The Nine Levels of Mictlan: Journey Through the Aztec Underworld

The Nine Levels of Mictlan illustrate the Aztec vision of the afterlife as a complex journey of the soul and it’s transformative journey beyond death.

While Mictlan may seem, at first glance, to be a dark and treacherous underworld—a realm of trials and suffering ruled by fearsome death gods—a closer look reveals a pathway of profound spiritual purification.

Each stage of Mictlan represents a step toward freedom from earthly attachments, guiding the soul on a journey to transcendence and a return to the cosmic whole.

We journey through each level of the Aztec underworld, uncovering the symbolic trials that the soul must endure to reach peace.

We also explore how this ancient journey parallels themes from other belief systems worldwide, suggesting an enduring human quest for transcendence.

Through Mictlan’s story, we glimpse the Aztecs’ timeless understanding of life, death, and the journey back to the divine.

Aztec Gods and Goddesses – A Detailed Introduction

The Many Realms of the Aztec Afterlife

The Aztec afterlife was anything but uniform. It wasn’t just about where a soul ended up—it was about how they got there. The cause of death determined their destination in the great cosmic order

For those who died from water-related causes—drowning, diseases like leprosy, or even being struck by lightning—Tlalocan awaited. Ruled by Tlaloc, the rain god, this was a place of eternal spring, where the hardships of life gave way to peace and plenty.”

Bravery in death brought a different reward.

Warriors who fell in battle and women who died in childbirth, ascended to the heavens to join the sun god Tonatiuh in his eternal journey across the sky. Their bravery and sacrifice were seen as sacred acts, granting them a place among the celestial.”

For children who passed away, a special place awaited—Chichihuacuauhco. Here, beneath the nurturing boughs of a great, mythical tree, their spirits were cared for until the moment of their rebirth.

This realm reflected the Aztecs’ belief in the innocence and purity of children, as well as their hope for regeneration and continuity.

But for those who passed from natural causes, the journey led to Mictlan…the underworld.

Here, the soul embarked on a harrowing journey through nine levels to reach its final rest.

The Deities of Mictlan: Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl

Mictecacihuatl & Mictlantecuhtli: Aztec Duo of the Underworld

Presiding over Mictlan were two of the most feared and respected figures in the Aztec pantheon: Mictlantecuhtli, the skeletal god of death, and his wife, Mictecacihuatl, known as the Lady of the Dead.

These deities were not merely grim overseers; they were guardians and judges who ensured that the souls completing their journey through Mictlan were ready to enter the afterlife.

Mictlantecuhtli, depicted as a figure adorned with bones and skulls, embodied the raw power of death and decay, while Mictecacihuatl balanced his presence with a gentler aspect of death as a return to the earth and the cycle of life.

In Aztec mythology, these gods were believed to maintain the balance of life and death.

Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl were not forces to be feared in the same way death is sometimes feared today; instead, they were revered as inevitable parts of existence.

By guiding the dead through Mictlan, they honored the cycle of nature, allowing each soul to complete its journey and prepare for the eternal rest that awaited.

The Nine Levels of Mictlan: A Soul’s Path to Transformation

The journey through Mictlan was a daunting process, not unlike a spiritual initiation.

Each level represented an aspect of the earthly existence that the soul had to confront and ultimately release. As the soul moved forward, it encountered trials designed to test its perseverance, stripping away layers of attachment to the physical world and preparing it for the final stage of peace.

This sacred progression marked the soul’s evolution from a life-bound entity to a spiritually free one, guided by the hands of the death gods Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl.

Their presence throughout the nine stages served as a reminder that each step of the journey, no matter how challenging, was a divine rite of passage toward peace.

Each level was distinct yet interconnected, and only by passing through all nine could the soul be purified enough to reach Chicunamictlan, the final resting place.

Here, after enduring every hardship, the soul could finally rest under the care of Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl, completing its journey through death and embracing the stillness that awaited.

