[11.] Referring to the Nahuatl belief that there are nine upper and nine under worlds.
From the same work of de la Serna I collect the following list of symbolic expressions. It might easily be extended, but these will be sufficient to show the figurative obscurities which they threw around their formulas of conjuration, but which were by no means devoid of coherence and instruction to those who could understand them.
Symbolic Expressions of the Nagualists.
Blood.—“The red woman with snakes on her gown” (referring to the veins).
Copal Gum.—“The white woman” (from the whitish color of the fresh gum).
Cords (for carrying burdens).—“The snake that does woman’s work” (because women sit still to knit, and the cord works while itself is carried).
Drunkenness.—“My resting time,” or “when I am getting my breath.”
The Earth.—“The mirror that smokes” (because of the mists that rise from it); “the rabbit with its mouth upward” (the rabbit, in opposition to the one they see in the moon; with its mouth upward, because of the mists which rise from it like the breath exhaled from the mouth); “the flower which contains everything” (as all fruit proceeds from flowers, so does all vegetable life proceed from the earth, which is therefore spoken of as a flower); “the flower which bites the mouths” (a flower, for the reason given; it eats the mouths, because all things necessarily return to it, and are swallowed by it).
Fingers.—“The five fates,” or “the five works,” or “the five fields” (because by the use of his fingers man works out his own destiny. Hence also the worship of the Hand among the Nahuas as the god Maitl, and among the Mayas as the god Kab, both which words mean “hand”).
Fire.—“Our Father of the Four Reeds” (because the ceremony of making the new fire was held on the day Four Reeds, 4 Acatl); “the shining rose;” “the yellow flyer;” “the red-haired one;” “the yellow spirit.”