The interpreter of the Codex Vaticanus A states that:

“They believed that the moon presided over human generation, and accordingly they always put it by the side of the sun. They placed on its head a sea-snail, to denote that in the same way as this marine animal creeps from its integument or shell, so man comes from his mother’s womb.”

The interpreter of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis says:

“Meztli was otherwise named Tectziztecatl; because in the same way that a snail creeps from its shell, so man proceeds from his mother’s womb. They placed the moon opposite to the sun, because its course continually crosses his; and they believed it to be the cause of human generation.”

NATURE AND STATUS

Tecciztecatl is “the Man in the Moon,” the spirit who dwells in or animates the luminary of night. He is frequently depicted as an old man or priest, with staff in hand, and is the wizard, or naualli, who lurks within the moon-cave, or house, for so the moon seems to have appeared to the Mexicans. It seems also to have been regarded or symbolized as a snail-shell, and it is probable that the curved shape of it in its earliest phase, no less than its gradual growth, brought about this conception. This in turn created the train of thought which resulted in its being regarded as the symbol of conception and birth—its growth and gradual rotundity, as [[310]]well as its symbolic connection with the snail assisting the idea. As the wizard of night concealed within his cavern, Tecciztecatl was identified with Tezcatlipocâ, the sorcerer par excellence, the magician who held sway over the dreaded hours of darkness. The moon had also a connection with Chalchihuitlicue and the octli-gods, which is dealt with in the sections relating to those deities.

[[Contents]]

MIXCOATL, IZTAC MIXCOATL, OR CAMAXTLI AS MIXCOATL = “CLOUD SERPENT”