Aztec Sacred Space and Tools

So, you want to worship the Aztec gods. You've studied the basics of Aztec religion, have a good idea what it's all about and what deity or deities you're most interested in revering. How do you get started with your religious practice?

The first thing to do is create an altar. This might sound like an elaborate thing, but trust me, it doesn't have to be. When I was first called to Tezcatlipoca, my altar was simply a small picture of Tezcatlipoca in a frame, a candle and an incense burner placed on top of my CD rack. That was all I could afford at the time and all that I had room for, and I didn't know much at the time. It's okay to start small and basic, and it's okay to stay small and basic if that's all you can manage. The gods don't want you to go broke trying to worship them. You can, however, get as elaborate as you want to. I now have an entire spare room I use as a temple, and I've been lucky enough to find some reproductions of Aztec artifacts that I can use in ritual. For years, though, my tecpatl was a crappy $15 dagger that was probably more like a letter opener than a real weapon, my incense burner was a generic clay bowl from a pagan store, and my smoking mirror was a little mirror I had bought and smeared with ritual ashes. Did this look anything like an ancient Aztec altar? No. But it did the trick.

Keep in mind that reconstructionism is not about doing a religious version of the SCA. We're going for the worldview and ritual structure of Precolumbian Mesoamerica. That doesn't mean that you have to look like you just stepped into a 16th century temple everytime you do a ritual. As cool as the idea may be, it's simply not possible. We're bringing old Aztec religion into the modern day, so we have to make due with what we have. I feel that the place that it really counts is how you believe and how you do, not how much "cool stuff" you have. Not that there's anything wrong with cool stuff - I love cool stuff - but that's not what religion is about. When we use traditional materials and images in reconstructionist practice, it's because we believe that those materials and those images are inherently sacred and powerful, not because we think they make us look cool, or because we wish we could travel back in time.

Keep in mind that after the conquest, in order to continue their worship, the people had make due with what they had and what they could get away with. We're in a similar situation now, though luckily a lot better off in that we're not going to be slaughtered if we're caught practicing this religion. We still have to make due with what's available to us.

That said, I'm going to go on to mention a point that might seem conflicting, but really isn't. Invoking the imagery of Mesoamerica is important (as we shall see later on), but this is about bringing the presence of the gods to our sacred space rather than collecting neat trinkets. Invoking the imagery of Mesoamerica isn't difficult and doesn't have to take space or money. Chances are if you are reading this website, you have access to at least one method (a printer). If you can draw or sculpt at all, or even get a library book and are capable of tracing, you can make your own sacred images. If for whatever reason that is not even an option for you, you can still find small things - a piece of jade, a marigold flower, etc - that have traditional attributes. This brings up a point that is important to many reconstructionist approaches: things that were sacred or meaningful traditionally continue to be sacred and meaningful. They are sacred because they are sacred, powerful because they simply are powerful, and not just because people believed them to be so. If you can use materials that have traditional meaning, then by all means do so. Often, this means being less flashy than you would otherwise be. It might be easy to find the cool (or cheesy, more likely) "Sacrificial Aztec Dagger" on eBay that allegedly tore the heart from many a victim, until you realize that it's made out of aluminum, and you're better off with a simplistic looking little knife made out of obsidian or flint. Why? Because the stone itself contains power and is traditionally sacred.

In the end, there needs to be a balance between form and function, and some ritual implements rely more on one aspect than the other. To use the tecpatl example once again, obsidian was prized as a material for making sacrificial knives partially due to the incredible sharpness that could be achieved using obsidian. However, obsidian in general was considered a sacred and symbolic material that was considered to have inherent supernatural properties. While some of the symbology attributed to obsidian probably stemmed from its use for making knives, there was also a great deal of independent symbology attributed to obsidian. Flint had its own properties, and it is likely that the supernatural attributes of flint versus obsidian influenced which kind of knife material was used in certain rituals. Since none of us are actually going to be using a tecpatl to sacrifice a person, looking at using a traditional material for its supernatural properties is probably more important for religious functionality than looking at what material out of those modernly available would be the sharpest and sturdiest. Similarly, the opposite might be true for another ritual tool such as a bloodletting perferator. While traditionally, agave spines were the most commonly used tools for Aztec autosacrifice, and while agave did have religious symbology attached to it, the evidence suggests that agave spines were used so often simply because they were functional and available in abundance in central Mexico. In other Mesoamerican cultures, other objects were used for bloodletting, once again seeming to be based on what was readily available (stingray spines being commonly used in cultures with easy access to the coast, for example). Agave spines came to be symbolic of autosacrifice in Aztec culture, as did stingray spines among the Maya, but in this case it seems that the symbology was attached to the common function these objects had within each culture, and that function seemed to be assigned based on availability. In addition, highly decorative objects shaped like bloodletting perferators have been found throughout Mesoamerica, often made out of valuable, supernaturally powerful materials such as jade. These objects were not functional and were almost certainly used as offerings in and of themselves, and the materials used were rarely materials that would have been used for making functional perferators. Evidence of this philosophy can continue to be seen in indigenous Mesoamerican cultures in the modern era - for example, some modern Maya use broken glass bottles for autosacrifice, not because the glass is sacred, but because it's readily available. In essence, while there may be some exceptions it would appear that the important thing about regular, "maintenance" autosacrifice was the resulting offering of blood, rather than the specifics of the tool that delivered it. So, in that case, a functional, readily available modern substitute may make more sense to use within the Aztec worldview than a more traditional tool. This is the line we must walk as reconstructionists, and something that a good recon must become adept at discerning. When choosing any ritual tool, look at what is religiously functional - sometimes the function of the object may be directly related to imagery and supernatural properties, in other cases the function of the object may be directly related to practicality. Look at how and why the Aztecs used a certain tool or material to answer these questions. As I go through the list of suggested tools and religious objects, I'll offer the answers I have found most workable in my own practice, but as always, this is simply my experience.

