#tzitzimimeh

Itzpapalotl

Aztec goddess of revenge and blood-shed

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.

@femmefatalenet | event twelve | october | death ↳ tzitzimimeh

@mythologicalnet‘s event || aztec myhtology

Tzitzimimeh