ESSAY PAPER by ROSS S MARSHALL

5540 words.

12 typed pages, 1.5 spaced without exibits.

THE UNIVERSAL QUADRATIC TORTOISE

Introduction

Many of the cosmologies of the ancient world display a universal phenomenon of dividing up
the Earth and in some cases color-code the cardinal directions, adding various zoomorphic images,
guardian spirits and gods. This is called cosmography, the science that maps the general features of
the cosmos. (1) This paper will examine quadri-partitioning in ancient cosmography in defining the
Maya, Aztec, and Inca traditions of describing the Earth. We will use the context of the more ancient
systems found in the Eastern Hemisphere to supplement our definitions. The goal of this paper will
be to show that this universal phenomenon of partitioning and color-coding the earth derives not
from independent invention but from the dispersion of a monogenetic mono-mythological tradition.

Mytheme of Chukwa, the World-bearing Cosmic Turtle

An 1877 drawing of the world supported on the backs of the four-fold
elephant god, Mahapudma, which supports the World.
[Wiki Commons: Public Domain view terms. File:PSM V10 D562 The hindoo earth.jpg
Created: 1 January 1877. Copied From: SOURCE:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Turtle#/media/File:PSM_V10_D562_The_hindoo_earth.jpg]
Iconography of the Cardinal Directions

Partitioning and in some cases color-coding the cardinal directions is one of the oldest symbolic
expressions found in world mythology. Maria Mateus in her Directionality and Geography thesis,

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says “Assigning symbolic meaning to the four directions is not unique to Egypt, as it appears in the
cosmologies of the earliest civilizations in China, North America, and Mesoamerica”. (2) This
symbolic partitioning and coding the quadrants is found in creation, origin and colonization
traditions. The great cosmograph of the World, depicted by the Hindus in the Ramayana Epic, is a
tortoise named Chukwa (or Akupara), who carries the quadraplicated elephant god, Mahapudma on
his back. Each quarter elephant represents the four Cardinal Directions of Viroopaaksha (east),
Mahaapadma (south), Saumanasa (west), and Bhadra (north). (3) Other Hindu versions depict eight
elephants stationed at the points along with the eight guardian Astadikpalas. (4) The Chinese call the
world supporting sea tortoise, Ao. The Earth has many names throughout world mythology but in
Iroquois and Lenape cosmology, he is the unnamed “Great Turtle.” (5) We will be studying Chukwa,
his friends, Mahapudma, and the color-codes that are associated with them.

A Mono-mythological Tradition

The principle of a singular mythological tradition derives from the theory of monogenesis as
evidenced in the traditions and genealogies of the world. Genealogies support this by tracing
ancestry back to a common 'pantheon' of first generation gods, and these usually trace back to some
primal parent dyad, or first-father “monad” associated with an aquatic symbol. The Greeks, for
instance, claim that the god Cronus was the son of Hellen, who was respectfully the son of the flood
hero, Deucalion. Many other traditions claim a similar 'common' origin for man. The sibling heirs of
the four Bacabs of Maya tradition demonstrate the sacred principle of the parent monad or “All-
Father,” who usually accompanies the imagery of a flood, a cosmic chaos in some form of creation-
origin account. The imagery communicated through this cryptic monad actually recalls to memory
the Mosaic account of the Flood disruption, the succeeding historical events and the four male
survivors with their land inheritances. In many cosmologies there is this quartering of the world that
follows the initial primitive economy of the monad and his family. A demonstration also of the
quadra-partitioning that derives from these parent figures will show the monogenesis of the diffusion
of this cosmographic idea. In ancient traditions, the monad leads to a dyad, which leads to a triad,
and thus to groups of tetrads, and in most cosmologies, the quadratic division of the world. The
world geography retains this tradition in four of the continental divisions of Africa, Asia, Europe,
and Arabia, with the Middle East as the center.

Color-Coding the Cardinals

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 While color coding is a wide spread phenomenon, it is not universal. Ronald Dixon, in his
Color-Symbolism monograph observes this color-coding of the cardinal points as only found in
North and Central America, South and Southeastern Asia, and in Ireland. (8) There are indications
found in Africa and Egypt in particular. Apparently, the quartering of the world predates the color-
coding of the directions. Dixon further points out some curious patterns in the various codifications
and the choice of colors made by the various cultures irrespective of the directions being symbolize.
He says, “Out of the thirty-odd systems of color-symbolism… the most common color group is that of
White, Yellow, Red, Blue;” [Then the second most common group] “White, Yellow, Red, Black,
[followed by ] the two groups White, Yellow, Blue, Black, and White, Red, Blue, Black.” His
conclusion is that these four amount to thirty percent of the total cases with 10 out of 21 American
cases favoring the second most common group.

PRIMARY N E S W
Secondary
Third -1
Third-2

ASIA Pacific AMERICAS

--------> E Ocean W <---------

What reasons do we find for the choice of colors used by the various peoples for the directions?
Our author suggests four factors as determinants: the Sun, geography, climate and religious ideals,
and we shall add “race” as a fifth factor. In the majority of cases, the Sun is associated with the east
and the west “sunrise” and “sunset,” and their associated colors of white, yellow, and red. Geography
plays a part in the lesser cases, where the west is not represented by these three colors. In the
Americas, the colors black, blue and green are used for the west, whereas in Asia they are used for
the east. Dixon says this reversed oddity suggests the colors blue and green refer to the Pacific
Ocean. Not by coincidence is the fact that all the American tribes that use this color system for the
west live in the southwestern part of the United States and Mexico. (9) Climate suggests the
determinant colors for the directions north and south. About half of the case studies - all southern
tribes- use red for the South as indicative of heat. About one third of the cases use black for
indicating the north, while the other cases use white. This difference begs the question of whether the
observer thought of storms and darkness or snow and ice when looking north. Religious factors
sometimes control the meaning of the colors. In some religions the north is looked at as the realm of
the “Shades” (ghost-spirits), while some paint the west black as the Land of the Dead. Dixon makes

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other observations on mysterious color coincidences such as “shifting” and “reversals” between
tribal colors but without much explanation. (10) He concludes, “As a whole, the results of such a
comparison as has been made here are to some extent negative;…no general principle can be laid
down as underlying the choice of colors by different peoples.” (11) Nevertheless, besides this
limitation to color-coding and lack of explanation, the tradition of quartering and assigning symbolic
ideas to the cardinal directions is a world-wide phenomenon. In the science of mythography, this is
explained by the doctrine of the succession of similar worlds, that wherever the nations went they
carried, transplanted and transposed this cosmography upon their new colonial destination.

