Tlazoteotl
| Tlazoteotl | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ear of corn | ||
| Aliases | Goddess of the Earth | |
| Alignment | True Neutral | |
| Divine Rank | Intermediate Goddess | |
| Pantheon | Aztec, Oerth (Olman) | |
| Portfolio | Agriculture, Earth Mother, Nature | |
| Domains | Animal, Community, Earth, Plant, Water | |
| Home Plane | Prime Material | |
| Worshippers | Farmers | |
| Favoured Weapon | Sickle | |
Tlazoteotl, is a deity of vice, purification, steam baths, lust, filth, and a patroness of adulterers. She is known by three names, Tlahēlcuāni ("she who eats tlahēlli or filthy excrescence [sin]") and Tlazōlmiquiztli ("the death caused by lust"), and Ixcuina or Ixcuinan (Ix Cuinim, Deity of Cotton). Under the name of Ixcuinan she was thought to be quadrupartite, composed of four sisters of different ages known by the names Tiyacapan (the first born), Tēicuih (the younger sister, also Tēiuc), Tlahco (the middle sister, also Tlahcoyēhua) and Xōcotzin (the youngest sister). When conceived of as four individual deities, they were called ixcuinammeh or tlazōltēteoh; individually, they were deities of luxury.
Tlazōlteōtl is the deity for the 13th trecena of the sacred 260-day calendar Tōnalpōhualli, the one beginning with the day Ce Ōllin, or First Movement. She is associated with the day sign of the jaguar. Tlazolteotl may have originally been a Huaxtec deity, who would have been assimilated into the Aztec pantheon.
Historical Rites and rituals[edit | edit source]
It is said that when a man confessed before Tlazolteotl everything was revealed. Purification with Tlazolteotl would be done through a priest. One could only receive the "mercy" once in their life which is why the practice was most common among the elderly.
The priest (tlapouhqui) would be consulted by the penitent and would consult the 260-day ritual calendar (tonalpohualli) to determine the best day and time for the purification to take place. On the day of, he would listen to the sins confessed and then render judgment and penance, ranging from fasts to presentation of offerings and ritual song and dance, depending on the nature and the severity of the sin.
Historical Mythology[edit | edit source]
For the Aztecs there were two main deities thought to preside over purification: Tezcatlipoca, because he was thought to be invisible and omnipresent, therefore seeing everything; and Tlazolteotl, the deity of lechery and unlawful love.