Tepeyollotl- Aztec GodDeity"Heart of the Mountain"

The Voice in the Mountain

Tepeyollotl, "Heart of the Mountain," dwelt within the hollow interiors of the peaks that rose across central Mexico. The Aztecs understood mountains as living beings, their interiors filled with water, precious stones, and supernatural forces. Tepeyollotl was what beat at their center: a jaguar god whose presence explained the sounds that came from the earth. Echoes returning from canyon walls and cave mouths were his voice, the growl of a predator watching from the darkness. Earthquakes were his restless stirring, the mountain shaking when the jaguar within moved.

Hunters and travelers who heard their own voices thrown back from the rock faces knew they had entered Tepeyollotl's domain. The echo was the mountain acknowledging their presence, or warning them away.

Jaguar of the Night Sky

Tepeyollotl was an aspect of Tezcatlipoca, the lord of night, and the jaguar bound them together. The jaguar's spotted coat mirrored the night sky, each spot a star, and the animal's nocturnal nature made it a vessel for a god of darkness and concealment. In the Codex Borgia and Codex Borbonicus, Tepeyollotl appears in full jaguar form set against mountains and caves, a predator indistinguishable from the landscape he inhabited.

He served as the eighth Lord of the Night in the Aztec calendar, one of nine deities who in rotation governed the dark hours. The jaguar that roared inside the mountain watched over the darkness above as well. His domain ran from the deepest cave to the star-spotted sky.