Sinistral Shift (Counter-Clockwise) <-------

Sia Indians R BL Y W <--------
Hopi W R BL Y

Apache and Navajo Reversals

Apache SW USA W Y BL BK
Navajo SW USA Bk W BL Y

Maya and Javanese Reversals

MAYA-Alt-2 Bk Y R W (Dixon, 14)
Javanese W R Y Bk (Dixon, 14)

Color-Coded Matriarchs

The number four appears to be a favorite divider for depicting the human race. They usually are
associated with male or female beings, gods or matriarchs and patriarchs. In comparative mythology
one finds that almost every ancient cosmology recounts this color-coded system with each primary
color taking a position in the Cardinal Directions. Dr. John D. Pilkey suggests that this derives from
the tradition of the four males and four females in the flood legend of the Hebrews. He says, the four
females “wives” account for the four racial types present in the two Hemispheres of the East and
West. (13) If one looks at world geography they will see four primary divisions of mankind. Africa
represents the Black Nations, Europe, the White, Asia the Yellow, and the Americas, the Red, as
derived from Southern, Central, and Northeastern Asia. The four wives of the Ark legend are the
matriarchal genetic prototypes of the four races inhabiting these four land areas. If this is the oldest
tradition, then it would explain the tradition of racial color coding in successive generations.

This tradition of eugenics and dividing geographical inheritances is remembered in one of the
greatest genetic design elements of Hinduism, the Mahadevi tetrad. The design element is the color-

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coding of the gods and goddesses, especially these four Hindu Matriarchs, as representative of racial
types by the Hindus. In this tetrad, Mahkali or Kali is depicted as a black goddess with Uma as
white. Durga identifies with the color yellow, while Mahadevi herself fills the position of the red
Matriarch. This tetrad, especially the Matriarchal is the basis for the genetics as well as the feminine
aspect of designating cosmographic elements. The four main continents represent not the best but the
largest example of matriarchal color coding. These will be designated according to the half-winds, or
points between the four quarters - Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, and Southeast.

Color-Coded Continents

We mentioned the continents as an example of partitioning. Theories are blank as to who

designed and established the first partitioning but mythology indicates it was done by this first family
of tetrads. Theories also differ as to the origin of the names of the continents. There are about seven
but we shall identify the four primary ones.

Looking from the center at Eridu, in Mesopotamia, the Kermet “People of the Black Land” lies
South and Southwest as the continent of Africa. According to some scholars it was named by the
Romans after the Carthagean (Tunisian) Berber tribe Afri, calling it Afri-terra, meaning "the land of
the Afri. Sanskrit and Hindi term it Apara. . Dialectic changing of the “A” to an “O” suggests the
word Afri is cognate with the Hebrew Ophir, a word embedded in African toponyms like Sofala in
Mozambique, Mount Afura in Zimbabiye. (14) Looking Northwest we see Europe, the land of the
“wide-faced” people. Western Europe, which is traditionally known for having the racial
identification of the white “Caucasoid” race derived from the goddess, Europe, the daughter of
Agenor, from which we get this expression. To the Northeast is the land of Asia, the territory of
Yellow River people, whom some say are the “Sinites” of Hebrew tradition. Asia’s name is
connected to the Lydian Empire and its royal family, the Asiad and from Asie (Asia), an Oceanid
nymph of Lydia in Anatolia and the wife of the Titan Prometheus. She is compared with the Hindu
yellow Durga and Semitic Sheba. (15) The most speculative quadrant is to the South and Southwest
in Arabia Proper taking the color code of Red. Arabia is where we find the ancient toponym,
Havilah, a name duplicated twice in the genealogy of Genesis. This southern Arabian land was
racially extended to the Americas, through migrations into Asia and to the land of the Amerindians.
(16) So, what we have here is an ancient color coded colonization pattern of white, yellow, black and
red for the north, east, south and west directions.

AKKAD

5
 N
AMURU W + E ELAM
S
SUMER

The Mesopotamians regionally quartered their urbanization planning. Maria Mateus points out
that the ancient Mesopotamians divided up the known world into four cardinal directions designated
by the four regions Akkad, Amurru, Subartu (sometimes Subartu/Gutium) and Elam. The later
Babylonians alternately aligned the regions designating Elam to the South, Akkad in the North,
Subartu as east, and Amurru as in the west. (17) Besides the designated regions there was the
application of the winds in determining urban layouts. The Mesopotamians oriented the directions
according to the principle of four winds - the most prominent and frequent as “regular wind” (NW),
the three lesser ones, “mountain wind” (NE), “cloud wind” (SE) and “Amorite wind” (SW). (19)
These winds also determined the orientation of their city walls as well as the directions of the street
openings. Diffusing southward and eastward into Africa and India we see that both the Egyptians and
Hindus continued this tradition of partitioning the cosmos.

