The Nahui Tezcatlipoca, or Four Smoking Mirrors, are the Lords of the Four Directions, who were born at the dawn of time. They embody time and space, and hold within themselves all being. This is a page from the Tonalamatl, the Book of Destiny, which is the Mexica (or Aztec) calendar. This places the Nahui Tezcatlipoca in Their respective positions, with the days of the calendar as glyphs spread around them. What follows is a narrative which describes Their birth.
All praise to Ometeotl, our Mother, our Father, the Ancient One, Divine Mirror Who Illuminates Existence, who is All, in All, and beyond All. In the beginning, They who are One became Two, Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, Dual Lord and Dual Lady, double manifestations of the One, who are known also as Tonacatecuhtli and Tonacacihuatl, Lord and Lady of Our Sustenance, Our Flesh, Lord One Deer, Lady One Deer.
From Their place in the Thirteenth Heaven, in Omeyocan, the Place of Duality, They made offerings of incense, of flowery copal, and They raised Their voices in poetry and song. Their sacred blood They shed, upon the body of Nezahualcihuatl, Fasting Woman, and from Their blood the Tzitzimime arose, to weave the Tonalli of all creation. They gave birth to darkness, and of the darkness was born the sacred tree Copalquahuitl, the Flowering Copal Tree, and likewise, amid the fluttering of paper flags, was born the obsidian stone, the knife, the vehicle of sacred color.
In Their divine sacrifice, in the words of Their sacred song They gave birth to four sons, and They who are One became Four, the Nahui Tezcatlipoca, Their all powerful children, who took Their places in the four quarters of existence, and who contain within Themselves all being.
The first born was Tlatlauhqui Tezcatlipoca, the Red Tezcatlipoca, Lord Seven Flower, crimson in color, who took His home in Tlapallan, the East, and who is the Lord of Tlaxcala, called there Camaxtli.
The second born was Yayauhqui Tezcatlipoca, the Black Tezcatlipoca, Lord Two Dog, the greatest of His brothers, who knows all thoughts, dwells in all places, and reads all hearts. He is called Moyocoya, which is to say, “All Powerful.” He was born black, and took up His abode in the North.
The third of the brothers was Yoalli Ehecatl, the Yellow Tezcatlipoca, who is Quetzalcoatl, who took His place in the West. Born were They man, and likewise woman, for They are also Lady One Eagle, the Grandmother of the River, Atoyacihtli, Sitna Yuta.
The last born, smallest of the brothers, Omiteotl, the Blue Tezcatlipoca, known also as Huitzilopochtli, took His home in the South, and is the Lord of the Mexica. He was born fleshless; a divinity of bone, and He lived thus for a period of 600 years, during which time the Nahui Tezcatlipoca did nothing, but only held Their places in creation. His duality is Lady Nine Grass, Cihuacoatl, Serpent Women, Who is His other, born like Him on this day, at this hour.
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