There are many historians and teachers who believe the Toltecs built the inspiring complex of pyramids and urban areas at Teotihuacán, thirty miles northeast of today's Mexico City. It seems to have been built not by a nation or race, but by scientists, artists, and spiritual seekers who came together from the small agricultural villages of the area to build their beautiful city. They formed a society there, perhaps to explore and conserve the art and spiritual knowledge of ones who had come before them.

Teotihuacán is now one of Mexico's most beloved monuments (for a spiritual tour of Teotihuacán, see Chapter 20). The great Pyramids of the Sun and Moon are connected by the mile-long Avenue of the Dead, which is bordered by numerous temple platforms. At its peak in about A.D. 500, Teotihuacán thrived as a carefully planned city, home to as many as 200,000 people. It was larger and more advanced than any city in the world at that time, and lasted more than 500 years — longer than its contemporary, Rome.

Temple platforms are evidence of the spiritual life of the ancients.

The Great Mystery

The Aztecs found the city and pyramid complex at Teotihuacán in ruins when they settled the area, and the names and mythologies they gave to the pyramids and various structures are those used today. The Aztecs never lived in Teotihuacán, but considered it to be the place where the world was created. They called it “the place of the gods,” or “the place where men become God.”

Evidence of residential groups from Oaxaca and other distant parts of Mexico have been found in the extensive city complex. The pyramids and other structures of Teotihuacán were made mostly of rubble and adobe bricks, faced with stone, and then plastered and painted shimmering white, red, and other colors. Murals with animal and shell motifs decorated the temple platforms and walls. There has been nothing like Teotihuacán in the world before or since.

And Then the Silence

No one knows why the power of Teotihuacán was silenced around A.D. 700. People simply stopped living in the city. Perhaps the residents reached a spiritual state that allowed them to transcend their physical bodies and go home to their beloved sun. There is evidence of a great fire that burned most of the main buildings; however, there is no way to know who burned them, or why. Maybe the residents torched their city when they left, or it was conquered and plundered by a marauding tribe.

Archeologists have not solved these mysteries, and probably never will. Whatever the cause, the great city of Teotihuacán, along with its mystique and magnificence, came to an end. Small village groups continued to live in the area, but the city itself was left alone and silent. The origins and destiny of Teotihuacán remain a secret today. Were these people the first Toltecs, who moved to Tula and began again? Or were they a forgotten group of Toltec masters who came together to manifest a magnificent vision of stone and spirit, and then disappeared into the annals of history?

Although the origins and purpose of Teotihuacán have been lost in history, the site remains alive as a tourist destination, and as a place of great spiritual power. Toltec and other teachers and groups from around the world visit to access the energy there for powerful personal and planetary healing.