A nahual can be a sorcerer who becomes an animal and a nahual is also an animal alter ego that we all have during our lives. In addition, this term identifies the aptitude for transformation that every human has.
Nahual, a typical Mexican and Central American legendary story, is a word that comes from Nahuatl (the name given to the Aztec language of origin) which means «double» or «projected», far from the pre-Hispanic period with the Aztecs. According to pre-Hispanic tradition, the Aztec, Mayan and Toltec gods had the ability to adopt animal forms to interact with humans. Each god used to transform into one or 2 animals. Every human is protected and guided by an animal. At the moment the person is born, an animal is hung in the place where he is being born and that will be his protection animal. Usually it only appears in dreams but it can offer you acceptance and protect you from the risk that your life will be shown to be true and a precise fact. You can also have the ability of this animal. However, through magic, sorcerers and shamans could establish a strong bond with their nahual, with which their senses were clearly heightened. But there was another way to exploit the personal nahual. Those who delved into the knowledge of hidden things managed to become their guide animal. Thus, in Mexico the sorcerer who has the ability to transform is known as nahual. This gift, which they received thanks to their studies and agreements with the spirits, could be used for good, commonly becoming a kind of link with the superhuman planet. But it was also frequently used for other purposes, such as evil. For this reason, the nahuales tend to be feared.
The nahual
The term of nahual or nagual is diverse, since it does not coincide precisely in each and every one of the Mesoamerican ethnic groups. We will try to catch the peculiarities that are recurring to most. The nahual is the person who has the aptitude, physical or spiritual, to assume the form of an animal. He tends to be a shaman or sorcerer and uses his power advantageously or negatively depending on his personality.
Nahualism would be the transformative aptitude of the Nahual and it is a capacity that is in the spiritual essence of this people. Today the term nahual is also used as a homonym for a sorcerer or magician, but always when it is considered that that person has the ability to transform into an animal. The transformation usually takes place at night and the selected animals are predominantly dogs, owls, bats and wolves. In the Mesoamerican tradition, the nahual used to transform into a jaguar, puma or wolf.
an unspeakable origin
When one tries to determine what a nahual is, now as one progresses in the work, everything becomes much more lazy and ambiguous. And it happens that its nature, enigmatic in essence, thinks multiple etymological origins, meanings and characteristics.
To give an example, let’s try to know the etymology of the word. One of its probable roots is nahuali, a verb that in Nahuatl refers to the act of lying, hiding or disguising. At the same time, the famous historian José María Garibay suggested as a possible origin the term nahui, which refers to the number 4, perhaps in reference to the multiple personality, or to its transmutation ability. But there are multiple other hypotheses about the viable origin of the term nahual, and since the 16th century there was now divergence between chroniclers and historians.
What does it mean?
Commenting etymologically, the word nahual comes from the term ‘nahualli’. This word is part of Nahuatl, a language that is still spoken in various areas of Mexico and of which there has been perseverance since the 5th century.
Although its actual concept is still under discussion, the term nahual can be translated as ‘hidden’. ‘, ‘hidden’ or ‘what’s my outfit’. However, this term has different meanings and also interpretations depending on the language or the specific area. But whoever the concept is correct, there is no doubt that it has to do with something hidden in plain sight.
Are the nahuales sorcerers?
There are records of opinions that speak of the fact that the nahuales are mostly sorcerers, while they become animals to «cast evil.» These feed on the souls of people, causing pathologies and even disappearance. There are also shamans who are nahuales, but who use this gift to defend themselves against sorcerers.
In order for sorcerers to take the form of an animal, they must carry out a sequence of rituals and in this way invoke their nahual powers, it is also estimated that it is a projection outside the body, at the moment the sorcerer sleeps, his soul leaves and it prowls until it transforms into a new being, but before that, the entity must offer seven turns around its body to protect it from harm.