Good and Evil and Deities, Oh My!

I can reasonably say I’m addicted to the game Treasure Madness on Facebook. The game is simple: dig up treasure. I’ve been playing for about a week, and I love it. Today, I found an artefact that made me gasp out loud.
I’m used to the Quetzalcoatl artefact’s that turn up (I’ve got two of the three so far), and the other deity statues, though nice, don’t do anything for me.

You might remember my latest DotD post, Cama Zotz. Well, the treasure I found was of Cama Zotz. I felt such a strong desire to call out to the God when I found the treasure on Facebook, but I went to Google and looked up a bit more information, but couldn’t find any. All the information says he’s a pretty ambiguous kind of Deity.

Has anyone else worked with a Deity that was more “ambiguous”? I don’t want to say “evil”, because I don’t believe any deity to be evil, but you have to know how to respect them. I don’t know if I should let Cama Zotz into my life, or if I should stay away. I’m really confused.

My (non-Pagan) friend suggested waiting it out and seeing how things play out, but any other suggestions would be really appreciated.

I've always had a bat animal totem, and have always been drawn to the creature, going so far as to trying to convince my parents to let the city put a bat house in one of the trees in our backyard.

Cama Zotz

It’s been a LONG time since I did a Deity of the Day.

I’ve been re-reading the Silverwing series by Canadian author Kenneth Oppel. These are targeted at kids, but I’ve loved them since I got them almost ten years ago. There are four books: Silverwing, Sunwing, Firewing, and Darkwing. The first three draw heavily on Mayan and Aztec mythology, including the bat god Cama Zotz.

Cama Zotz was a leaf-nosed bat, who rules over darkness, death, and sacrifice. Cama Zotz is said to have a bat kingdom in the underworld. He is the antagonist in the Hero Twin myth.

Cama Zots is also known as Camazotz, Sotz and Zotz.

Cama Zotz has been featured in a lot of pop culture including:
- The animated film Hellboy: Sword of Storms
- The novel A Wrinkle in Time
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lost Slayer book series
- Vampire Plagues book
- Stephen King’s Datk Tower series.

I love bats personally, so I’m going to leave you all with some bat pictures, including the adorable fuzzballs known as the Honduran white bat.

Symbology of Blood and Hearts in Mayan Cultures

The Mayan's are pretty well known for human sacrifice. As it turns out, most of the artwork we see of human sacrifice, with the removal of the heart, was saved for special ceremonies. Most Maya sacrifice was by decapitation.

The blood was a symbol of man’s debt to the gods who had created him; the heart, as the most vital organ, was the most precious food for the lords of creation.

Ah-Puch

Also known as: Ahpuch, Cizin, God-A, Hanhau, Hunahau, Kimil, Kisin, Yum-Cimil, Yum-Cimih, Yum-Kimil

Ah-Puch is a Mayan death god, ruling the 9th level of the Underworld. The 9th level is the worst level. He is it the first of the Alphabet Gods, which are a compilation of deities for almost every letter of the alphabet.

Ah-Puch works at night. He usually appears as a putrefying corpse with an owl’s head. He often has bells in his hair.
There is only one way to make him leave you alone: if he is passing by your neighbourhood, make as much noise as you can! Scream, howl, and shriek, because Ah-Puch will assume you’re dealing with one of his demon minions and leave you alone.



He uses a screech owl nanmed Muan as his messenger. To this day, legend states that if you hear an owl screech, someone nearby will die.


Is it just me, or does the orange owl look like he look kind of creepy?

Also, these are tropical screech owls, that are common in South American and the tropics. The North American screech owls are smaller.

Ndoyet

Also known as Ndo’yet, this Zapotec god is the god of death and sacred objects. Any temple or ritual objects would be consecrated in his name. He is part of the Mayan pantheon, and lends his name to the fourth day of the Mayan nine day week.