Looking Through the Canamayte

This essay compares two visual forms: the contemporary painting Organic Consciousness (see Fig.1) by Mexican artist Javier López Pastrana and the Mexica Hieroglyph of Ollin (see Fig.2), a pre-conquest Indigenous symbol central to Nahua cosmology. That embodies the metaphysical principle of Tēotl . Both works express the existence of a powerful force, not as symbolic belief, but as the lived, visual manifestation of a metaphysical reality. Drawing on an interpretation of these two works anchored to the Nahuatl language and Indigenous Mesoamerican cosmologies, I explore how non-Western ontologies persist in everyday Mexico, and are embodied in works such as Organic Consciousness, even in the face of colonial erasure and epistemic violence. Since Tēotl is invisible and cannot be directly represented, I begin this paper with a discussion of how the hieroglyph of Ollin, a symbolic expression of movement and energy, can serve as an access point to understanding how the invisible force of Tēotl might be apprehended. Using Ollin as an interpretive anchor, I then undertake an analysis of Pastrana’s Organic Consciousnessi to show how a comparable visual language of unseen energy takes shape in his painting. 

As someone working from outside Nahua and Mexican cultural contexts, with access limited to English-language sources, I cannot claim to know whether visual representations of Tēotl might have existed. To the best of my knowledge, none have survived or been documented in the materials available to me. The closest presentation I could find that has a cosmological affinity to Tēotl is the symbol of Ollin, which is found in the 16th century Mexican Codex Borgia,ii In the Codex Borgia, Ollin is represented by a hieroglyph composed of two three-dimensional ‘L’-shaped forms that interlock to create a central diamond. From this center, four directional axes radiate outward, forming an ‘X’-shaped structure. This spatial layout is an indicator of the energies inherent in “motion,” sensed but not seen. In Mexica metaphysics, motion is driven by Tēotl as the supreme force. Mesoamerican scholar Arnold Carlos Vento proposes that, “the idea of One Supreme Force that cannot be interpreted because it is invisible... In order to express its greatness, they [the Mexica] used epithets of an expressive nature to give it greatness and power.”(3) The interconnection of motion and force is mirrored in the structure of the glyph itself: a centered void framed by directional expansion, a composition that evokes both containment and emergence. 

Through the spatial layout of the hieroglyph, Ollin is movement as expression, material form animated by invisible energy. Thus, while Tēotl itself cannot be embodied or represented, the glyph can be seen to symbolically evoke its generative force through the interplay of central void and four directional expansions. In this way, Ollin visually embodies the principle of movement that emerges from Tēotl. The presence of exes in the symbol of Ollin, both linguistic and visual, reflects a cultural self-awareness of the limits of human comprehension and a respect for the unseen. Rather than articulating fixed meaning, the hieroglyph participates in a broader cosmological system in which energy, perception, and energy are inherently interconnected; a worldview that resists Western distinctions between spirituality, science, and art as a way of expression. 

Ollin embodies an active understanding of a universe in motion, thus functioning as an ontology. When the term ontology was coined by Jacob Lorhard in 1606 to propose a metaphysical approach “in which the subject of metaphysics was the universal concept of the intelligible, and not that of being,” (Øhrstrøm, Schärfe, and Uckelman 86) he was describing a concept already fully operative in Mexica metaphysics, with Tēotl, the ongoing force at the center of Mexica thought, reflecting a worldview in which being, motion, and perception are inseparable.

In Western thought, this is not how Tēotl is understood. With the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish in the 1500s, the Mexica metaphysical culture was subjected to epistemicide, (Mignolo qtd. in Gallien 36)iii resulting in the erasure and redefinition of core concepts such as Tēotl in relation to Christian concepts of “God” and “Divine.” The Spanish inability to recognize Tēotl as an ontology was not merely an erasure of Mexica worldview, but more fundamentally failure of perception. As Mexican scholar Arnold Carlos Vento explains, this failure was anchored in “projections originating from the medieval world of fable, fantasy, and religious superstitions, notwithstanding a culture of inequities and plutocracies that operated on a material/physical plane.”(Vento, 1) By erasing that they could not comprehend, the Spanish colonizers failed to grasp the concept of Tēotl as a functioning totalizing ontology. 

