Diviners PowersAccording to an account written sometime between 1617 and 1629 by parish priest Hernando Ruiz de Alarcon, the source of the diviner's powers came from the custom of rubbing the hands together with white powdered lime and tobacco:
After being well informed of the case and its circumstances, the
diviner carries out his sorcery, for which he prepares himself
with tobacco and lime. Taking it up with the right hand, he puts
it in his left palm, and there breaks it up with his thumb. Next
he adjusts his clothing like someone who is getting himself ready
for some important business ... rubbing between his two palms the
tobacco with lime which he had previously put on one of them ... he
kisses his crossed thumbs, his hands being joined together as in
prayer and proceeds:
We see that the iconic white hand resulted from the diviner's custom
of rubbing powered lime together with tobacco before using the codex.
If he sent his prayer through the smoke of the censer into the fifth
heaven to call upon the Maquiltonaleque, the diviner believed that the
spirit guides then descended into his fingers and to endow him with the
gift of prophecy as he moved his hands across the pages of the codex.
'For I kiss the Maquiltonal
For I have brought them forth My men, the Maquiltonaleque  
The diviner moved his hand across the pages. 
Tobacco, copal, and lime (clockwise from top) were used by the diviner. Photography by Domingo Monet. |