Political-economic four-fold division is seen transposed upon status in the East Indian caste
system and is based partly on racial distinctions: the Brahmin priests, warrior Kshatras, merchant
Vaisyas and black Sudras slave caste. According to Dr. John Pilkey, these are a derivitive of “the
four geographical locations of Genesis 10:10 [that] suggest capitals of local governor-ships under
the four couples of the Egyptian Ennead.” He further details this in the Akkadian emperors, “like
their Sumerian predecessors, interpreting the earth as a tetrad of cardinal directions… [and
colonizing]… a quarter of the earth.” He continues, that the Akkadians “constituted a tribal dynasty
four in number: Sargon, Manishtushu, his brother Rimush, and Naram Sin. [Foreshadowing] the
[later] process of the four Aztec Tezcatlipocas [See below]… Sargon was to colonize the red East;
Rimush, the yellow south; Manishtushu, the black west; and Naram Sin, the white north… through

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Marduk-Surya’s East Indian sign of victory, the clockwise Swastika design.” (20)

Europe Asia to the Americas

N W N N E

E
W

S W S S E
Africa Oceania
Polynesia, Micronesia

According to Richard Wilkinson, the mythological symbolism of the number four frequently
signifies foundation as in the four cardinal directions and this significance is seen in the Egyptian
perception of the four 'races' or racial regions of mankind: Egyptians (north), Near Easterners (east),
Nubians (south) and Libyans (west) depicted in some New Kingdom tombs. It is also apparent in a
number of groupings of four deities, such as the four sons of Horus who are geographically quadrant-
aligned in representational contexts, supporting the sky. (21) Like the Mesopotamian winds, the four
wind gods of the Egyptian quadrants reflect the same kind of partitioning with Qebui - the four ram-
headed god of the north, Shehbui - god of the south, Henkhisesui - god of the east, and Ḥutchai, the
god of the west. The early Indo-Aryans brought this Sumerian cosmographic science into India as
did the remetch en Kermet “People of the Black Land” brought it south into Egypt.

The Hindu Lotus Flower of the Aṣṭa-Dikpāla “Guardians of Eight Directions” shows eight gods
who preside over the points of the compass, one for each eighth division of the four stations and four
half-stations. Kubera in the North, Yama - South, Indra - East, Varuṇa - West, with Isana to the
Northeast, Agni - Southeast, Vayu - Northwest, and Nirrti in the Southwest.

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 Hindu Lotus cosmograph of the World

The tradition of dividing the lands and naming them after Matriarchs originates from early flood
traditions. In most cosmologies there is a beginning “chaos” usually associated with water or at least
a flood destruction like in the Sumerian, Maya, and Inca origin myths. Out of this chaos of water
comes a First Father figure, a half-man god like Pachacamac, Arya Manco, the Near Eastern
Utnapishtum or half-fish men creatures like the Phillistine and Eblaite Dagon (the Ugaritic Dagnu),
whom the Akkadians call Dagana and the Babylonians know as Oannes. (22) In some traditions a
Divine Pair is formed from. What follows is a tetrad of siblings like the Aztec Tezcatlipocas. Places,
rivers, mountain, and other topographies are named after these primordial progenitors. Some
traditions refer to various symbolic tetrads of a aquatic nature and other divisions like the Maya
Popol Vuh account of four creative attempts to create man. Another geographical example is found
in the four Arms of the Inca Chakana. The Maya Creation account is similar to the Aztec Creation
Myth of The Fifth Sun and the Four Tezcatlipocas. The Maya tradition records a Becab tetrad of four
brothers and the story of the first Grandparents of the Maya people who made them from white and
yellow maize. (23) The evolution of the monad to a dyad and then to a quadrad is seen even in later
far away places like Mesoamerica.

Middle Eastern, European, Semitic, Hellenic and Teutonic traditions remember this partitioning.
According to the monogenetic premise found in creation and origin accounts, the four racial types
(the four Becabs in Mesoamerican mythology) originated from the Divine Pair (like the Edenic dyad
Adam and Eve) and this four-fold design carried forward into the postdiluvian world by four
matriarchs selected by the All-Father (the Noah figure) for the same purpose of replenishing the
earth, with each claiming a geographical quarter of the earth as their land allotment. In the Genesis
account (24), the cosmography is: Noah (Turanian) - Central Asia, Shem - East and Southeast Asia,
Ham/Cush/Nimrod - Africa and Japheth - Europe. Dr. Pilkey says, that this set of four males is a
paralleled in East Indian tradition to the Mahadevi tetrad (as mentioned above) - black Kali, yellow
Durga, white Uma, and red Mahadevi with the Genesis counterparts being, respectively, Ophir,
Sheba, Yobab and Havilah. These patterns derive genetically from the antediluvian tedrad of black
Adam, yellow Seth, white Cain, and red Abel. He further compares the Mahadevi tetrad with the
Hellenic version of red Chaos, black Gaea, yellow Tartarus and white Aphrodite. (25) A similar
tetrad shows up in the Hellenic sons of Herakles and the Teutonic sons of Thor that mirror the four
sons of Shem. (26) Apparently, these ethnographic tetrads are primary design factors for the basis of

8
racial (genetic) diversity for being “fruitful and multiplying” and “replenishing the earth.” [See
comparison Chart -1]

In African cosmography, the Kongo yowa cross or dikenga cosmogram appears to mirror the
Aztec and Inca comographies describing the Four World directions. The Bambuti pygmies of the
African Congo mention that their supreme God Khonvoum, created three different races of man out
of three kinds of clay: one black, one white, and one red. (27)

Tukula

Luvemba o Xala

Musoni

Kongo Four World Directions Cosmogram

The myth alludes to the fact of a racial tetrad by leaving out the yellow color because that color
belonged to the god Khonvoum (their Noah figure), whom they say is “yellow” (Asian, Turanian,
Ural-Altaic). (28) The Kongo of South and Central Africa color their world directions after their
Egyptian heritage of North-Red, Ra, Midday; East-Black, Khepera, Sunrise; South-Yellow, Amun-
Ra, Midnight; West-White, Ra-Atum, Sunset. Derric Moore says, that “Kala means black [see Hindu
“Kali”], Tukula refers to the color red, Luvemba refers to the color white, and Musoni refers to the
color yellow.” (29)

Egyptian Cosmogram

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 North-Red, Ra, Midday; East-Black, Khepera, Sunrise; South-Yellow,

Amun-Ra, Midnight; West-White, Ra-Atum, Sunset.

