BlackHat as Aztec Gods

BlackHat como dioses Aztecas

Tezcatlipoca

Xipe Totec

Huitzilopochtli

Quetzalcoatl

Mictlantecuhtli

Tlaloc

Enjoy!!!

Disfruten!!!

These are some details of my painting of Tlaltecuhtli, Earth Lady.

On either side of Tlaltecuhtli appear two Teteo, Mictlantecuhtli, the Lord of Death, and Tlaloc, Our Lord the Rain.

The land of the dead is under the earth, and the lords of rain live in the hollow mountains. Both are accessed by caves which pierce the earth. The joints, such as elbows and knees, are thought of as openings by which one can enter the body and the solid bones. Therefore, her joints are painted with Tlaloc faces, or, sometimes, with skeletal faces. These represent the caves by which one enters the world of the Teteo of death and rain. They also represent her two poles, of life and death, and of the duality which she incarnates.

At the feet of Mictlantecuhtli are two quail. The white spots on the quail’s feathers symbolize stars, and the quail is a symbol of the night time sky. At the feet of Tlaloc is a rattlesnake. The curving, sinuous body of the snake is like the movement of lightning across the sky, and like the curving of rivers as they wind across the earth. Both animals live in caves in the ground, and therefore are bridges between the dark and mysterious world of the Teteo beneath the earth, and the world of humanity on the earth’s surface.

You can find prints of Tlaltecuhtli in my Etsy store!

Tlaltecuhtli Mother Earth Mexica Aztec Earth Goddess | Etsy México

Our ancestors saw humans not as completely feminine or masculine beings, but as a combination of both qualities.

Every person has a side that is spiritually wet, cold, fertile and dark, and another dry, hot, sterile and luminous side.One of the names of this painting, Cihuaoquichtli, means Man-Woman. This is why it is called Man-Woman Duality as well. It also shows the position of the days of the Sacred Calendar in the human body.

This painting, along with Life-Death Duality, will be on display at my show at Art Bug Gallery! The opening is on Saturday!

The Underworld is a place of cold and darkness, which the spirits of the dead travel in order to be reborn. However, it is also a place of fertility, where new life is created from dead beings. Most of the animals of the Land of the Fleshless are swimming or flying beings, which connect this place with the Earth and act as messengers between the dead and the living.

You can see different animals of the fertile Underworld in my painting The Death in Mictlan of Quetzalcoatl. Click here for prints in my Etsy store!

The skull is the face of Mictlantecuhtli, Lord of Mictlan, ruler of the Land of the Dead. Together with Mictecacihuatl, Lady of the Dead, His role is to receive the spirits after the end of their lives, and cleansing them so they can return to the Earth. The skull is also a seed, a dead element which carries potential life within, and, when buried or “planted”, it sprouts and continues the cycles of the cosmos.

You can find skull necklaces in my Etsy store! Click here!