Teochan means “Home of the Gods” in Nahuatl. This site aims to provide the foundation of a vibrant and living 21st century religion based on the beliefs of the pre-Conquest Mexica, especially for those who don't have access to a practice community. We call this path Teotecayotl, the Way of the Gods.
This site is still a work in progress. Check back periodically to see what pages have been added!
What do we believe?
Divinity
We are a group of polytheists, pantheists, animists, and monists. However we conceive of the sacred and divine, we pay honor to many different godheads, who have many manifestations and take many forms. They are called the Teteo. These divinities are not organized into the Western conception of a pantheon, and move in ways more like a family, or “unfoldings” of each other, and are best honored in interwoven groups rather than isolated aspects.
Meaning Through Process
Our conception of the universe is one where time and space are inseparably entwined, and always moving; for instance, how spatial movement animates time-keeping and vice versa, or the relationship between the four directions and the divine fire at the center. For us, life and existence is a dialogue between chaos and order, death and vitality, pain and joy. We try to walk upright on the slippery earth.
Sacrifice
We see all of what we know as creation as being the product of the work, love, and sacrifice of the Teteo, and we wish to participate in this cycle and show our gratitude through the humbling act of giving up a piece of ourselves in kind. Though our forebears practiced violent sacrifice in antiquity, our relationship with the gods no longer depends on this in any way. Instead, we turn to offerings such as food and beautiful objects, fasting, poetry, dance, labors of love, and for those called to do so, safe autosacrifice.
Living Well
At the end of the day, our religion places much importance on living a dignified, beautiful, well-ordered life. Honoring the Teteo, creating harmony through right action and good speech, remembering the ancestors and celebrating life in spite of its fleeting and precarious nature forms much of the basis of our faith.
What We Stand For
We are a group of religionists from a wide variety of backgrounds coming together to honor the Teteo and the cultures that knew them first.
We are many colors, ethnicities, orientations, genders, abilities.
We stand firmly against the idea that only certain kinds of people can know or learn about the Teteo, and maintain that honest worship of them is open to anyone provided that contemporary Indigenous practices are respected.
We acknowledge the sovereignty of the 68 ethnic Indigenous groups living in Mexico today, and we support their struggles to keep their traditional lifeways under capitalism and colonialism.
