This article examines the relationship between ritual specialists, nanahualtin or nahualistas (pl.) and nahualli or nahual (sing.), and healing practices, adding context to the social roles they fulfilled and the range of feats they performed. The cases examined here reveal that nanahualtin operated as intellectuals in their communities because of their ability to control animals, prognosticate, and heal or harm individuals at will. Some nanahualtin shapeshifted from humans to animals while others possessed animal companions. The elevated status of nanahualtin led commoners to seek their advice, which conflicted with the established orthodoxy of the Catholic Church. Because clergymen championed the sacraments as the best way to access the divine, non-orthodox rituals performed in mountains, rivers, and caves were derided as idolatrous devil worship.

The 11 criminal and Mexican Inquisition cases examined here range from 1599 to 1801. Two seventeenth-century cases (1678 and 1685) and one eighteenth-century case (1701) contain Nahuatl phrases and testimonies from Chiapas and Tlaxcala, respectively. The cases from Chiapas demonstrate the use of Nahuatl as a vehicular language outside the central valley of Mexico. This article examines the gender of the animals into which ritual specialists transformed as an emergent category from trial records, which provides insight into Catholic officials’ understanding of the nahualli. Last, this study notes social divisions between rural and urban clergy regarding the power of nanahualtin and the efficacy of their magic.

本文研究了礼节专家，纳纳瓦尔汀或纳瓦利塔斯（pl。）与纳瓦利或纳瓦利之间的关系（唱歌）和治疗方法，为他们履行的社会角色和所成就的专长增加背景。此处检查的案例表明，纳那瓜丁素在其社区中是知识分子，因为他们有能力控制动物，预测动物的生存能力以及对其进行自愈或伤害。一些纳阿华林汀从人类转变为动物，而另一些则具有动物伴侣。纳那瓜汀的地位提高，导致平民寻求他们的建议，这与天主教的既定教义相抵触。因为神职人员拥护圣礼是进入神的最佳途径，所以在山区，河流和洞穴中进行的非正统仪式被视为崇拜偶像的魔鬼。

在此审查的11个刑事和墨西哥宗教裁判所案件的范围为1599年至1801年。两个十七世纪的案件（1678和1685年）和一个十八世纪的案件（1701年）分别包含来自恰帕斯州和特拉斯卡拉州的Nahuatl短语和证词。恰帕斯州的案例表明，在墨西哥中部山谷以外，使用纳瓦特尔语作为车辆语言。本文研究了动物的性别，仪式专家从审判记录中将它们转换为紧急情况的类别，从而可以深入了解天主教官员对nahualli的理解。最后，这项研究指出了乡村和城市神职人员在纳那华汀的力量及其神奇功效方面的社会分歧。