Nagualism: a Study in Native American Folk-Lore and History

Part 1

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Transcriber’s Note:

A number of typographical errors and inconsistencies have been maintained in this version of this book. Typographical errors have been marked with a [TN-#], which refers to a description in the complete list found at the end of the text. A list of words that have been inconsistently spelled or hyphenated is found at the end of the present text.

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† Dagger ‡ Double dagger œ oe ligature ū u with macron ō o with macron ‖ double vertical lines

NAGUALISM.

A STUDY

Native American Folk-lore and History.

DANIEL G. BRINTON, A.M., M.D., LL.D., D.Sc.,

Professor of American Archæology and Linguistics in the University of Pennsylvania.

PHILADELPHIA: MACCALLA & COMPANY, PRINTERS, 237-9 DOCK STREET. 1894

Nagualism. A Study in Native American Folk-lore and History.

By Daniel G. Brinton, M.D.

(Read before the American Philosophical Society, Jan’y 5, 1894.)

CONTENTS.

1. The words Nagual, Nagualism, Nagualist. 2. The Earliest Reference to Nagualism. 3. The Naualli of the Aztecs; their Classes and Pretended Powers. 4. The Sacred Intoxicants; the Peyotl, the Ololiuhqui, the Teopatli, the Yax Ha, etc. 5. Clairvoyance and Telepathy during Intoxication. 6. The Naualli of Modern Mexico. 7. The Tonal and the Tonalpouhque; the Genethliac System of the Nahuas. 8. The Aztec Sodality of “Master Magicians.” 9. The Personal Guardian Spirit.

10. Folk-lore of the Mixe Indians. 11. Astrological Divination of the Zapotecs. 12. Similar Arts of the Mixtecs. 13. Nagualism in Chiapas, as Described by Bishop Nuñez de la Vega. 14. Nagualism Among the Quiches, Cakchiquels and Pokonchis of Guatemala. 15. The Metamorphoses of Gukumatz. 16. Modern Witchcraft in Yucatan and Central America; the Zahoris and Padrinos.

17. Fundamental Principles of Nagualism, Hatred of the Whites and of Christianity. 18. Its Organization and Extent; its Priesthood. 19. Its Influence in the Native Revolts against the Spanish Power. 20. Exalted Position of Woman in Nagualism. 21. This a Survival from Ancient Times. 22. A Native Joan of Arc. 23. Modern Queens of Nagualism.

24. The Cave-temples and the Cave-gods; Oztoteotl, Tepeyollotl, Votan, etc. 25. The Sacred Numbers, 3 and 7. 26. Fire Worship of the Nagualists. 27. Fire Rights Connected with the Pulque. 28. Fire Ceremonies of the Modern Mayas. 29. Secret Significance of Fire Worship. 30. The Chalchiuites, or Sacred Green Stones. 31. The Sacred Tree and the Tree of Life. 32. The Cross and its Symbolic Meaning. 33. The Lascivious Rites of the Nagualists. 34. Their Relation to the Symbols of the Serpent and the Phallus.

35. Confusion of Christian and Native Religious Ideas; Prayers of Nagual Priests. Their Symbolic Language. 36. The Inquisition and Nagualism. 37. Etymology of the Word Nagual. 38. The Root Na in the Maya, Zapotec and Nahuatl Languages. 39. The Doctrine of Animal Transformation in the Old World. 40. The Doctrine of Personal Spirits in the Old World. 41. Scientific Explanations of Nagual Magic. 42. Conclusion.

REPRINTED FEB. 23, 1894, FROM PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC., VOL. XXXIII.

=1.= The words, a nagual, nagualism, a nagualist, have been current in English prose for more than seventy years; they are found during that time in a variety of books published in England and the United States,[4-*] yet are not to be discovered in any dictionary of the English language; nor has Nagualism a place in any of the numerous encyclopædias or “Conversation Lexicons,” in English, French, German or Spanish.

