The Aztec Gateway

My spiritual path, as I am sure is clear from the rest of this site, is to follow the Aztec religion as faithfully as can be done in the modern day. I am a "pagan" in the literal sense of the word, in that I believe in multiple gods and do not follow a Judeo-Christian religion. I am not, however, a Wiccan or other Neopagan who has grafted a Mesoamerican façade upon my religion. While I have some Wiccan and Neopagan friends, and I respect their ways, my ways are not their ways. I consider myself a practitioner of an ancient native religion who, through necessity, keeps social ties with certain alternative spiritual communities. Social ties, however, do not implicate spiritual similarity.

My goal is to reawaken the Aztec religion as close to the original ways as possible in accordance with modern day laws, and while making necessary allowances for what is available and unavailable to me. I do not believe in combining these ancient practices with the practices of other religions, New Age thinking, or anything else. To me, this ancient religion is valid in its own right and extremely precious, and I would not endanger it with possible corruption. It is too rare a thing which has suffered too many hardships for me to believe in diluting it with alterations. Nor would I want to, for in my heart and soul, nothing calls to me as this path does.

Of course, the society and the laws have changed, making certain practices impossible or illegal. I will state flatly that I do not practice human sacrifice. However, despite being impossible here and now, I do believe that in the appropriate contexts it is a spiritually valid practice, and thusly I will not engage in the common practice of patronizing my ancestors for their faults against modern Western viewpoints while praising them as possessors of great wisdom when their viewpoints are reconcilable with what is "right" according to modern America. I simply do not engage in the elevation of the Western viewpoint to ultimate truth.

The very fact that there are few other devotees of this path, and fewer still that I have direct access too, makes things difficult. Many of these traditions I must practice alone, as I have no current opportunity to celebrate festivals and hold rituals on the large scale that once was done. I do hold hope, however, that this may change at some point.