Itzpapalotl, known as the “Obsidian Butterfly”, is the
dark goddess who had brought fear into the hearts of even the mightiest Aztecs.
Stories were whispered about her and the Tzitzimimeh, how they would viciously
attack people and gain more power during the solar eclipses. Itzpapalotl is also
known to be the ruler over the paradise realm of Tamoanchan, the place where
the first humans were created. While mostly known as a goddess of dangerous
beauty and seduction, there is much more to Itzpapalotl’s story than is
remembered, especially since many of the Aztec documents were destroyed by
Conquistadors. I will share what has been shared with me by the goddess Itzpapalotl,
in order to honor her and bring more understanding. I give credit and gratitude to
scarletarosa for agreeing to help with creating this post and for channeling
Itzpapalotl with me.
History: Itzpapalotl was created in the highest heaven of Tonatiuhichan,
but due to disobedient actions, she fell to the middle heaven of Tlillan-Tlapallan.
While here, Itzpapalotl fell in love with Xochipilli, god of pleasure, dancing,
sex, romance, feasting, and gambling. Xochipilli had a sister who managed to
get everybody’s attention; Xochiquetzal, the goddess of romance, beauty, and sex.
Xochipilli’s two friends, Macuilxochitl and Cinteotl antagonized each other to
gain her graces and love. They soon went to extreme acts to earn her favor. One
day, they stole Tlazolteotl’s veil of mysteries, and it was not a small thing
to forgive. The goddess ran naked, seeking help from Toci, the grandmother goddess
of healing. Toci was angered and sent Tonatiuh, the sun god and heavenly
warrior, to ride with his eagles and punish the thieves, and get the veil back
to Tlazolteotl. But the two friends refused to return their prize, hoping to
use it to seduce Xochiquetzal, and a fight ensued. Tonatiuh killed them both
and brought the veil back to its rightful owner.
Xochipilli was enraged by what Tonatiuh did, since his two friends were not
warriors and so were an easy kill for the sun god. He vowed to avenge them, but
his skills were far from warlike, so Itzpapalotl tried her best to convince him
to back off, though he did not listen. So she gave him her Cloak of
Invisibility that she wove while still in the highest paradise, a Cloak that no
magick could penetrate and no mortal’s eyes could perceive. Even gods had
trouble seeing through it, unless they were creator gods. She donned Xochipilli
and armed him with her dagger, and so he faced Tonatiuh while concealed. When Xochipilli
got close enough, he delivered a strike to Tonatiuh’s chest, killing him. News
of this travelled fast, and the rest of the gods of middle paradise decided
that the kill was sneaky and treacherous and the couple should be punished. So
it came to pass that Xochipilli and Itzpapalotl were expelled from middle
paradise to Tlalocan, the first paradise. This was the realm ruled by Tlaloc,
the god of rain.
Xochipilli
and Itzpapalotl lived happy there for a while, but it was not to last. The flayed-god
Xipe Totec came, he battled and killed Tlaloc after a long struggle, causing Tlalocan
to collapse soon after. Most of those that lived within Tlalocan descended onto
Earth, others to places in the Underworld. At that time, Xochipilli was
elsewhere when Tlaloc died, on the other side of the forest. Massive waves
swept the land, flattening everything, killing thousands as they flooded the
realm. Itzpapalotl had butterfly wings and managed to fly just above the
waterlogged landscape, but Xochipilli wasn’t so lucky. He perished with the
flood, and she never was able to find him again. Heavy with grief, she fell
from the first heaven to Tamoanchan, the underground paradise. During that
struggle and fall, Itzpapalotl lost her faith in happiness. After this, her
wings withered and died, her body soon following after. Xochipilli’s loss was
too grievous for her to bear, and she allowed herself to slowly die.
Yet out of
all the places in Tamoanchan, the place where she crashed upon was the cave of
Cuauhnahuac, where the Creator God Ehecatl made the first man and woman. The
sacred site had regenerative properties that restored her back to life. However,
Itzpapalotl was now a darkened goddess, full of hatred and aggression. Without
anything to restrain her darker side, she unleashed herself to new terrifying
levels of destruction. She ambushed the nearby tribe of Centzonmimixcoa and
slaughtered them, gathering enough blood for the next magick she had planned.
She drew a black sun in the cave, thus absorbing all its powers of regenerating
the blood and draining it.
