of each column in the courtyard is adorned with two rows of 

 four 'disembodied eyes' arrayed above and beneath a carving of 

 a bird (Plate 46). The carved eyes are realistic and are inlaid with 

 obsidian 'pupils' (Plates 47 & 48). The identification of the 

 carvings as eyes is unequivocal — witness the corresponding inlay 

 of obsidian to the eyes of the creature in the carvings, which 

 represents a chimera called Quetzalpapalotl, 'quetzal bird 

 butterfly' (Plate 46). It is perhaps significant that the eye of the 

 bird is round, as in nature birds' eyes appear, whereas the 

 'disembodied eyes' are distinctly anthropomorphic, with upper 

 and lower 'eyelids' giving the 'eyeballs' an ovoid shape. On the 

 north, south and east sides of the courtyard, the columns 

 identically depict the avian chimera in profile (Plate 46), whereas 

 the columns on the west side show a frontal view, possibly of the 

 same creature (Plate 49).* The columns are surmounted by a 

 broad lintel painted with a repeated motif, which in turn is 

 crowned by a series of carved stone 'combs' (Plates 50 & 51). 

 In his book, on the murals of Teotihuacan, Miller drew no 

 conclusions as to the meaning of the 'disembodied eyes' or of the 

 murals as a whole. One of us (R.G.W.) has proposed that the 

 'disembodied eyes' represent the visionary sight of the shaman or 

 participant in an agape involving ingestion of a potion 

 compounded of entheogenic mushrooms, morning glory seeds, 

 or other plants with a'Uied effects. This interpretation is based on 

 the occurrence of mushrooms, flowers and seeds in juxtapo- 

 sition with the 'disembodied eyes' {vide Figures 1-4), and the 

 association of the eyes with green drops issuing from the flowers 

 (green, the color of jade, signifies religious value), drops which 

 are symbolic of the entheogenic potion. This theory is laid out in 

 detail in The Wondrous Mushroom: Mycolatry in Mesoamerica 

 (2), which further suggests that the labyrinthine buildings of 

 Teotihuacan, decorated with these entheogenic motifs, were 

 groups of cenacula in which sacramental ingestion of entheogens 



♦Scholars have differed on the question whether one or two birds are here depicted. In a 

 recent paper (Eihnos 32: 5 17, 1967) Arthur G. Miller summarizes the evidence and 

 concludes that the bird depicted frontally represents an owl, whereas the bird depicted in 

 profile represents the quetzal. Acosta, in his comments regarding his reconstruction of 

 the columns, identified the profile birds as quetzal bird, butterfly chimeras, hence the 

 name Quetzalpapalotl. 



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