Maiden
What you need to sow
Begin while sweeping. The ordinary chore is where the feather lands.
Aztec / Mexica
Coatlicue
She of the Serpent Skirt, Mother of the Gods
Central Mexico, Postclassic Mexica period, c. 1300–1521 CE
✦
Her story
Historical context
goddess · Central Mexico, Postclassic Mexica period, c. 1300–1521 CE
Coatlicue is the Mexica earth: mother of the moon, the stars and Huitzilopochtli, and swallower of everything she births. Her colossal stone image, unearthed in Mexico City, was so disturbing to its finders that they reburied it.
Mythology & traditions
She conceived Huitzilopochtli from a ball of feathers while sweeping; her daughter Coyolxauhqui led four hundred siblings to kill her for the shame, and the son was born armed and defended her. The story sits exactly on the line the earth sits on — the same ground receives corpses and grows corn.
Domains
- Earth
- Birth and death
- Motherhood
- Devouring and giving
- Renewal
Symbols
- Serpent skirt
- Skull pendant
- Obsidian blade
- Marigold
- Eagle feather
In the oracle
Her guidance
Mother
What you need to grow
Nurture the whole cycle. What you tend will also decay, and that is not failure.
Crone
What you need to know
You are not too old, too used, or too finished. The earth births after burying.