This
naturally drew forth its two guardians, the cloud-serpents Xiuhnel and Mimich
who transformed themselves into men so as to disguise themselves. To Xiuhnel,
Itzpapalotl said “Drink, Xiuhnel.” Xiuhnel drank the menstrual blood she
offered and then immediately lay down with her. Suddenly, she devoured him,
tore open his chest. Then Mimich ran away but fell into a thorny barrel cactus,
and Itzpaplotl descended upon him. After slaying the two serpents, she became
afflicted with needing blood, and began drinking it from all those she slayed. Itzpapalotl
soon obtained beings who wished to serve her, among these were beautiful star spirits
that fell to join her side. In their darkened state, they became transformed to
look like monstrous, skeletal women, thus becoming known as the Tzitzimimeh.
The gods
sought to punish Itzpapalotl for desecrating the ancient site, so they sent Chalchiuhtotolin
to vanquish her. But Itzpapalotl was stronger now, gorged with the blood of all
those humans and fought the god, defeating him. He pleaded for his life but she
still sacrificed him, ripping out his heart and feasting on it. With that deed,
she sealed her fate, because it angered the gods further and there was a
council. Five gods and goddesses met: Coyolxauhqui, Citlalique, Chalmecatecuchtlz,
Atlacamani, and Mextli. The five of them cursed her, to lose whatever she found
precious to her heart, and all her days to be filled with blood and never
within the respite of peace and serenity. From the high heavens they cursed
her, and the curse passed all three heavens becoming triple in its potency,
hitting her and marking her life from that moment on.
Appearance:
Normally appears as a seductive and regal Aztec woman with long black hair,
dark brown eyes, an alluring face, and may rarely appear with black butterfly
wings. She either wears a black and red traditional Aztec dress, or appears half-naked.
She usually walks barefoot, but sometimes wears leather sandals with gold
ribbons on it. On her forehead, she wears a sort of golden headband that has
feathers and some flowers coming up from it, almost like a tiara. When enraged,
her appearance becomes terrifying and her nails become long claws.
Personality:
Itzpapalotl has the sort of presence that is terrifyingly beautiful and
commanding of respect. She is regal, serious, alluring, ambitious, highly
vengeful, sadistic, fierce, and dangerously lustful. She is generally
self-focused, caring little for others, and says that she is a goddess of
herself above all else. She does not need to have rulerships, she simply will
do whatever she pleases. Itzpapalotl often uses her seductive allure to have
her way, easily enticing others and taking pleasure in her power over them. She
is lustful and may allow men to have sex with her, but only to slaughter them
once the night is finished. She tears them all apart and drinks their blood.
And for those who anger her, Itzpapalotl causes horrible torment and ruin in
their lives. She says that she mainly wishes to be left alone since she does
not like humans and has no interest in associating with them. For her, humans are
generally weak and moronic, and not worth her time. So only those who are truly
worthwhile might have a chance at working with her.
Itzpapalotl
rules over Tamoanchan, but the realm where she lives is Cahuil. This realm is
an island paradise that has her temple/palace in the center. There are some
streams and fountains of blood here and her temple is built from the skulls of
jaguars (with green gems as eyes). Itzpapalotl is a master of blood magick, and
often uses the skins of jaguars in her rituals, allowing them to be reanimated
in some twisted way to attack her victims. It is also true that Itzpapalotl is
strongest during solar eclipses. These times are sacred to her because she uses
the solar eclipse to represent when Xochipilli killed Tonatiuh, symbolically honoring
him with the darkened sun. Whenever there’s a solar eclipse, she and all her
Tzitzimimeh descend upon humans to kill them and drink their blood.
Offerings: red
wine, blood, menstrual blood, very spicy curry, chili peppers, ghost peppers,
scorpio peppers, raw wolf hearts, raw jaguar hearts, bitter dark chocolate, cacao
nibs, cocoa beans, mangoes, coconuts, passion fruit, papayas, bananas,
plantains, guava, corn, jaguar pelts, obsidian knives, obsidian, chrysocolla, rubies,
turquoise butterflies, quetzal feathers, decorated fake human skulls, silver
rings with rubies, tropical flowers, vanilla, pictures of volcanoes, pictures
of solar eclipses, incense of vanilla + amber + opium + black pepper; all burnt
on charcoal.
