Mesoamerican Pantheonrelic
Wind Jewel of Quetzalcoatl
- Wind Calling
- Breath of Life
- Path Opening
The spiral wind jewel (ehēcatl) associated with Quetzalcoatl as Ehecatl, the wind aspect, breath that clears the way for rain and life.
About Wind Jewel of Quetzalcoatl
Ehecatl's conch pectoral
Central Mexican painting and sculpture of Quetzalcoatl as Ehecatl show the ehecacozcatl, a sectioned conch "wind jewel" on the chest: breath, the wind that sweeps the road for rain. Codices (Borgia, Borbonicus, and kin) carry the type. The Florentine Codex describes Quetzalcoatl's wind aspect. It is an emblem of a god, not a unique named quest-gem with a smith. Mixtec and Mexica books are the witnesses; there is no Homeric-style epic of its making. The spiral is breath made visible.
Origin
Iconography of Quetzalcoatl-Ehecatl across central Mexico.
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 (Quetzalcoatl-Ehecatl) / Central Mexican codex iconography
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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