Wind god mirror

Aztec mirror with wind god effigy, Mexica, iron pyrite, 6 cms. high, Musée du Quai Branly, Paris.

This extraordinary shiny mirror made of ‘fool’s gold’ (iron pyrite) was possibly used as a magic tool for communicating with the spirit world. It bears the crouching figure of the Mexica wind god Ehécatl-Quetzalcóatl, protector of shamans and wizards, with his familiar duck’s beak face. He bears in his right hand a shield and feather banner and in his left a hooked sceptre. The perforations on it indicate that it was worn as a pendant.

Photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore