Aztec medicine

Elements of traditional medicinal practices and beliefs are still found among modern-day Nahua communities, often intermixed with European or other later influences.As with many other Mesoamerican cults, the Aztecs believed that the body contained a balance of three separate entities or souls: the tonalli, the teyolia, and the ihiyotl.[1] The tonalli, which was commonly attributed with the disease of "soul loss", was located in the upper part of the head.[2] They believed that this life force was connected to a higher power, and the Aztec people had to make sure their tonalli was not lost or did not stray from the head.[6] Because the calendar had so much authority over a person's life, the day on which someone was born or got sick had great importance and usually gave reference to which god the individual had to pay respect to.To relieve these symptoms, people would travel to mountains and rivers of significance to present the god with offerings.The way to treat this disease was to march in front of others wearing the skins from human sacrifices during the second month.[7] Alonso de Molina translated ticitl not only as physician, but also as the witch who did horoscope and fortune teller.The Ticitl became skilled at treating bone fractures due to them having to heal Aztec warriors that were wounded in battle.The Ticitl also had their own methods of stopping a bleeding wound and of relieving pain with the use of plants and even psychedelic mushrooms.[4] Aztecs understood there was a balance between hot and cold in medical practice, bearing resemblance to Humorism.
Drawing accompanying text in Book XII of the 16th-century Florentine Codex (compiled 1540–1585), showing Nahua of conquest-era central Mexico suffering from smallpox.
Aztec use of entheogensFlorentine CodexNahuatlMexicomedicinal herbsNovohispanicmedicineMesoamericantonalliteyoliaamuletsTonatiuhTlalocanMictlanTonalamatl (religious calendar)Codex RíosTlalocpulqueXipe TotecscabiesTezcatlipocaMacuilxochitl (Xochipilli)Alonso de MolinaHumorismYauhtliiztauhyatlmagueytraditional medicineAztec calendarbotanyArtemisia mexicanaBocconia frutescensBromelia pinguinCarica papayaCasimiroa edulisCassia occidentalisCassia alataChenopodium graveolensHelianthus annuusLiquidambar styracifluaMontanoa tomentosaPassiflora jorullensisPersea americanaPithecolobium dulcePlumbago pulchellaPsidium guajavaRhamnus serrataSmilax atristolochiaefoliaTagetes erectaTheobroma cacaoCuranderoLibellus de Medicinalibus Indorum HerbisMaya medicineEntheogenics and the Maya