Post by WalksInSpirit on Oct 21, 2006 22:39:40 GMT -5
The Great Migration:
Part Five: The Aztecs: 10-21-06
Part Five: The Aztecs: 10-21-06
(09:57:11) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Ok, I'll start us off with a prayer. :-)
(09:58:25) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Holy Father, we thank You for this time of fellowship together. We ask that You'd touch each one here with Your infinite Love, Peace, and Understanding. Help us in all ways to walk our paths in beauty. In Your Holy Name, we ask these things, Nunwe.
(09:58:30) (Cris) Amen
(09:58:39) (Qrious) ameni
(09:58:42) (merri) Amen
(09:58:47) (mimi) Amen
(09:58:48) (gilly) Amen
(09:58:48) (Julia) amen
(09:59:15) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Tonight, we'll look at the Aztecs.
(10:00:24) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Part Five: The Aztecs
(10:00:44) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Somewhere north of the Colorado River, in a mythical place of seven caves, the head priest of an Indian tribe, later known as the Aztecs, listened to a bird’s call and fancied it gave him a message. “Let us go,” he thought it was saying to him, and this message he relayed to his people.
(10:01:06) (Host-WalksInSpirit) They responded willingly and prepared to start out on an adventurous journey southward, into unknown territory, where, if their priests were correctly informing them, they would find an island in a lake, and on this island an eagle sitting on a cactus plant, with a snake in his beak.
(10:01:31) (Host-WalksInSpirit) No one knows just where “north of the Colorado River” this place of the seven caves was located. It could have been “far north” as some tales suggested, or it could have been as close as the red rock area near Kanab, Utah, where there are many immense caves – some with lakes in underground recesses – where Indians have been known to live.
(10:01:52) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Smoked walls and painted handprints, as well as artifacts and corncobs, are still to be found in that area, evidently popular as a shelter during a long period of time.
(10:02:13) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The Aztecs’ first thought, after the momentous decision was made, was of their God, Huitzilopochtli (Hummingbird Wizard), fierce-visaged and war-like. He must lead them, and in a suitable, dignified manner.
(10:02:36) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Work was commenced at once and a chair of rushes and reeds designed for him. With the War God seated in this chair, the Heron People, as they called themselves, would be able to undertake the long walk southward.
(10:02:57) (Host-WalksInSpirit) An Edgar Cayce Reading apparently refers to these people:
(10:03:14) (Host-WalksInSpirit) “3,000 years before the Prince of Peace came, those peoples that were of the Lost Tribes, a portion came into the land; infusing their activities upon the peoples from Mu in the southernmost portion of that called America or United States, and then moved on to the activities in Mexico, Yucatan, centralizing that now about the spots where the central of Mexico now stands, or Mexico City.
(10:03:28) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Hence there arose through the age a different civilization, a MIXTURE again.” – Edgar Cayce Reading 5750-1
(10:03:59) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The time element is a trifle confusing, since the date of the Aztecs’ journey southward is given by some authorities as 1160 A.D. Also causing speculation is the similarity between the Aztecs and the Toltecs.
(10:04:19) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Both claimed to have come from Atlan, or Aztlan, “far to the north,” and both tribes spoke the common language of the Valley Of Anahuac, Nahua, or Nahuatl. The Aztecs were Heron People; the Toltecs, Reed People, both names indicating swampy locations as some former homeland.
(10:04:57) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Siguenza y Gongora, a Mexican of the 17th Century, may have been correct when he made the statement that all Indians of the New World were descendants of Poseidon (ruler of Atlantis) and that Poseidon was a great grandson of Noah, though other scholars, such as Colonel Churchward, contend that the Indians were of different origins, some of the more brown-skinned people being descendants of the refugees from Lemuria.
(10:05:44) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Supposedly the Aztecs began their journey with seven tribes, or clan families, though the seventh tribe, the Mexicans, soon left the main body and continued thereafter by themselves. Four priests bore the platform on which the War God, Huitzilopochtli, rode at the head of the straggling column.
(10:06:11) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Whenever the people stopped for a rest they paid homage to the image and asked for his advice, which he is said to have conveyed to their satisfaction. These rest periods depended upon the land through which they traveled.
(10:06:35) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Scouts were sent ahead to choose good campsites, where crops could be planted, and having chosen a site and planted their corn, beans, squashes and other food seeds, they relaxed while the plants matured and yielded their harvest. Then, rested, and with provisions for another effort, they went on.
(10:07:04) (Host-WalksInSpirit) It is thought that they avoided other settled peoples as much as possible, but they may have made contact with Cliff Dwellers and early Pueblo people as they drove on through New Mexico and Arizona.
(10:07:27) (Host-WalksInSpirit) They were in high altitudes most of the time, and gradually climbing as they entered Mexico, probably advancing along the eastern slope of the Sierra Madres, where for hundreds of miles there were pine forests to provide housing and fuel, as well as wild game.
(10:07:48) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The terraced gardens they planted served a good purpose in preventing erosion and bedding down millions of cones that might otherwise have been swept away by the rains.
(10:08:20) (Host-WalksInSpirit) When, finally, they reached the lakes “within the ring” of mountains – the great swampy, fertile Valley Of Mexico, often called Anahuac, they felt they had reached their objective.
(10:08:45) (Host-WalksInSpirit) But a strong tribe of Indians, called the Tepanecs, contested their right to be there and permission had to be gained before they made a campsite in what is now called Chapultepec Park.