In this way, Mictlan represented both an end and a return, a journey that echoed the cycles of life, death, and renewal that were central to Aztec beliefs.

Level 1: Itzcuintlan – The Place of the Dog

In the first level of Mictlan, the soul begins its journey by arriving at Itzcuintlan, or “The Place of the Dog.”

Here, the soul faces its first major obstacle: a wide and formidable river, which it must cross to continue its passage into the underworld. Waiting on the riverbank is the Xoloitzcuintli, a sacred hairless dog that holds a revered place in Aztec culture as a guide to the afterlife.

According to Aztec belief, only souls who treated dogs kindly in their lifetime will receive the assistance of a Xoloitzcuintli to navigate this treacherous crossing. If the soul did not show compassion to animals, the dog may refuse to help, forcing the soul to struggle on its own.

The significance of this stage goes beyond a simple river crossing; it represents the value of kindness and respect for all living beings.

The dog, known for its loyalty and companionship, serves as a bridge between the living and spiritual realms, guiding those who showed compassion. This connection reflects the Aztec belief that our actions in life have consequences that extend into death, especially in how we treat others, including animals.

Symbolically, the river itself embodies the boundary between the physical world and the spiritual journey. Crossing it with the help of a Xoloitzcuintli signifies that the soul is prepared to begin releasing its earthly attachments, with guidance from a loyal companion.

This stage sets the tone for the rest of the journey: a process of detachment, humility, and transformation, where the soul learns to surrender to forces beyond its control as it moves forward into the unknown.

Level 2: Tepeme Monamictlan – The Place Where Mountains Collide

After crossing the river with the help of the Xoloitzcuintli, the soul arrives at Tepeme Monamictlan, the second level of Mictlan, known as “The Place Where Mountains Collide.”

Here, two immense mountains perpetually crash together, creating a narrow passage that the soul must carefully navigate. Each step is fraught with danger, as any miscalculation could result in the soul being crushed between the towering, colliding peaks.

This level represents the soul’s first encounter with the sheer forces of nature, reflecting the unavoidable challenges and pressures that individuals face in life. In Tepeme Monamictlan, the mountains symbolize the power of obstacles beyond human control. The soul must gather strength and determination, timing its movements precisely to avoid harm.

This struggle is symbolic of the endurance required to move beyond life’s limitations, as the soul faces and overcomes formidable trials.

At a deeper level, the colliding mountains also represent the dual forces of creation and destruction, fundamental principles in Aztec cosmology.

Passing through this level is the soul’s first real test of letting go—of fear, pride, and attachment to the self. The journey through Tepeme Monamictlan demands resilience and self-trust, teaching the soul to accept challenges as part of a larger, transformative process.

Emerging from this level, the soul has taken a significant step away from the world it once knew, setting it further along the path of purification and release.

Level 3: Iztepetl – The Obsidian Mountain

At the third stage of the soul’s journey through Mictlan, it faces Iztepetl, or “The Obsidian Mountain.” Here, the soul must undertake a grueling climb up jagged, obsidian-covered slopes.

In Aztec culture, obsidian held deep symbolic significance, associated with transformation, sacrifice, and spiritual cleansing. The sharpness of the material made it both a tool of destruction and a pathway to renewal.

Each wound inflicted by the mountain is a deliberate act of cleansing, forcing the soul to shed its attachment to physical comfort, pride, and the illusions of invincibility.

This level represents the soul’s confrontation with its own inner resistance. The treacherous climb becomes a metaphor for the internal battle with fears, doubts, and limitations.

To ascend, the soul must summon profound perseverance, accepting pain as an inevitable and necessary part of spiritual growth.

When the soul finally emerges from the Obsidian Mountain, battered yet resilient, it has taken a crucial step toward detachment.

Stripped of reliance on earthly strength and comfort, it begins to embrace the deeper surrender required to face the trials ahead.

