Adventures in Anahuac (Deity Work Journal)

[Virago]

Since there is so little information on doing deity work with the Aztec pantheon on this website and on the internet in general, I decided to start this journal to document my relationship with them, and maybe it will help somebody else who is going down the same path but doesn’t know how to get started. I’m also considering the Mayan pantheon further down the line. Since I have such rotten luck with evoking and invoking spirits (and information on this particular pantheon is scarce) I’ve decided to start by venerating the deities I resonate with the most and hopefully that way I can get their attention. I’ve chosen to worship Itzpapalotl and Coatlicue for the time being and leave myself open to any other Aztec deities who choose to reach out to me.

I drew some cards on how to deepen my connection to my deities and received this spread:

I see the Empress as quite fitting since Itzpapalotl and Coatlicue both have strong mother aspects. I take this as a sign that I should look up to them as mother figures, or even tap into my own mother archetype and be more nurturing towards the people around me. I think the rest of the spread means that I should be prepared to share my good fortune with them, as there will be no confusion if it was due to them setting the wheel in motion for me or just pure luck.

Yesterday night while having a conversation with Itzpapalotl using my tarot deck, I pulled the Four of Wands for how she sees me. It’s funny because the night before I also pulled the Four of Wands in a spread for how the Aztec pantheon in general sees me, cards below:

I think it means that they accept me with open arms and see me as a good person at heart. I’m also a mestiza so it could mean that they’re excited that I’m finally reuniting with the religion of my ancestors. That combined with the reversed Ace of Wands could mean that they’re happy that I finally took the wand they were offering me. I’ve always been fascinated with Ancient Mexico since I was a kid, so maybe they’ve been reaching out to me all along and I just didn’t see it. It also could mean that I’m “missing a wand” and lacking some stability, the reversed Queen of Pentacles confirms that too.

Today I also gave Quetzalcoatl a small candle offering with herbs corresponding to wisdom and mental clarity for help getting through my mountains of homework this week. I also gave him some copal incense, a good all-around offering that pretty much every Aztec deity will accept. I put it on my altar for Coatlicue as I have limited space right now.

[Virago]

I wanted to take a moment to post my humble altars. I used a Virgin Mary candle to symbolize Coatlicue since it’s what I had on hand, and a lot of modern day Mexicans syncretize Tonantzin (a title for the maternal aspect of any Aztec goddess) with La Virgen de Guadalupe. In the mythology, Coatlicue also conceives Huitzilopochtli through a ball of feathers.

For Itzpapalotl’s altar I bought a black candle and stuck a picture of a black butterfly on it. My main offerings to them have been copal, but I’ve also heard that cacao, corn, and liquor like tequila and mezcal are good starter offerings to Aztec deities. Hell I even drank a Mexican beer in Itzpapalotl’s honor the other day.

Today I lit Coatlicue’s candle and gave her some copal incense, then I asked for a general message:

What message does she have for me?
Knight of Swords reversed clarified by Eight of Cups
I’m a bit confused by the reversed KoS, but maybe this a sign that I need to focus my attention on moving on from the past instead of being in a scattered state, in-between state. She may think I’m simply not doing my best at transitioning into the future, or maybe I’m being a bit too impetuous and for things to move forward I need to be more stable.

What lesson do I need to learn?
The Emperor clarified by Queen of Wands reversed
This could hearken back to the previous cards, that I need to transition into being in a more stable and disciplined state, possibly even before our connection can deepen. I’m still healing from my previous run in with some impostor spirits (more on that below,) so she may want me to fully move on from that experience.

What advice does she have for me?
The World clarified by The Hanged Man reversed
More confirmation that I’m just stalling and that I need to bring everything full circle, and I have the power to bring things into my control and close out the past. This could also be a message that she’s going to help me with this, and that I don’t need to worry about much other than continuing to work on myself while my problems fade into the background.