(10:09:03) (Host-WalksInSpirit) A couple of centuries had elapsed since they crossed the Colorado, but they had found the Eagle, the cactus and the serpent. This was their home.
(10:09:26) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The coming together of two strong tribes and the ensuing difficulties are indicated in this excerpt from the Cayce Records:
(10:09:42) (Host-WalksInSpirit) “…we find in that period when changes took place in what is now known as Mexican country, in the subduing of the peoples as came down from the north, by those coming up from the south. The entity among those who were put in charge of the subdued peoples, and from which arose that peoples now known as Aztec.” – Edgar Cayce Reading 345-1
(10:10:10) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The Aztecs were a vigorous, adventuresome people, capable of adapting themselves, like those mentioned in this reading:
(10:10:28) (Host-WalksInSpirit) “[They, the Red Race were] able to use IN their gradual development all the forces as were manifest in their individual surroundings, passing through those periods of developments” – Edgar Cayce Reading 364-3
(10:10:58) (Host-WalksInSpirit) It is quite possible that they had clashed with other small tribes along their route, but there is no record of this. However, once they established themselves in the Valley, the young men became restless and began raiding their new neighbors and carrying off some of the prettiest maidens to become their wives.
(10:11:29) (Host-WalksInSpirit) In the then swampy valley there was an area shunned by most of the older settlers. This was the network of waterways now called Xochomilco. The newcomers saw the value of the so-called floating gardens and began building up these bits of real estate with mud scooped from the water’s edge,
(10:11:43) (Host-WalksInSpirit) and held in place by retaining walls until tree roots and other growth stabilized these man-made islands. On these bits of land, they planted their crops and saw them grow luxuriantly on the fertile soil.
(10:12:10) (Host-WalksInSpirit) As the Aztecs grew stronger, three of the older settled tribes banded together to overcome them. Those captured were forced to go, as slaves, into the Culhuacan territory, while those who escaped took refuge on islands in a lake. They still worshipped Huitzilopochtli, but he had ceased to be all-important, and the other tribes reviled him.
(10:12:34) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The enslaved Aztecs found a chance to redeem themselves by helping their masters defeat the chief, Xochimilco, and his slaves. They took many prisoners, the luckless ones being sacrificed to the gods of the victors.
(10:12:58) (Host-WalksInSpirit) About this time, it seems, with the pride of the Aztecs restored, they began building Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City. They took over the heritage and some of the skill of the Toltecs, who had by that time ceased to be an important tribe, their chief having left the capital city of Tula.
(10:13:19) (Host-WalksInSpirit) For many years war followed war, while the founders of Tenochtitlan, the Tenochan Aztecs, were striving to build a temple city in the nature of beautiful Teotihuacan.
(10:13:45) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Texcoco was at that time the most important city of the lakes and a brilliant statesman, poet and educator named Nezahualcoyotl (Hungry Coyote) was its chief. He had fought an unsuccessful war and had found it necessary to flee for his life, but from his hideaway in the hills he began plotting against his enemies, enlisting the aid of Itzcoatl, new chief of the Tenochas, in overcoming them.
(10:14:14) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Through this battle the Tenochas gained lake shore property which made more effective conquest possible, and eventually made the Tenochoas rivals of the Texcocoans, and finally a superior tribe as their great city began to take form.
(10:14:42) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Chiefs who succeeded Itzcoatl added to the progression of the city of Tenochtitlan. Montezuma I built aqueducts from the springs of Chapultepec and brought sweet, clean water to the people.
(10:15:08) (Host-WalksInSpirit) He also built dingbats to protect the houses from high water in the lakes during rainy seasons. In the reign of his son, jealousy over the War God, Huitzilopochtli, and monuments raised to his honor, brought on a war, but it was also during this time that the great Calendar Stone, still rated as one of the marvels of all time, was made.
(10:15:26) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The gigantic twenty-ton block was quarried on the mainland and dragged along the causeways to the Zocolo, to serve as a symbol of the Aztec universe.
(10:15:56) (Host-WalksInSpirit) About this time Nezahualcoyotl died. He had served his people diligently and had won an honored place, not only among his own people, but among his enemies, and he had performed the feat of staying at peace with the people of Tenochtitlan,
(10:16:12) (Host-WalksInSpirit) the warlike Aztecs, who were ever looking for an opportunity to increase their fortunes and their prestige. He was much admired for his knowledge of astronomy and astrology.
(10:16:36) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Even as they raised the flamboyant and massive temples to their gods, the Aztecs and their allies were carrying on mass destruction of other tribes, going as far south as Oaxaca to secure prisoners for the performance of sacrifices to the fierce, bloodthirsty gods they revered.
(10:17:09) (Host-WalksInSpirit) But the end of their bloodshedding and sacrificing was soon to come to an end, and they, themselves, would be the sacrificial victims.
(10:17:29) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The Aztecs had observed the fifty-two year cycle with a New Fire Ceremony for many centuries, but in 1507 they were to go to the temple on the Hill Of The Star, an eminence then behind the city of Culhaucan, for the last observance of this rite.
(10:17:52) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Already the people were talking about rumors of white men in strange boats, ranging along the coast. It seemed a long way from Tenochtitlan…
(10:18:12) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The elegance of the Aztec way of life at its height compared with the opulence of Crete, Greece and Rome in their golden ages. Feathers were much used for adornment, and the simple skirts and top garments of the women were adorned with vivid embroidery, fringes and ribbons of color.