Level 4: Itzehecayan – The Place of Obsidian Winds

Having survived the colliding mountains, the next trial is Itzehecayan, the Place of Obsidian Winds.

Here, icy gales whip across the path, laced with razor-sharp shards of obsidian. Each gust tears at what remains of the soul’s earthly form.

In Aztec culture, obsidian held deep symbolic power. It was a tool of sacrifice, a mirror for introspection, and a weapon of transformation.

In this place, the obsidian winds cut away not just the soul’s form, but its pride, vanity, and lingering attachments to the physical world.

Each cut is a form of cleansing, stripping the soul of what no longer serves it. This trial forces the soul to endure the pain of detachment, preparing it for the complete release required in the underworld.

The winds are relentless, indifferent, and yet profoundly transformative.

Through these trials, the soul begins to shed the superficial layers of its identity. What emerges from Itzehecayan is a spirit humbled and sharpened, no longer bound by the illusions of earthly life.”

With this trial complete, the soul steps closer to its essential, unbound nature. But this is just the beginning of this painful process

Level 5: Paniecatacoyan – The Place Where One Swings Like a Banner

The journey through Mictlan continues to Paniecatacoyan, the fifth level of the underworld, known as “The Place Where One Swings Like a Banner.”

The air is filled with powerful, chaotic winds that toss and turn everything in their path, leaving the soul at the mercy of forces far beyond its control.

In this strange and tumultuous realm, gravity itself seems to falter, and the soul is buffeted like a flag caught in an unrelenting storm. Progress feels impossible as each step forward is met with resistance, and every gust threatens to send the soul spiraling backward.

At first, the instinct is to resist—to battle the gusts and fight for control. But the harder the soul struggles, the more the winds seem to overpower it, pushing it backward or suspending it in place.

The true lesson of Paniecatacoyan is paradoxical: to move forward, the soul must release control. Only by yielding can the soul find its way through the storm, swept forward by the very winds it feared.

As the soul emerges from the swirling chaos, it carries with it a profound understanding: that progress often comes not from force, but from surrender.

Level 6: Timiminaloayan – The Place Where Arrows Are Shot

After the disorienting drift through Paniecatacoyan, the soul arrives at Timiminaloayan, or “The Place Where Arrows Are Shot.”

Here, the soul faces a barrage of arrows coming from every direction, forcing it to navigate a deadly field of projectiles with careful precision and courage.

In this level, the soul is tested in its ability to persevere despite relentless external forces that threaten its journey.

The arrows represent life’s challenges, fears, and uncertainties that often strike without warning. By moving forward in the face of this danger, the soul must find courage to withstand these trials, learning resilience in the face of adversity.

The arrows can be seen as manifestations of the soul’s remaining doubts and insecurities, which it must confront head-on to continue toward its final rest.

On a symbolic level, Timiminaloayan challenges the soul to remain centered amid chaos and conflict. It teaches the soul to find inner stability, even when surrounded by threats and distractions.

The lesson here is one of inner strength and focus, as the soul learns that it can endure hardship without allowing external forces to divert it from its path.

After navigating through the hail of arrows, the soul emerges stronger and more focused, having faced and overcome its lingering fears and doubts.

This newfound resilience and clarity prepare the soul for the deeper surrender that awaits in the final stages of its journey through Mictlan.

Level 7: Teocoyolcualloya – The Place Where Hearts Are Devoured

Having survived the perilous arrows in Timiminaloayan, the soul reaches Teocoyolcualloya, or “The Place Where Hearts Are Devoured.”

Here, the soul confronts a powerful creature that consumes its heart, a profoundly symbolic act representing the final surrender of its deepest attachments, desires, and emotional connections.

The heart, in Aztec culture, was not only a vital organ but also the seat of emotion, identity, and the essence of life. By offering up its heart, the soul relinquishes the last remnants of its personal attachments, including its most cherished memories, ambitions, and emotional ties.

