Tetzcatlipoca

[David Young]

If i may add my humble two cents on the matter of understanding Tetzcatlipoca:  If there is agreement that the term translates to "smoking mirror" in some manner, then it is worthwhile to try to decipher what is meant by such an expression.  We know that black obsidian was used for mirrors.  Geologist know that obsidian is not just black, there is a rainbow obsidian and there is a snowflake obsidian and another with golden highlights within.  So pragmatically, the expression, smoking mirror, could be referencing a particular type of obsidian.  Metaphorically, if we think about a "reflection" as provided by any mirror, we operate on the presumption that the reflection is a factual and accurate reflection, albeit reversed.  What if, however, the reflection is shrouded or obscured "as if with smoke."  Then, the truth of the reflection remains in question.  The "smoking mirror" gives a reflection that requires us to dig deeper for the truth of the
 reflection, it is a mask that shrouds reality.  As the twin brothers that struggle to create a better world and better "human," Quetzalcoatl represents wisdom, creativity, a move toward something creative where as his complimentary opposite, Tezcatlipoca, represents that destructive, chaotic, unreliable reality that is difficult to "perceive through the smoke."  Both are critical as a  diphrasis, a complementary dualism of Mesoamerican cosmoconstruction.  This construction is a "reflection" of humanity in all of its forms.  We each possess a creative potential as well as a "shrouded" destructive potential.
David Atekpatzin Young, MA, Curandero
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