(Note: an edited version of this article appeared in the Dec. 2000/Jan. 2001 issue of The Mountain Astrologer)

Many authors have attempted to understand the enigmatic Quetzalcoatl and much has been written about him. David Carrasco, in his book Quetzalcoatl and the Irony of Empire, argues that he symbolized not only the flowering of culture and civilization, but also its inevitable decay.(4) Others say he was merely a historical king during the Toltec period some 800 years ago whose life has been elaborated on. A number of authors have raised the possibility that Quetzalcoatl was actually a foreign visitor, presumably from the Mediterranean, who arrived on the shores of Mexico 2,000 years ago and consequently influenced Mesoamerican culture in profound ways. The fact that Quetzalcoatl is always portrayed as being bearded, a feature very rare among Native Americans, and that he came from the east and left Mexico heading east, supports this idea.

Regardless of who he really was, I'm inclined to view the Quetzalcoatl legend as a classic model of the perils of rulership for Mesoamerican leaders to ponder. There may have been a real character named Quetzalcoatl, or perhaps several leaders lived out the myth during the long history of this cultural region. Quetzalcoatl, however, is the protagonist in a kind of hero myth peculiar to Mesoamerica. He is the hero who fails as a leader due to lack of control over his sexual urges. In his self-indulgence he commits a sexual sin, an act that transgresses the moral boundaries that he has been entrusted to maintain. Quetzalcoatl is a lesson in how culture and morality allow humanity to rise above the animal in us - and how we mere humans can ruin it all by losing control of our inner animal.

There is another side to the Quetzalcoatl myth that speaks of his twin, the deformed, dog-like god called Xolotl (Show-lot-l). Considering the extent of the literary destruction performed by the Spanish friars, we don't really know exactly how these two functioned together, but we do know that Quetzalcoatl was linked to the morning star and Xolotl to the evening star. I suspect that these fragments of myth might be the highland Mexican (Toltec, Aztec) version of the Mayan creation story, the Popol Vuh. Some researchers believe that it is the Sun and Venus, obviously important pairs, and not the Sun and Moon, that are the hero twins of the Popol Vuh.(5)

Astronomically, Venus has two main cycles. Its sidereal period of 225 days is the time it takes Venus to make one complete orbit around the Sun. But that's not how we see it from Earth. We see a morning star for about 263 days and an evening star for the same amount. In between are two invisible conjunctions with the Sun, one of about 8 days and the other lasting about two months. The Mesoamerican astrologers used this 584-day (on average) synodic cycle of Venus and the Sun as the framework on which the Quetzalcoatl myth was hung. They began the cycle with Venus' 8-day inferior conjunction with the Sun, called inferior because Venus passes between the Earth and the Sun at this time. Contrast this with the superior conjunction when the Sun is located between Venus and the Earth.

The conjunctions of Venus and the Sun, both inferior and superior, occur in only five places of the zodiac. At the present time they are at about 10 Aries, 20 Gemini, 27 Leo, 6 Scorpio, and 24 Capricorn. Note that these five points roughly define a grand quintile in the zodiac. Each inferior conjunction will occur at one of these points every eight years. In between, the superior conjunctions fall on these same degrees. Over time, these points move backwards against the zodiac, completing a full revolution in approximately 1,231 years.

The above astronomical facts did not escape the sharp eyes and minds of the Mesoamerican astronomer/astrologers, especially those of the ancient Maya. The 5:8 year ratio, that is 5 cycles of Venus (5 x 584 days) being equal to 8 solar years (8 x 365 days), was used in ephemerides, astrological readings, and religious rituals. The few surviving written works of the Maya, especially the Dresden Codex, contain detailed tables of the Venus cycle, usually divided into 5 main sections. Each section corresponded to one of the five major "stations" of Venus, and each of these had its own specific "fate" or astrological delineation. Linkages of the Venus cycle with the 260-day astrological calendar were noted as well. Venus was clearly an extremely important planet in ancient Mesoamerican astrology.

An interesting connection between the Quetzalcoatl myth and the cycle of Venus is suggested by an inscription found in the ruins of El Tajin, an archaeological site found near the eastern Gulf coast of Mexico.(6) On four panels of a ball-court, a ritual game which may have been played in synch with the actual cycle of Venus, images depict a sequence of events corresponding to the phases of that planet. The panel of the morning star shows a figure, probably representing Quetzalcoatl, indulging in love and music. The result of this hedonistic behavior is depicted as a monstrous offspring. The superior conjunction panel, which is next, depicts the playing of the ball game with the gods. The figure, now reduced to a mere mortal, loses the game and accepts the judgment of the gods. The next panel, which corresponds to evening star and inferior conjunction, shows sacrifice and transformation into a god. My interpretation of this scheme is that it depicts symbolically 1: the rebirth and descent of Venus as a morning star followed by a loss of self-control, 2: the judgement of social transgressions by the gods at superior conjunction, 3: the loss of god-status and acceptance of mortality during the evening star period, and 4: sacrifice leading to rebirth as a god once again at the inferior conjunction.