Codex Laud.—Sheet 9: The agave-plant rises from a turtle resting upon a dragon. Adjacent to this lie a copper hatchet and a throwing-weapon, while in her hand she holds an octli bowl ornamented with gems and flowers. Secondary Aspects.—She is very often suggested by the octli jug, which in the Borgia group is represented as a big two-handed vessel standing on serpentine coils, while to it are attached votive papers of the type frequently offered to the Tlaloquê, and bannerets are placed on the sides, on which the V-shaped point is depicted. The night-and-day symbol surmounts the whole. Though she is spoken of as having many breasts, the goddess is very rarely depicted in this manner. MYTHS The interpreter of Codex Vaticanus A says of her: “They feign that Mayaguil was a woman with four hundred breasts, and that the gods on account of her fruitfulness changed her into the maguei, from which they make wine.” He also speaks of her as the mother of Cinteotl, remarking that all the gods had their origin from the vine which bears the grape (the maguey-plant). The third interpreter of Codex Telleriano-Remensis calls her “Mayaquel, who was otherwise called Cipaquetona” (Cipactonal), and wife of Patecatl. NATURE AND STATUS Mayauel, as her name implies, is primarily a deity of the maguey-plant. But evidence is not wanting that she also partakes of the nature of the Earth-goddess, as her occasional appearance in the insignia of Tlazolteotl and her wearing of the colours of the Maize-goddess would seem to show. As the wife of Patecatl, the god “from the land of medicines,” she bears the ropes which symbolize the octli-wort, the plant which gave a narcotic quality to the octli drink, and which was thought of as strangling or choking the drunkard. Her bounteousness of fertility was symbolized by the possession of four hundred breasts, and in this she resembles the old mother-goddess of Asia Minor. She has also affinities with Xochiquetzal and Cipactonal. TOTOLTECATL = “HE OF TOLLAN” Relationship: One of the octli-gods. ASPECT AND INSIGNIA Sahagun MS. (Biblioteca del Palacio).—The deity wears a paper crown surmounted by a panache of heron-feathers and a nose-plug like that worn by the other octli-gods. His wig or hair falls over his shoulders. The upper part of his body is nude, but he wears a red-bordered cloth round the head. His shield is a peculiar one, and Sahagun calls it a “shield of the boat.” In shape it is almost like a modern door, and from it depends what seem to be paper strips. He wears bands of some textile material, which are tied behind with knots round the leg, and he is shod with sandals. In his hand he carries the obsidian axe typical of the octli-gods. He seems to have been a drink-god of the Toltecs. MACUILTOCHTLI = “FIVE RABBIT” Area: Mexico. Compass Direction: West. Symbol: Five tochtli sign. Relationship: One of the Uitznaua. ASPECT AND INSIGNIA