In spite of this failure of comprehension, and the colonial imposition of Western thought on Mexica cosmology, some aspects of the Mexica ontology persist. Pastrana’s 2020 painting, Organic Consciousness, is an example of this longevity, in which the artist’s visual language conveys dimensions of the ontological energies of Tēotl. While Pastrana himself has never explicitly linked this work to Tēotl, he has stated: “We venture to think that the universe in general has the first level of consciousness and that, as a reflection in everything created or manifested in the downward cascade of creation, there are various levels of consciousness.” (“Neocrotalic Art”) iv By clarifying his belief that every level of existence possesses a form of awareness, a force of energy, a kind of aliveness, Pastrana embraces a pre-conquest ontology that resonates with the Mexica conception of Tēotl as a unified sacred energy. In doing so, his work demonstrates how this vision persists even within the frameworks of a colonized 

The dialogue created through Pastrana’s vision creates a hybridity, not just of medium and style, but of ontologies, with the composition of his painting referencing geometry, scientific method, and metaphysical philosophy simultaneously. The title Organic Consciousness is an indicator of this hybridity in an interesting way: organic refers to the biological and natural, while consciousness, as defined within Western frameworks, is often treated as a subjective phenomenon in a dual split of mind and body, human and spirituality.

Central to the ontological hybridity in the painting’s compositional field is a repeating grid of hollow, diamond-shaped cut-outs spread evenly across the entire background of the canvas. These dark diamond outlines sit on top of a softly glowing color field, where hazy hues of lime green, pale blue, and violet light gently emerge through the open spaces. The effect of the color field makes it feel as though the grid is suspended above a shifting, illuminated atmosphere, allowing these colors to softly shine through the gaps. Floating in front of this glowing backdrop is a large, bubble-like abstract form, positioned centrally. It loosely resembles a woven creation, though not in a literal way. Instead, it curves in soft, rounded, flowing lines, drawn with fluid motion. The curves bend inward and dip down at the base, giving the impression of a ribbon folding back on itself.

In this woven shaped entity, the soft, looping curve conveys a distinctly cosmic quality, not as a direct representation of a galaxy forming, but as a gesture toward the swirling, dynamic patterns observed in the universe. The form invites the viewer to imagine a connection between this abstract form and the larger motions of celestial energy and space. Within this translucent structure of the woven shaped entity, objects, shapes, and forms begin to emerge and become detectable. Delicate lines, geometric symbols, and organic patterns are visible, including tiny eyes, triangular motifs, and web-like structures suspended within the surface of the form. This cosmic effect is further reinforced along the final curve of the shape, where a layer of softly glowing shades of blue, lavender, and pearlescent white flows in a way that evokes the swirling motion of a spiral galaxy. These inner forms give the impression of hidden layers of meaning or energy, as if the larger shape contains a universe of coded information.

Seen as a whole, the painting weaves light and pigment into emergent forms that intermingle to create a presentation of floating energies, a visual language Pastrana terms NeoCrotalic. At the center of this visual language is the grid of hollow, diamond-shaped cut-outs, whose woven, lattice like appearance recalls the rattlesnake skin pattern known as canamayte (Romero Murguía 16–17).vThe canamayte holds significance within Mesoamerican systems of spatial knowledge, functioning as a chronotope: a visual marker that links space, time, and meaning and situates human beings within the broader rhythms of the cosmos. Its visual thickness serves as a reminder that the canamayte is not merely decorative, but operates as a symbolic border, outlining the limits of collective human understanding in relation to the vastness of the cosmos. 

In his work, Pastrana uses the geometric patterns of the canamayte not only for aesthetic purposes, but also to engage with Mexica epistemologies, noting that “we experience consciousness directly in our being, but we do not understand the level of consciousness that animals, plants, fungi, microorganisms can have, and it could even be reflected if plants, starts or galaxies have some level of self-awareness given the evolutionary antiquity of each one of them.” (“Neocrotalic Art”) Pastrana’s statement positions consciousness as a universal principle that flows through every level of existence. This recognition parallels the Mexica conception of a unified system, anchored in the sacred force of Tēotl and expressed through the hieroglyphic of Ollin, which symbolizes the perpetual motion underlying existence. 

In Mexica metaphysics existence was not something to be separated, isolated, or analyzed; it was felt and lived as a unified process of awareness, where the self, the cosmos, and the unknown were inseparable. Human perceptual limits were not viewed as a barrier to truth, but as integral to the ongoing process of being. This awareness shaped the way life was comprehended and lived, something Western scientific models still struggle to account for. Rooted in frameworks that prioritize separation and analysis, modern science lacks the conceptual tools to fully engage with a unified, lived metaphysics. As scholars Aaron Schurger and Michael Graziano have stated:

We argue that multiple modern accounts of consciousness are (competing) laws of consciousness. They describe what they cannot explain, just as Newton described gravity long before a true explanation was ever offered. We lay out our argument using a variety of modern accounts as examples and go on to argue that at least one modern account of consciousness, attention schema theory, goes beyond describing consciousness-related brain activity and qualifies as an explanatory theory. (1) 

Pastrana’s Organic Consciousness reflects this understanding of competing laws of consciousness not through symbolism, but through structure by embodying the visual logic of an ontology where being and becoming are inseparable. And that is why, in both the image of Ollin in Codex Borgia and Organic Consciousness, Tēotl is not literally represented, but is present. It does not appear as a fixed image, but as the force animating the geometry, rhythm, and metaphysical logic of each form. This absence of fixed imagery invites the viewer to contemplate a different mode of comprehension, one that is less concerned with what is being represented and more with how form itself embodies meaning. In Organic Consciousness, Tēotl is not pictured, but it is present through the relational dynamics of shape, rhythm, and motion. It reveals itself not as a static image, but as an ongoing process, something that can only be perceived through the work’s unfolding visual movement and energetic flow. 

