Aztec Pantheontool
Smoking Mirror of Tezcatlipoca
- Divination
- Revelation
- Night Vision
Obsidian mirror of the night lord Tezcatlipoca, used for divination and revealing hidden truths. Smoke rises from its dark surface, a window into destiny and war.
About Smoking Mirror of Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca's obsidian
Nahua sources recorded in Sahagún's Florentine Codex: Tezcatlipoca is "Smoking Mirror." Obsidian mirrors (tezcatl) are his emblem and a Mesoamerican divinatory tool. The missing foot, night, and rulership belong to the same complex. The ethnography is colonial and late; it remains the densest written witness. The object is the god's name and a real mirror-type, not a unique named relic with a forging myth. Specialists used such mirrors; the god is the smoke in the glass.
Origin
An emblem of Tezcatlipoca himself; his name means 'Smoking Mirror.'
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Florentine Codex (Sahagún), Books 1 and 6 (Tezcatlipoca)
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
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