Tarot Yohualli Ehécatl

by Chicome Itzcuintli Amatlapantli

This book contains Spanish and English language text.

Genres: Tarot

378 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I've been studying tarot for a year now, rigorously studying the typical Coleman-Smith Tarot deck. I came across this artist, somewhat unrelatedly, through finding their queer art. The author of this book is an amazing artist also going by Felix d'Eon and they make wonderful queer and indigenous art. I particularly identify with this author because this author identifies as half white and half Mexican so this person shares with me this feeling of disconnection from our indigenous culture because of colonization.

When I came across this deck in particular, I was really drawn to it because it wasn't an oracle deck that was more free-form. This was specifically an attempt to merge the Western Coleman-Smith deck with Nahuatl philosophy and spiritual concepts, which is extremely difficult to do because they are just not analogous for the most part. Nonetheless, this was a beautiful, masterful, wonderful execution of a merging of very different cultures, and I really appreciate the artwork in particular. It's just stunning - every single card is stunning. Thank you to this author for sharing such depth of knowledge that they clearly have; my understanding of this author is that they are a dedicated spiritual student of Nahuatl philosophy/spirituality. In reading this book I have learned much about Aztec/Nahuatl culture.

It's hard to pick just one favorite card entry from this book, but really liked the Justice card because it gave some insight about how the Aztecs conceptualized justice, which, just feels quite different from our own:

"At the center of Tenahuatilli card stands Itzlacoliuhqui, Our Lord of the Curved Obsidian. While in the West, the figure of Justice is thought to shine with light, in Mesoamerica, He emerges from darkness and is wreathed in shadow, for justice can only exist where human actions call Him forth. There is no justice without wrongdoing preceding it. Justice, truth, right, and good are not the opposite of, but merely another manifestation of, injustice, ignorance, and wrong. Neither can exist without the other. For this reason, He wears the moon as a nose ring, and His body is covered with unspun cotton, a symbol of Tlazolli. Unspun cotton in its natural state is useless to anyone, however, when spun, it becomes thread and woven, becomes cloth, which hides our nakedness and protects our bodies from the sun and cold. It becomes ordered and useful. With age, the cloth begins to fray and it returns to an unordered state, a state of Tlazolli. There is no concept of "evil" or "sin" in Mesoamerica, but rather that which is ordered or unordered, chaotic or organized. Tenahuatilli, "law" exists to order natural human impulse, to weave the chaotic desires of humanity into the cloth of family and society for lust, greed, envy, desire, and the ego are not bad in and of themselves. They are unavoidable emotions which affect us all. They are bad insofar as we act selfishly upon them, and bring hurt, sadness, disorder to our communities and those we love."

What a depth of knowledge this book has, and I feel much more connected to an aspect of indigehous wisdome that perhaps would have been completely lost otherwise. Thank you to Chicome for this incredible work of spiritual art.

[Catalina Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing artist, now also an amazing writer! Especially glad it included both english and spanish translation. Highly recommend buying this book with the accompanying tarot set!