NAGUALISMO

NAGUALISMO. – It is a belief, based on the conception of an individual totemism, widespread in Mexico and Central America. The term derives from “nagual,” a word used by the indigenous people of Honduras and Guatemala to denote the protective genius. According to Seler, the Mexican “nauali” (= witch, sorcerer), which in turn derives from a word meaning “hidden,” “unknown,” would be related to II.
According to this belief, every individual throughout life would have an animal as master and protector. Those who practiced the secret cult could then voluntarily assume the spirit of such an animal. The power to transform oneself into the form of the spirit of the protective soul would have been taught to the initiates for the first time by a woman of great power, capable of assuming at will “four forms.”