I was curious so I decided to pull some cards about the impostor spirits and parasites that have been following me since last year. I asked Itzpapalotl and Coatlicue to guide me to the right cards:

Who are they?
Ace of Wands reversed and King of Swords reversed
What is my past connection to them?
The Star and Four of Wands

So the most important information I’ve gleamed from this is that they were mostly just spirits who came pouring in when I decided to work on my psychic abilities. The reversed Ace of Wands tempts me to say that they were just random spirits, and for the most part that could have been the case, however the severity of what happened to me makes it seem like it was something personal. The King Paimon impostor did tell me that he knew me before I reincarnated which is mostly why I decided to ask these questions, and he could have been lying about that, but the Four of Wands does hint at a sort of reunion. The King of Swords reversed could also hint at some long-standing resentment. These are spirits I could have angered in past lives or even on the spiritual plane. I do believe in the Buddhist interpretation of karma so I know my life is difficult now because I haven’t always been a good person. One other thing that stands out to me is that the impostor spirits were always trying to get me to scry so I could see what I did in a past life. Even now they still try to urge me to do this. The other night in a dream they told me that I need to open my eyes so I could learn how to scry.

Another thing that randomly came to mind when I flipped over that last two cards was my ancestors. A few of them could have been trying to punish me for how I treated my mother in the past and the things I did to people in general. In any case, the dreams have become less frequent ever since I started focusing on my life and stopped giving the spirits attention. I think the number one way to combat these types of spirits is to not be a vessel for them to feed off of. The more attention you give them, the more energy they have to go off of. However, I can tell they are very apprehensive about me connecting to a higher power, as they tend to go a bit crazy with the dreams every time I’ve tried to reach out to a deity. I’ve decided not to ask Itzpapalotl and Coatlicue for protection until our connection deepens and instead I’m listening to the mantra of the Buddhist deity Sitatapatra. The first time I listened to it with my eyes closed I saw a vision of the face of a woman, so that is an auspicious omen.

[Virago]

I’m a bit eager to converse with my deities, but since I don’t think it’s safe yet to start working on my psychic senses I decided to try some fire scrying last night with Itzpapalotl’s candle, and I asked for her help. I did see some vague images and shapes like a shark, a tulip, a rose, and two figures embracing or holding hands. When I went to give her some copal incense as a thank you for her help, the flame itself took on the shape of a heart. Then I peered into the fire again and saw the shape of a snake.

Coatlicue.

The snake then morphed into a venus fly trap, and then a tortoise shell. I ended the session with the shape of two pineapples. I’m assuming they want this for an offering. I think I will use fire scrying as my principal way to communicate with my deities now.

I pulled one card each for what aspects of my deities I should connect with and got Nine of Cups for Itzpapalotl. Ask and you shall receive. While I may be tempted to petition Itzpapalotl for protection, I pulled some lenormand cards on it and get a definite no, you shouldn’t do this. I’ll decide instead to keep asking her help with other things like with my divination practices. For Coatlicue I got the Five of Wands reversed. She may be willing to help me find peace after the shitshow I experienced last year. That combined with the tortoise shell and the venus fly trap I saw earlier may mean that she’s straight up offering me her protection against parasitic entities. I don’t want to assume, so I’ll just say thank you if that’s the case and leave it at that.

Out of curiosity I asked what spiritual path they had in mind for me and got the Five of Cups, Four of Swords reversed, and Four of Wands reversed. Damn. First of all, I’m getting the general gist that “it’s up to you” but they are going to make damn sure that I shed whatever isn’t conducive to my spiritual path. It’s going to hurt a lot to lose out on everything I’ve cultivated an attachment to and be left out of other spiritual communities that aren’t for my highest good, but necessary for my healing process at the end of the day.