(10:18:44) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Gold was plentiful, and ornaments of jade, turquoise and other colorful stones were available to all but the very poorest classes.
(10:19:00) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Among the priestesses of the Aztecs was one girl named Azurr.
(10:19:13) (Host-WalksInSpirit) “In the one before this we find in the land of the country that is now known as Mexican, and the entity then in that of the ancient rule now called Aztec, as the princess to the ruler in the temple, under the name Azurr.” – Edgar Cayce Reading 349-1
(10:19:41) (Host-WalksInSpirit) This girl gained prestige by serving people, but had an urge to travel, and the desire to gain knowledge of the inner courts of many nations and peoples.
(10:20:02) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The rituals practiced in honoring the many gods and goddesses, combined with festivals and dancing, provided entertainment for the masses, when they were not employed in the many duties connected with households and work projects.
(10:20:40) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Warriors wore increasingly elaborate costumes as they brought in more and more victims for the sacrificial stone and fires.
(10:20:58) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Aztec law was cruel and illogical, for a man might bring in many unfortunates from the battlefield to be sacrificed, but if a man killed one of the townsmen he could be given the death penalty.
(10:21:18) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Dire punishments were dealt out to those who dared break the laws set up in order to enforce a certain social behavior. There was no such thing as individual life.
(10:21:43) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Hernando Cortes started his march to Mexico in 1519, and having heard of the gold that was to be had there, was enraged the Indians brought gifts of jade and turquoise, instead of the metal which aroused so much greed in Spanish minds.
(10:22:46) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Maguey, or the agave plant, was as important to the Aztec household as was the Buffalo to the Plains Indians. The sap was fermented to make a mildly intoxicating drink, called pulque, the fibers of the thick-leaved plant were used in a dozen different ways, for weaving rope, making sandals, and other necessities.
(10:22:53) (Qrious) the conquistadors are comming ernie... there goes the neighborhood.
(10:22:54) (ernie) you all talking bout me i see
(10:23:14) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The big leaves were also used to thatch roofs and the thorns were made into needles.
(10:23:37) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The tools used by the Aztecs were simple and of the same kind to be found in the homes of the Pueblo Indians to the north. There was the planting stick and the crude stone or wooden hoe for the garden; the metate and mano for the grinding of corn in the kitchen.
(10:24:03) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Pottery served as cookery pot, water container and dishes for the table. The throwing stick, the spear, the bow and arrow and the club were the chief weapons, and Aztec arrow points were made from obsidian and flint, in patterns much like those of their northern neighbors.
(10:24:36) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Quetzalcoatl, The Feathered Serpent divinity of the Mayas, was also generally worshipped by remnants of the Toltec tribe and many other Indians. The powers and the dress of the great personality who founded ancient Palenque had been adopted and widely used by various cults of the Valley Of Mexico.
(10:25:10) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The Feathered Serpent was honored in the sculptures of Chichen Itza and Teotihuacan, as well as Tenayuca.
(10:25:24) (Host-WalksInSpirit) A drawing of the center of Tenochtitlan, as it was when the Spanish conquerors first saw it, shows a round temple which was the crowning magnificence of the great city of Tenochtitlan, a temple honoring their fierce god of war, Huitzilopochtli.
(10:25:52) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Among other innovations, Quetzalcoatl was credited with having designed the ball courts which are so often a part of the ruined old cities of Central America, and point to the widespread use of rubber from the trees of the area. Ball courts are also found in many of the ruins of the Old Ones in New Mexico and Arizona – one example being Wupatki, north of Flagstaff, Arizona.
(10:26:17) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The rubber was probably brought to the high plateaus of North America by traders traveling the ancient routes and bartering macaw and quetzal feathers, rubber, and other Central American items for turquoise, corn, cotton, and other North American Indian commodities.
(10:27:02) (Host-WalksInSpirit) That the ancient tribesmen were masters when it came to reducing stone to elaborate sculptures is proven by the many statues, wall decorations, stelae, and other works they left behind them.
(10:27:15) (Host-WalksInSpirit) George C. Valliant (Aztecs Of Mexico) speculates that the sculptors’ excellence had its origin in “a long and continuous handling of clay.”
(10:27:40) (Host-WalksInSpirit) However, in spite of their great skill and appreciation of art in its many forms, the Aztecs seem always to have lived in a state of horror of the unseen.
(10:27:56) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Back of the barbaric and fantastic facade they presented in their outer lives they seem to have felt the brutality, the cruelty, the inhumanity which they dealt out to their captives of war and their own taboo-breaking people, knowing that what they had given they would ultimately receive.
(10:28:20) (Host-WalksInSpirit) This retribution came to them in the form of men of the Hernando Cortes expedition. They were coldly slaughtered, though they tried to appease the strangers with their treasures of jewels and gold and silver.
(10:28:38) (Host-WalksInSpirit) In a moment, as it were, all their temples came crashing down about their heads. Their gods, so long worshipped, failed to give them comfort or assistance. Their day had ended.
(10:28:57) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Within the space of about 300 years the Aztecs had come in from the north, overcome their neighboring tribesmen, started and completed their beautiful city with its masterfully decorated temples, and, in fact, reached the flowering of their culture.
(10:29:52) (Host-WalksInSpirit) That they did not create some of their art forms, but simply improved upon the work of others, proves their adaptability and their innate skill and artistic sense as well. The pictured history they left as a legacy to future generations not only tells their own story but sheds much light on the history of the Toltec Indians.
