Editing Xolotl (section)

== Ollin and Xolotl ==
[[File:Xolotl head.JPG#/media/File:Xolotl head.JPG|thumb|left|Stone sculpture representing the head of the Aztec god Xolotl. "''An important figure within the rituals surrounding the god Quetzalcoatl is Xolotl, his twin, a peculiar god in the form of a dog, identifiable by the many wrinkles on the sacred canine and the two rectangular protuberances on its head, relating it with the heavenly fire.''"]]
[[File:Codex Borgia p. 10 (Ollin) Day symbol.jpg|thumb|Day symbol Ollin in Codex Borgia (p.10)]]
[[Eduard Seler]] associates Xolotl's portrayal as a dog with the belief that dogs accompany the souls of the dead to Mictlan. He finds further evidence of the association between Xolotl, dogs, death, and Mictlan in the fact that Mesoamericans viewed twins as unnatural monstrosities and consequently commonly killed one of the two twins shortly after birth. Seler speculates that Xolotl represents the murdered twin who dwells in the darkness of Mictlan, while Quetzalcoatl ("The Precious Twin") represents the surviving twin who dwells in the [[light]] of the sun.<ref name="auto1"/>

In manuscripts the setting sun, devoured by the earth, is opposite Xolotl's image.<ref>{{harvnb|Seler |2010 |p=66}}</ref> Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl constitute the twin phases of Venus as the morning and evening star, respectively. Quetzalcoatl as the morning star acts as the harbinger of the Sun's rising (rebirth) every [[dawn]], Xolotl as the evening star acts as the harbinger of the Sun's setting (death) every [[dusk]]. In this way they divide the single life-death process of cyclical transformation into its two phases: one leading from birth to death, the other from death to birth.<ref name="auto1">{{harvnb|Maffie|2013| loc=Olin and Xolotl}}</ref>

Xolotl was the patron of the [[Mesoamerican ballgame]]. Some scholars argue the ballgame symbolizes the Sun's perilous and uncertain nighttime journey through the underworld.<ref name="auto1"/> Xolotl is able to help in the Sun's rebirth since he possesses the power to enter and exit the underworld.<ref name="auto1"/> In several of the manuscripts Xolotl is depicted striving at this game against other gods. For example, in the [[Codex Mendoza]] we see him playing with the moon-god, and can recognize him by the sign ollin which accompanies him, and by the gouged-out eye in which that symbol ends. Seler thinks "that the root of the name ollin suggested to Mexicans the motion of the rubber ball ''olli'' and, as a consequence, ball-playing."<ref>{{harvnb|Spence |2015 |p= 275}}</ref>

Ollin is pulsating, [[oscillating]], and centering motion-change. It is typified by [[bouncing ball]]s, pulsating hearts, labor contractions, [[earthquakes]], flapping butterfly wings, the undulating motion of weft activities in [[weaving]], and the oscillating path of the Fifth Sun over and under the surface of the earth. Ollin is the motion-change of cyclical completion.<ref>{{cite web |publisher= mexicolore.co.uk
 |url= http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/home/aztec-philosophy
 |title= Aztec Philosophy}}</ref>

A jade statue of a skeletal Xolotl carrying a solar disc bearing an image of the Sun on his back<ref>{{cite web |publisher= Latinamericastudies.org
 |url= http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/aztecs/skeletonized-deity.gif
 |title= Skeletonized deity}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 |publisher= Gettyimages.com
 |url= http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/statue-of-xolotl-rear-view-artefact-from-mexico-aztec-stock-graphic/148357417
 |title= Statue of Xolotl, rear view
 |access-date= 2016-02-01
 |archive-date= 2020-05-23
 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200523144142/https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/statue-of-xolotl-rear-view-artefact-from-mexico-aztec-stock-graphic/148357417
 |url-status= dead
 }}</ref> (called "the Night Traveler") succinctly portrays Xolotl's role in assisting the Sun through the process of death, gestation, and rebirth. Xolotl's association with ollin motion-change suggests proper completions and gestations must instantiate ollin motion-change. Ollin-shaped decomposition and integration (i.e., death) promote ollin-shaped composition and integration (i.e., rebirth and renewal).<ref name="auto1"/>