NaturalPedia > Aztecs

Quotes about Aztecs from the world's top natural health / natural living authors

Share

Tweet

Email to a friend   |  Click here for FREE email alerts

page 1 of 4 | Next ->

"The hero, who in his life represented the dual perspective, after his death is still a synthesizing image: like Charlemagne, he sleeps only and will arise in the hour of destiny, or he is among us under another form. The aztecs tell of the feathered serpent, Quetzalcoatl, monarch of the ancient city of Tollan in the golden age of its prosperity. He was the teacher of the arts, originator of the calendar, and the giver of maize. He and his people were overcome, at the close of their time, by the stronger magic of an invading race, the aztecs." - Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell (Get the book.)

"These raised fields bore a close resemblance to the well-known chinampas, or swamp gardens, used centuries later by the aztecs of highland Mexico. The aztecs maintained thousands of acres of chinampas around their great capital, Tenochtitlan, which itself lay in the midst of a shallow lake. These highly productive fields produced several crops of beans and maize a year and supported more than 2.5(),()0() people in the Valley of Mexico alone." - Brian Fagan, Floods, Famines, and Emperors: El Nino and the Fate of Civilizations (Get the book.)

"Home Remedies Cocoa butter is an old-time favorite to reduce the appearance of stretch marks. aztecs were the first to use cocoa medicinally for stomach and intestinal complaints. Native Indians used cacao to cool fevers. In 1672 it was noted that chocolate could cure "pustules or swellings" of sailors who did not eat a "fresh diet." Throw Me a Lifesaver! HEALTHIER SKIN: Though chocolate is often blamed for contributing to skin breakouts, a study found that women who regularly consumed a high-flavonol cocoa beverage showed increased hydration, and decreased roughness and scaling." - David W. Grotto, RD, LDN, 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life! (Get the book.)

"He and his people were overcome, at the close of their time, by the stronger magic of an invading race, the aztecs. Tezcatlipoca, the warrior-hero of the younger people and their era, broke the city of Tollan; and the feathered serpent, king of the golden age, burned his dwellings behind him, buried his treasures in the mountains, transformed his chocolate trees into mesquite, commanded the multi-colored birds, his servants, to fly before him, and departed in great sorrow." - Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell (Get the book.)

"There is evidence that (Salvia hispanica L), called "chia" by the ancient aztecs, was first used as food as early as 3500 B.C., and served as a cash crop in central Mexico between 1500 and 900 B.C. The aztecs ate the seeds of this semitropical plant to improve their endurance. They called it their "running food" because messengers could purportedly run all day on just a handful. They also used it as medicine, chia can be taken in its whole form or ground when used in cooking. Chia can be added to cereal, salads, beverages, and used in baking. Refrigerate chia after grinding." - Andreas Moritz, Timeless Secrets of Health & Rejuvenation: Unleash The Natural Healing Power That Lies Dormant Within You (Get the book.)

"Just as Europeans used pepper as a currency, cacao seeds were used as money by the aztecs. In the Middle Ages and Mesoamerica, money literally grew on trees. After I suck the flesh off, Jaitt explains how that seed is then roasted and processed to make chocolate. "People have no idea how their food grows and where it comes from," says Jaitt. "Theyjust buy it in the supermarket." As I prepare to leave, Jaitt hands me a couple of fruit magazines." - Adam Leith Gollne, The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession (Get the book.)

"The ancient aztecs called spirulina the 'sacred power plant,' and believed it was endowed with the energy of the sun and had remarkable energising and rejuvenating properties. Spirulina is derived from freshwater algae and contains a complex abundance of enzymes, vitamins, minerals, trace elements and amino acids and other biochemicals. It is now grown in aqua farms. EVENING PRIMROSE OIL The secret behind the oil of this unassuming flower is its gammalinoleic acid (GLA) content, a substance that is extremely valuable to the body." - Dr Ron Roberts, Asthma Controlled Naturally: Techniques That Work (Get the book.)

"Quinoa was a staple food of both the aztecs and the Incas that can be traced back some 5,000 years. It has been cultivated in the South American Andes since at least 3000 b.c. With the advent of the Spanish conquest in the 1500s, what was once a major crop headed toward a four-hundred-year decline in production. For quite some time, quinoa was only grown by peasants in remote areas for their own consumption. Now quinoa is making a resurgence as a valued crop for its nutrition value. Where Is Quinoa Grown?" - David W. Grotto, RD, LDN, 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life! (Get the book.)