(10:30:40) (Host-WalksInSpirit) When the Spanish Legions first saw Tenochtitlan in all its splendor they were entranced and incredulous. The surrounding mountains, the blue waters of the lake and the canals, the flowering gardens and the whitewashed buildings must have made them think of the Garden Of Eden.
(10:31:01) (Host-WalksInSpirit) But they lost no time in adoration of either building site or residents. They had come for land-grabbing and gold, and they went about their work with gusto; as they worked, the Aztec Nation became nearer and nearer to its final agony.
(10:31:21) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Within a year the conquest of Mexico was completed, with most of the Indian tribes subdued. War alone had not been enough to bring them to their knees; disease had played a large part in the tragedy.
(10:31:42) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The Indians were not immune to smallpox, measles, tuberculosis and venereal diseases. They died by thousands in epidemics that amounted to plagues, those who lived being both terrified and weakened by this unknown complication in their lives.
(10:32:07) (Host-WalksInSpirit) That concludes the text portion for this week.
(10:32:28) (merri) WoW! Great info WIS
(10:32:29) (mimi) thank you WalksInSpirit
(10:32:31) (Qrious) chemical warfare... how sad.
(10:32:42) (Julia) awesome Walks thanks
(10:32:47) (ernie) cool good class sorry i was late]
(10:33:07) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Yall are welcome! Thank you all for being here!
(10:33:40) (merri) this is a wonderful series you are presenting WIS
(10:33:57) (merri) It helps put the time periods in perspective
(10:34:00) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Thanks Merri! It sure has been an interesting ride for me too!
(10:34:25) (Qrious) very informative... mixing lost tribes.. and southern indians... to make Aztecans.. thanks for the class.
(10:34:37) (Host-WalksInSpirit) To go all the way from the sinking of Mu and Atlantis to the Mound Builders (next week)
(10:35:00) (ernie) cool.
(10:35:15) (Mandy) what a story! lol
(10:35:33) (Julia) Walks do you know who the father was of Poseidon, according to Siguenza y Gongora?
(10:35:50) (Mandy) you are some kind of researcher WIS
(10:35:58) (Host-WalksInSpirit) I sure don't, Julia. I wish I did!
(10:36:07) (Julia) yeah that would be interesting to find out
(10:36:47) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Well, I can’t take all the credit, Mandy. This is from an old ARE Press booklet called "The Great Migration"
(10:37:03) (Qrious) Chronos..I think Julia.. with Gaia as the mom... in Greek stories..
(10:37:27) (Host-WalksInSpirit) I have researched some of Col. Churchward's work regarding Lemuria, though.
(10:37:37) (Julia) thanks Qrious, any idea who his father was in the Noah lineage?
(10:38:39) (Qrious) well.. you have three sons... and one of the offsprings of one of them.. could be a clue..
(10:39:38) (Qrious) it was Noahs.. grandson wasn't it?
(10:40:11) (mimi) ty again good night all
(10:40:40) (Host-WalksInSpirit) I'm looking back just a sec, Qrious
(10:40:42) (Julia) great grandson
(10:41:20) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Yep, Julia.
(10:41:25) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Great-Grandson
(10:42:13) (Qrious) could have been Peleg because it is written... in his time the earth was divided... could be him I would guess.
(10:42:28) (Host-WalksInSpirit) I can't remember if it lists in detail Noah's descendants in the Old testament or not.
(10:42:41) (Qrious) it does Walks..
(10:42:58) (Qrious) in Gen.10-11.
(10:43:18) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Ok, maybe we can find a clue there as to who Poseidon was.
(10:43:49) (Host-WalksInSpirit) That's a good suggestion, Qrious.
(10:44:00) (Qrious) verse 25 speaks of Peleg and Joktan his brother born of Eber the sone of Aram the son of Shem
(10:44:26) (Qrious) so.. that should be an educated guess.
(10:45:06) (mark) thanks WalksInSpirit,...take care everyone
(10:45:46) (Qrious) Shem was Noahs son..
(10:46:09) (Julia) so were japhath and ham
(10:46:59) (Qrious) but it states specifically... the division of the earth ... like a bookmark.. or a reason to pay attention to a fact... its just a guess Julia
(10:47:10) (Julia) there is one thing though, from jewish tradition, is that the jews are descended from shem, noahs son. recent genetic testing has shown that some native american populations have the cohen gene in them, the priestly caste of the jews
(10:47:14) (Mandy) you all are incredible..I like listening to you all talk about this
(10:47:30) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Right. That might be talking about the inundations of Mu and Atlantis.
(10:47:38) (Julia) specifically some native populations on the east coast were tested and found with the gene
(10:47:51) (Julia) but whos to say it wouldnt be across all spectrum too
(10:49:17) (Qrious) Jews... were from Judah... through Peleg's line Julia.. its in Luke3;35,
(10:49:22) (Julia) anyway, its an interesting study, Id like to see where the person came up with the information that Poseidon was Noahs great grandson, from which father and son, and what the name is in the bible for Poseidon if his place could be determined
(10:52:16) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Open Chat!
(10:52:37) (Mandy) oh thanks WIS
(11:03:13) (WalksInSpirit) Well good people, I'm gonna call it a night and get chat posted. Thank you all for coming and participating! Night Blessings to you all!!!