This act of sacrifice signifies the complete dissolution of the ego, as the soul lets go of everything it once held dear, emptying itself to become receptive to a greater cosmic unity.

This level is often considered the most difficult for the soul, as it confronts the vulnerability and loss that come with total surrender.

In Teocoyolcualloya, the soul must fully embrace the idea that it no longer exists as an individual entity, but as part of a larger, interconnected cycle of life and death. The consumption of the heart signifies that the soul has given up its core self, no longer tied to earthly emotions or individual identity, and is now ready to merge with something beyond itself.

Emerging from Teocoyolcualloya, the soul is transformed, stripped of its innermost attachments.

This total surrender prepares it for the next stages of the journey, where it will encounter the final elements of dissolution and be welcomed into ultimate rest and peace.

Level 8: Izmictlan Apochcalolca – The Place of the Obsidian Smoke

Following the complete surrender of its heart, the soul reaches Izmictlan Apochcalolca, or “The Place of the Obsidian Smoke.”

In this penultimate stage, the soul is enveloped by a thick, black smoke that obscures all sight and direction.

The obsidian smoke, sharp and disorienting, symbolizes the soul’s confrontation with the ultimate unknown—the void, or the threshold between existence and non-existence. This experience represents the soul’s release of any remaining attachment to identity, purpose, and understanding.

Moving forward in total darkness, the soul must let go of the need for answers, certainty, and even a sense of self, learning to navigate purely on faith and surrender.

Izmictlan Apochcalolca serves as a final cleansing, a place where the soul must accept the mysteries of existence without resistance. The darkness and confusion of the obsidian smoke symbolize the dissolution of all remaining ties to the physical and mental realms.

Here, the soul reaches a state of profound humility, embracing its place within the vastness of the universe and letting go of all attempts to define or control its journey.

After passing through the obsidian smoke, the soul emerges transformed, having fully surrendered every last attachment, prepared to accept the peace and unity that awaits in the final level.

The journey through Izmictlan Apochcalolca prepares the soul to enter Chicunamictlan, where it will find rest and reunite with the cosmic cycle.

Level 9: Chicunamictlan – The Place of Resting Souls

At last, after surviving the trials and purifications of the previous levels, the soul reaches Chicunamictlan, the ninth and final level of Mictlan, known as “The Place of Resting Souls.”

Here, the soul finally finds peace and rest, having shed every layer of earthly identity, attachment, and ego through the arduous journey. In this realm, the soul is welcomed into a state of eternal tranquility, under the watchful eyes of Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl, the death gods who govern Mictlan.

Chicunamictlan is not simply a place of rest but also a place of profound integration.

After enduring the trials of surrender, humility, and resilience, the soul has transformed and reached a state beyond individuality, where it merges with the greater cycle of existence.

In Aztec beliefs, death is not an end but a continuation of life’s cyclical nature. Thus, Chicunamictlan represents not only the soul’s release from the struggles of life but also its reunion with the universe, a return to the elemental forces from which all life is born.

Symbolically, Chicunamictlan can be understood as the soul’s final surrender into the cosmic flow, an ultimate letting go that aligns it with the natural rhythms of life and death.

Here, the soul no longer clings to identity, purpose, or even memory; instead, it rests in a timeless, serene state of unity, embraced by the vastness of creation.

In Chicunamictlan, the soul has reached completion. It has been cleansed and purified through each of the nine levels, arriving at a state of harmony with the cosmos.

The journey through Mictlan, though grueling, has brought the soul to a place of profound stillness and balance.

With the last of its earthly ties dissolved, the soul now rests eternally in a place of peace, its transformation complete.

Universal Themes of Ascension and Ego Dissolution

The nine levels of Mictlan, with their intense trials and stages of release, echo spiritual themes found across various belief systems worldwide.

At the heart of the journey through Mictlan is the idea of letting go—of attachments, ego, and personal identity—to reach a state of transcendence and unity with a larger cosmic order.

