Ixchel
Ix Chel
Moon Childbirth Healing Weaving
Maya goddess of childbirth, healing and weaving, often (though debatably) linked to the moon.
At the time of the Spanish conquest, pilgrims traveled to Ixchel's shrine on the island of Cozumel, especially women hoping for healthy births. Scholars still debate how she relates to the moon goddess and the old goddess who pours water from a jar in the Maya codices.
Symbols
In the ancient sources
Spanish colonial accounts
- Diego de Landa, Account of the Things of Yucatán (c. 1566) A woman in childbirth had an image of Ixchel, 'the goddess of making children', placed under her bed.
- Diego de Landa In the month Zip, physicians and sorcerers held a festival for Ixchel as goddess of medicine.
- Diego de Landa The Maya made pilgrimages to the island of Cozumel as they did to the sacred well at Chichén Itzá.
The name Ixchel comes from these colonial sources. It doesn't appear in the Maya codices, and scholars debate whether she is the young moon goddess (Goddess I), the old water-pouring goddess (Goddess O), or neither.
Cross-checked against these texts and records, in public-domain or freely available versions where they exist. Line, section and chapter numbers follow the standard editions, so a particular translation may differ slightly.
Correspondences Explore all
- Element
- Water
These mix ancient attributes with modern associations from contemporary pagan and magical practice; the modern ones weren't part of her original worship.