Prominent thousands of years ago, the Toltec were known throughout southern Mexico as "women and men of knowledge." Anthropologists have spoken of the Toltec as a nation or a race, but, the Toltec were scientists and artists who formed a society to explore and conserve the spiritual knowledge and practices of the ancient ones. The Toltec considered science and spirit to be one and the same since all energy, whether material or ethereal, was derived from the one source and influenced by the same universal laws.

The Toltec came together as masters (naguals) and students (jaguars) at Teotihuacan, the ancient city of pyramids outside Mexico City known as the place where "Man becomes God." Here, in order to realize the promise of the work to transcend the realm of ordinary human awareness and attain their personal freedom, the apprentices studied the three Toltec masteries: Awareness, Transformation, and Intent. The students had to have the courage to face the truth of who they were and, through that knowing, change their way of life.