Buddhism

The Noble Eightfold Path and the Middle Way

In Buddhism, the concept of nirvana shares striking similarities with Mictlan’s process of purification.

For Buddhists, reaching enlightenment requires moving through stages of deeper understanding and gradually releasing attachment to achieve a state free from suffering.

This path to nirvana, with its emphasis on detachment and inner clarity, parallels the soul’s journey through Mictlan, where each stage requires surrender and a step toward spiritual peace.

Hinduism

Hinduism offers a similar path to liberation through moksha, the release from the cycle of rebirth, which is achieved by transcending the ego and surrendering personal attachments.

In Hindu philosophy, the soul (atman) must journey inward, shedding layers of illusion and false identity to ultimately reunite with Brahman, the universal soul.

This process requires the surrender of individual desires, fears, and attachments.

The Hindu path to liberation, with its emphasis on self-realization and unity with the divine, closely parallels the soul’s progression through Mictlan as it lets go of its individuality and returns to the cosmic cycle.

Hermeticism and Alchemy

Hermetic Philosophy and the Seven Hermetic Principles

In esoteric tradition, particularly within Hermeticism, spiritual alchemy represents a path of inner transformation that emphasizes purifying the self and dissolving the ego.

In Hermetic alchemy, the soul undergoes a symbolic “death” and “rebirth,” with each alchemical stage aimed at refining the inner self and releasing material attachments.

This process parallels the soul’s journey through the levels of Mictlan, where each stage demands surrender and purification.

Trials in Mictlan reflect the alchemical stage of dissolution, where the ego and lower elements are broken down in preparation for spiritual rebirth.

The obsidian smoke in Izmictlan Apochcalolca represents a final encounter with the void, akin to the alchemical stage of nigredo, or “blackening,” where the self confronts darkness and annihilation to emerge purified.

In Hermetic philosophy, this experience of the void ultimately leads to illumination and union with the divine—a process mirrored in Mictlan’s final level, Chicunamictlan, where the soul rests in cosmic unity.

Through Hermetic alchemy, as through the journey in Mictlan, the soul is transformed and made ready to merge with a greater cosmic order.

Final Thoughts from A Higher View

At first glance, the nine levels of Mictlan may seem dark, daunting, and even foreboding—a journey through death’s shadows filled with trials, suffering, and the dismantling of self. However, upon closer inspection, these levels reveal a profound spiritual narrative, one that tells the story of the soul’s return to the divine.

Each stage in the Aztec underworld, while challenging, reflects a step in the soul’s purification, a stripping away of ego, identity, and attachment, ultimately allowing it to reunite with the cosmic whole.

This journey, far from being a descent into despair, is a transformative path toward peace and unity.

It is fascinating to consider that the ancient Aztecs explored ideas about ego, self, and spiritual purification centuries before Hermeticism emerged in the Renaissance, and long before Western philosophers or Carl Jung formally articulated concepts of the ego and shadow.

The Aztec journey through Mictlan, with its systematic shedding of attachments and identity, reflects a profound understanding of the need to release personal layers and transcend individual selfhood to reach a state of spiritual peace.

This hidden wisdom of the Aztecs suggests that concepts of ego dissolution and spiritual purification were not exclusive to any one culture, philosophy, or era. Instead, similar ideas appear across an astonishingly wide array of belief systems and spiritual traditions—from Buddhist teachings on non-attachment to Hindu principles of moksha, Hermetic ideas of transformation, and Indigenous practices emphasizing harmony with the cosmos.

This recurring theme, woven into so many cultures’ understandings of the soul’s journey, hints at an underlying truth about the human experience.

The fact that such parallel insights emerged independently across the world suggests that the desire for transcendence and unity is fundamental to the human spirit.

The Aztecs, in their unique approach, were tapping into a deep, universal wisdom—a reminder that ancient cultures held powerful spiritual insights that continue to resonate and inspire seekers of truth today.