"Avocados for the aztecs, figs for Berber nomads, apples for Servius: all were called testicles. Mango-steens are said to resemble the interior of scrotums. Lychees are "naked balls," wrote Georges Bataille. A variety of fig from Naples called pope's testes has an almost transparent strawberry-pink flesh. Fruits intentionally send out attraction signals. No wonder we go bananas for them; they've programmed us. Fruits reproduce themselves by making us want them. Humans are willing to go all the way—perhaps without even realizing it—for fruits." - Adam Leith Gollne, The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession (Get the book.)

"It is thought to be the main grain consumed by the aztecs before they were conquered by Spain. Amaranth was revered for its nutritional superiority and was hailed as the fuel of warriors. It was also prized as an offering pleasing to Montezuma due to its great nutrition and healing powers. Where Is Amaranth Grown? China is the largest producer of the grain today. Amaranth is also cultivated in Mexico, Central America, and in recent years, regions of the United States such as Colorado, Illinois, and Nebraska. Why Should I Eat Amaranth?" - David W. Grotto, RD, LDN, 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life! (Get the book.) "Ethopians have used agave branches as natural toothbrushes, while the aztecs treated wound infections with concentrated sap. Throw Me a Lifesaver! ANTI-INFLAMMATORY: An animal study found those who were treated with an extract from agave leaves orally and topically had less inflammation than the control group. ANTIMICROBIAL: Agave has been found to contain special substances that greatly reduce the growth of yeasts, mold, and life-threatening bacteria." - David W. Grotto, RD, LDN, 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life! (Get the book.)

"The ancient elixir of the Incas and aztecs, mole sauce, was based on cocoa. Or try my recipes for dark cocoa smoothies and chocolate ice cream using raw cocoa nibs mixed with dark chocolate. Yum! Likewise, enjoy your coffee and tea minus milk, or use unsweetened plain, chocolate- or vanilla-flavored soymilk if you want to preserve the phytonutri-ents. (West-Soy and Trader Joe's make good unsweetened soymilk.) Now you know why the British, who generally add milk to their tea, don't enjoy the same health and longevity benefits as the Japanese, who drink it straight." - Dr. Steven R. Gundry, Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution: Turn Off the Genes That Are Killing You - And Your Waistline - And Drop the Weight for Good (Get the book.)

"Chocolate at the Dawn of the Industrial Revolution A glance at the plate dealing with chocolate-making in Diderot's Encyclopedia will suffice to show how little the basic technology had changed since the days of the aztecs. It is true that there were "factories" in several countries turning out chocolate on a large scale, primarily in wafer form for the drink, but this was all hand labor. In Germany, for instance, the Steinhund chocolate factory was founded in 1765; and even earlier, in 1728, Fry and Sons of Bristol was producing chocolate for the English market." - Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe, The True History of Chocolate (Get the book.)

"The word "chocolate" comes from the aztecs of Mexico, who called it "bitter water." They associated chocolate with the goddess of fertility. It was always used as a beverage, never as a solid food. Its numerous benefits were known to them. Today's largely "fake" chocolate consists mostly of cocoa butter, milk or milk powder, sugar and other ingredients, such as emulsifiers that improve smoothness and flavor. The finest plain dark chocolate contains at least 70% cocoa (solids and butter), whereas the most expensive milk chocolate usually contains about 50% cocoa." - Andreas Moritz, Timeless Secrets of Health & Rejuvenation: Unleash The Natural Healing Power That Lies Dormant Within You (Get the book.)

"To the Spaniards it appeared as if the aztecs were dedicated to providing sacrifices to their frightening gods, and if these sacrifices were not offered, the gods would allow the sun to fail, bringing the world to an icy end. The Aztec considered themselves descended from the ancient Toltec, but what the Spaniards saw was a terribly distorted Aztec version of an earlier Toltec culture. There is hard evidence that suggests the ancient Toltec were warlike, and yet there is conflicting evidence that implies that they were relatively peaceful for that era." - Ray Dodd, BeliefWorks: The Art of Living Your Dreams (Get the book.)

"For the aztecs, the cacahuaquahuilt, or cacao tree, was a gift from Quetzalcoatl, the god represented by a feathered serpent who, according to legend, was to return one day, recovering his kingdom and bringing the aztecs all the treasure of Paradise. When Hernan Cortes (1485-1547) landed on the Mexican coast, near present-day Tabasco, in April 1519, the Aztec emperor Montezuma II was convinced that the Spaniard was the descendant of Quetzalcoatl. The explorer was greeted as a god; he was offered gold, plantations . . . and chocolate, drunk from a goblet of incrusted gold." - Richard Beliveau, Ph.D. and Denis Gingras, Ph.D., Foods that Fight Cancer (Get the book.)