Suggested Altar Setup

Ixiptla (Images): The first and arguably most important part of an Aztec altar would be the image of the deity (or deities) being venerated. The inner sanctuary of each temple held a large and elaborate statue of the deity honored at the temple, and the walls were painted with murals and symbols of the gods. Household altars often had several small representations of deities, for the patrons of each member of the household as well as for Chantico, the goddess of the home. As the gods were believed to manifest within these images to observe and communicate with their devotees, and such images were the focal point of worship, this is vital. If you can only have one thing on your altar, it should be a deity image. What can you use for an image, since it's pretty difficult to find statues of the Aztec gods? Well, if you're artistic, you can make your own, either through drawing, sculpting, or whatever you're good at. If you're not artistic, you can find traditional codex images of many of the gods from on the internet, print a small one out on your printer or have a large one done at a print shop depending on your needs. You can improvise - I use a wood carving of a jaguar that I found at a shop to represent Tepeyollotl. It doesn't have to be elaborate or look like it was excavated from an archaeological dig yesterday.

Altar Fire: Temple fires were another thing you would find in every temple. A temple fire was literally a live fire kept in a large stone basin inside the temple. These fires burned continuously for 52 years at a time, being extinguished only during the New Fire Ceremony. When the new fire was created, the temple flames were the first to be reignited. This is one of those things that, as largely isolated devotees worshipping in small spaces, we can't recreate very accurately. At this point, we don't have temples with priests who can attend the fires 24/7, it wouldn't be safe for us to leave unattended fires burning in our homes, and even if we could, how many of us can fit a huge stone basin with a fire in it in our spare bedroom? Instead, I find a small source of fire (or multiple sources, depending on your setup) that can bit lit during devotions and rituals does the trick. The fire was symbolic of the central fire of the universe, and it is this that we are recreating on our altars. It's the presence of the fire, not the vessel that holds it, that is the most important thing. In my experience, anything that can sustain a flame will do. Candles, oil lamps, torches (if you are outside or in an otherwise appropriate place), etc. Candles and oil lamps weren't used in Mesoamerica, and if you use candles please - PLEASE - do not let it descend into the popular "candle magick" realm. The important thing is the fire, not the candle.

Incense Burner and Incense: If possible, you should use an incense burner designed for using charcoal tablets. These are usually bowl shaped, and in most cases should be filled half way with sand. Once lit, a charcoal tablet is placed on the sand, and resin incense is placed on the tablet. The sand serves to insulate the whole thing, but some burners can still get hot on the bottom, so you might want to place something heat resistant underneath it (I keep both my incense burner and my cuauhxicalli on a large stone slab). Another method of offering resin incense that I have not tried yet myself, but have heard good things about, is to use an incense stove. Cehualli has a good overview of how to create and use your own on her blog. Copal is preferrable, as it is the traditional incense of Mesoamerica, and is actually rather easy to find at most occult shops and on the internet. Copal comes in several varieties, and each variety does smell different. I will warn you that resin incense can produce a LOT of smoke, putting stick and cone incense to shame. It is advisable to open your window or otherwise provide a lot of ventilation for this. Also, if you are in an environment where creating a lot of smoke would be a bad idea (a hotel room, your in-laws house, etc), you might want to temporarily make due with stick or cone incense of an applicable variety (Botanical Creations and the increasingly difficult to find Fred Solls are two incense companies I've found that make copal incense sticks that really do smell like copal).

Sacrificial Vessel (Cuauhxicalli): Temples held sacricial vessels, commonly called cuauhxicalli (eagle vessels). Despite the name, these vessels could be carved to look like anything or depict any sacred imagery. The cuauhxicalli was used to recieve sacrificial offerings. Since offerings were made on a larger scale, these vessels were quite large. Smaller vessels, usually jadestone bowls, were used to bring hearts from the sacrificial stone to the cuauhxicalli (the cuauhxicalli was usually inside the temple while the sacrificial stone was on the platform outside). Small bowls were also often used during rituals of autosacrifice. Your sacrificial vessel can be pretty much anything that is bowl-like and can withstand heat and flame. I find that a second incense burner fit for burning charcoal incense works well. Depending on the kind of vessel you use, you might have to put a tile or similar underneath it to prevent burning your altar.

