An Absolutely Massive List of Gods: The Aztec Pantheon

Aztec mythology is bloody even by mythology standards, and that’s saying a lot. The Mexica had a lot of gods, and this isn’t anywhere near all of them, but here’s a selection of the most significant:

Huitzilopochtli: The god of war and the sun, and the head of the Aztec pantheon. He was the patron deity of the city of Tenochtitlan and also of the Mexica people as a whole (though he wasn’t that prominent until the Aztec Empire kicked off). His brothers are Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, and Xipe Totec, and they function as the central gods of the Aztec pantheon. Huitzilopochtli is the fifth and current sun, and must be fed human blood every single day, so that he will survive the darkness and rise in the morning (this is one reason why the Aztecs sacrificed so many people). He is associated with South and the color blue, and is usually depicted with blue skin. His mother is the goddess Coalticue, and he has no father — his mother was inseminated by a ball of hummingbird feathers. Warriors who died in battle and women who died in childbirth would turn into hummingbirds, and go to serve Huitzilopochtli in his palace. His name means “hummingbird of the south.”

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Tezcatlipoca: The god of the night sky, storms, hurricanes, magic, discord, beauty, obsidian, and jaguars. He is considered to be “the embodiment of change through conflict.” He is the rival of his brother, Quetzalcoatl, with whom he killed the monster Tlaltecuhtli to form the Earth (although Tlaltecuhtli ate part of his leg). Tezcatlipoca acted as the first sun, but didn’t do a very good job of it. He sent down a rain of jaguars after Quetzalcoatl kicked him out, destroying humanity in the process. It’s almost solely because of Tezcatlipoca’s spite that the following three suns (Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc, and Chalchiuhtlicue) failed, and also destroyed humanity. He is associated with North and the color black. His name means “smoking mirror,” referring to an obsidian mirror used as a shamanic scrying device.

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Quetzalcoatl: The best-known Aztec god, the god of wind, dawn, the arts, knowledge, wisdom, and the planet Venus. He created mankind out of the bones of all the previous races, which he stole from the Underworld. He invented writing and calendars, discovered maize, and brought the divine cacao tree to Earth. He also inadvertently created the first bat when a drop of his semen fell on a rock. In some sources, Quetzalcoatl is the only deity that abhors human sacrifice. His name means “feathered serpent,” and he does indeed appear to be a gigantic serpentine dragon with green feathers and/or birdlike wings. He is associated with West and the color white. Different versions of the Feathered Serpent were worshipped throughout Mesoamerica.

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Xipe Totec: The god of agriculture and vegetation, spring, war, metalsmithing, and liberation. His name means “flayed lord,” because he literally flayed himself, which symbolizes how maize is removed from its cob. He literally wears his skin like clothing. Despite his grotesque appearance, he is actually a benevolent deity. His shedding of his own skin symbolizes rebirth and renewal in springtime, as well as new crops and germinating seeds. Xipe Totec was also associated with skin conditions like rashes and pimples. He was worshipped on the spring equinox by flaying war prisoners, and his priests would then wear the victims’ skins. He is associated with East, and it’s no surprised that he is associated with the color red.

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Tlaloc: The god of rain, life, springs, caves, mountains, storms, and weather in general. He has fangs and wears a headdress of heron feathers. Tlaloc acted as the third sun, but threw a fit when Tezcatlipoca seduced his wife, Xochiquetzal, resulting in a drought. He then destroyed humanity in a rain of fire. The Aztecs prayed and sacrificed to him for rain, and to withhold the storms and droughts caused by his wrath. He is the ruler of a paradisal afterlife, Tlalocan, in which victims of drowning, storms, or some kinds of diseases (such as leprosy) live in happiness. He is one of the oldest deities worshipped by the Mexica people, and was likely the head of the pantheon before Huitzilopochtli supplanted him. He was still considered the equal of Huitzilopochtli, and they were worshipped side-by-side as complimentary opposites.

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Chalchiuhtlicue: Tlaloc’s second wife, the goddess of rivers, lakes, and streams, fertility, and childbirth. While Tlaloc represents water that comes from the sky, Chalchiuhtlicue represents water that comes from the earth. She was especially associated with the Gulf of Mexico, which bears her name in Nahuatl. She acted as the fourth sun, until Tezcatlipoca accused her of faking her kindness to humans only so that they would worship her. She responded by crying blood for fifty-two years, destroying humanity yet again. She presides over ritual bathing, purification, birth, and death by drowning. Her name means “she of the jade skirt.”

