Ehecatl- Aztec GodDeity

The Wind That Clears the Way

Ehecatl was the face of Quetzalcoatl as the moving air. His most distinctive mark was a projecting mask shaped like a duck's bill, the mouth through which he blew the winds of the world. At his chest hung the ehecailacocozcatl, the wind jewel, a cross-section of conch shell sacred to him. His temples were built circular, with no sharp corners to break the wind's path. The most famous stood at Calixtlahuaca in the Toluca Valley, a circular platform where the air could pass unimpeded.

Before the storm clouds could release their water, the wind had to sweep the roads of the sky clean. Without Ehecatl, no rain fell. His winds carried the clouds and dried the fields for planting. He was not a rain god, but rain depended on him.

The Gift of Love

Ehecatl descended to earth and fell in love with a mortal woman. The experience moved him enough that he wanted humanity to know what he felt. He gave them the ability to love, an emotion carried on breath, invisible and irresistible as the wind itself. From the god of moving air came the stirring that draws one person toward another, the force that no wall can block and no distance can stop.