I was asked yesterday if I knew anything about Nahuales. The last time I heard anything like it I was 8 years old, so I was puzzled because my recollection of Nahuales in my native Oaxaca, Mexico was not a positive one. I think my grandmother used to enjoy scaring me to death just before I went to sleep as most grandmothers do, right? She used to say I should be careful with the Nahuales because some are good and some are evil.
It is believed in the Mexican tradition that everyone is born with a spirit of an animal (Nahual) who is responsible for protecting and guiding us. The Nahual manifests in dreams to his/her protege when advice is needed and it takes the shape of a specific animal. It is also believed that witches and shamans have a closer bond with their Nahual, so they gain certain advantages over everyone else and sometimes they "may" change into the form of the animal.
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| Shaman Purification Ceremony in Mexico City Zocalo Photo by Herbert Spencer |
During colonial times it was said that nahuales were evil beings that transformed at night (usually a dog or wolf) and would enter houses and attack people, especially children, to gain strength. I guess sort of like the werewolf. However, there are others who say that Nahuales are good because they help the communities due to their close contact to the spiritual world. An example are the Shamans who help people solve their problems.
The more I read, the more I found out about Nahuales and the different takes on them. For example in the Mayan religion Nahuales are birth signs and everyone has three main signs along with six minor ones which carry less influence for a total of 9 nahuales . Nahuales are more than just a horoscope because they describe in detail the strengths and weaknesses of a person, and as such they must be kept secret to ensure no one is misusing the information for evil purposes. The main goal of Nahuales, from what I understood, is to help everyone find as much personal information (positive and negative) about oneself to help the individual reach self-realization, self-actualization and equilibrium in life. Wow, sounds like a visit to the Mayan priest might be a better than psychotherapy.
Guess I will be visiting a shaman next time I head down to my native Mexico but in the meantime, I found this website regarding Nahuales. If you would like to find more about your Animal Spirit Guide, check out the Maya Portal. I would like to think my Nahual is a limber speedy deer, while others might think I have a monkey guiding me.
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ReplyDeleteNice write-up here. For people interested in more information about the Mayan number system and the 20 nahuales from the Tzolk’in calendar we run a Website with lots of Guatemalan cultural information. Some pages of note include.
http://www.guatemalainsider.com/content/mayan-number-system
http://www.guatemalainsider.com/content/mayan-nahuales