Page 115 - Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock

Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

Quetzalcoatl that had continued over an immense span of years. At
25
certain times one seemed to be gaining the upper hand, at certain times
the other. Finally the cosmic struggle came to an end when good was
vanquished by evil and Quetzalcoatl driven out from Tollan. Thereafter,
26
under the influence of Tezcatilpoca’s nightmarish cult, human sacrifice
was reintroduced throughout Central America.
As we have seen, Quetzalcoatl was believed to have fled to the coast
and to have been carried away on a raft of serpents. One legend says, ‘He
burned his houses, built of silver and shells, buried his treasure, and set
sail on the Eastern Sea preceded by his attendants who had been changed
into bright birds.’
27
This poignant moment of departure was supposedly staged at a place
called Coatzecoalcos, meaning ‘Serpent Sanctuary’. There, before taking
28
his leave, Quetzalcoatl promised his followers he would return one day to
overthrow the cult of Tezcatilpoca and to inaugurate an era when the
gods would again ‘accept sacrifices of flowers’ and cease their clamour
for human blood.
29

25 World Mythology, p. 237.
26 New Larousse Encyclopaedia of Mythology, p. 437.
Ibid.
27
28 Fair Gods and Stone Faces, pp. 139-40.
29 The Feathered Serpent and the Cross, pp. 35, 66.

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