In my interpretation of Pastrana's work from a subject position that lies outside the Mexica's cultural and linguistic traditions, I approach the painting not as a viewer seeking a clear symbol or depiction, but as a participant attuning to the energy that moves through the work, an energy that suggests Tēotl is not an image to be captured, but a generative force that animates structure, space, and perception. My perspective is shaped by growing up in post-revolutionary Iran, where I was formed through overlapping and often conflicting belief systems: Shi‘a Islam, Sufi mysticism, the lingering effect of the pre-Islamic belief system of Zoroastrian, and the presence of Western cultural secularism positioned in opposition to the Islamic Republic, which politicized theology as resistance to the legacies of colonial modernity.

The dissonance between these overlapping systems produced a deep internal tension, leaving me uncertain of where to locate my own personal beliefs. My position as an immigrant in Canada allowed me to use this distance to decode these tensions within these belief systems for a better understanding of myself. The separation created by this distance enabled me to comprehend and reflect without being consumed by the daily frustrations of my birth country’s politics, economy, and their impact on its culture. Removed from the immediacy of the regime’s shifting demands, I could step back and process what had unfolded with greater clarity. This distance not only freed me from the pressures of an endless cycle of change but also deepened my empathy and strengthened my love for my country of birth.

Through my exploration of Tēotl and Pastrana’s painting, I began to recognize that while the belief systems I grew up with in Iran, modern science, and the Nahua cosmology of Mesoamerica are separated by time and space, they often describe similar structures of thought, particularly in how they imagine the beginning of existence. For example, Islamic philosopher Al-Kindî introduced a concept of creation rooted in the Arabic term ibdā’, which he defined as “[embodying] something from nothing” (izhār shay’ ‘an laysa) ((Ihsan, Hidayatullah, and Atstsauri 313). What interested me was not the theological meaning of this act, but the description of the moment of origin, a transition from nothingness into being. This same structural logic appears in modern cosmology’s Big Bang model, where “the universe began as a single point and has been expanding ever since.” (Karan, Panjiyar, and Singh 258) This rapid expansion is not simply a physical event, but a description of unfolding energy in motion, a structural act of becoming that parallels metaphysical ideas of creation across cosmologies. A similar pattern appears in Zoroastrianism, where “the purpose of creation is to give (Cavendish and Ling 42) This framing presents creation as the expression of opposing forces, a transition of metaphysical energy into form, echoing how Tēotl operates as sacred energy in motion. 

Although Zoroastrianism of Iran and Tēotl of Mesoamerica are from distinct cultures, histories, and theologies, they share a common structure: existence emerges from an originating force, whether described as divine will, dualistic expression, or cosmic expansion. Through a comparative reflection based in Zoroastrianism, I was able to comprehend Tēotl as a unifying generative energy rather than as a deity, as the action and movement through which reality becomes sacred. I do not claim to speak for the culture to which Tēotl belongs to, nor to fully understand its depth. My objective, rather, has been to trace the gaps and resonances I perceive in the patterns that emerge across historically and culturally situated ontologies, and to consider how these correspondences might open pathways for understanding. 

I propose that Pastrana’s Organic Consciousness offers a similar process of reflection and bridging of cosmologies. Through his use of the canamayte, he locates a visual language by which to express a generative force animating the tensions, overlaps, and contradictions of a hybrid world in which modern science and Tēotl coexist. Pastrana’s expression of this expression of this generative force suggests how Western science is only beginning to approach a complex Indigenous Mesoamerican metaphysical understanding of existence and alerts us to how the dualism inherent in Western science limits a full engagement with the unified ontology that Tēotl encompasses. 

List of Illustrations 

Fig.1. Javier López Pastrana. Organic Consciousness. 2020. Mixed media on canvas, 120 × 120 cm. Private Collection. Neocrotalic Art, neocrotalic.com/mexican-painting/consciencia-organica/contemporary-art/. Accessed Mar. 2025. 

Fig. 2. Codex Borgia, p. 10. Detail of Ollin sign in the top left square. © The Trustees of the British Museum. The British Museum Collection Online, Asset no. 552707001, www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/552707001. Accessed 04 Sept. 2025