(11:03:22) (Julia) nite nite walks! thanks
(11:03:27) (Qrious) Aloha Walks
(09:58:25) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Holy Father, we thank You for this time of fellowship together. We ask that You'd touch each one here with Your infinite Love, Peace, and Understanding. Help us in all ways to walk our paths in beauty. In Your Holy Name, we ask these things, Nunwe.
(09:58:30) (Cris) Amen
(09:58:39) (Qrious) ameni
(09:58:42) (merri) Amen
(09:58:47) (mimi) Amen
(09:58:48) (gilly) Amen
(09:58:48) (Julia) amen
(09:59:15) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Tonight, we'll look at the Aztecs.
(10:00:24) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Part Five: The Aztecs
(10:00:44) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Somewhere north of the Colorado River, in a mythical place of seven caves, the head priest of an Indian tribe, later known as the Aztecs, listened to a bird’s call and fancied it gave him a message. “Let us go,” he thought it was saying to him, and this message he relayed to his people.
(10:01:06) (Host-WalksInSpirit) They responded willingly and prepared to start out on an adventurous journey southward, into unknown territory, where, if their priests were correctly informing them, they would find an island in a lake, and on this island an eagle sitting on a cactus plant, with a snake in his beak.
(10:01:31) (Host-WalksInSpirit) No one knows just where “north of the Colorado River” this place of the seven caves was located. It could have been “far north” as some tales suggested, or it could have been as close as the red rock area near Kanab, Utah, where there are many immense caves – some with lakes in underground recesses – where Indians have been known to live.
(10:01:52) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Smoked walls and painted handprints, as well as artifacts and corncobs, are still to be found in that area, evidently popular as a shelter during a long period of time.
(10:02:13) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The Aztecs’ first thought, after the momentous decision was made, was of their God, Huitzilopochtli (Hummingbird Wizard), fierce-visaged and war-like. He must lead them, and in a suitable, dignified manner.
(10:02:36) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Work was commenced at once and a chair of rushes and reeds designed for him. With the War God seated in this chair, the Heron People, as they called themselves, would be able to undertake the long walk southward.
(10:02:57) (Host-WalksInSpirit) An Edgar Cayce Reading apparently refers to these people:
(10:03:14) (Host-WalksInSpirit) “3,000 years before the Prince of Peace came, those peoples that were of the Lost Tribes, a portion came into the land; infusing their activities upon the peoples from Mu in the southernmost portion of that called America or United States, and then moved on to the activities in Mexico, Yucatan, centralizing that now about the spots where the central of Mexico now stands, or Mexico City.
(10:03:28) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Hence there arose through the age a different civilization, a MIXTURE again.” – Edgar Cayce Reading 5750-1
(10:03:59) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The time element is a trifle confusing, since the date of the Aztecs’ journey southward is given by some authorities as 1160 A.D. Also causing speculation is the similarity between the Aztecs and the Toltecs.
(10:04:19) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Both claimed to have come from Atlan, or Aztlan, “far to the north,” and both tribes spoke the common language of the Valley Of Anahuac, Nahua, or Nahuatl. The Aztecs were Heron People; the Toltecs, Reed People, both names indicating swampy locations as some former homeland.
(10:04:57) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Siguenza y Gongora, a Mexican of the 17th Century, may have been correct when he made the statement that all Indians of the New World were descendants of Poseidon (ruler of Atlantis) and that Poseidon was a great grandson of Noah, though other scholars, such as Colonel Churchward, contend that the Indians were of different origins, some of the more brown-skinned people being descendants of the refugees from Lemuria.
(10:05:44) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Supposedly the Aztecs began their journey with seven tribes, or clan families, though the seventh tribe, the Mexicans, soon left the main body and continued thereafter by themselves. Four priests bore the platform on which the War God, Huitzilopochtli, rode at the head of the straggling column.
(10:06:11) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Whenever the people stopped for a rest they paid homage to the image and asked for his advice, which he is said to have conveyed to their satisfaction. These rest periods depended upon the land through which they traveled.
(10:06:35) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Scouts were sent ahead to choose good campsites, where crops could be planted, and having chosen a site and planted their corn, beans, squashes and other food seeds, they relaxed while the plants matured and yielded their harvest. Then, rested, and with provisions for another effort, they went on.
(10:07:04) (Host-WalksInSpirit) It is thought that they avoided other settled peoples as much as possible, but they may have made contact with Cliff Dwellers and early Pueblo people as they drove on through New Mexico and Arizona.
(10:07:27) (Host-WalksInSpirit) They were in high altitudes most of the time, and gradually climbing as they entered Mexico, probably advancing along the eastern slope of the Sierra Madres, where for hundreds of miles there were pine forests to provide housing and fuel, as well as wild game.
(10:07:48) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The terraced gardens they planted served a good purpose in preventing erosion and bedding down millions of cones that might otherwise have been swept away by the rains.
(10:08:20) (Host-WalksInSpirit) When, finally, they reached the lakes “within the ring” of mountains – the great swampy, fertile Valley Of Mexico, often called Anahuac, they felt they had reached their objective.
(10:08:45) (Host-WalksInSpirit) But a strong tribe of Indians, called the Tepanecs, contested their right to be there and permission had to be gained before they made a campsite in what is now called Chapultepec Park.
(10:09:03) (Host-WalksInSpirit) A couple of centuries had elapsed since they crossed the Colorado, but they had found the Eagle, the cactus and the serpent. This was their home.