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Coatlicue: The goddess of childbirth and the mother of the sun, the moon, and the stars (not necessarily in that order). Her name means “serpent skirt,” and she literally wears a skirt made of snakes, as well as a necklace made of human hands and hearts with a skull pendant. She also has claws on her hands and feet. When she was beheaded by her daughter Coyolxauhqui, two gigantic snakes sprung from her severed neck.

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Coyolxauhqui: The goddess of the moon. She decided to kill her mother, Coatlicue, when she became pregnant with the sun god Huitzilopochtli by way of a ball of feathers. Huitzilopochtli sprang fully-grown from his mother’s womb, beheaded Coyolxauhqui, and dismembered her. The full moon is her head. She pursues Huitzilopochtli in an attempt to eat him, alongside her four hundred brothers, the stars. Huitzilopochtli must be fed blood so that he can fend her off another night. Her name means “painted with bells.”

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Mixcoatl: The god of the hunt and the stars. He wears a black mask and has red and white vertical stripes on his skin. He is a personification of the Milky Way, and is credited with bringing fire to humanity by spinning the heavens. His name means “cloud serpent.” Sometimes, he is interpreted as the night-sky aspect of Tezcatlipoca. In another legend, he was originally a mortal hunter who was transformed into a god after killing a shapeshifting deer-woman. He is the father of Coyolxauhqui and the stars, and was the patron god of Tlaxcala.

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Itzpapalotl: A goddess of birth and death, the mother of Mixcoatl. Her name means “obsidian butterfly.” She has black butterfly or bat wings with sharp obsidian knives on their tips. She is especially associated with the orizaba silkmoth. She rules over a paradisal afterlife called Tamoanchan, where the souls of babies who died as infants reside. It’s also the realm where the first humans were created. She appears dark and terrifying, but she represents renewal as a result of sacrifice.

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Tlazolteotl: The goddess of lust, sin, filth, and cleansing. She was known to encourage people to commit adultery, but could also cleanse people of their sins by presiding over ritual baths and “confessionals” in which she would devour your evil deeds. (I would not be surprised if the interpretation of these rituals as “confession” and a removal of “sin” were a Spanish Catholic interpretation. I don’t know that for sure, but it’s an educated guess.) Her name comes from a word for “garbage,” so she was associated with literal and spiritual waste that would need to be filtered out and decomposed so that new things can grow. She is also called Ixcuina.

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Centeotl: The god of maize, the son of Tlazolteotl. Though he has little presence in mythology, he is one of the oldest and most significant Mesoamerican gods, because corn was intrinzic to the prosperity and survival of the Mexica and Mayan people. Centeotl and Chicomecoatl are likely the respective masculine and feminine aspects of the same deity. Centeotl married Xochiquetzal after Tlaloc split from her.

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Chicomecoatl: The goddess of maize, abundance, sustenance, and mirth. She plays mostly the same role as Centeotl, but in contrast, she was especially associated with dried or unripe maize. Her name means “seven serpents.” She’s also called Xilonen.

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Xochiquetzal: The goddess of love and beauty, sex, fertility, women’s work (making textiles), and (again) childbirth. She was Tlaloc’s first wife, whom Tezcatlipoca seduced. She has also been married to several other gods, including Centeotl, Xochipilli, and Xiuhtecuhtli. Like Itzpapalotl, she lives in Tamoanchan. She is always depicted as a beautiful young woman. Her name means “flower feather” or “quetzal flower.”

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Xochipilli: The “prince of flowers,” god of games, merriment, gambling, art, music, and dance. He is also associated with hallucinogenic plants and mushrooms, and was the patron god of homosexuality. He is a youthful and beautiful god, more concerned with pleasure-seeking than anything else. At his festivals, his statues were decked with flowers and butterflies. Xochipilli is considered a male counterpart to Xochiquetzal (and is one of her many possible husbands). Sometimes he and Centeotl are considered the same deity. He also goes by Macuilxochitl, in his aspect that is associated specifically with games and gambling, though sometimes Macuilxochitl is his brother. His other brother is Ixtlilton, the god of healing, medicine, peaceful sleep, and dreams. Together, they represent happiness, health, and wellbeing.

