Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl is a ubiquitous Mesoamerican figure who, like Jesus and Osiris, for example, was at once a god and a human king. As such he had immense power tempered by the inevitability of suffering and death. Quetzalcoatl was the “Feathered Serpent” of the Toltec city of Tula. He was the culture hero who taught the people how to live, how to create a calendar, and how to grow maize. His divinity is indicated clearly by the story of his virgin birth. His mother, Chimalman, was breathed upon by the supreme god in his form as the morning. In the process of giving birth to Quetzalcoatl, she died, much as Queen Maya, in one story, died after giving birth to the Buddha. Quetzalcoatl had a single significant enemy, his brother and fellow world creator, Tezcatlipoca, the god of the Smoking Mirror. Tezcatlipoca was primarily an Aztec god, and, since the Aztecs overcame the Toltecs in Mesoamerica, it was logical that Tezcatlipoca should trick and defeat Quetzalcoatl before the Aztecs...