Aztec Wisdom Quotes

The Aztec word for the psilocybin mushroom was teonanacatl, which means literally "god's flesh"; when it was eaten in religious ceremonies, it gave many the experience of a direct encounter with God.

On 12 August 1521, not long before the fall of Tenochtitlan, defended now mainly by women and children, the young Cuauhtémoc gave a speech to the four winds so that it would spread throughout the Empire, a speech full of poetry and truth. 2 It was preserved in the oral tradition and nowadays there are seven different versions of it, all very similar, including one that was written down in Spanish in the Aztecs’ former temple, the Templo Mayor. I will quote only a small fragment of this speech, to which the world is now responding: Our sun has gone down in darkness. It is a sad evening for Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, Tlatelolco. 3 The moon and the stars are winning this battle, Leaving us in darkness and despair. Let’s lock ourselves up in our houses, Let’s leave the paths and the marketplaces deserted, Let’s hide deep in our hearts our love for the codices, the ball game, the dances, the temples, Let’s secretly preserve the wisdom that our honourable grandparents taught us with great love, And this knowledge will pass from parents to children, from teachers to students, Until the rising of the Sixth Sun, When the new wise men will bring it back and save Mexico. In the meantime, let’s dance and remember the glory of Tenochtitlan, The place where the winds blow strongly.

I have come to believe that the long-dead were no wiser than we, even when they were alive, and their being dead has added no luster to their wisdom.

Minister and favorite of the Emperor Augustus. He was distinguished for the wisdom of his counsels, and his rare abilities as a statesman. Although himself an indifferent poet, he was still a patron of literature and literary men; Virgil, Horace, Ovid and other celebrated writers of the Augustan age, were among his most intimate friends. Such was the care with which Mæcenas sought out and rewarded every species of merit, that his name is proverbially used to denote a generous patron.

For over 300 years the Aztec Empire was known as New Spain and it was throughout this period that the ancient knowledge about dreaming and use of the obsidian mirror 4 was brutally eradicated. Practitioners of the old tradition were slaughtered until their wisdom was almost lost. However, New Spain took back its ancient name, Mexico. This was a determining factor in allowing small groups to preserve the knowledge secretly and hand it down to us today.

It is said that long ago, in a dream, the hummingbird ordered the weakest of the Aztec tribes to separate from the other tribes and also to change their name to Mexihcas. A few days later, while they were eating, they saw a hummingbird land in a tree and suddenly the tree split into pieces. This was the signal they had been waiting for to separate from the other tribes and to overcome their weakness. They did so, becoming one of the most advanced groups in the Anáhuac. They were so developed that when the Spanish came, they had to slander the Mexihcas in order to justify their destruction. In spite of this, we inherited their wisdom and the red footprints of our land are now coming to life throughout the world.