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Xiuhtecuhtli: The god of fire, the day, light, heat, and volcanoes. He is associated with the North Star and represents the solar year. He was also associated with kingship, and the Aztec emperors identified themselves with him. His name means “fire lord” or “turquoise lord.” He has many other names, one of which is Xiuhcoatl, “fire/turquoise serpent.” In this aspect, Huitzilopochtli wields him as a weapon. Another aspect is Huehueteotl, an old man with a brazier.

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Chantico: The goddess of fire, the hearth, and volcanoes. Her name means “she who lives in the house,” indicating her association with domestic matters. She protects the home and guards one’s precious possessions. She’s also associated with war, and wears a military headdress. In her warlike aspect, she most likely represents defending the things that you love.

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Mictlantecuhtli: The god of death and Lord of Mictlan, the Underworld. He always appears as a skeletal figure wearing a headdress of owl feathers. Mictlan has nine levels, much like Dante’s conception of Hell. Upon arrival in Mictlan, the dead would be subjected to various challenges, such as a field with a wind of knives that would strip their flesh from their bones. Mictlantecuhtli tried to stop Quetzalcoatl from stealing the bones of dead humans from the Underworld, and although he failed, he did cause Quetzalcoatl to trip and drop the bones. He and his wife are both portrayed with open mouths to swallow the stars as they set. Rituals in his honor (allegedly) sometimes involved literal cannibalism.

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Mictecacihuatl: The goddess of death and wife of Mictlantecuhtli. She became the Queen of the Dead because she was sacrificed as soon as she was born. She represents death as a sacred and ultimately beneficent thing, instead of something to be feared and rejected. She presided over the celebration of the dead that evolved into the modern Dia de los Muertos, and she is still worshipped in Mexico as Santa Muerte.

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Xolotl: The god of monstrosity, lightning, disease, and aberrations, who appears as a dog or a dog-headed man. He causes babies to be born deformed, or to be twins (which was considered a deformity). Although he is associated with abominations, he is actually a benign god. He is a psychopomp who guides souls to the afterlife, and he accompanies the sun on his nightly journey through Mictlan. Xolotl is the twin brother of Quetzalcoatl in some sources, and also represents Venus, albeit in its dark aspect. He also gives his name to the Axolotl, the world’s most adorable amphibian.

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Huehuecoyotl: The god of music, dance, storytelling, sex, mischief, and deception. He is the Aztec variant of the widespread North American trickster god, Coyote. Like most trickster gods, he’s neither good nor evil, sometimes helping and sometimes harming mortals depending on his mood. He’s relatively laid-back and friendly for a god, but he could also commit genocide on a whim. Often, his pranks would backfire on himself. He could also shapeshift into anything. He’s the only god who is friends with Xolotl.

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Patecatl: The god of medicine and drunkenness. He is especially associated with hallucinogens and intoxicants, especially pulque, an alcoholic drink made from the maguey plant (represented by his wife, Mayahuel). These kinds of drugs were used for all kinds of medicinal purposes, and likely for shamanic purposes as well. Patecatl and Mayahuel had four hundred children, who were all divine rabbits, the gods of excess.

By Awri93

Huixtocihuatl: The goddess of salt water, the older sister of Tlaloc and the other rain gods. She was banished to the ocean after having slighted Tlaloc. Unusually for an ocean deity, Huixtocihuatl is associated much more with salt than with water, having provided salt to humans. She had a festival in June that would, of course, end with the sacrifice of a woman who acted as the living embodiment of Huixtocihuatl for the duration of the festival.

By Jonathan Higareda

Tlaltecuhtli: The “earth monster,” the goddess of primordial chaos. She resembles a crocodile or a toad. Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca dismembered her and formed the earth from her body. Unlike many other deities of this type (like Ymir and Tiamat), Tlaltecuhtli is still alive, and needs to regularly be fed human hearts to keep her from consuming everything. (Aztecs, man…) Sometimes Tlaltecuhtli also goes by Cipactli; in other sources, Cipactli is a separate entity associated with the sea rather than the earth.

By Riccardo Gualdi

Ometeotl: The androgynous primordial god of life, the parent of Huitzilopochtli, Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, and Xipe Totec. Ometeotl means “dual god” because it is technically two gods, one male and one female, which comprise a single entity. The male is named Ometecuhtli and the female is named Omecihuatl. They represent all pairs of primordial opposites — light and darkness, day and night, order and chaos, etc. — embodying a concept similar to the yin-yang. Therefore, they are the source of all creation.

By Israel Perez