The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations: A Comparative Research Based on a Study of the Ancient Mexican Religious, Sociological, and Calendrical SystemsNuttall, Zelia
Religion
The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations: A Comparative Research Based on a Study of the Ancient Mexican Religious, Sociological, and Calendrical Systems
One more point which will receive due attention in my monograph remains to
be briefly noticed. As the symbol for air=east is situated to the right of
the symbol for north, and the earth=west is to its left, it is clear that
the central face is conceived as looking down from above upon the
spectator. It is only when the stone is considered as placed face downward
that the symbols assume their proper positions as regards the cardinal
points. This reversal, which is the natural result of the association of
the east and south with the right hand of the middle personage, suggests
that the monolith may have been originally designed to be let into the
flat or slanting ceiling of a building. As a parallel instance I will
state that, some years ago, Señor Troncoso pointed out to me a fact he had
noticed, namely, that the relative positions of the cardinal points on the
Féjérvary chart were reversed and that it must have been intended to be
looked at from underneath.
Each of the element symbols is accompanied by four numerals placed in the
angles of the squares, with one exception, where one numeral was obviously
dislodged from its proper position by an encroaching emblematic ornament.
The positions of these numerals and of their square enclosures are what
recalled to my mind the opposite positions assumed by Ursa Major in its
annual rotation around the axis of the heaven. Just as the central face
primarily represented Polaris, so these squares figured the four
contrapositions of the great constellation. The peculiar, almost
cross-shaped figure resulting from the union and association of the
symbols of the Centre, and of the Above, Below, Right, Left=Four Quarters,
is a well-known conventional sign, generally known as a “nahui-ollin.” The
accepted translation of this name is “four movements,” from olinia,
verb=to move, and no name could be more appropriate for a symbol which, to
my idea, like the swastika, actually represents the movement of the most
conspicuous of septentrional constellations to four opposite places.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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