Korean cosmography includes the yellow progenitor and like the Hindus, records the four in a
divine tetrad of females with four males, each racially color-coded according to their appointed
colonization and representing the races of Mankind. Even though the story originates from ancient
Korean tradition, it speaks of the Genesis history of humanity – if we follow the tradition back from
Korea to Turkestan (Turkey -Asia Minor) to ancient Syria. The Budoji (30) testifies to the forgotten
mytho-history of Magoism from which modern civilizations are derived. According to the ancient
Budoji, in the beginning, depicts Mago as the cosmogonist, ultimate sovereign and progenitor of four
sons and colonizers of the quarters of the World: Hwanggung (the Yellow Child) went to Siberia, E.
Asia, and N. America. Baekso (the White Child) went to the Middle East and Europe; Chunggung
(the Blue Child) went to China, Japan, and Central and South America. The fourth, Heukso (the
Black Child) went to Indonesia, India and Africa. (32)

North
Black Sea
West Turkic East
Mediterranean Blue Sea
South
Red Sea

The ancient Asians divide the same way but in some cases leave out any racial designations. For
some reason, they loved naming large bodies of water after certain colors. The Chinese have the
Huanghai, the Yellow Sea, while the Achaemenids called the Black Sea, the Axšaina (Persian for
'black'). Frank Jacobs, in It Works For the Turks, describes the Turkic partitioning of the Earth as no
different than the Chinese. They both share the four-fold color-coding of the four quarters with
associated color-coded oceans or seas. The Turks have four names for four seas associated with
colors: The Karadeniz (Black Sea, N); The Kizildeniz (Red Sea, S); The Gokdeniz, possibly being the
northern inlet of the Caspian, the Blue Sea or the Aral Sea; and again, the Akdeniz for the
Mediterranean. The four make an almost perfect cardinal square with the Inca type “navel point” or
axis mundi (homeland of the Turks?) centered between the Upper Tigris and Euphrates rivers. (33)

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 The Chinese partition and color-code four astronomical constellations of the Azure Dragon for
the east, the Black Tortoise for the north, the White Tiger for the west, and a Vermillion Bird to
represent the south. The Chinese in their creation of people appear to match the directional colors
coding human creation similar to the Congo pygmies. They have Nuwa (Nu-Kwa) and her
companion, Fuxi (Fu-His) worshiped as the ancestors of humankind, who are often represented as
half-snake, half-humans – an eastward removed typology of Apsu and the dragon-serpent goddess
Tiamat. They favored the color yellow with Nuwa (similarly to the Kongo, Khonvoum), who molded
humans from yellow clay for companionship. The color yellow, was widely used to racially code
their people, places and creatures, especially rulers like the Yellow Emperor Huangdi, who’s favorite
river is the Yellow River, and in zoomorphic images like King Wu’s image of a Yellow Bird.

The mythological Dragon Kings are another example of Chinese cosmography. The sea-god
Longwang (Emperial Ruler) resides over the seas and is known as “The Dragon King.” He has four
subservient dragon brothers who govern the Northern, Eastern, Southern, and Western oceans, with
himself as the fifth Dragon Sea-god representing a possible fifth aquatic division mirrored in the
Greco-Roman Sea-god Neptune-Poseidon who presides over the Mediterranean Sea. The problem
with these Dragon Kings and the four oceans is that China’s geography does not fit the legendary
cosmography! The best geographical alternative for these four or five Dragon seas is the Ancient
Near East. (34)
Black Tortoise
White Tiger Chinese Azure Dragon
Vermillion Bird

EMPERORS COLORS ALT NAME ELEMEN PLANET Direction

“Wuseda” of T
Wushen, ROBE SYMBOL
Wudi DRAGON
5 Colored
Deities
Huangdi Yellow Huang yellow Jupiter Center
Cangdi Green Qing di Azure East
Blue/Green Taihao

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 Heidi Black Xuanwu Tortoise Mercury North
“black Warrior”
Chidi Red Yuan di Fire Mars South
Bird
Baidi White Xi di Tiger Venus West

In the Semitic comparative mythological studies of Dr. John Pilkey, the seas surrounding the
Arabian Peninsular are associated with the above Chinese Dragon Kings, their Seas, and are related
to the Greek tradition of the five rivers of Hades. He says, “The Arabian Peninsula is defined by five
major bodies of water in clockwise order… These five bodies became the five “rivers” of the
underworld, conceived as rivers…” His comparison is: The Persian Gulf = Acheron, river of woe;
Oman Gulf = Lethe, river of oblivion; Arabian Sea = Cocytus, river of wailing; Aden Gulf =
Phlegathon, river of fire; and the Red Sea = Styx, river of oaths. (35) He continues with the five
locations (still extant) fitting the origin of the Chinese Dragon Kings and the Seas they represent. He
suggests we might compare them with the North, East, South and West locations of Persian, Oman,
Aden Gulfs and the Red Sea, with the fifth, the Arabian Sea (because it feeds the other four)
presiding over the four by Longwang.

The number four continues to pop up in ancient lore as sacred cities of the four quarters. The
eight cities mentioned in Genesis 10: 10-11 are divided into two branches according to Dr. John
Pilkey. He says, “the city of Resen (Rezin) is one of the four cities making up the Nineveh complex in
Genesis Chapter 10: verse 11… [that] this set compliments the four cities of Sumer named in 10:
verse 10 as the foundation of Nimrod’s kingdom, the Akkadian Empire, which included Accad and
Agade. This tradition extends even to the Americas.” (36)

Navajo Mandalas and Sand Paintings

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 In American Navajo cosmography (37) the colors also symbolize geography. Navajo sand
paintings depict a four-fold World: Nihodilhil - the First World is in the Black North); Nihalgai - the
Fourth, the Glittering or White World is in the East; Nihodootlizh - Second World or Blue is in the
South; and fi nally, Nihaltsoh - the Third World or Yellow is in the West). (38) This sounds like the
Aztec provincial divisions of the Chakana cross. If the Navajo were not tribal they would have added
cities. Again, this smacks of Ancient Near Eastern and Asian tradition.

