05-29-2002, 12:00 AM
If you have read the posts here, you have encountered many ideas. You have read of the Tonal, defined quickly as "fate," and the Nagual - the Nahualli - referred to a sorcerer. The Double-God Xolotl is Quetzalcoatl's Nahualli, and the the jaguar is Tezcatlipoca's Nahualli. The others all have Nahuallis as well; for example, Heyoka's is a hummingbird.
In my belief, everyone - every living animal, every living plant, all beings, etc. - all have a Tonalli and a Nahualli, a Tonal and a Nagual.
There is no word in our language that exactly fits as a translation for Tonalli. "Fate" is sometimes used because one's Tonal does determine, to a great extent, the course of one's life. "Soul" is used sometimes too, since the Tonal represents the Inner Fire that animates and drives a person, but the Tonal is not the self, nor is it in any sense a part of the Self left existing and conscious after bodily death.
But there is some truth to both. The Tonal, which is acquired at birth but may be lost - temporarily or permanently - is the essence of the interaction between the individual and the natural universe.
In my view, loss of Tonal is an important cause of illness. The Tonal may be and commonly is lost under normal conditions; during sleep and other times of unconsciousness, and during sexual intercourse (the participants' Tonallis are usually off having sex themselves at such times). Loss of Tonal for long periods can be serious, and produces conditions your doctors refer to as "anxiety," "depression," and "panic attacks." Permanent loss of Tonal is fatal. In some other cultures this aspect of the Tonal may be called the "Shadow" or the "Doppelganger," loss of which is a serious matter. It is said to be possible to encounter a wandering Tonal, it simply isn't seen as unusual - a person's Tonal looks just like that person.
It's not just people - and the Teteo - who have Tonals, either.
Animals have Tonals as well, and so do plants. But so do, as an example, cities; a vibrant population center may on its own develop a Tonal, based on some particular day when it achieves an independent "consciousness."
The concept of the Nagual is very different.
Depending on who you ask and how you phrase the question, you might get very different answers to this question, since there are several very different definitions for this word.
To begin let me explain this: every person, at birth, is associate with some other living thing, usually an animal. That animal (usually) is known as one's nahualli. You cannot choose it, and, unless you've taken some steps to find out what it is, you probably don't know. Mine is of course the wolf.
Those who would become knowledgable about things of this sort, have ways of seeking out enlightenment. Certain plants, judiciously used, can be helpful. A process of putting the body under unusual stresses in other ways is sometimes used as well. However this is done, it can lead to the acquisition of certain kinds of information. As a general term, we can call this a Vision Quest. In such ways do warriors seek knowledge of their Nagual.
It is said that those who achieve a full knowledge of and communication with the Nagual gain, thereby, the ability to shift their consciousness between their own bodies and those of their Naguals.
Once a person can do that, the ability to manipulate certian things in the real world comes with it. Now, this person - who is now a sorcerer or sorceress - is referred to as a "Nagual." With further advancement comes the ability to actually transform physically into the Nagual's animal form, and even the forms of other animals. Transformations into dynamic objects like rolling fireballs and meteors are also reported.
At this time, too, the man or woman who has become Nagual has gained the ability to move between this ordinary world of ordinary reality and one where reality is quite different; this different reality is also called "The Nagual."
Now, once the Nagual - the sorcerer/sorceress - has complete access to this four- layered supernatural world, he or she can not only manipulate ordinary reality in some profound ways, but he or she is privy to knowledge of things you stuck in your ordinary single-layered world, cannot know.
In my belief, everyone - every living animal, every living plant, all beings, etc. - all have a Tonalli and a Nahualli, a Tonal and a Nagual.
There is no word in our language that exactly fits as a translation for Tonalli. "Fate" is sometimes used because one's Tonal does determine, to a great extent, the course of one's life. "Soul" is used sometimes too, since the Tonal represents the Inner Fire that animates and drives a person, but the Tonal is not the self, nor is it in any sense a part of the Self left existing and conscious after bodily death.
But there is some truth to both. The Tonal, which is acquired at birth but may be lost - temporarily or permanently - is the essence of the interaction between the individual and the natural universe.
In my view, loss of Tonal is an important cause of illness. The Tonal may be and commonly is lost under normal conditions; during sleep and other times of unconsciousness, and during sexual intercourse (the participants' Tonallis are usually off having sex themselves at such times). Loss of Tonal for long periods can be serious, and produces conditions your doctors refer to as "anxiety," "depression," and "panic attacks." Permanent loss of Tonal is fatal. In some other cultures this aspect of the Tonal may be called the "Shadow" or the "Doppelganger," loss of which is a serious matter. It is said to be possible to encounter a wandering Tonal, it simply isn't seen as unusual - a person's Tonal looks just like that person.
It's not just people - and the Teteo - who have Tonals, either.
Animals have Tonals as well, and so do plants. But so do, as an example, cities; a vibrant population center may on its own develop a Tonal, based on some particular day when it achieves an independent "consciousness."
The concept of the Nagual is very different.
Depending on who you ask and how you phrase the question, you might get very different answers to this question, since there are several very different definitions for this word.
To begin let me explain this: every person, at birth, is associate with some other living thing, usually an animal. That animal (usually) is known as one's nahualli. You cannot choose it, and, unless you've taken some steps to find out what it is, you probably don't know. Mine is of course the wolf.
Those who would become knowledgable about things of this sort, have ways of seeking out enlightenment. Certain plants, judiciously used, can be helpful. A process of putting the body under unusual stresses in other ways is sometimes used as well. However this is done, it can lead to the acquisition of certain kinds of information. As a general term, we can call this a Vision Quest. In such ways do warriors seek knowledge of their Nagual.
It is said that those who achieve a full knowledge of and communication with the Nagual gain, thereby, the ability to shift their consciousness between their own bodies and those of their Naguals.
Once a person can do that, the ability to manipulate certian things in the real world comes with it. Now, this person - who is now a sorcerer or sorceress - is referred to as a "Nagual." With further advancement comes the ability to actually transform physically into the Nagual's animal form, and even the forms of other animals. Transformations into dynamic objects like rolling fireballs and meteors are also reported.
At this time, too, the man or woman who has become Nagual has gained the ability to move between this ordinary world of ordinary reality and one where reality is quite different; this different reality is also called "The Nagual."
Now, once the Nagual - the sorcerer/sorceress - has complete access to this four- layered supernatural world, he or she can not only manipulate ordinary reality in some profound ways, but he or she is privy to knowledge of things you stuck in your ordinary single-layered world, cannot know.