Ixchel was an important character in the Maya pantheon, although apparently not very friendly towards men. We can see her in the form of an irate old woman emptying her amphoras of her anger onto the Earth, in a painting which depicts the destruction of the world by flood; and she also appears as the personification of water as a destructive element, of floods and rainstorms, and in this manifestation she was certainly a malevolent goddess.

Ixchel also seems to have had her good side. She was probably the Juno of the Maya, the consort of Itzamna, Lord of Heaven, and while her husband is sometimes represented as the sun god, she appears to have been the patron goddess of childbearing and inventor of the art of weaving.

However, in the codices she is normally presented as a water god, old and irate, surrounded by symbols of death and destruction, a coiled snake on her head, crossbones sewn onto her skirt and finger-and toenails resembling the claws of an animal, which has led some people to call her the tiger-clawed goddess.

In Yucatán the moon goddess in her non-lunar manifestations was certainly called Ix Chel, although there is no direct proof of this. However, from her functions it is clear that Ix Chel was a moon goddess. The Lacandones give this name to Acná "Our Mother", the moon goddess and wife of the Sun, when she functions as patron of childbirth. In Yucatán, Ix Chel was goddess of childbirth, procreation and medicine. Landa notes that on the sixth day of Zip there was a festival in honor of Ix Chel in her capacity as goddess of medicine, but he also says that the day before a dance called "okot uil" was performed.

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Introduction|Itzamna|Chac|Yum Kax|Ah Puch
Ek Chuah|Ah Katun|Xaman Ek|Ixchel|Ixtab