Deities
Mayahuel
Aztec Deities
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Mayahuel is the Aztec deity personifying the maguey (agave) plant, worshipped in the Postclassic-era religion of central Mexico as part of a wider complex of maternal and fertility goddesses tied to fecundity and nourishment. Though often called a pulque goddess, she is most strongly associated with the maguey plant itself as the source rather than with octli, the fermented drink later called pulque, as the end product; the plant also supplied thorns for ritual bloodletting and fiber for textiles. She is commonly shown with many breasts, read as nursing her many children, and is depicted perched upon a maguey plant in the Codex Borgia and Codex Borbonicus, sharing the plant's own blue pigment in the latter, and holding what appears to be rope spun from maguey fiber. The Codex Magliabechiano glosses her plainly: the juice that comes from the maguey plant she is named for was an intoxicant.
Facts
Attributions
Mythic AssociationIn one well-attested narrative thread, Quetzalcoatl, in his wind-god aspect Ehecatl, fell in love with Mayahuel and carried her down to earth; to escape her pursuing kin the two transformed into the branches of a single tree, but the Tzitzimime, star-demons, discovered and tore the tree apart, killing her. Grief-stricken, Quetzalcoatl buried her remains, and from them grew the first maguey plant. 2 Mythic AssociationSourced to the subject's own accountIn the genealogical thread most sources use to place her within the pulque-god family, Mayahuel's consort is Patecatl, the god who discovered peyote and is called the 'lord of the root of pulque'; together they are named as the parents of the Centzon Totochtin, the Four Hundred Rabbits, the multitude of minor gods personifying pulque's many intoxicating effects. Sources do not reconcile this marital genealogy with the Ehecatl elopement narrative into one continuous story; the two circulate as distinct mythic threads about her. 1 Identity
GenderSourced to the subject's own account Belief
TheologySourced to the subject's own accountPolytheistic: many gods 1 Function
Domain / FunctionSourced to the subject's own accountFertility and generation 1 Domain / FunctionSourced to the subject's own account Domain DetailSourced to the subject's own accountGoddess of the maguey plant and, by extension, of octli/pulque brewed from its sap; her iconographic many-breasted form reads as a fertility image, nursing her many children the Centzon Totochtin. 1 Life
Place of ActivitySourced to the subject's own accountPopocatepetl, the volcano given as her abode. 1 Associated RelicSourced to the subject's own accountThe maguey plant itself: its thorns were used for ritual bloodletting and its fiber spun into the rope she is shown holding; its sap, aguamiel, was fermented into octli/pulque and, per belief, was considered the goddess's own blood. 1 Practice
LineageSourced to the subject's own accountWikipedia's genealogical summary (after the primary codices) names Omecihuatl as her parent and the Nauhtzonteteo, the 1,600 gods, as her siblings, situating her within the vast, loosely-genealogized company of minor Aztec nature deities rather than a single fixed family tree; her own abode is given as the volcano Popocatepetl. 1 Origins
Origin of the NameThe Codex Magliabechiano's own gloss ties her name directly to the maguey plant: 'the next demon was called Mayahuel, which means maguey, because the juice that comes from it was an intoxicant.' 2 Attestation
Veneration TodayHistorically attested; no continuous cult 1 Sourced to the subject's own accountAztec religion as a living, state-sponsored tradition ended with the Spanish conquest; Mayahuel is known today through colonial-era codices and continuing scholarship, not an unbroken cult. HistoricitySourced to the subject's own accountNot a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 1 Cult
Attributes and IconographySourced to the subject's own accountDepicted perched upon a maguey plant in the Codex Borgia and Codex Borbonicus; page 8 of the Codex Borbonicus renders her body in the same blue pigment as the plant itself, visually identifying goddess and plant. She holds what looks like rope, presumably spun from maguey fiber. Also carved at the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan, now in the Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico City. 1 Correspondences & Relations
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Mayahuel directly: "A Mythlok reference article on Mayahuel, read 2026-08-22, retelling the myth of Ehecatl's elopement with Mayahuel, their pursuit and death at the hands of the Tzitzimime, and Quetzalcoatl burying..."
This source names Mayahuel directly: "The English Wikipedia article on Mayahuel, read 2026-08-22, describing her as the Aztec deity personifying the maguey plant, her iconography in the Codex Borgia, Codex Borbonicus, Codex Rios and..."
Married To
Consort and, in this genealogical thread, co-parent of the Centzon Totochtin.
Parent Of
Related To
Why this is disputed. The Ehecatl-elopement myth casts Quetzalcoatl (as Ehecatl) as her lover and, after her death, the one who buries her to grow the first maguey; this is a distinct mythic thread from her marital pairing with Patecatl, and sources do not reconcile the two.
Worshipped In
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Food and Drink Atlas: Pulque, influenced this subject there.
Sources
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