(10:09:26) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The coming together of two strong tribes and the ensuing difficulties are indicated in this excerpt from the Cayce Records:
(10:09:42) (Host-WalksInSpirit) “…we find in that period when changes took place in what is now known as Mexican country, in the subduing of the peoples as came down from the north, by those coming up from the south. The entity among those who were put in charge of the subdued peoples, and from which arose that peoples now known as Aztec.” – Edgar Cayce Reading 345-1
(10:10:10) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The Aztecs were a vigorous, adventuresome people, capable of adapting themselves, like those mentioned in this reading:
(10:10:28) (Host-WalksInSpirit) “[They, the Red Race were] able to use IN their gradual development all the forces as were manifest in their individual surroundings, passing through those periods of developments” – Edgar Cayce Reading 364-3
(10:10:58) (Host-WalksInSpirit) It is quite possible that they had clashed with other small tribes along their route, but there is no record of this. However, once they established themselves in the Valley, the young men became restless and began raiding their new neighbors and carrying off some of the prettiest maidens to become their wives.
(10:11:29) (Host-WalksInSpirit) In the then swampy valley there was an area shunned by most of the older settlers. This was the network of waterways now called Xochomilco. The newcomers saw the value of the so-called floating gardens and began building up these bits of real estate with mud scooped from the water’s edge,
(10:11:43) (Host-WalksInSpirit) and held in place by retaining walls until tree roots and other growth stabilized these man-made islands. On these bits of land, they planted their crops and saw them grow luxuriantly on the fertile soil.
(10:12:10) (Host-WalksInSpirit) As the Aztecs grew stronger, three of the older settled tribes banded together to overcome them. Those captured were forced to go, as slaves, into the Culhuacan territory, while those who escaped took refuge on islands in a lake. They still worshipped Huitzilopochtli, but he had ceased to be all-important, and the other tribes reviled him.
(10:12:34) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The enslaved Aztecs found a chance to redeem themselves by helping their masters defeat the chief, Xochimilco, and his slaves. They took many prisoners, the luckless ones being sacrificed to the gods of the victors.
(10:12:58) (Host-WalksInSpirit) About this time, it seems, with the pride of the Aztecs restored, they began building Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City. They took over the heritage and some of the skill of the Toltecs, who had by that time ceased to be an important tribe, their chief having left the capital city of Tula.
(10:13:19) (Host-WalksInSpirit) For many years war followed war, while the founders of Tenochtitlan, the Tenochan Aztecs, were striving to build a temple city in the nature of beautiful Teotihuacan.
(10:13:45) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Texcoco was at that time the most important city of the lakes and a brilliant statesman, poet and educator named Nezahualcoyotl (Hungry Coyote) was its chief. He had fought an unsuccessful war and had found it necessary to flee for his life, but from his hideaway in the hills he began plotting against his enemies, enlisting the aid of Itzcoatl, new chief of the Tenochas, in overcoming them.
(10:14:14) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Through this battle the Tenochas gained lake shore property which made more effective conquest possible, and eventually made the Tenochoas rivals of the Texcocoans, and finally a superior tribe as their great city began to take form.
(10:14:42) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Chiefs who succeeded Itzcoatl added to the progression of the city of Tenochtitlan. Montezuma I built aqueducts from the springs of Chapultepec and brought sweet, clean water to the people.
(10:15:08) (Host-WalksInSpirit) He also built dingbats to protect the houses from high water in the lakes during rainy seasons. In the reign of his son, jealousy over the War God, Huitzilopochtli, and monuments raised to his honor, brought on a war, but it was also during this time that the great Calendar Stone, still rated as one of the marvels of all time, was made.
(10:15:26) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The gigantic twenty-ton block was quarried on the mainland and dragged along the causeways to the Zocolo, to serve as a symbol of the Aztec universe.
(10:15:56) (Host-WalksInSpirit) About this time Nezahualcoyotl died. He had served his people diligently and had won an honored place, not only among his own people, but among his enemies, and he had performed the feat of staying at peace with the people of Tenochtitlan,
(10:16:12) (Host-WalksInSpirit) the warlike Aztecs, who were ever looking for an opportunity to increase their fortunes and their prestige. He was much admired for his knowledge of astronomy and astrology.
(10:16:36) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Even as they raised the flamboyant and massive temples to their gods, the Aztecs and their allies were carrying on mass destruction of other tribes, going as far south as Oaxaca to secure prisoners for the performance of sacrifices to the fierce, bloodthirsty gods they revered.
(10:17:09) (Host-WalksInSpirit) But the end of their bloodshedding and sacrificing was soon to come to an end, and they, themselves, would be the sacrificial victims.
(10:17:29) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The Aztecs had observed the fifty-two year cycle with a New Fire Ceremony for many centuries, but in 1507 they were to go to the temple on the Hill Of The Star, an eminence then behind the city of Culhaucan, for the last observance of this rite.
(10:17:52) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Already the people were talking about rumors of white men in strange boats, ranging along the coast. It seemed a long way from Tenochtitlan…
(10:18:12) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The elegance of the Aztec way of life at its height compared with the opulence of Crete, Greece and Rome in their golden ages. Feathers were much used for adornment, and the simple skirts and top garments of the women were adorned with vivid embroidery, fringes and ribbons of color.
(10:18:44) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Gold was plentiful, and ornaments of jade, turquoise and other colorful stones were available to all but the very poorest classes.
