The Pinaviztli is an insect of ill-omen known to the Aztecs. It looks like a spider the size of a mouse, smooth and hairless and fat-bodied, red and black in color.
The entrance of a pinaviztli into a house is a bad omen. It can be countered in one of two ways. The first is to draw a cross on the floor pointing to the four cardinal directions. The pinaviztli is placed in the middle, spat on, and asked, “Why did you come? I want to know, why did you come?” If it goes north, it is a sign of coming death. Any other direction heralds a lesser affliction. The insect is told “Go your way, I don’t care about you”, and it is dropped off at the nearest crossroads.
The second ritual consists of passing a hair through the pinaviztli’s body and tying it to a stick, leaving it dangling for a day. If it is gone by the next day, then harm is sure to befall the household. If it is still there, the people spit on it and are reassured that nothing will happen.
Sometimes a pinaviztli foretells the gift of good food.
References
Nuttall, Z. (1895) A Note on Ancient Mexican Folk-lore. The Journal of American Folklore, v. 8, no. 29, pp. 117-129.
A Book of Creatures 
What would happen if I spray it with Raid though?
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Your luck in the stock market will slump from average to so-so.
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Ouch. DEATH… or food? I personally would like something more valuable than food if I only had a 50% chance to live.
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Food can make the difference between life and death after all
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So on one hand it’s death. On the other hand it’s nachos. Ok then.
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Mouse-sized Spider!
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Random question: Do any of the books you use for research mention a Scottish creature named “Spunkie’? The only one I have is from Dubois (and I have trust issues with that guy). Some sources say it’s a form of Will-O-The-Wisp but others say it’s a creature that takes people’s hands, so I want to know which one is true.
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I have a LOT of issues with Dubois and as far as I can remember it’s another local name for the will-o’-the-wisp. Much like the Tan Noz, a Breton word for the same thing that Dubois miraculously expands.
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I’m mostly certain that is correct. It’s just another name for it like “Jacky Lantern” and “Hinkypunk”.
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Yeah, I was skeptical but when I did some research I found another book that made reference to the hand thing but that book lacked sources so I didn’t follow
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