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Itzpapalotl, Obsidian-Butterfly.
YTZP0P0L4TL
[to Whom the twenty-eighth day of October, day 301, is dedicated]

Geography/Culture: Aztec. Nahua of Mexico, and Chichimecs.
Description: Some say Dragon-like Goddess of the hunt; Old Heroine; Sacrificed Goddess; She Who died in childbed; She Who is associated with the Female Demons of the west, the souls of women who have died in childbirth.
Others say Beautiful Goddess of the soul and death; She Who wears symbols of death tattooed on Her face; She Who once came to earth to pick roses.
And still others that She became Goddess of the melon cactus.
{Note:The concept of an obsidian butterfly causes me to recall the identification of the Cretan double-axe with the image of a butterfly.}
To Whom Sacred: melon-cactus; roses; butterfly (Her wings were tipped with obsidian); jaguar-claws (Her material aspect); obsidian tools (perhaps especially the knife); facial tattoo.

Source: Monaghan BGH 157; NE.GM/190-1, 196.
worked on: October, August, July 1995; August 1991.
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