I wish I had posted the above last night before I went to sleep. I had a nightmare à la the parasites but now I’m rethinking the involvement of the Goetic Kings again. In the dream I tried invoking Itzpapalotl and Coatlicue which seemed to have worked (but I chanted the wrong name for Itzpapalotl at first.) The harder I tried the more I changed from being a passive participant to an active participant of the dream. I was able to take back some control of the dream and fight back against the entities invading (and one of them confirmed that at least some of them were fae.) I started to devour and consume their energy. There was a period of time when my claircognizance came in strong and I was able to surmise some bits of information with a feeling of assurance. I’m not sure if the gnosis I received is true, but since it could be controversial to some of the LHP magicians that work with demons on this forum I’ll just keep my mouth closed. All I’ll say is that I think that King Asmoday not only allowed it to happen to me, but sponsored it.

I think I also received a clairaudient message from Itzpapalotl. For some reason during the dream I asked the question what is your name, and I heard a female voice respond “My name is Justice.” I have read that she is associated with justice. I think the venus fly trap and the dream itself mean that they aren’t going to necessarily protect me, but more so give me the tools for me to protect myself. I’m fine either way.

[Virago]

Small update. The Venus fly trap and the dream I had last night just gave me the idea to turn my energy body into a black hole so I can consume any unwanted entities who overstep boundaries with me. If anybody has any helpful guides or tutorials on psychic vampirism I would appreciate it, otherwise I’ll start my own research.

EDIT: You can’t take on this task without first putting up some energy filters. I took the clear quartz that was on Coatlicue’s altar, drew my personal sigil on a blank sheet of paper, folded it toward me so that any energy filtered through is sent directly to me, and put it back on her altar. It stays in my bedroom so it can do its work while I sleep.

[Virago]

I found this in my research:

“The Aztecs believed labor was a fight between a woman and the gods who sent down the soul of a child from heaven. If the woman won the battle then the reward was a newborn child but if the woman lost, the labor ended in her death.
Since childbirth was equivalent to battle, any woman who died during labor was treated as a warrior who perished during war. Her body was guarded as it was believed the process of the soul leaving the body infused it with special magical properties.
Once the soul reached the underworld it transformed into a Cihuateteo, a type of demonic vampiric demi-god who were servants to the moon gods, Tezcatlipoca and Tlazolteotl.”

I could ask Lord Tez to initiate me into the vampiric path, however upon doing more research into the Cihuateteo, not every source describes them as vampiric, so I may be looking in the wrong place. I’ll also need to do more divination into this to see if my deities think this is what I should do, or scrap the idea.

Tried fire scrying but all I saw was a whale, so I switched to cards.
Eight of Pentacles, Ace of Swords, Magician reversed
They want me to develop this skill, but they don’t want me to misuse it. Fair enough because I was planning on putting some protections up to prevent myself from draining the people I see day to day. I think parasites are fair game though.

Had a conversation with someone and he pointed out that even though I’ve been putting up wards for my dreams and my space, I’ve been neglecting to set up wards to protect myself, essentially leaving my backdoor open. I’m going to do regular cleansings and cord cutting rituals to sever the connection between me and the entities, and listen to the 100 syllable Vajrasattva mantra to clear out any remaining karmic connections.

[Virago]

I got drunk and did a justice working with Itzpapalotl and Coatlicue. I lit their candles, placed the Justice tarot card on their altars, and recited Psalm 9 three times while holding them in my thoughts. As I spoke the words, my understanding of the psalm seemed to open up.

I had another nightmare afterwards and this time I didn’t think to invoke them. I was, however, able to fly away from situations that made me uncomfortable. At one point as I was flying into the sky I heard the words “they are watching Inanna.” Not sure who “they” are or what that means.

Every time after getting a nightmare I’m left with the impression that it can’t just be parasites, it has to be the Goetic kings themselves or their legions messing with me. I don’t know what to think.

Decided to do some divination on this and ask my deities to reveal the truth to me. I got a weird message so I decided to get a second opinion. The reader told me that the spirits want to be a part of my path and chose me as their vessel. That would explain why when I read on it, it seemed like there was a genuine sense of rejection at me pulling away from them, but I’m really not sure what they expect. They already made their beds when they did what they did to me.