"This word comes from Nahuatl, a language spoken by the people of Teotihuacan, the Toltecs and the aztecs. In the Nahuatl language, nagual is the counterpart of tonal. Tonal is all the things that make up the solid everyday world, things that can be named. Nagual is the spirit that dreams, inhabiting the rocks, the plants, the creatures, and the humans. Everything that has a form, tonal, emerged from a place of potential without form, nagual. For the Nahuatl-speaking peoples, nagual is half of the reality we live in, half of our own nature." - Ray Dodd, BeliefWorks: The Art of Living Your Dreams (Get the book.)

"The plate that deals with the preparation of cacao40 is remarkable in its detail, but also remarkable for the obvious fact that cacao technology had hardly changed one iota from the time of the Olmecs, Maya, and aztecs to that of the confiseur (confectioner) of Enlightenment France. Here the engraver shows a worker toasting cacao in a caldron; a worker winnowing the beans; another breaking them in a heated mortar; and another grinding them on a heated surface (metate). Motecuhzoma's chocolate specialists would have recognized all parts of this process." - Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe, The True History of Chocolate (Get the book.) "So rich was this piedmont zone in this product that highland Maya kingdoms had vied for control of these lands, and the aztecs had made their most profitable conquest by taking ovet Soconusco. Lured by the cacao, the Spaniards were here soon after the Conquest. Initially, the rapacious conquistadores tried enslaving the Indians of Soconusco: a slave was valued at 2 gold pesos, a load of cacao at 10, and a pig at 20.3 But on 29 May 1537, Pope Paul III Farnese published the bull Sublima Deus, excommunicating any Christian who enslaved an Indian (blacks, however, remained fair game)." - Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe, The True History of Chocolate (Get the book.) "Eric Thompson, who wrote a vanguard study of cacao among the Maya and aztecs, suggested that this might have arisen because of the vague resemblance in shape between the two objects, but that a more likely explanation would be that "both were the repositories of precious liquids— blood and chocolate." In one spectacular ritual that took place annually in Tenochtitlan, cacao was ditectly associated with heart exttaction. Once a yeat, a slave perfect in body was chosen to impersonate the great god Quetzalcoatl." - Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe, The True History of Chocolate (Get the book.)

"By the way, cacao beans (raw chocolate) were used as money by the Olmecs, Mayans and aztecs - and they grow on trees.) Evolution: A Monkey's Perspective Revisited One day the monkeys played Amongst the trees, When their fellow appeared From a canopy of leaves. "There is a rumor about, Have you heard? It's being touted As the new holy word: That humans are descended From our noble tribe. The arrogance of this I can hardly describe. Our joy and laughing, Our natural bliss, Is something the humans Seem to totally miss." - David Wolfe, The Sunfood Diet Success System (Get the book.)

"The plant was known to the aztecs in pre-Columbian times but its exact age and history are poorly recorded. Parts used Ripe or unripe fruits, tubers and young stems. Cultivation & harvesting Chayote is easily grown in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world. The large seed germinates while the fruit is still attached to the vine (viviparous) and the whole fruit is planted. Uses & properties All parts of the plant are eaten, but the fruits, with their bland, sweetish taste are best known in cookery (especially in Caribbean and Malaysian dishes)." - Ben-Erik van Wyk, Food Plants of the World: An illustrated guide (Get the book.) "Origin & history Mexican yam bean has been cultivated since ancient times by the Mexicans, aztecs and Mayas. In the sixteenth century, the Spaniards introduced it to the Philippines, from where it spread further into Indonesia, the Far East, Mauritius, Reunion and West Africa. It is still an important crop in Mexico, but has become a common sight on markets in many parts of the world, including China and the southern USA (sold as "chop suey bean"). Parts used The fleshy tuber or more rarely the young pods." - Ben-Erik van Wyk, Food Plants of the World: An illustrated guide (Get the book.) "Sapodilla is a traditional food plant of the Maya and Aztec cultures and the source of chewing gum or chicle chewed by the aztecs in pre-Columbian times. The tree spread to other tropical parts of the world (especially Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Florida in the USA) where it became a minor fruit crop. Parts used Fresh ripe fruits. Cultivation & harvesting Trees are easily grown from seeds but sometimes also by grafting and layering. They require tropical conditions. Fruit are harvested when nearly ripe and are mainly sold on local markets." - Ben-Erik van Wyk, Food Plants of the World: An illustrated guide (Get the book.)

