ess Magha, the socket block whence fire was generated by the
fire-drill; who is also worshipped as the mother Maga under the form of
the alligator. Consequently the alligator was their totem." In Essay VIII
Hewitt states that these "sons of the great witch-mother Maga" lived in
Magnesia, whence they emigrated to Thessaly and that theirs was the "city
of the Magnetes" referred to by Plato as "the mother of laws." The word
mag, however, meant great in Akkadian, hence according to Hewitt the name
Makkhu, the high priests or Magi (vol. II, p. 54).

The Maya and Mexican fire altars and sockets and their association
with the earth-mother and alligator in the native Codices has been
discussed. The Mexican day-sign cipactli figures an alligator and
is associated with a female deity. The alligator altar at Copan,
is described on p. 228. Were it not for limit of space additional
testimony could be cited here, proving that in Mexico the
alligator was associated with the mother of the race, the
fire-socket, and was a tribal totem.

"As the mother Maga she is the maker or kneader, the mother of the
building and constructing races ... they were the first builders of
towns.... They adored the god of the twirling or churning fire-drill....
They employed the name Ku, Ukko, Pukka and Pukan to designate the rain and
thunder god and star-god who guides the stars in their courses and rules
the beginning of the year" (Hewitt, p 438). The Finnic and Esthonian "Ukko
is also called Taivahan Napanen, meaning the navel of the heaven and this
is called the place of the pole star, the star at the top of the heavenly
mountain" (vol. II, p. 155).

Compare Ku in Maya list, appendix III, also Tezcatli-poca or
puca=Mexican fire-drill god, Ursa Major.

"They worshipped Nag or Nagash,=the serpent and fire-drill constellation
of Ursa Major, and consequently called themselves also the sons of
Naga=the Nahushas. They worshipped the Pleiades=the mother stars...."

The Nahuas traced ancestry to seven stars of Ursa Major and began
their religious year at the culmination of the Pleiades at
midnight.

"The Nagas united with the navigating Shus or Phoenicians ... the red men,
who worshipped the ruler of heaven.... These Shus ... called in the North,
Hus ... were the Sumerian trading races of the Euphratean delta and
Western India, who traced their descent to Khu, the mother bird of the
Akkadians