As I have shown in the introductory chapter, the Light-God, the Lord of the East, is also master of the cardinal points and of the winds which blow from them, and therefore of the Air.

This was conspicuously so with Quetzalcoatl.  As a divinity he is most generally mentioned as the God of the Air and Winds.  He was said to sweep the roads before Tlaloc; god of the rains, because in that climate heavy down-pours are preceded by violent gusts.  Torquemada names him as “God of the Air,” and states that in Cholula this function was looked upon as his chief attribute,[1] and the term was distinctly applied to him Nanihe-hecatli, Lord of the four Winds.

[Footnote 1:  Sahagun, Historia, Lib. i, cap. v.  Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. vi, cap. xxiv.]

In one of the earliest myths he is called Yahualli ehecatl, meaning “the Wheel of the Winds,"[1] the winds being portrayed in the picture writing as a circle or wheel, with a figure with five angles inscribed upon it, the sacred pentagram.  His image carried in the left hand this wheel, and in the right a sceptre with the end recurved.

[Footnote 1:  “Quecalcoatl y por otro nombre yagualiecatl.”  Ramirez de Fuen-leal, Historia, cap. i. Yahualli is from the root yaual or youal, circular, rounding, and was applied to various objects of a circular form.  The sign of Quetzalcoatl is called by Sahagun, using the native word, “el Yoel de los Vientos” (Historia, ubi supra).]

Another reference to this wheel, or mariner’s box, was in the shape of the temples which were built in his honor as god of the winds.  These, we are informed, were completely circular, without an angle anywhere.[1]

[Footnote 1:  “Se llaman (a Quetzalcoatl) Senor de el Viento * * * A este le hacian las yglesias redondas, sin esquina ninguna.” Codex Telleriano-Remensis.  Parte ii, Lam. ii.  Describing the sacred edifices of Mexico, Motolinia says:  “Habio en todos los mas de estos grandes patios un otro templo que despues de levantada aquella capa quadrada, hecho su altar, cubrianlo con una pared redonda, alta y cubierta con su chapital.  Este era del dios del aire, cual dijimos tener su principal sella en Cholollan, y en toda esta provincia habia mucho de estos.  A este dios del aire llamaban en su lengua Quetzalcoatl,” Historia de los Indios, Epistola Proemial.  Compare also Herrera, Historia de las Indias Occidentals, Dec. ii, Lib. vii, cap. xvii, who describes the temple of Quetzalcoatl, in the city of Mexico, and adds that it was circular, “porque asi como el Aire anda al rededor del Cielo, asi le hacian el Templo redondo.”]

Still another symbol which was sacred to him as lord of the four winds was the Cross.  It was not the Latin but the Greek cross, with four short arms of equal length.  Several of these were painted on the mantle which he wore in the picture writings, and they are occasionally found on the sacred jades, which bear other of his symbols.