Tlālōcān

In the Florentine Codex, a set of eighteenth-century volumes which form one of the prime sources of information about the beliefs and history of Postclassic central Mexico, Tlālōcān is depicted as a realm of unending Springtime, with an abundance of green foliage and edible plants of the region.

To the Aztec there were thirteen levels of the Upper Worlds, and nine of the Underworld; in the conception of the Afterlife the manner of a person's death determined which of these layers would be their destination after dying.

[6][7] In areas of contemporary Mexico, such as in the Sierra Norte de Puebla region, some communities continue to incorporate the concept of Tlālōcān as a netherworld and shamanic destination in their modern religious practices.

[8] As described by Knab, shamanic entry into Tlālōcān, always achieved during dreams and often with the objective of curing a patient, is via underground waterways, commonly a whirlpool ("the water was whirling there and it took me in and down into the darkness around and around"[9]).

Upon awakening, the shaman-dreamer will recount, to the audience during a curing-session, the itinerary traveled in Tlālōcān; to which will be added (only when instructing a trainee or in speaking to other practicing shamans, never to an audience of general public) a description of the itinerary in term of numerically counted rivers, highways, and hills : as counted in series of 14, "There are thus thirteen of each type of feature located between the center and the edges of the underworld and one of each type (p. 120) of feature located in the center of the underworld.