| Aztec concepts of sacredness and of spirit are usually given scant attention, perhaps because of the characterization of these people as violent. Like other native people of Mexico and Guatemala, the Mexica entertained complex notions of spirit infusing every person and thing. Human beings, and other sentient creatures, were credited with multiple kinds of spirit. Tonalli was the basic soul that provided for the ability to judge, and was concentrated in the head of the person. Ollin or motion was the energy that gave motive force, and was lodged in the blood. The nagual or spirit companion could separate from the body in dreams and visions, and move in the form of an animal appropriate to the spiritual power of the person. The unique identifying spirit force of any being, human or supernatural, could be embodied in another form, in an ixiptla, a mask, costume, inanimate image, or living impersonator. By matching the appearance of the human or supernatural person, an ixiptla also took on the inner spirits that made that being unique.
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