From Aztec mythology, worshipped as both male and female, Xōchipilli is known in English as the flower prince. The name consists of the two Nahuatl words xochitl which means “flower” and pilli which means “noble, youth.”
But this is not only the god of flowers, mind you! This is also the god of the rising sun, spring, inspiration, joy, beauty, youth, love, passion, sex, sexuality, fertility, arts, song, music, dance, painting, writing, games, playfulness, psychoactive plants, nature, and vegetation.
I have been told Xōchipilli also is in charge of serving up hemorrhoids, venereal disease, and boils «to those who violate times of fasting with sexual intercourse.”
This statue here, nowadays exhibited at the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico D.F., was found in the mid 19th century near the Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl volcanoes. Since it can look like it’s wearing a mask, it has been suggested that perhaps the statue represents not Xōchipilli, but rather a priest impersonating Xōchipilli. One way or the other, the sculpture is a particularly intriguing depiction of Xōchipilli … or of a priest dressed as Xōchipilli, if you will:
The flowers and mushrooms adorning the figure’s body have been identified as mainly psychotropic — plants which can have a mind altering effect when ingested. Richard Evans Schultes (the father of modern ethnobotany), Albert Hoffman (who first synthesized, ingested, and discovered the psychedelic effects of LSD), and Christian Rätsch (anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist) identified the glyphs on this Xōchipilli sculpture as the tobacco flower, morning glory, sinicuichi, and stylized caps of Psilocybe aztecorum. This is why they suggested that Xōchipilli isn't just the Prince of Flowers, but more specifically the Prince of Inebriating Flowers.
Indeed, the sculpture’s facial expression is often interpreted as that of a person in hallucinogenic ecstasy.
Bibliography
- Aguilar-Moreno, Manuel. “Arte Azteca.” Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc.
- Miller, Mary E, and Karl Taube. An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1993.
- Rätsch, Christian. The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants : Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications. Park Street Press, 2005.
- Romero, Osiris González. “Xochipilli: Psychedelic Plants, Song, and Ritual in Aztec Religion.” Paper presented at Psychedelic Intersections: Cross-cultural Manifestations of the Sacred Conference 2024. Hosted by the Center for the Study of World Religions and the Harvard Psychedelics Project at Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Schultes, Richard Evans, et al. Plants of the Gods : Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers. Rev. and expanded ed. Healing Arts Press, 2001.