Nihodilhil -
1st World
Nihaltsoh - Navajo Nihalgai -
3rd World 4th World
Nihodootlizh -
2ed World

The Navajo are not the only ones to make cosmographs. The following account of Creek origins
and migrations into the southeast reveals a tradition of a four-fold color-coding of the element of fire.
This looks symbolic of four different racial types. The story relates that when the Cussitaws emerged
from the mouth of the earth they began to migrate. In their journey they run across the great “King
Mountain” and met three other nations, each carrying a fire of a different color they had obtained
from the Mountain: “From the East, a white fire came to them; which, however, they would not use.
From Wahalle [South?] came a fire which was blue; neither did they use it. From the West came a
fire which was black; nor would they use it. At last, came a fire from the North, which was red and
yellow. This they mingled with the fire they had taken from the mountain; and this is the fire they use
to-day.” (39)

Red &
Yellow Fire
Black Fire Creek Indian White Fire
Blue Fire

The Zuni Native Americans of New Mexico have a six-fold division cosmology, a grand circle
of cardinal directions. There are four major points with one for Above and the sixth for Below The

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Earth was black and was associated with the mole. West was blue associated with the Beaver or
Coyote as predator. South was associated with red and the Badger or Bobcat. East was white and was
guarded by the Wolf. North was yellow with a the mountain Lion. The above direction was specified
with an Eagle under the color combination of all the colors. The Chinese Feng Shui were their
original in adding animal symbols with the North with a rat, the East with a rabbit, the South with a
horse and the West with a rooster.

Yellow Lion
Blue Beaver Zuni White Wolf
Red Badger/Bobcat

Another American tribe, the Laktoa of the Dakota States assign the four directions as North-red,
East-yellow, South-white, and West-black. (40) The Lipan Apache also colored their directions
North-white, East-yellow, South-red, and West-blue. The Peruvian Q’ero also designated them with
the colors, South – white, Earth, with “Sacha Mama” the great water serpent or Boa snake,
represented healing; West – yellow, water, symbolized with Otorongo the sister jaquar, represented
bravery, wisdom, emotional healing; North – red, air, and the hummingbird “Siwarkenti,”
represented the joy of life, the ancient ones and sacred mountains; East – for green, fire, and the great
eagle or condor “Hatun” or “Apuchin.” These cosmological diagrams were memories of the ancestral
integrity and homogeneity of the early monogenetic community.

Hummingbird,
Siwarkenti
Jaquar, Green, Fire,
Otorongo Peruvian Q’ero Eagle/Condor
Hatun, Apuchin
Earth Serpent,
Sacha Mama

Lakota Indians R Y W Bk
Patawatomi W Y R Bk
Lipan Apache W Y R BL
LOKOTA and APACHE

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 Flag of the Lipan Apache Patawatomi Medicine Wheel

As foods are essential to human survival, the Mexica Aztecs remembered the monogenesis of
their race in the botanical color typology of maize and its cultivation was represented in their
mythology by tetrads. The sacred symbolism of the divine pantheon was a tetrad of sacred elemental
gods, in the later Aztec cosmography of the four Tezcatlipocas: Black Tezcotlipoca-Tohil-K’awil;
Red Xipe-Totec; Blue Huitzilopochtli; and White Quetzalcoatl.

Maize Corn was essential to life and thus the cosmological importance of the Centeotl godhead
cannot be overlooked. Maize was used in sacrifices to the Gods in honor of the Creation of Man.
Maize was also used to depict the different colored tribes/races of mankind. The Cinteteo were the
four corn gods associated with the Tianquiztli, the “Pleiades.” They were the four sons of Cinteotl
[the Aztec Noah] and his consort Centeotl, the god and goddess of maize. Each colored maize corn
symbolized the four primary (Aztec) races of man and were each representative of the creators of the
four races: They were inflated into the wind gods, the four fire gods, the four Tlalocs and the four
geographically colored Tezcatlipocas. These four “Little Tlalocs,” a group of mountain gods
associated with rain and water ruled by Tlaloc also represent the four cardinal directions. (41)

Aztec Black/Blue, Red, Yellow, and White MAIZE corn

Copied from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maize_Corn_Cultivars.jpg

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 The Aztecs also designed their geographies and architecture on the basis of the geometry of their
cosmography. Cassarco says the Aztec imagined the earth and the cosmos it was patterned off of “a
great cross, or a flower with four petals” and like the Hindu Lotus cosmogram, depicted a four-
quartered universe “divided into four precisely defined sections of space organized by sacred trees,
deities, birds, and appropriate colors.” The Aztec practice of cardinal partitioning and orientation
went far beyond the ordering of space. This pattern ordered the central Capital city. It was duplicated
(imitated) in the provincial capitals, in their temples, and in the tribute system that sustained the
entire city. Thus, he concludes, “each quarter had its own sacred pivot, reproducing the image of the
center which dominated the city as a whole. This pattern of centering was further duplicated in the
many barrios of each quarter.” Tenochtitlan's four-quartered organization was the primum imago of
this cosmic scheme. (42)

Maya (Hopkins, 1) sak chaak K’an yax

North East South West

Four Directions maize agrocosmological cosmogram

Purépecha/Tarascans of Michoacán, Cherán and Pátzcuaro, Mexico.

Quartered circles and quadra-partitioning are a common feature of Mesoamerican iconography.

Mareus observes, “At the horizontal level, the earth is divided into four prime ‘world directions’
which were associated with colors, birds, trees, animals, numbers and deities, parts of the body, and
units of time.” (43) The Quiche Maya Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel designates color-codes
according to the four gods who divided the earth after a great Flood: “After the destruction was

16
complete… the four [Bacab] pillars [trees] of the sky were re-established.” The Bacabs were
"representante," of the gods, the patrons of the bee-keepers, their name was connected with bees or
honey, as cab can mean honey and bee-hive as well as earth and land. (44) Thus, the Quiche station a
Bee of the same color in the four quadrants - White Bee north, Red Bee east, Yellow Bee south, and
Black Bee west. (45) Like the four wind gods of the Greeks, Boreas (N), Eurus (E), Notus (S), and
Zephyrus (W), the Maya had other tetrads of wind, fire, and guardian gods, and color-coded
directions - See Chart-3. In The Ritual of the Four World-Quarters (Chaptr-1), the people of the
south are the first of the men of the family of Noh. All the elements associated with each of the
quarters were of the same color flint, people, direction and maize.

