The Aztec Cosmology

universe.” (Milbrath, xiv) Astronomy within Aztec culture thus “developed an extraordinary cosmology, constructing a complex mythological system.” (Portilla, 28) Conversely, through Portilla’s Aztec Thought and Culture, it seems to be that most of the cosmology logic was founded in a metaphysical world, “the world above and beyond us” which Ms. Rosalinda Palacios compared to praying, that would eventually lead the individual into a different dimension in which one is able to come in contact with ancestors, or when looking for answers to different situations; such as a medium. (Portilla, 28) Aztec astrology also connects with the Aztec calendar and how they used xiuhpohualli, or “count of the years,” so that they could understand “the various
To start, the way in which they expressed their numbers was used based on the number 20. Unlike western mathematics where we recognize numbers as 1, 2, and 3, their numbers consisted of dots (•). For example, the number one would be expressed through a single dot, “the numbers 2, 3, and 4 were represented by two, three and four dots, respectively.” (Ortiz-Franco) The larger numbers such as 5, 10, 20, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 8000 were represented by symbols. For example, a straight line or five dots would most commonly represent 5; a diamond shape or ten dots represented 10; a flag, shell or vase with grass growing out of it represented 20; “the numbers for 100, 200, and 300 were expressed not only with the mentioned symbols but also by a feather with barbs, each representing twenty units. 100 had five barbs on the feather, 200 had ten, and 300 had fifteen.” (Ortiz-Franco) Similarly, twenty barbs on the feather or feathers ted in a bundle, represented 400; and finally, a decorative bag represented 8000. Oddly enough, the number zero though the first Aztec generation, seemed to not be relevant, it was not until studies of the Olmecs, that zero would be represented as a shell. Math among Aztec civilization was very visual, kind of like teaching someone how to count for the first time using cereal or peas on a
Indigenous education is very spiritual in which “it presents something for everyone to learn, at every stage of their life.” (Cajete, 29) A tlamatini for example, would argue that they were born with their gift. Rosalinda explains that when this individual starts to notice their gift, it could be at a young age and this person will start to notice little things, such as the way animals start to act before an earthquake, something an ordinary person would easily disregard. As they start to grow and get more of an intuitive inclination of their powers and they start to ask question to their elders, who could then explain to them how they could enhance their power and become the true physician. In contrast, an individual would not be able to go up to a wise man in hopes to become one themselves. However, because education seemed to be more spiritual, one could always learn how to connect with their inner self, since “learning begins and ends with spirit” through a pathway to “the Centering Place… where the soul of the dream is honored.” (Cajete, 68) Trying to reach ones own Centering Place, it could take as little as a couple hours to a couple years; they must learn how to seek what their “inner being truly desires," by asking, seeking, making, having,