Nagual, also known as the Nahuales (both pronounced na'wal), is a human being who has the power to transform either spiritually or physically into an animal form: most commonly jaguar, puma and wolf, but also other animals such as donkeys, birds, dogs or coyotes.
The Nahuatl word for nahual is nahualli, which means "what is my garment or skin" and refers to the ability of the nahual to become a creature half man, half animal.
Although there are records, such as the content in the Florentine Codex of Bernardino de Sahagún, that the nahuales could apply their arts to good or evil, the vision of the nahual as a malevolent being seems to be more widespread both in ancient times and in the beliefs of modern Indians.
History[]
They believed that if a man could get to know his primitive or nahual spirit, then he could use it to heal people and practice magic. Many primitive drawings in old caves show people as werewolves.
In the Mexican worldview, the nahuales were protected by Tezcatlipoca, the Lord of the night. Legend had it that a nahual could shed its skin and become one of these creatures. Such is the case of colonial legends in which some Mexican and Spanish hunters said that during the night they had killed an animal and at dawn the corpse had been transformed into that of a man.
Thus, the Nahuales are generally sorcerers with the faculty of becoming a creature half man, half animal. Many Aztec hunters and settlers said that during the night they had killed an animal and at dawn the corpse had been transformed into that of a man or a woman. The word nahual or nagual is of Nahuatl origin, Nahualli, which means "what is my garment or skin". When the sorcerer disappears and incarnates in his nahual, he can incorporate his thought into the animal in which he has become. When it detaches from parts of your body. When the sorcerer's soul detaches itself from its body while it sleeps and travels, taking the figure of an animal. There are three ways in which a shaman can become an animal: To prevent the nahuales from attacking, the doors are protected with scissors forming a cross, rosemary, needles on the beds and many crucifixes, and each night an upside-down creed must be said. Numerous were the deities that were linked in some way with the animals, either because the god was an animal, by name because of its zoomorphic trappings or because it was believed that it had the capacity to manifest itself as an animal. Besides being very close to the deities, many animals have a preponderant role in the myths, both in the creation of the world, as those that explain the arrival of some element to human life, like fire.
Characteristics[]
Nahuale Transformation.
The nahual leaves its human form for a certain time, to acquire that of a chosen animal. There are several versions of how this metamorphosis is achieved. One ensures that the sorcerer simply disappears and incarnates in the animal, at will. The shaman claims to be able to incorporate his consciousness into the body of an already existing animal. In one way or another, there is a psychic affinity, a kind of kinship of the soul between the shaman and the animal in which it is transformed, as if it were an avatar. Another says that "fragments", for which it is detached, deliberately, from part of his body (eyes, legs, an arm or even the intestines). Thus, if you want to end a Nahual the best method is to follow him and observe where he makes his transformation, steal the part of the body that came off as this way it will be impossible to return to its original form and at dawn will die. Another one affirms that the sleeping body of the sorcerer remains in his house, while his spirit wanders in the animal figure. In this case, to prevent someone from touching their sleeping body, the nagual must perform seven cartwheels.
Powers and Abilities[]
The nahuales in their animal form are not common creatures have special powers, "and will be more powerful depending on the animal form they take. If a sorcerer has as animal a tiger, it will be more powerful to "cast evil" and thus it will be easier for him, by his powers, to cure the disease or evil that has cast a lower (nahual). "An evil nahual is a danger for the community, since killing it is not easy, among the most efficient means a mixture of garlic, salt, tobacco and two liters of water or brandy is described, which is used either to "heal" or "bless" firearms and shoot them or to apply them directly to the animal, which is more dangerous.