Red Flint - People of Red Mucencab - East - red Maize

White Flint - White Mucencab - North - white maize

Black Flint - - West - black Maize

Yellow Flint - - South - yellow-green maize

The Maya Codex Cortesianus shows a picture of the four world-quarters, each marked with its
appropriate glyph The gods set up four trees, four crosses, four birds were stationed with four jars of
water. In the Aztec Codex Fejérváry-Mayer is a similar picture showing the tetrads of trees and birds
mentioned in the Chumayel. It is evident that the Mexican and Maya myths relating to this subject
were very similar.

Codex Fejérváry-Mayer - The Four Sacred Trees

17
 Inca Chakana Stepped-Cross Pendant

The Inca Chakana is an urban partitioning emblem of the Empire. The Inca people remember
and memorialize the tradition of partitioning of the world in this stepped-cross emblem (46), the
Chakana, a pendant of four corners with three steps each. Though the Inca do not colorize the
quarters like the Maya, they partition the Chakana into four arms or provinces of Tawantinsuyu
(Tahuantinsuyu) - the Inca Empire. (47) The arms also represent the four classical elements of Earth,
Air, Water and Fire, while the directions represent the four seasons with the center hole symbolic of
“the navel of the Inca Empire.” So, the Inca center “navel” is surrounded by four regions or city-
states, each with a local capital that seem to imitate the tradition of the four cities of Ancient Sumer
and Akkad with their surrounding tetrad of cities. The duplication is beyond coincidental as it derives
from the northern Athabaskan Navajo.

The Four Suyus of Wamani (Provinces)

NW NE
Chinchay Suyu Anti Suyu
Atavillo of Atawillu Andes Region
of the Anti
Tawantin Suyu

Kunti Suyu Qulla Suyu

S. Coast of Peru Region of the Qulla
Inca Chart-1 SW SE

CONCLUSIONS
So, what does the partitioning and varied color-coding of the cardinal directions mean? The
varying quadra-partitioning cosmographies of the nations change from tribe to tribe and from
geography to geography through diffusion and geographical transpositioning, what the ancients
understood as the succession of similar worlds, in the re-adaptation of a priori mono-cosmographic
system. The cardinal motifs, especially the colors represent the different quarters of the world and
may also designate different ethnic groups. They can mean different urban communities and

18
topographical aspects such as mountains, hills, rivers, oceans and seas. They can also symbolize non-
geographical but natural elemental and psychological qualities. When the heritage (cosmology) of a
tribe or nation is chronologically traced back through migratory pathways, that particular tradition is
found to derive from a priori (older) cultural heritage, one usually housing a similar cosmography.
The back-tracing of cosmologies in comparative mythology demonstratively and ultimately leads the
inquirer back to a more archaic original monogenetic system and single traditional origin - the
primordial “axis mundi” or “Tree of Life” somewhere in Mesopotamia. Nevertheless, though I am
not completely sure of all the reasons for the variations in color but I am absolutely as sure of a
mono-mythological tradition as I am of the fact of the antipodal point of the Aztec Capital being that
of Bazar Port Mathurin, Rodrigues, on the tiny Island of Mauritius, off the east coast of Madagascar.

ADDENDA

Tradition Red Son Black Son White Son Yellow Son

Father
Semitic Shem Uz Hul Mash Gether
Hellenic Herakles Scythes Hyllus Agathyrsus
Teutonic Thor Magni Hullr Madha,
Math (Ugaritic)
Math (Welsh)
Location C. Asia, Ukraine Media? Baltic, Sarmatia

19
Ethnology Uzes, Cumans, Agathyrsians
Human, Umman,
Amerind Comanche
Comparison Chart-1

CHART-1
CARDINAL POINTS COLOR CODES OF THE ANCIENTS
[Cosmographs have been rearranged into matching color groups]
[Ref/ https://allaboutheaven.org/symbols/cardinal-directions-and-colours/123 ]

CULTURE NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST CENTER

Aleut W Y Brwn R --
Irish Bk
Kongo (S.C.Africa) R Bk Y W
ASIA:
Tibet-3 BL Y R G W
Tibet-2 Y W G R BL
Tibet-1 Bk of Dead G W Y R BL
Winnebego W BL G R
Alter. China Bk G R W Y
Taoist Bk BL R W --
Japanese Bk BL R W --
Ainu Bk BL R W Y
Turkic Bk BL R W Y
Trad. Chinese Bk BL R W Y
Alter. China Bk G R W Y
ATHABASCAN-2 Bk Y R W (Dixon, 14)
MAYA-Alt-2 Bk Y R W (Dixon, 14)
Athapascan Bk W BL Y --
Alaska,
N.W. Canada
Navajo (SW USA) Bk W BL Y --
Jicarilla Bk W BL Y
Lamaist ASIA Y W BL R --
Kalmyks ASIA Y W BL R --
AMERICAS R/Y W BL Bk Fire colors
Creek/Muskogan
Apache (SW USA) W Y BL BK
Ojibway BL
Aztec/Mexica, C. Mexico Bk R BL W
Blackfoot Bk R BL W
Hopi W R BL Y --
Oglala Sioux W R Y Bk
Maya (Hopkins, 1) W R Y Bk G
Cree W Y R Bk G
Patawatom W Y R Bk
Canadian, Plains W Y G Bk --
Cheyenne W Y G Bk --
Cherokee Med. Wheel W Y R Bk
Pueblo Y W R BL --
Zuni, New Mexico Y W R Bk

20
 Purepecha-Tarascan Y R Bk W BL
(Michoaocan, Mexico)
Alternate Maya (1) BL R Y G --
Cherokee BL R W Bk G
Mescalero BL W Y Bk
Shoshone Bl W Y R G
Omaha BL R Bk Y (Dixon, 14)
Sia R BL Y W (Dixon,1
Dakota R W Y Bk --
Lakota (Zillinger) R Y W Bk BL
Sioux R Y W Bk
Ojibway R Bk Y W --
Dakota “Lakota” Waziya, Wiyohiy Wiyohip Taku
Wind ice anpa eyata Skanskan,
giant Of Day Wind master of 4
famine,di god of winds
seases night

