I have had several encounters of a magical nature with Tlaloc (the rain god of the Toltecah) and the nutria which is an animal Nahualli (Nagual) for Tlaloc. Nutria look like beavers with the same webbed feet and buck teeth. The only real difference is their tail. Tlaloc is the central figure in the Constellation of Toltecah Sacred Forces and corresponds to the heart area of a person. Tlaloc is the integrator of the directions and the elements. Metaphorically this is evident as Tlaloc is water (rain) and fire (lightning) in the sky (air) falling to the earth. In the Constellation of Toltecah Sacred Forces you can see that Tlaloc is surrounded by other gods representing the for elements: Xiutecuhtli (fire), Tlatecuhtli (earth) Chalchiuhtlique (water) and Quetzalcoatl (air in his Ehecatl form).

During the period of my initial training in the understanding of these forces, I was camping for a period in an Airstream trailer in Texas on the San Marcos river. My first encounter with a nutria was when one spotted me on the river and swam over to me. He pulled himself out of the water, came right up to me, as close as possible and stood up on his hind feet. I was in a state of not shock at this behavior but lets say of suspended attention. After all, nutrias are wild animals. I looked down at the nutria, he looked down and I looked down where he was looking. There was a string with a knot in it, like the ones that Tibetans give out at empowerments. After I saw the string, the nutria turned and left back the way it had come.

About a year later, the person who was working with me in this tradition (I called my benefactor at the time) asked me to create a magical formula using Toltecah dieties and other elements for a specific purpose that I will not mention here. This was my first attempt at creating and acting out such a formula. The day I was writing it, a terrific sheet lightning storm occurred, lasting many hours. This was the first time I experienced sheet lightning and if you have never experienced it, the entire sky goes white like a sheet and the thunder sounds like sheet metal being waved. It is an awesome phenomena. From that omen, I decided to add Tlaloc to my invocation in a strong position. For a week I seriously performed this invocation on a power spot down by the river. I was also studying all the books I could find on Tlaloc from the University of Texas Mesoamerican library.

On Thursday night, I tent-camped down in the area where I was working. Suddenly I heard a pack of wild dogs barking, gnashing their teeth, and rushing at me. I jumped into my tent. The dogs sniffed around for awhile and then left. Soon after, a wild boar came and also sniffed and grunted around my tent. I asked later and was told that wild dog packs and wild boars do not exist in that area. The next morning the sky was an eerie color of orange. It was Friday October 16th, 1998. That night I stayed in my trailer and it rained harder than any rain I had ever experienced. It rained 30 inches in about 24 hours. This is the same as the average yearly rainfall for a good part of California. This off-the-record event gave new meaning to the term "raining buckets". In the morning I was meditating on Tlaloc, looking for the bird associated with him. At the very moment I found it (the eagle) I heard a loud speaker "you have 10 minutes to evacuate." I looked out and saw that the river had risen a foot for every inch of rain and was about to reach us.

I did not try to save my trailer. I simply left in one of my vehicles. My neighbors, however did stay because they could not find their pets. They were a bit crazy, I might add. They tied their boat to a tree and stayed in it for the entire time of the flood-the worst flood in San Marcos recorded history. I returned on Sunday when the river had receded. I saw totally crushed and laying on its side, a trailer that I thought was mine-it looked identical. However, later I found mine standing undamaged. The whole area was completely destroyed (see the following photos) so the fact that my trailer was standing there with only a little water damage was no less than a miracle. My neighbors ran up to me and were very excited. They said, "You will never guess what happened.!" They then told me an incredible story about how a whirlpool formed around my trailer which stayed the epicenter of the whirlpool. This was how it remained virtually undamaged. The crushed Airstream that I saw when I first returned to the site, was caught in that whirlpool, spinning around my trailer for many times and finally thrown the equivalent of a long city block and destroyed.

Trailer caught in whirlpool around mine
Other damage in the park
My trailer after the flood

In the spring of 2000, I was traveling in Cuba. I found a jungle and decided to hike down to the waterfall. It was a steep climb to a beautiful spot-a pool fed by an underground spring and a waterfall. It had the energy of Chalchiuhtlicue, similar to the entry spot for Tlalocan, the blue paradise world. I was alone and I swam in the paradisiacal waters. On my way back up the trail, I ran face to face with a giant nutria. Giant is an understatement as nutria are the size of beavers-about two feet long-and this animal was the size of a large hog! However, I was sure it was a nutria because of the bucked teeth and webbed feet. He was sitting there, on his haunches, right in front of me as I walked up. I got within two feet of him and he showed no willingness to move. He simply made eye contact with me and held it. So there we were, staring into each others eyes for probably 20 minutes or so. At a certain point I had to go on, because evening was approaching and I had no flashlight, so I left. As I continued up the trail the entire Constellation of forces entered into my head in perfect detail and with other descriptive comments and instructions. I promised you that this was not anything I had ever contemplated in any form before, and yet there it was. As soon as I got back to my room I took notes on it.

Later I found out that nutrias to not exist in Cuba. There are hutrias, a cousin, however, they are even smaller and do not have webbed feet.

If you read The Gospel of the Toltecs, the Life and Teachings of Quetzalcoatl, you will see on page 221 of the chapter titled "The Prophecy" the following statement of Quetzalcoatl:

"And the symbol of unity will manifest itself in an erected tree. When this comes to be, the world will see it. It will be Ometeotl’s dawn."

I believe the Constellation of Sacred Forces, or Toltec Cabala, given by direct transmission from the nahualli of Tlaloc, to be the tree referred to in the above prophecy.

A couple of years later I had one more nutria interaction--a rather cute experience. I was traveling in Argentina and visited a zoo. One of the nutria had got out of the nutria area and was exploring the bushes near a lawn. I sat down on the lawn to observe it. It came towards me and it crawled into my lap. I was not tempting it with food-I had none. A friend who was with me and had heard my nutria stories, was a gasp with surprise.

I spent summer solstice 2003 in Tula, Mexico and experienced interesting Tlaloc phenomena. I performed a ritual at that ruin. During it there was lightning and thunder, but no rain. It was a hot muggy day. After the ceremony, I returned to my hotel on the way a live baby bird fell literally on my feet (birds represent the activation element for the dieties.) I took the bird to the local vet. Afterward, the moment I reached my hotel room, it started to hail. It was at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit and we had a strong hail storm. Of course I ate some. Writings Index

Mayan Home Page

I Ching Home Page