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It's the XOCHIPILLI Statue for people that are trying to do web searches on this.
Here is some information on the Xochipilli (Erowid Entheogen Vault):
Xochipilli, The Prince of Flowers, is the Aztec god of flowers, maize, love, games, beauty, song and dance. (Xochi is from the Nahuatl xochitl or 'flower', while pilli means either Prince or child.) He is the husband of Mayahuel and the twin brother of Xochiquetzal. He is also referred to as Macuilxochitl, which means "five flowers".
In the mid-1800's, a 16th century Aztec statue of Xochipilli was unearthed on the side of the volcano Popocatapetl near Tlamanalco. The statue is of a single figure seated upon a temple-like base. Both the statue and the base upon which it sits are covered in carvings of sacred and psychoactive flowers including mushrooms (Psilocybe aztecorum), tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), morning glory (Turbina corymbosa), sinicuichi (Heimia salicifolia), possibly cacahuaxochitl (Quararibea funebris), and one unidentified flower. The figure itself sits crosslegged on the base, head tilted up, eyes open, jaw tensed, with his mouth half open. The statue is currently housed in the Museo Nacional de Antropologia of Mexico.
It has been presented by Wasson, Schultes, and Hofmann that Xochipilli represents a figure in the throes of entheogenic ecstasy. The position and expression of the body, in combination with the very clear representations of hallucinogenic plants which are known to have been used in sacred contexts by the Aztec support this interpretation.
Here is the statue you are referring to:
The known flowers/plants are:
A Mushroom Cap
Tobacco
Morning Glory
Sinicuichi
Cacahuaxochit
and the 'Unidentified'
As for the flower, it has religious and spiritual meaning. It's not supposed to be a plant, but more of a representation of the soul.
The texts always use the flower in an entirely spiritual sense, and
the aim of the religious colleges was to cause the flower of the body
to bloom: This flower can be no other than the soul. The association
of the flower with the sun is also evident. One of the hieroglyphs for
the sun is a four-petalled flower, and the feasts of the ninth month,
dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, were entirely given over to flower offerings.
- Paul Pettennude, Ph.D.
I hope this helps.
[edit on 11/7/2004 by Simulacra]