(1) Colours, Compass Points and Elements. http://users.skynet.be/lotus/colour/points0-en.htm

(2) It Works for the Turks: A color for each Direction. [ Four colors for the F our Seas.]
https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/it-works-for-the-turks-a-colour-for-each-direction
(3)Bolles, David. http://alejandrasbooks.org/www/Maya/WorldDirections.pdf

CHART-2
According to the Aztec Cardinal Directions the color of the corn shows: Older Codex Borbonicus = Later
myths, the four gods who created the world, respectively as the Black, the White, the Blue and the Red
Tezcatlipoca.
Later Myth Older Myth/Codex Borbonicus (Ref. Class Video)
Tezcatlipoca, Black - North 4th White Son Born in North
Xipe Totec Red - East 1st Yellow Son born in East
Huitzilopochtli Blue - South 2d Black Son born in South
Quetzalcoatl, White - West 3d Red son born in West (Names Quetzalcoatl)

NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST Aspects

W/ Color
Designations
AZTEC RED BLUE WHITE
COLORS
Cinteotl Centeotl Crneators,
“Seven Serpents” “First Father” Progenitors
Chicomecoatl, W/ Yellow
Xilonen, Body
“Red Ochre [Dir. ?]
Faced”
Wife of Centeotl
[Dir.?]
(Mictlampa) (Tlapallan) (Huitzlampa) (Cihuatlampa) Location
“place of black [WHITE]
and red color”
4th White Son 1st Yellow Son 2ed Black Son 3ed Red Son born POPOL VUH
born in North, born in East Born in South In West 5-Suns/Ages
Land of death ? Tezcatlipoca? Quetzalcoatl Myth

21
 ? 4-Texcatlipocas
Med…?
Tezcatlipoca = Xipe-Totec Huitzilopochtli Quetzalcoatl = The four Colored
Tohil (PV) “God of Gold” or (Rabbit, Lizard, Yetl (Thlinggit) Tezcatlipocas
K’awil (Maya Tonatiuh Vulture, Grass, Kumsnootl
God of (Alligator, Snake, Flower) (Quaaqua)
judgment) Water, Reed) (House, Deer,
(Wind, Dog, Monkey, Eagle,
Jaquar,Flint, Rain).
Knife) = Ehecatl, “the
Air”;
Yolcuat, “the
Rattlesnake”;
Tohil, “the
Rumbler”;
Nanihehecatl “Lord
of the Four Winds”;
and
Tlauizcalpantecutli
Yayauhca Tlatlauhca Cozauhca Iztacuhca Maize Gods
The Four
“Cinteotl”
Mictlanpachecat Tlalocayotl Vitztlampaehecatl Huitztlampaehecatl Wind Gods
l , or The Four
Cihuatecayotl “Pauahtuns”
Xiuhcozauhqui, Xiuhtlatlauhqui, Xiuhxoxoauhqui Xiuhiztacuhqui Fire Gods
Xiuhtlatlauhqui or [White] The Four
Xiuhiztacuhqui “Xiuhtotontli”
[Cuezaltzin,
Ixcozauhqui,
Huehueteotl).
(God of Turquoise
“Blue” Fire")
W/Nth Y/Sth R/Est Bk/Wst The 4 Bacabs
Zacal Bacab Kanal Bacab Chacal Bacab Ekel Bacab (J.E.Thompson)
(Zac Pauah Tun, (Kan Pauah Tun, (Chac Pauah Tun, (Ek Pauah Tun,
Zac Xib Chac, Kan Xib Chac, Chac Xib Chac, Ek Xib Chac,
Zaczini) Hobnil) Canzienal) Hozanek)

Dakota Indians
“Lakota”
Waziya, Wiyohiyanpa Wiyohipeyata Taku Skanskan,
Wind giant of ice, Of Day Wind god of night capricious master
famine,diseases of the four winds
(1) Source: Mexicorlore:
https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/ask-us/what-was-the-symbolism-of-the-four-directions

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 CHART-3
MAYA COLORS AND GODS OF THE CARDINAL POINTS
[SOURCE: https://ancientmayalife.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-cardinal-directions.html ]

NORTH “sak” EAST “chaak” SOUTH WEST “ek” CENTER “yax”

NAMES: “Lak’in, “K’an”
“Xaman, Nal” Lik’in” “Ochik’in”
or“Elk’in” “Nohol”
MAYA Red Yellow Black [Center]
COLORS “Blue-green”,
[White] ‘Blue”
WHITE

Sak Xib Chaak Chak Xib Kan Xib Chaak Ek Zib Chaak CHAAK
Chaak GOD-B Tetrad
(His 4
Directional
Colors)
? ? ? ? Pauahtun
GOD- N Tetrad
? ? ? ? Kawiil
GOD-K Tetrad
? ? ? ? Itzamná
GOD-D Tetrad
W/Nth R/Est Y/Sth Bk/Wst The 4 Bacabs
Zacal Bacab Chacal Bacab Kanal Bacab Ekel Bacab (J.E.Thompson)
(Zac Pauah Tun, (Chac Pauah (Kan Pauah Tun, (Ek Pauah Tun,
Zac Xib Chac, Tun, Chac Xib Kan Xib Chac, Ek Xib Chac,
Zaczini) Chac, Hobnil) Hozanek)
Canzienal)

23
 FOOTNOTES:

(1) Wikipedia, search “Cosmography”

(2) Mateus p. 6.
(3) The World Elephant. SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Elephant
(4) Asta-Dikpala. SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardians_of_the_directions

(5) The World Turtle. SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Turtle

(6) Proto-Turkic: “AP” (apa, appa), Altaic etymology meaning: “father”; “SU” (su, sular) aquatic or
water.

