COATLIQUE
(Aztec - Legendary)

The Cleansing Mother

Coatlique, an ancient Earth and Mother Goddess adopted by the Aztecs, was revered by the good and feared by the evil.

SYMBOLS

1. Skirt of serpents - Always worn by Coatlique, and called "Nahua" (snake skirt).

2. Necklace - Hearts and hands with skull pendant. The heart: center of Man, religion, love, unifying life. The Aztec heart sacrifice: liberation of life blood, leaving the seed of life to germinate.

3. Stars - She was the mother of 400 Southern Star gods.

4. Feather Ball - Impregnated by a feather ball which fell upon her bosom, she conceived her son, Huit, by a miraculous conception.

5. Moon - Her daughter, Coyolxauhqui, the Moon Goddess, was mistakenly beheaded by her brother, Huit. In grief, Coatlique placed her daughter's golden head in the night sky.

6. Plumed serpent - Quetzalcoatl (ket-sahl-koh-AH-tl) founded the main city, Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) when he sighted an eagle with a serpent in its mouth, perched on cactus.

7. Eagle on cactus - (With serpent in its beak). Seen today in Mexico's coat of arms and flag.

8. Square - The Aztecs believed the earth was a great square surface floating on an endless sea.

9. Sacred tree - Center of the world.

10. Pyramid - The sky rising in tiers (stepped pyramid).

11. Water - Aztec city built over shallow waters of Lake Texcoco.

12. Clouds - Coatlique lives on a mountain (pyramid) surrounded by water and hidden by clouds.

13. Peyote button - Coatlique devours the sins of mankind -- represented by peyote, still used in religious ceremonies.

14. Coacoa-tree - Sacred plant of the Aztecs.

15. Seven gold masks - The Aztec people's origin was emergence from seven caves.

16. Aztec sun disk - Sun god in center, surrounded by history, myth, and prophesy. Twelve feet in diameter.

17. Four upper steps of pyramid - The Aztecs did not believe in eternal hell. Instead of eternal hell (Mictlan), the nine hells and thirteen heavens were reached after the voyaging soul traveled a tortured journey of four years, when they either found eternal rest or disappeared.

18. Bluebird - Her son, Huit.