. (And they would be
right.) She's described as seducing young men, but she's so alluring, seduction may not really be required.
Xtabay allegedly lures men into the jungle from whence many never emerge. (She reputedly strangles them with her hair.) Contact
with her may result in insanity and illness. Victims allegedly die within a few days unless they receive immediate shamanic attention.
Xtabay manifests in the Caribbean too. She combs her hair with cactus spines on the island of Saint John, but there men falling asleep
after sex with her wake to discover themselves seriously wounded. What seemed to be a woman while they were making love is
revealed to really be a spiny cactus. Wounds caused by Xtabay tend to become infected. Fever develops, which is fatal if not treated
shamanically as well as physically.
Xtabay is sometimes compared to La Llorona. Like Llorona, she may be an old goddess in disguise, possibly Atabey or Ix Tab. She
may also be a completely independent goddess. Negative legends may be attempts to discourage veneration and to keep people far
from kapok trees.

M anifestation: Xtabay manifests as a beautiful seductive woman, a cactus, Xtabentun flower, kapok tree, and a green-and-yellow
snake.
Tree: Kapok (Ceiba pentandra)
Flower: The Xtabentun flower, a white flower that grows wild among agave plants
Creatures: Quetzals and other tropical birds, snakes, jungle insects

Offerings: Flowers; decorate her altar like a jungle bower of love; Mexican Xtabentun liqueur created from Xtabentun flower
honey

See also: Atabey; Diablesse; Gran Bois; Ix Tab; Mayahuel; Xochiquetzal