(7) Other traditions have their Noah figure: For example, in the Babylonian Creation Epic of
Marduk, the ‘Enuma-Elis,’ there is a Noah type figure named Apsu, meaning 'abyss of water.'
(6) Another is the Egyptian creator figure Nun (Nu or Nin), the Celestial Water God. Frozen
within the icy memories of the Icelandic people, is Bergelmir, whom the Welsh call Dwyfan. (7)
The Tibetans remembered him as Khun-Litang. In Assam and Burma he is Chu-Liyang, Lip-
Long, and Paw-Pow-Nan-Chuang. In southern China and Lolos we have Du-Mu. In Sumatra he is
Puti-Orla, while Borneo has him as Trow. The Floras Islands and the ancient Nagas of India call
him Dooy. The Formoseans call him Kabitt and Aka, while the Australians name him Hepelle. The
Persian-Iranian tradition remembers him as the original ‘Mashya.’ The Hindu warrior god Indra,
like the Biblical Noah and family, participates in the creation of the cosmos and new world. Like the
Mesopotamian Enki, who creates the seven Apkulla “wise fish-men,” Indra brings forth
seven Rishis (Sages), that is “breaths,” “masters,” or “great teachers.”

(8) Dixon, p. 10.

(9) Dixon, p. 12.
(10) Dixon, p. 15-16.
(11) Dixon, p. 15.
(12) Faber, p. 111-117.
(13) Pilkey, John D. Origin of the Nations. P.63. The Egyptian ceremony of the four arrows matches
the Amerindian ceremony of the red and black arrows. A synthesis of the two traditions implies the
dispersion of the four variously colored races of Noah’s family to the four quarters of the earth.”

(14) Source: How the Continent of Africa Got Its Name.

SOURCE: https://www.tripsavvy.com/how-africa-got-its-name-3975025

(15) SOURCE: https://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NympheAsie.html

24
(16) Speaking of slow moving migrations and transmission of tradition, the First Nations and
Indigenous people of American called the Earth and North America, “Turtle Island.” The Mohawk
call it Anowara Ko'wah, a cognate of the Hittite name Assuwa, while Aztec called it Aztlan. The
ancient Chinese, in their Classic of Mountain and Seas, calling it FuSang, while the Tartars have the
toponym “Tartaria” imprinted on maps of Siberia, Alaska and Canada. SOURCES: http://www.city-
data.com/forum/history/2146145-real-name-america.htm and FuSang: SOURCE:
https://www.stolenhistory.org/threads/fou-sang-1870s-board-game-voyage-from-new-york-to-san-
francisco-upon-the-union-pacific-railroad.2126/

(17) Mateus, p. 31-32.

(18) Neumann, p. 1054.

(19) Pilkey, Origin of the Nations.

(20) Wilkinson, p. 76-77.

(21) Wikipedia search “Dagon”. SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagon

(22) SOURCE: https://maya.nmai.si.edu/the-maya/creation-story-maya

(23) Pilkey. Noah’s Family Speaks, p. 31, 72, and 114.

(24) Ibid. p. 121.

(25) Ibid. p. 336.

(26) Wikipedia. “Khonvoum”. SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khonvoum

(27) Mbiti. p. 91.

(28) Moore, Derric “Rau Khu”. Ancient BaNtu Connection: Kamitic/Kemetic Color Symbolism and
African Cosmology. SOURCE: https://landofkam.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/ancient-bantu-
connection-kamitic-kemetic-color-symbolism/

(29) Recorded by Jaesang Park, a scholar of the Shila dynasty.

25
(30) The word “Seon” suggests people of the mountain, namely, residents in Mago Castle, the
highest place on earth.
(31) Tinkle, Rebbeca. The Secret of Mago Castle. Best Life Media, October 10, 2014. See, Jesang
Bak, Budoji, translated and commentated by Eunsu Kim. Seoul: Hanmunhwa 2002, c.1986.

(32) Jacobs, Frank. It Works For The Turks: A Color for Each Direction. March, 2016. SOURCE:
Four colors for the Four Seas.
https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/it-works-for-the-turks-a-colour-for-each-direction

(33) Pilkey. Kingship At Its Source. [Also: The FIVE color-coded Chinese Wufang Shangdi are the
five emperors considered to be the physical manifestation of the Chinese and Taoist god, Tian.
They’re also referred to as the “five kind faces of Heaven” and can manifest themselves in different
forms: five sacred Chinese mountains, five planets, five directions, and the five major constellations
around the North Star. Each of the Wufang Shangdi are represented by a particular color and each
has a dragon that serves as their steed.

SOURCES: https://mythopedia.com/chinese-mythology/gods/dragon-king/] SOURCE:

https://mythopedia.com/chinese-mythology/gods/wufang-shangdi/

(34) Pilkey. Kingship. p. 26.

(35) Pilkey. Kingship, p. 250).
(36) SOURCE: The Navajo Four Sacred Colors. https://navajopeople.org/blog/the-navajo-four-
sacred-colors/
(37) Navajo creation story – Nihaltsoh -The third World (Yellow World). March 18, 2011 by Harold
Carey Jr. SOURCE: http://navajopeople.org/blog/navajo-creation-story-the-third-yellow-world/

(38) Grantham, Bill. Creation Myths and Legends of the Creek Indians. Kasihta Origin-Migration
Myth. Four Colored Fires. University Press of Florida, 2002. p.113.

(39) Zillinger. p. 1.
(40) Mark Cartwright. Aztec Pantheon. 20 March 2017.

SOURCE: https://www.ancient.eu/article/1034/aztec-pantheon/

(41) Carrasco. p. 218.

(42) Mareus p. 8.

(43) Chilam Balam, Appendix A, The Four Quarters. P.170. SOURCE: https://www.sacred-
texts.com/nam/maya/cbc/cbc30.htm#page_170

26
(44) Hopkins. p. 1. And, Chilam Balam ch.x.

(45) Chakana Stepped-Cross. SOURCE:

https://www.explorebyyourself.com/en/peru/interesting/chakana/

(46) SOURCE: https://www.howtoperu.com/tawantinsuyu-and-the-frontiers-of-the-inca-empire/

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