The big cat, the nagual and the crossroads (seven drafts from another AI, triaged 2026-11-02)

SUMMARYThe big cat, the nagual and the crossroads (seven drafts from another AI, triaged 2026-11-02)

RECORDMesoamerican nagualism (each person has an animal double; rulers' doubles the jaguar); Olmec were-jaguar art (1200-400 BC); Aztec jaguar warrior order; Maya "balam" and the Books of Chilam Balam (survived the burnings); Tecún Umán's nahual as the quetzal (K'iche' tradition; earliest name in the Título C'oyoi; Alvarado's April 11, 1524 letter mentions a K'iche' captain general killed but not the bird); Osceola = Asi Yahola, "black drink singer," taken under a flag of truce Oct 1837, died Fort Moultrie Jan 30, 1838, his head removed by Dr. Frederick Weedon; Leopard Men (Anioto) of the Congo; European werewolf trials (Poligny 1521, Garnier 1573, Stumpp 1589, Hans 1651); British-era tiger killing in India (tens of thousands, 1875-1925); Robert Johnson died 1938 at 27, Son House's account of his sudden mastery; Crête-à-Pierrot siege March 2-24, 1802 (Dessalines held against Leclerc's far larger army, then broke out). Research guide (archives ANOM, Kew WO/ADM, AGI Seville; Moreau de Saint-Méry 1797, Dalmas 1814, Métraux, Deren, Hurston, Courlander, Wade Davis) is sound. NOT FOUND, DO NOT PUBLISH YET: the quoted "first-person accounts" (1793 Léogâne officer, 1794 planter, 1798 British naval officer, 1801 missionary, 1799 intelligence officer), the named jaguar sightings (Rivière Rouge 1793, Fort Liberté 1795, Cul-de-Sac 1802, Crête-à-Pierrot), Leclerc's "broken by superstition" line, Dessalines wearing a jaguar pelt, Spanish/Belgian/U.S. hunting the animal to kill the leader (Can Ek' serpent, Cocom jaguars, Osceola's panthers). Searched exact phrases: no source surfaces; no archive call numbers given. Treat as AI-written until an archive reference is found

LENSthe big cat was the power of the original people, and empires answered by demonizing it, hunting it and turning it into myth (Pattern).