Synchronicity Cambray

In Aztec culture there was a strong belief in the eventual return of a
royal ancestor who would “shake the foundation of heaven” and who
would conquer the city of Tenochtitlán, as told by David Carrasco, a
historian of religions at Princeton in his Quetzalcoatl and the Irony
of Empire. 15 In the distant past there had been a Toltec priest-king,
Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl—sharing the name and becoming conflated
with the wind god Ehécatl Quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent—who
was said to have reigned during a near golden age. Tricked, deceived,
and shamed by a sorcerer into fleeing his native Tollan, Topiltzin
Quetzalcoatl disappeared into the east, either by immolation with
subsequent ascension into the heavens to become the morning star
(our Venus), or sailing away on a raft constructed of snakes. 16 Additionally,
Quetzalcoatl was said to have made a set of arrows on his
disappearance and according to the millenarian beliefs of the Aztecs,
the astrological type of year in which he returns would determine
who would be struck down by him with his arrows. 17
The year 1519 in the Aztec calendar not only coincided with birth
and death dates of Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, but if he were to reappear in
the year “1 Reed” (which 1519 was) he was prophesized to strike down
kings. 18 Even more unusual are a set of portrayals of Quetzalcoatl (the
Mayan Kukulkan) as a bearded, light-skinned warrior—see UCLA
anthropologist H. B. Nicholson’s Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl: The Once and
Future Lord of the Toltecs, 19 especially in a culture where facial hair was
rare. 20 There are further striking coincidences in this story, including
a series of ten omens observed in the years before the Spanish
arrived. The cumulative effect was to create consternation, confusion,
and doubt in the Aztecs, but especially in Moctezuma’s mind. According
to reports gathered from native witnesses, the apparent return of
Quetzalcoatl left Moctezuma “terror struck . . . he was filled with great
dread, swooning. His soul was sickened, his heart was anguished.” 21 It
is reported that he remarked: “What will now befall us? . . . In great
torment is my heart, as if it was washed in chili water.” 22 Carrasco recognizes
this: “His chili-water heart has taken on the character of what
Rudolph Otto calls a ‘creature feeling’ of numinous dread, awe, and
urgency. . . . He is encountering his numen, the origin of rulership,
and it is an uncanny experience.” 23 The throne was seen to belong to
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