316: Fate of Coyolxāuhqui

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Dear Patrons,

Thanks for being patient as we had to work out some back-end kinks to the site with some code changes along with a major change to the emailer service provider. It should all be working now.

I wanted to post this update sooner as I had promised one update very soon after the previous one, but ambition got the better of me and I started writing one of the “vignette” stories again. Hence this one! And this one’s another doozy, at least so I think. We revisit a couple of familiar characters from the past, even made some crossovers. Remember the “Mad Professor” and his lectures? Well, he makes another appearance, this time, with a bit of a history lesson of Ancient Mesoamerica to go with his crackpot theories of secret cannibalistic societies!

This is an excerpt from one of his lectures. So sit back, learn about some history a little, and enjoy the art and victuals!

Bon appétit!

The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred. 

I. FURTHER LECTURES OF A MADMAN: DOOMED RAIDER EDITION

What we have here, is the stone of Coyolxāuhqui, found at the base of Huēyi Teōcalli, a temple in Tenochtitlan. This is a beautiful and imposing artifact, wider in diameter as two fully grown men in an almost perfect circle. What purpose did it serve? Was it a large table? A sacrificial altar? Or was it positioned vertically against a wall as one would a painting or a bas relief?

And what is to the story of the war between Coyolxāuhqui and her brother, Huītzilōpōchtli? As with any ancient myths, we are left to guess if these stories were based on some ancient truths, or whether they were made-up tales that became “real” through forced religious doctrine?

Image 1: (1 complete artwork in color)

Image 2: (1 alternate version complete artwork in color)

It is admittedly odd and extremely rare for a culture to present a female figurehead as that major nemesis who would go toe-to-toe with their god hero as Coyolxāuhqui did to Huītzilōpōchtli, who I would stress was the principal deity of the Mexica. To put this into perspective, it is as if Jesus or God himself was locked in a celestial battle against Lilith instead of Lucifer.

If it indeed this myth had been based on some true event, then what a remarkable tale it is, one that would better any stories Hollywood could conjure up. Or, if it had all been fiction, then ask ourselves, what purpose would that kind of narrative serve?

No other known myth approaches a tale in this manner. Why? Why a female deity? Why dismembered, naked and in full display? Is it some form of folkloric fetish porn on display? Let us think of ideas.

One.

If it indeed had been falsified, could the powerful elders of the time created an effective means to subjugate their female counterparts by placing brutal imageries within their cultural identity? Was it to place fear into their psyche that their women become willing and fearful slaves to serve as sexual playthings or even worse? How formidable was Coyolxāuhqui that she instilled that much fear towards the Mexica’s principal god hero? A vanquished goddess who was then brutalized in a manner only equaled by other gods, like the Egyptian Osiris. Or the Babylonian Tiamat. At least they had some sort of noble demise, such as each body part becoming an island, or a continent. Here, her defeat is served as a trophy, naked and shameful. Another relic found nearby is of Coyolxāuhqui’s stone head, displayed as some sort of warning or a memento of a victory. Why aren’t her 400 brothers whom she led suffer the same ignominy, but a fate reserved for her alone? Could this be a subtle psychosexual approach of tyranny to the female counterpart of their population. To enslave and subjugate?Or was this a conjured tale by a culture that reveled in human sacrifice?

Two.

Are they truly a society that allows matriarchal notions? Did this event serve to build the female as a formidable character in a story. After all, everyone loves a good chief villain. Darth Vader. Voldemort. Hannibal Lecter. They’re cool but sadly, they’re almost exclusively male. Why is that? Why can’t the female inhabit this space? Why are they always the heroine? Heroes are boring, aren’t they? But, again, the shameful fate that befell her… well, it makes me think that this theory doesn’t hold up very well.

Image 3: (1 completed colored artwork)

Three.

This one is a little far-fetched by play along with me here. If the story was made up, what if a small group of sexual perverts so happen to lead a cult of debauchery, that had humble and clumsy beginnings, to become one of the most illustrious civilizations that have ever existed on this planet? Not even the fearsome Assyrians, the Mongols nor the Persians displayed such frightening brutality as what the Aztecs did. The unusual aspect of this culture is far and away from the mainstream. It should only exist in the hands of a small and powerful group of elite that not even the people dare revolt against even in the face of such horrifying immoralities such as human sacrifice and cannibalism. Yes, the Incans, Olmecs and Mayans may have also perform human sacrifices, but not at such degree of relish and reverence as the Aztecs. One cannot merely dismiss the accounts of Spanish missionaries with the excuse of bias when paired with the tangible findings of actual archeological discoveries.

