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Miquiztli's Patron and the North

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Miquiztli's Patron and the North

Miquiztli's patron is Tecciztecatl, the moon lord, whose own myth from the creation of the Fifth Sun at Teotihuacan tells of hesitation before the sacrificial fire followed by a lesser but still honoured place in the sky as the moon, a story of reversal that pairs naturally with the day sign's own theme of death's fortune turned around. Its direction is north, shared with Ehecatl, Itzcuintli, Ocelotl and Tecpatl, the four direction rotation's second station recurring every five signs across the full twenty. Miquiztli is not a year bearer, standing midway between Calli at three and Tochtli at eight, outside the select group of four signs spaced exactly five apart that alone could open a solar year.

Tecciztecatl's patronage of a death sign whose reading turns favourable through ritual reversal mirrors his own myth precisely, a god who nearly failed at the decisive moment and was rewarded regardless, and the tonalpouhque's reading of Miquiztli as an augury that honours the overlooked, slaves shown respect on the day named for death, draws directly on the same logic that governs the moon lord's own story of hesitation redeemed rather than punished outright. The moon's dimmer light, explained in the same myth by a rabbit thrown at Tecciztecatl's face by the assembled gods, gave Nahua skywatchers a visible, nightly reminder of the same story of hesitation and reduced but still honoured standing that this day sign's reversed augury reflects on the ground.

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