Consult a trained expert (applicable for both commoners and royalty)
Sortilege (e.g. throwing dice), gazing deeply into reflective surfaces, and observations of nature, including the motions of stars and planets
Aztec civilization, which consisted mostly of the Nahua people, believed that, in a primordial time prior to the “Fifth Age”, in which we currently live, their gods obscured humans’ ability to see the past and the future as clearly as the gods could
Old legend say the nature of this obscuration was if the gods “breathed on a mirror” that would otherwise show the true nature of the world around in the past, present, and future
Experts suggest the gods purposely clouded the mirror for fear that otherwise humans would know as much about their own future that the gods did
Divination through ritual process is an act that goes far back in time in native Mesoamerican tradition and is even described in the creation myths as something the gods did prior to their creation of the world
The Maya and the Aztecs both believed that some people within their societies had a closer relationship with the gods and supernatural domains than others, and thus had increased access to information about the future or advice from gods
These human prediction experts were: 1) ritual specialists, known as “day-keepers” or “soothsayers”; 2) astronomer-priests who observed and recorded astronomical information on the movements of celestial bodies across the sky; and 3) members of the royal family who could conjure dead ancestors or patron gods for advice or favor and were intermediaries
Day-keepers still exist today in many native Mesoamerican communities, and they interpret a 260-day ritual calendar using divinatory codices as a guide to determine the fate or auspiciousness of specific day sign-number combinations in the calendar
Day-keepers were consulted when a child was born, before its naming ceremony, since one of an Aztec person’s names was always based on their day of birth and many characteristics of their lives are predetermined by this date/name
In many Mesoamerican traditions, dreams are also considered to be a type of communication with the supernatural world
The same was true of events occurring in the natural world that Aztecs believed were omens with predictive meaning
Aztecs had certain common beliefs about the everyday predictive power of random, natural events, but some things occurred that people thought were strange enough to warrant a consultation with a ritual specialist for a higher level prognostication
I.e. the omen of the fiery comet or the bird with a mirror on its head that were observed and recorded and correlated with the arrival of Europeans
While all social classes consulted diviners and “soothsayers,” special high-ranking ritual experts from the noble classes were consulted by royalty in matters of state
In addition to the interpretation of dreams, omens, and the calendar, soothsayers also used various techniques involving external stimuli for prognostication
By creating randomized patterns with everyday materials (i.e. casting maize kernels or beans across textiles or into water), diviners interpreted patterns as portending particular future events
Interpreting randomized inputs (i.e. throwing dice) is part of a class of prediction more generally known as sortilege
They also used scrying or peering into reflective surfaces (mirrors, crystal, water), observation of the movements of animals or insects or observations of color changes in water to predict positive or negative outcomes and even to diagnose illness
Similarly to ancient Maya, Aztecs also made careful observations and records of visible astronomical events over extended periods of time that were used to predict future like-in-kind events or to back-calculate eclipses or other celestial phenomena that could then be correlated with socio-political or natural events that impacted life on the earthly plane
