The Mesoamerican cosmovision is characterized by the dual structuring of the universe: life-death, light-darkness, day-night, masculine-feminine, hot-cold, among other paired opposites. These oppositions do not imply conflict but rather complementarity, enabling the functioning of the cosmos and the flow of time. Like other gods of the Nahua pantheon, Xólotl occupies a privileged position as a mediator between opposites, representing transition, sunset, and the transformation of beings. The dog-god and twin brother of Quetzalcóatl, Xólotl embodies the dark and evening aspects of the cosmos, accompanying the Sun from sunset through the underworld so that the celestial body may be reborn the following day under the guidance of Quetzalcóatl.
In pictographic sources, Xólotl frequently appears with zoomorphic features associated with the dog (xoloitzcuintli in Nahuatl), an animal known for guiding the souls of the dead through the underworld. This role makes Xólotl a liminal deity, a facilitator of transformation and a figure linked to the regenerative processes that follow death. Among his distinguishing attributes are black facial and body paint and a pectoral ornament in the form of a fleshless jawbone.
Particularly striking are his inverted eyes, twisted hands and feet, and, at times, his double face, signs of deformity and abnormality that above all symbolize duplicity or twinning. As a deformed deity, Xólotl was considered the patron of “monstrous,” double, and transformable beings, such as the axolotl, the amphibian capable of metamorphosing into a salamander. Likewise, the word xólotl was used to designate both the double stalk of maize and the double maguey plant (mexólotl).
The relationship between these plants, animals, and the transformations necessary for cosmic dynamism is explained in the myth of the Moon recorded in Friar Bernardino de Sahagún’s General History, which recounts how the gods gathered at Teotihuacan to create the Sun and the Moon. However, for these celestial bodies to move across the sky, the gods themselves had to be sacrificed. Xólotl refused to die and hid himself by transforming into various double-bodied forms: maguey, maize, and axolotl. In the end, he was discovered and sacrificed.
His role as mediator of opposites allows him to preside over the sign Ollin, movement, characterized by the union and dynamism of two sacred forces: water and fire. He also shares the shell insignia associated with his twin Quetzalcóatl-Ehécatl: the ehécacózcatl (pectoral ornament), the epcololli (ear ornaments), and olive-shaped pendants.
Among the oldest and most enigmatic representations of two-headed duality are the female figurines of Tlatilco (2500-1000 BCE), discovered in funerary contexts alongside other female figures characterized by swollen abdomens, broad hips, and prominent navels. Scholars believe the Tlatilco female figurines are products of a fertility cult. The interpretations of the mystery of two heads sharing a single body, or occasionally two faces on a single head, range from evocations of the life-death duality that structured the Pre-Hispanic worldview to the identification of these figurines with ears of maize. According to the studies of Laurette Séjourné, cited by Félix Báez:
“The various characteristics (...) seem to indicate that these figurines were representations of young ears of maize, undoubtedly intended to play a role in certain magical ceremonies honoring this cereal (...) What is the meaning of those fascinating faces with two mouths and three eyes, those bodies with two heads that never cease to intrigue? (...) They can be nothing other than representations of double ears of maize.”