Tecpatl

Personality

decisive · severe · honest · principled · courageous · sharp

In the Aztec tonalpohualli, a person whose tonalli, or birth sign, is Tecpatl is described as decisive, honest and severe, cutting cleanly like the flint knife that names the sign. Tecpatl was the tool of sacrifice and the sign of the north, and its patron in the Borgia list is Chalchiuhtotolin, the 'jade turkey', a form of Tezcatlipoca linked with disease and its cure.

Modern readings of the sign credit Tecpatl people with clarity, courage, integrity and the ability to make hard decisions and to separate truth from falsehood; they are said to be strong-willed and dependable in crisis. Their challenges are said to be harshness, inflexibility, a sharp tongue and a tendency to judge others severely.

In love Tecpatl people are portrayed as loyal and frank, sometimes too blunt for comfort; in work, as judges, surgeons, healers, critics and leaders in times of danger. As with every tonalli, the Aztec diviners read the flint with the number of the birth day and its trecena, and the same sign could foretell very different fortunes.