Xipe Totec

He is the "Flayed One," a god who wears the skin of a sacrificed human to symbolize the new growth of the spring pushing through the dead husk of winter. Is there any image more horrific than a deity dancing in the rotting hide of another? He represents the "Pain of Renewal," the violent necessity of shedding the old to make way for the new. He is the patron of the goldsmiths, who must melt and reform the precious metal just as he reforms the seasons through blood. To him, the earth is a living wound that only heals when it is reopened. He teaches that growth is not a gentle process, but a raw, agonizing struggle against the stagnation of death. He is the golden skin of the world.