Nahuales



Nagual or Nahual (both pronounced [na'wal]) is a human being who has the power to transform either spiritually or physically into an animal form: most commonly jaguar, puma and wolf, but also other animals such as donkeys, birds, dogs or coyotes.

The Nahuatl word for nahual is nahualli, which means "what is my garment or skin" and refers to the ability of the nahual to become a creature half man, half animal.

History
They believed that if a man could get to know his primitive or nahual spirit, then he could use it to heal people and practice magic. Many primitive drawings in old caves show people as werewolves.

In the Mexica worldview the nahuales were protected by Tezcatlipoca, the Lord of the night. Legend had it that a nahual could shed its skin and become one of these creatures. Such is the case of colonial legends in which some Mexican and Spanish hunters said that during the night they had killed an animal and at dawn the corpse had been transformed into that of a man.

Characteristics
The nahual leaves its human form for a certain time, to acquire that of a chosen animal. There are several versions of how this metamorphosis is achieved. - One ensures that the sorcerer simply disappears and incarnates in the animal, at will. The shaman claims to be able to incorporate his consciousness into the body of an already existing animal. In one way or another, there is a psychic affinity, a kind of kinship of the soul between the shaman and the animal in which it is transformed, as if it were an avatar. - Another says that "fragments", for which it is detached, deliberately, from part of his body (eyes, legs, an arm or even the intestines). Thus, if you want to end a Nahual the best method is to follow him and observe where he makes his transformation, steal the part of the body that came off as this way it will be impossible to return to its original form and at dawn will die. - Another one affirms that the sleeping body of the sorcerer remains in his house, while his spirit wanders in the animal figure. In this case, to prevent someone from touching their sleeping body, the nagual must perform seven cartwheels.

Powers and Abilities
The nahuales in their animal form are not common creatures have special powers, "and will be more powerful depending on the animal form they take; if a sorcerer has as animal a tiger, it will be more powerful to "cast evil" and thus it will be easier for him, by his powers, to cure the disease or evil that has cast a lower (nahual). "An evil nahual is a danger for the community, since killing it is not easy, among the most efficient means a mixture of garlic, salt, tobacco and two liters of water or brandy is described; which is used either to "heal" or "bless" firearms and shoot them or to apply them directly to the animal, which is more dangerous.