For example, excavations of the ancient settlement of Tēcuahqueh revealed a kind of barbarism and cruelty over a domestic convoy of Spanish and Cuban settlers, mostly women and children. The rituals performed on these souls could only be described as nightmarish. Dismemberment. Ritual cannibalism. One excavation revealed the dismembered pelvic girdle of a female with the remains of an infant child still inside, almost as a decorative mockery of life and beauty of motherhood. In a space of six months, each captive was kept alive, saved for a special occasion in accordance to the dates of their holy ritual calendar, only to be sacrificed one by one, then later eaten. Imagine, being alive, caged like human livestock and hearing the screams of your loved ones as their hearts are cut out, dismembered, and eaten, knowing that you will be next.

Like any good story, we all need a happy ending and you’ll be encouraged to know that in the end, the cavalry arrived. The Spanish, finding out what happened to their fellow colonists, exacted a brutal revenge on the local populace and slaughtered them all with the same kind of savagery though I’m quite sure it is more through raw emotion, less gleeful and methodical.

As a final footnote of this dark chapter of history, if you translate the name Tēcuahqueh, a name that Hernan Cortés gave to this place, it means, “where they ate people”.

I tell you all this so you know that it would take an extraordinary series of circumstances that would lead an entire culture to this sort of ritualistic behavior. What could explain an entire people harboring practices of such eccentric proportions? What if their founding had been led by a small cult of sexual deviants? Think of it this way. What if… a small group of rich, influential and powerful sexual deviants formed a small little secret club? Like the anti-version of the American founding fathers?

We still see echoes of it today. The embodiment of that culture. Some call this incel. That archetypal creep in the mother’s basement. Norman Bates. Ed Gein. What if by some blind luck and unusual destiny that a Norman Bates would end up as a high priest wielding sacred knowledge and power to subjugate a people. And what would he do these people? One could only imagine.

Back to the stone… a remarkable piece, isn’t it? The Aztecs were known to glorify art and beauty, while at the same measure, brazen in its gratuitous and almost reverence of violence. Beauty. Horror. Are they both sides of the same coin?

We have seen such dichotomies in marriage together. We see that in movies. Beauty and horror. Sex and violence. What if these practices are still going on now? Is this an inextricable part of our human spirit like a self-destructing mind-virus to keep our population in check? Is this why as a human species, we cannot seem to avoid the inevitable march to war? Or in a lesser and more clandestine form, what if these feelings were harnessed into the form of secret sects and societies? I will argue, yes. And here in this lecture series in the coming weeks, I aim to convince you to open your eyes and ears.

I know that it may be careless to play around with such theories so flippantly, especially when it involves socio-political issues, but isn’t that is in essence, the heart of the study of cognitive archaeology? Let us roll around in the muck with theories, with all the good theories and the bad and through discussion, we’ll sift out the ridiculous? You few have come here for a reason. I know many of you laughed at first, but events have happened in the world that made you all not laugh so hard anymore, don’t you think? You all have your own little suspicions too about hidden societies with dark appetites that led you to me and my books, don’t you? Well oh well, then be sure to save your theories towards the Q and A end of my lecture, and as a reminder, only for those who have signed up for the book signing session! Please keep it to at most, two minutes per person to keep things moving, unless I find our conversation truly interesting!

Thank you and…. let us take a short five minute break before the Q and A.

— the end? —

II. BONUS DOOMED RAIDER ARTWORK 

The following are a couple of variations of the previous artwork, one without the straps, and another “uncoooked” and “raw” version.

Image 4-5: (2 completed colored variations of a similar scene)

The following is an earlier sketch I worked on before settling on the final piece. I thought it’d be an interesting enough sketch that would be a pity to not share in case some of you would like seeing it.

Image 6: (1 black & white sketch variation of a similar scene)

These two below are further rough sketches from the DOOMED RAIDER project.

Image 7: (black & white sketch montage of 2 scenes)

III. KONGREGATSIYA

I’m reviving one of my older projects, titled KONGREGATSIYA thanks to a patron. Here are a couple of developing works from this project.

Image 8-9: (2 colored works in progress of a similar scene)

And another black and white sketch.

Image 10: (1 black & white sketch)

III. PAINTED BIRD IN LOST CARCOSA

Here’s a developing version from a scene from the “PAINTED BIRD” project.

Image 11: (1 colored & shaded work in progress)

IV. BONUS WORKS IN PROGRESS

The following are loose projects. The first is of a “tailleur cut” displayed on a bed of fruits. The second is of the “cradle cut” being handled and admired in its “full moon” glory.

Image 12-13: (2 shaded & colored work in progress)

V. BONUS SKETCHES

Thanks to a patron, the following are sketches from some developing storylines, one I tentatively call the FRUIT BASKET KILLER, involving a serial killer who is intent on murdering and eating pretty housewives.

Image 14-16: (3 black & white sketch variations of a scene)

And here’s another developing scene from the XANADU project.

Image 17: (1 black & white sketch)

And one more sketch, project unconfirmed for now but I have a rough idea where this may fit in.

Image 18: (1 black & white sketch)