(10:19:00) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Among the priestesses of the Aztecs was one girl named Azurr.
(10:19:13) (Host-WalksInSpirit) “In the one before this we find in the land of the country that is now known as Mexican, and the entity then in that of the ancient rule now called Aztec, as the princess to the ruler in the temple, under the name Azurr.” – Edgar Cayce Reading 349-1
(10:19:41) (Host-WalksInSpirit) This girl gained prestige by serving people, but had an urge to travel, and the desire to gain knowledge of the inner courts of many nations and peoples.
(10:20:02) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The rituals practiced in honoring the many gods and goddesses, combined with festivals and dancing, provided entertainment for the masses, when they were not employed in the many duties connected with households and work projects.
(10:20:40) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Warriors wore increasingly elaborate costumes as they brought in more and more victims for the sacrificial stone and fires.
(10:20:58) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Aztec law was cruel and illogical, for a man might bring in many unfortunates from the battlefield to be sacrificed, but if a man killed one of the townsmen he could be given the death penalty.
(10:21:18) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Dire punishments were dealt out to those who dared break the laws set up in order to enforce a certain social behavior. There was no such thing as individual life.
(10:21:43) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Hernando Cortes started his march to Mexico in 1519, and having heard of the gold that was to be had there, was enraged the Indians brought gifts of jade and turquoise, instead of the metal which aroused so much greed in Spanish minds.
(10:22:46) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Maguey, or the agave plant, was as important to the Aztec household as was the Buffalo to the Plains Indians. The sap was fermented to make a mildly intoxicating drink, called pulque, the fibers of the thick-leaved plant were used in a dozen different ways, for weaving rope, making sandals, and other necessities.
(10:22:53) (Qrious) the conquistadors are comming ernie... there goes the neighborhood.
(10:22:54) (ernie) you all talking bout me i see
(10:23:14) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The big leaves were also used to thatch roofs and the thorns were made into needles.
(10:23:37) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The tools used by the Aztecs were simple and of the same kind to be found in the homes of the Pueblo Indians to the north. There was the planting stick and the crude stone or wooden hoe for the garden; the metate and mano for the grinding of corn in the kitchen.
(10:24:03) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Pottery served as cookery pot, water container and dishes for the table. The throwing stick, the spear, the bow and arrow and the club were the chief weapons, and Aztec arrow points were made from obsidian and flint, in patterns much like those of their northern neighbors.
(10:24:36) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Quetzalcoatl, The Feathered Serpent divinity of the Mayas, was also generally worshipped by remnants of the Toltec tribe and many other Indians. The powers and the dress of the great personality who founded ancient Palenque had been adopted and widely used by various cults of the Valley Of Mexico.
(10:25:10) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The Feathered Serpent was honored in the sculptures of Chichen Itza and Teotihuacan, as well as Tenayuca.
(10:25:24) (Host-WalksInSpirit) A drawing of the center of Tenochtitlan, as it was when the Spanish conquerors first saw it, shows a round temple which was the crowning magnificence of the great city of Tenochtitlan, a temple honoring their fierce god of war, Huitzilopochtli.
(10:25:52) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Among other innovations, Quetzalcoatl was credited with having designed the ball courts which are so often a part of the ruined old cities of Central America, and point to the widespread use of rubber from the trees of the area. Ball courts are also found in many of the ruins of the Old Ones in New Mexico and Arizona – one example being Wupatki, north of Flagstaff, Arizona.
(10:26:17) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The rubber was probably brought to the high plateaus of North America by traders traveling the ancient routes and bartering macaw and quetzal feathers, rubber, and other Central American items for turquoise, corn, cotton, and other North American Indian commodities.
(10:27:02) (Host-WalksInSpirit) That the ancient tribesmen were masters when it came to reducing stone to elaborate sculptures is proven by the many statues, wall decorations, stelae, and other works they left behind them.
(10:27:15) (Host-WalksInSpirit) George C. Valliant (Aztecs Of Mexico) speculates that the sculptors’ excellence had its origin in “a long and continuous handling of clay.”
(10:27:40) (Host-WalksInSpirit) However, in spite of their great skill and appreciation of art in its many forms, the Aztecs seem always to have lived in a state of horror of the unseen.
(10:27:56) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Back of the barbaric and fantastic facade they presented in their outer lives they seem to have felt the brutality, the cruelty, the inhumanity which they dealt out to their captives of war and their own taboo-breaking people, knowing that what they had given they would ultimately receive.
(10:28:20) (Host-WalksInSpirit) This retribution came to them in the form of men of the Hernando Cortes expedition. They were coldly slaughtered, though they tried to appease the strangers with their treasures of jewels and gold and silver.
(10:28:38) (Host-WalksInSpirit) In a moment, as it were, all their temples came crashing down about their heads. Their gods, so long worshipped, failed to give them comfort or assistance. Their day had ended.
(10:28:57) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Within the space of about 300 years the Aztecs had come in from the north, overcome their neighboring tribesmen, started and completed their beautiful city with its masterfully decorated temples, and, in fact, reached the flowering of their culture.
(10:29:52) (Host-WalksInSpirit) That they did not create some of their art forms, but simply improved upon the work of others, proves their adaptability and their innate skill and artistic sense as well. The pictured history they left as a legacy to future generations not only tells their own story but sheds much light on the history of the Toltec Indians.