Tecpatl (Sacrificial Knife): The tecpatl was traditionally made of obsidian or (occassionally) flint, and was the knife of sacrifice. I cannot stress enough that the tecpatl is not going to be used as the equivalent of a Wiccan athame, even though you are not going to be cutting out your neighbor's heart with it. Not only that, but it is doubtful that it will be used even as the literal means of autosacrifice (for a few reasons we'll get into later). So, what kind of knife should you use as a tecpatl? In my experience, the most important factor is actually that the blade is double edged and relatively symmetrical. A tecpatl should invoke the image of being capable of cutting to the heart of anything, regardless of the actual sharpness of the blade (though I am of the opinion that sharp is GOOD, assuming you are responsible and intelligent enough to be worthy of the Aztec gods anyway). The Aztecs value symmetry, and you won't see a surviving sacrificial knife that does not have a blade that's about as symmetrical as you can get from chipping stone. Should you try to get an obsidian blade? Yes, if you can find one that meets your needs. I spent months looking for one before I was lucky enough to find one that met my needs. It's actually relatively easy to find obsidian knives (try eBay), but I find there are two major problems I ran into a lot. It seems that if you find an obsidian blade that is actually attached to a handle, the handle is almost inevitably made out of a deer antler. While that might be appealing for some people and some purposes, it doesn't exactly say "Aztec sacrificial knife" to me. The second problem is that you find a lot of non-symmetrical, single edged obsidian knives out there. On the plus side, it's relatively easy to find blades that do not have handles, so if you find an appropriate blade and are handy at all, you can make your own handle for the blade and avoid the whole "mountain man bear-skinning knife" look. Since obsidian was a very sacred material to the Aztecs, I find that it really adds something if your tecpatl can be made of this traditional material (or flint - I am biased due to my patron, but those with solar-oriented deities may prefer flint). Other knives can work just fine, however, and I recommend that you get a knife that appeals to you if you can't find a suitable knife made out of a traditional material. I used a black steel military knife for years until I was able to find a suitable obsidian one.

Bloodletting Device(s): There is one thing that all Aztec practitioners seem to agree on - the importance of autosacrifice. Autosacrifice is inseperable from respectful worship of the Aztec gods. In most cases, whatever tool you use is going to be a one-time use tool, so you'll probably want to have several available. The good news is, most of what makes sense to use is also cheap. While stingray spines, obsidian or bone perferators and various other sharp objects were used throughout Mesoamerica for autsacrifice, the Aztecs primarily used agave spines for for this purpose, because they were readily available in abundance in central Mexico. Traditionally, these spines would be stored by being "poked" into balls of grass. The modern, readily available alternative that most Aztec recons have taken to using are diabetic lancets used in appropriate lancing devices, which are sterile, and readily available at most pharmacies. Sterile, disposable surgical scalpels are also another alternative, which can be bought online in boxes of several. If you're in the mood for something more traditional, there are a few options. If you live in the southwest US or Mexico, you may actually have ready access to agave spines (while not native to the southwestern states, they are commonly grown as garden plants in warm, dry climates) - the spine used was the long thorn on the end of the leaf. I can vouch that these thorns are naturally needle sharp, and having had my own agave once, I actually managed to poke myself to bleeding accidentally several times simply through mundane acts of husbandry. Another option which a collegue of mine made me aware of is that obsidian needles can often be found on ebay and in some online shops, apparently for making windchimes. These "needles" aren't sharp, but could be sharped at home if you have the skill. Of course, I have to add here that if you do choose to use any natural material for bloodletting purposes, take extra precautions regarding cleanliness, as these materials certainly aren't sterile. Personally, I find modern implements more functional for regular sacrifices, and use objects like agave spines only for "special occassions" in which the perferator itself becomes part of the offering rather than simply a tool.

Momoztli: Momoztli is sometimes translated as "altar" itself, but a momoztli was more along the lines of a seat for a deity. Some scholars have suggested that the pyramids themselves were intended to be huge momoztli raising up the actual temples to the gods, and there is a great deal of symbolism apparent in some artifacts of small idols seated at the top of momoztli shaped like miniature pyramids. The term momoztli was also used for the stone "benches" or shrines placed at crossroads for Tezcatlipoca. While it seems like the term was used in various ways, in all these cases, the idea of offering deities a raised resting place seemed quite important in Aztec thought. The method I have used to represent this on a smaller scale is to place a slab on top of my altar - it's rectangular and made out of some kind of stone/cement concoction, and was originally intended as a stepping stone or paving stone at a gardening store. On one side of this slab I've placed my incense burner, on the other my cuaxicalli, and in the middle I have placed a tile (I happened to find one with a skull and crossbones motif, which is one of Tezcatlipoca's symbols), which offers a further raised surface for my idol of Tezcatlipoca.