Nahual
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In Aztec mythology, a Nahual was a sort of guardian angel that manifested itself in the form of an animal. Each person had a nahual who watched over and protected them. You receive a different nahual depending on which day you were born. Then your parents keep this from you until they believe you are mature enough to know. They do this because many times the person resembles their nahual animal. For example, a bull is mean, so if the child's nahual is a bull then he would use it to their advantage, and act mean to everyone to get what they want. You are not supposed to tell anyone what your nahual is unless they are really close to you.
Mexico is known for their shamans, wizards and "curanderos" (tribal doctors), sometimes called Nahuales o Naguales. All cities and towns in Mexico have at least a Nahual.
The Aztec voice for Nahual is "Nahualli" that means "lo que es mi vestidura o piel" (Something that is my cloth or skin). And it refers to the ability of the Nahual to morph himself into a werecreature (wolf, jaguar, lynx, bull, eagle, coyote, ...) That voice also refers nigromancy, secret and malice.
Before the rise of the great Perhispanic civilizations like Aztec and Mayan, The yakis, tarahumaras and seris Indians, who lived in the North of Mexico and South of US, around 900 A.C. had Nahuales. These civilizations were sited in part of the US states of California, New Mexico and Texas, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Baja California, Sonora and Sinaloa. They believed that if a man can know his primitive spirit or Nahual, he can use it to cure the people and practice magic. Many primitive drawings in old caves show people like werewolves.
In the Aztec empire the Nahuales are protected for Tezcatlipoca: The Aztec god of the war and sacrifice. The legend said that a Nahual can put away his skin and transform into a werecreature. Many Aztec and colonial hunters said that in the night they killed an animal and the next day it turned into a man.
"The Nahual only can morph in the night and he attack our babies with hellish spells", said the people since the Colonial Time (1500–1800 A.C.). The Santa Inquisition (the catholic tribunal that punished Jews, witches, and the generally non-catholic) hunted Nahuales for many years. But people believe in their power and sometimes protect them, especially in the Indian towns.
In modern days Carlos Castanneda, an South American anthropologist that study the Nahuales, published many books about them since 1960: Las ensennanzas de Don Juan (The Teachings of Don Juan), Una realidad aparente (An apparent reality) and Viaje a Ixtlan (Journey to Ixtlan). But nobody has confirmed Don Juan's existence; many people say that he is only a fraud.
He only knows a part of the secret rituals and herbs to morph into a werecreature, and the forms of how to know our inner Nahual. The books are very confused and have less info than the publicity shows. A Nahual have many spirits that protect him like the Native American Indians. Basically all rites are more or less the same in all American civilizations.