(10:30:40) (Host-WalksInSpirit) When the Spanish Legions first saw Tenochtitlan in all its splendor they were entranced and incredulous. The surrounding mountains, the blue waters of the lake and the canals, the flowering gardens and the whitewashed buildings must have made them think of the Garden Of Eden.
(10:31:01) (Host-WalksInSpirit) But they lost no time in adoration of either building site or residents. They had come for land-grabbing and gold, and they went about their work with gusto; as they worked, the Aztec Nation became nearer and nearer to its final agony.
(10:31:21) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Within a year the conquest of Mexico was completed, with most of the Indian tribes subdued. War alone had not been enough to bring them to their knees; disease had played a large part in the tragedy.
(10:31:42) (Host-WalksInSpirit) The Indians were not immune to smallpox, measles, tuberculosis and venereal diseases. They died by thousands in epidemics that amounted to plagues, those who lived being both terrified and weakened by this unknown complication in their lives.
(10:32:07) (Host-WalksInSpirit) That concludes the text portion for this week.
(10:32:28) (merri) WoW! Great info WIS
(10:32:29) (mimi) thank you WalksInSpirit
(10:32:31) (Qrious) chemical warfare... how sad.
(10:32:42) (Julia) awesome Walks thanks
(10:32:47) (ernie) cool good class sorry i was late]
(10:33:07) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Yall are welcome! Thank you all for being here!
(10:33:40) (merri) this is a wonderful series you are presenting WIS
(10:33:57) (merri) It helps put the time periods in perspective
(10:34:00) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Thanks Merri! It sure has been an interesting ride for me too!
(10:34:25) (Qrious) very informative... mixing lost tribes.. and southern indians... to make Aztecans.. thanks for the class.
(10:34:37) (Host-WalksInSpirit) To go all the way from the sinking of Mu and Atlantis to the Mound Builders (next week)
(10:35:00) (ernie) cool.
(10:35:15) (Mandy) what a story! lol
(10:35:33) (Julia) Walks do you know who the father was of Poseidon, according to Siguenza y Gongora?
(10:35:50) (Mandy) you are some kind of researcher WIS
(10:35:58) (Host-WalksInSpirit) I sure don't, Julia. I wish I did!
(10:36:07) (Julia) yeah that would be interesting to find out
(10:36:47) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Well, I can’t take all the credit, Mandy. This is from an old ARE Press booklet called "The Great Migration"
(10:37:03) (Qrious) Chronos..I think Julia.. with Gaia as the mom... in Greek stories..
(10:37:27) (Host-WalksInSpirit) I have researched some of Col. Churchward's work regarding Lemuria, though.
(10:37:37) (Julia) thanks Qrious, any idea who his father was in the Noah lineage?
(10:38:39) (Qrious) well.. you have three sons... and one of the offsprings of one of them.. could be a clue..
(10:39:38) (Qrious) it was Noahs.. grandson wasn't it?
(10:40:11) (mimi) ty again good night all
(10:40:40) (Host-WalksInSpirit) I'm looking back just a sec, Qrious
(10:40:42) (Julia) great grandson
(10:41:20) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Yep, Julia.
(10:41:25) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Great-Grandson
(10:42:13) (Qrious) could have been Peleg because it is written... in his time the earth was divided... could be him I would guess.
(10:42:28) (Host-WalksInSpirit) I can't remember if it lists in detail Noah's descendants in the Old testament or not.
(10:42:41) (Qrious) it does Walks..
(10:42:58) (Qrious) in Gen.10-11.
(10:43:18) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Ok, maybe we can find a clue there as to who Poseidon was.
(10:43:49) (Host-WalksInSpirit) That's a good suggestion, Qrious.
(10:44:00) (Qrious) verse 25 speaks of Peleg and Joktan his brother born of Eber the sone of Aram the son of Shem
(10:44:26) (Qrious) so.. that should be an educated guess.
(10:45:06) (mark) thanks WalksInSpirit,...take care everyone
(10:45:46) (Qrious) Shem was Noahs son..
(10:46:09) (Julia) so were japhath and ham
(10:46:59) (Qrious) but it states specifically... the division of the earth ... like a bookmark.. or a reason to pay attention to a fact... its just a guess Julia
(10:47:10) (Julia) there is one thing though, from jewish tradition, is that the jews are descended from shem, noahs son. recent genetic testing has shown that some native american populations have the cohen gene in them, the priestly caste of the jews
(10:47:14) (Mandy) you all are incredible..I like listening to you all talk about this
(10:47:30) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Right. That might be talking about the inundations of Mu and Atlantis.
(10:47:38) (Julia) specifically some native populations on the east coast were tested and found with the gene
(10:47:51) (Julia) but whos to say it wouldnt be across all spectrum too
(10:49:17) (Qrious) Jews... were from Judah... through Peleg's line Julia.. its in Luke3;35,
(10:49:22) (Julia) anyway, its an interesting study, Id like to see where the person came up with the information that Poseidon was Noahs great grandson, from which father and son, and what the name is in the bible for Poseidon if his place could be determined
(10:52:16) (Host-WalksInSpirit) Open Chat!
(10:52:37) (Mandy) oh thanks WIS
(11:03:13) (WalksInSpirit) Well good people, I'm gonna call it a night and get chat posted. Thank you all for coming and participating! Night Blessings to you all!!!
(11:03:22) (Julia) nite nite walks! thanks
(11:03:27) (Qrious) Aloha Walks