This is not owing to its lack of importance, since for two hundred years past, as I shall show, it has been recognized as a cult, no less powerful than mysterious, which united many and diverse tribes of Mexico and Central America into organized opposition against the government and the religion which had been introduced from Europe; whose members had acquired and were bound together by strange faculties and an occult learning, which placed them on a par with the famed thaumaturgists and theodidacts of the Old World; and which preserved even into our own days the thoughts and forms of a long suppressed ritual.

In several previous publications I have referred briefly to this secret sodality and its aims,[4-†] and now believe it worth while to collect my scattered notes and present all that I have found of value about the origin, aims and significance of this Eleusinian Mystery of America. I shall trace its geographical extension and endeavor to discover what its secret influence really was and is.

=2.= The earliest description I find of its particular rites is that which the historian Herrera gives, as they prevailed in 1530, in the province of Cerquin, in the mountainous parts of Honduras. It is as follows:

“The Devil was accustomed to deceive these natives by appearing to them in the form of a lion, tiger, coyote, lizard, snake, bird, or other animal. To these appearances they apply the name Naguales, which is as much as to say, guardians or companions; and when such an animal dies, so does the Indian to whom it was assigned. The way such an alliance was formed was thus: The Indian repaired to some very retired spot and there appealed to the streams, rocks and trees around him, and weeping, implored for himself the favors they had conferred on his ancestors. He then sacrificed a dog or a fowl, and drew blood from his tongue, or his ears, or other parts of his body, and turned to sleep. Either in his dreams or half awake, he would see some one of those animals or birds above mentioned, who would say to him, ‘On such a day go hunting and the first animal or bird you see will be my form, and I shall remain your companion and Nagual for all time.’ Thus their friendship became so close that when one died so did the other; and without such a Nagual the natives believe no one can become rich or powerful.”[5-*]

This province of Cerquin appears to have been peopled by a tribe which belonged to the great Mayan stock, akin to those which occupied most of the area of what is now Yucatan, Tabasco, Chiapas and Guatemala.[5-†] I shall say something later about the legendary enchantress whom their traditions recalled as the teacher of their ancestors and the founder of their nation. What I would now call attention to is the fact that in none of the dialects of the specifically Mexican or Aztecan stock of languages do we find the word nagual in the sense in which it is employed in the above extract, and this is strong evidence that the origin of Nagualism is not to be sought in that stock.

=3.= We do find, however, in the Nahuatl language, which is the proper name of the Aztecan, a number of derivatives from the same root, na, among them this very word, Nahuatl, all of them containing the idea “to know,” or “knowledge.” The early missionaries to New Spain often speak of the naualli (plural, nanahualtin), masters of mystic knowledge, dealers in the black art, wizards or sorcerers. They were not always evil-minded persons, though they seem to have been generally feared. The earliest source of information about them is Father Sahagun, who, in his invaluable History, has the following paragraph:

Part 2

“The naualli, or magician, is he who frightens men and sucks the blood of children during the night. He is well skilled in the practice of this trade, he knows all the arts of sorcery (nauallotl) and employs them with cunning and ability; but for the benefit of men only, not for their injury. Those who have recourse to such arts for evil intents injure the bodies of their victims, cause them to lose their reason and smother them. These are wicked men and necromancers.”[6-*]

It is evident on examining the later works of the Roman clergy in Mexico that the Church did not look with any such lenient eye on the possibly harmless, or even beneficial, exercise of these magical devices. We find a further explanation of what they were, preserved in a work of instruction to confessors, published by Father Juan Bautista, at Mexico, in the year 1600.

“There are magicians who call themselves teciuhtlazque,[6-†] and also by the term nanahualtin, who conjure the clouds when there is danger of hail, so that the crops may not be injured. They can also make a stick look like a serpent, a mat like a centipede, a piece of stone like a scorpion, and similar deceptions. Others of these nanahualtin will transform themselves to all appearances (segun la aparencia), into a tiger, a dog or a weasel. Others again will take the form of an owl, a cock, or a weasel; and when one is preparing to seize them, they will appear now as a cock, now as an owl, and again as a weasel. These call themselves nanahualtin.”[6-‡]

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