What is a Nagual in the novel, The Eagle’s Gift?

The Nagual is a double being drawn to the hidden passageway. Naguals occur in male/female pairs. Seers perceive them as a luminous egg having four compartments, their right and left sides each having two sections. Naguals have assistants: four female stalkers, three male warriors, and one male courier. Each female is distinct: 1) east/order (optimistic, a steady breeze), 2) north/strength (resourceful, a hard wind), 3) west/feeling (introspective, a cold gust of wind), and 4) south/growth (nurturing, a hot wind). The male warriors also are types: 1) knowledgeable, noble, and serene; 2) active, volatile, and fickle; and 3) the mysterious organizer. The courier is a taciturn assistant.

Males and females live in set groupings and all come together only for strenuous tasks or to leave the world. The Nagual and his party must find three more couriers, male and/or female. To be sure that the Nagual man leads truly, the Nagual woman is taken to the other world to serve as a beacon to the hidden opening. The Nagual and his warriors are then commanded to forget, scatter, and regain the totality of themselves. Only then do they gather a new pair of double beings, reveal to them the rule, provide the minimal party of 16, and start a new cycle. The new Nagual woman always leaves the world to become a beacon with the old party.