"Damiana was used by the Mayans and aztecs as a sexual stimulant and to treat respiratory disorders. It was listed in the U.S. National Formulary from 1888 to 1947. Today, damiana is used to treat anxiety, asthma, bedwetting, catarrh, constipation, coughs, debility, depression, dysentery, dyspepsia, emphysema, erectile dysfunction, exhaustion, hangover, headache, hot flashes, infertility, low libido, Lou Gehrig's disease, malaria, menstrual cramps, Parkinson's disease, prostatitis, urinary tract infection, venereal disease, and vertigo." - Brigitte Mars, A.H.G., The Desktop Guide to Herbal Medicine: The Ultimate Multidisciplinary Reference to the Amazing Realm of Healing Plants, in a Quick-study, One-stop Guide (Get the book.) "The cacao seed is certainly edible, as history has proven. The aztecs were the first to prepare cacao as the delicous cocoa beverage enjoyed around the world today. Cocoa was the "love tonic" of Montezuma II, who is reputed to have drunk some fifty cups daily before visiting his harem of six hundred women. In 1502 the returning crew of Columbus brought cacao beans back to Europe, and in 1550 nuns came up with the idea of adding sugar and vanilla, leading to what we now regard as chocolate." - Brigitte Mars, A.H.G., The Desktop Guide to Herbal Medicine: The Ultimate Multidisciplinary Reference to the Amazing Realm of Healing Plants, in a Quick-study, One-stop Guide (Get the book.) "Edible Uses Before the arrival of Europeans, allspice was one of the most common culinary herbs of the Caribbean. The aztecs used it to flavor chocolate. Nowadays, allspice is used to flavor cakes, carrots, chutneys, cookies, curries, custards, fish, fruit, jam, pickles, pies, soups, sweet potatoes, and stews. It is sometimes added to medicines to improve their flavor. The very best allspice comes from Jamaica. Other Uses In the 1800s allspice was used by the Maya for embalming their dead." - Brigitte Mars, A.H.G., The Desktop Guide to Herbal Medicine: The Ultimate Multidisciplinary Reference to the Amazing Realm of Healing Plants, in a Quick-study, One-stop Guide (Get the book.)

"In her excellent reference book, Whole Foods Companion, my friend Dianne Onstad has written, "The English word avocado is a corruption of the Nahuatlan Mexican ahuacatl, itself an Aztec shortening of ahuacacuahatl, which means testicle tree. The aztecs explained that their ahuacatl was given the name not only because the fruit resembled a testicle and grew in pairs, but because it greatly excited sexual passion." The avocado is the new world olive. It is the fatty fruit that dominates the Americas as the olive dominates the Mediterranean world." - David Wolfe, The Sunfood Diet Success System (Get the book.)

page 1 of 4 | Next ->

FAIR USE NOTICE: The research quoted here is provided under the protection of Fair Use provisions and published by the 501(c)3 non-profit Consumer Wellness Center for the purposes of public comment and education. Authors / publishers may submit books for consideration of inclusion here.

TERMS OF USE: Read full terms of use. Citations of text from NaturalPedia must include: 1) Full credit to the original author and book title. 2) Secondary credit to the Natural News Naturalpedia as a research resource and a link to www.NaturalPedia.com

This unique compilation of research is copyright (c) 2008, 2009 by the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center.

ABOUT THE CREATOR OF NATURALPEDIA: Mike Adams, the creator of NaturalPedia, is the editor of NaturalNews.com, the internet's top natural health news site, creator of the Honest Food Guide (www.HonestFoodGuide.org), a free downloadable consumer food guide based on natural health principles, author of Grocery Warning, The 7 Laws of Nutrition, Natural Health Solutions, and many other books available at www.TruthPublishing.com, creator of the earth-friendly EcoLEDs company (www.EcoLEDs.com) that manufactures energy-efficient LED lighting products, founder of Arial Software (www.ArialSoftware.com), a permission e-mail technology company, creator of the CounterThink Cartoon series (www.NaturalNews.com/index-cartoons.html) and author of over 1,500 articles, interviews, special reports and reference guides available at www.NaturalNews.com. Adams' personal philosophy and health statistics are available at www.HealthRanger.org.