Case file · Folklore / legend
Nahualli: shape-shifters in the Florentine Codex
The Florentine Codex describes the nahualli, a sorcerer able to take the form of an animal such as a turkey, owl, weasel or dog, and distinguishes good counsellors from harmful ones.
1577 CE · 19.45, -99.14 · status: legend
The account
The related belief that each person shares fate with an animal companion (tonalli or nagual) is still found among many Mesoamerican peoples. Spanish authorities treated nahualli as witches, as in the trial of Martín Ocelotl. The text was compiled at Tlatelolco.