XOCHIQUETZAL

(Nahuatl: Precious Feather Flower), Aztec goddess of beauty, sexual love, and household arts. She is also associated with flowers and plants and, in myth, came from Tamoanchn, the verdant paradise of the west. Originally wife of Tlaloc, the rain god, she was abducted for her beauty by Tezcatlipoca, the malevolent god of night, who enthroned her as goddess of love. In some areas she was identified with Chalchiuhtlicue, goddess of freshwater.