Speaker: Ixchell Teotalco

Coatlique

Coatlique Placing the Moon in the Sky

Copyright 1991-2002 Hrana Janto; ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

[Ixchell]: Gracias, gracias. Thank you. How many of you know a little something about the Aztecs? I see that many of you do. How many of you know anything about them, besides their human sacrifices? Ah, not nearly as many as the first time. See, the Aztecs are famous for having brutal human sacrifices and rituals filled with bloodletting and the like, but not many know much about their daily life or pantheon.

 

(<-- Coatlique) Obviously, the Aztecs have a Mother Goddess, or else I would not be up here speaking to you all. She is known as Coatlique, or Lady of the Serpent Skirt, and is seen as being the creator of the fifth world that we live in now. Coatlique lived in an area called Aztlan, up in the mountains. She had 400 children that were stars in the sky, and so she is called the mother of the gods. One day she conceived a son when a ball of feathers fell upon her breasts. Now, her other children were wary of this child that was yet to be born because of the unnatural way she conceived of him. Coatlique’s favorite daughter Coyolxauqui, whom she called Golden Bells, said it would dishonor them and their mother if this child was born, and so her brothers took it upon themselves to “fix” the problem. However, their problem was to kill their own mother while she was pregnant so that the child would die and their mother would not be dishonored by his birth. Coyolxauqui said she didn’t want anything to happen to her mother, only the baby, and begged for her brothers to change their plan. They wouldn’t listen though.

 

(<-- Huitzilopochtli) The sons gathered and killed their mother by beheading her, but the unborn child, named Huitzilopochtli, burst from his mother’s womb, fully grown, dressed for battle, and avenged his mother's death by killing many of his brothers and sisters. As for Coyolxauqui, he cut off her head as well. As Coatlique was dying, she saw her favorite daughter, Coyolxauqui, being beheaded and with the last of her great powers, she managed to place Coyolxauqui’s golden head in the sky so that part of her might live on. Coyolxauqui lived on as the Moon and her brother Huitzilopochtli lived on as the Sun.

 

 

 

Coyolxauqui

 

Although many people think that the sun is the most powerful being, Coyolxauqui found a way of surpassing her brother’s power. She shone day and night, which her brother could not do, as he is confined to the day, and she did this by reflecting the light of her brother, the Sun.

 

As for Coatlique, she floats in the Tlaloc Lake in the Underworld of Tlalocan, and in order for the world to remain, we must give her blood and human heart sacrifices, since she sacrificed her life to give us the Sun, our life. All of the gods gave their blood to the world in order to keep it alive, and in the same way, we must give blood back to the gods to continue life on earth. The human heart is very symbolic, and represents the center of everything- the center of humankind, the center of religion, and the center of love and undying life. The sacrifice of the human heart represents the release of the life-blood and all that is sacred, and this is what makes it the ultimate sacrifice to the gods.

 

Traditional Aztec Dress

 

Coatlique wears a skirt called the Nahua, which is made of serpents, revealed to us in her name, Lady of the Serpent Skirt.  Around her neck she wears a necklace of human hearts and hands with skull pendants on them. She is the supreme earth mother, and she is the one who hands out death and life. Like Asherah with the ancient Jewish women, Coatlique has been worshipped most frequently by women. And like Brighid, Coatlique is related to the hearth and the home, which was the women’s place. Like Kali, Coatlique can be fierce with her enemies, handing out death as she wishes. And like Kuan Yin, she is compassionate and loves her people; that is why she gave her life for us. And finally, she is like Amaterasu in that she is just and beautiful and all who see her marvel at her beauty.   

 

So as you see, Coatlique is not as foreign to us as she may at first seem. She is first and forever, a mother.

 

[Applause]

 

An Aztec Dancer

 

[Emily]: Thank you, Ixchell. Well, I must say you took the words right out of my mouth! I was just about to comment about how all the mother goddesses seem so drastically different from each other, but when it comes down to it, they are all mothers, and they all give birth to life, just like women do! That seems to be the “mother goddess theme” no matter what culture you find yourself in. Mother goddesses do many things but the primary role they have is giving birth to life, whether it be to their children, or to agriculture and even give birth to knowledge.

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          Speaker: Talasi Chochmo

Spider Grandmother

 

 

[Emily]: Well, as they say, we saved the best for last, and now I present to you Talasi Chochmo who will conclude our storytelling.

 

[Applause]   Dreamcatcher Picture Source-->

 

[Talasi]: Thank you. Before I jump right into the story, I feel I should tell you a little bit of how big this story is in many American Indian tribes. Spider Woman, also called Spider Grandmother, is most popular in the American Southwest with the Pueblo people. We are called the Pueblo people because when the first Spanish explorers encountered our ancestors, they were living prosperously in large towns, or pueblos in Spanish. The Pueblo people are a group of tribes that have shared somewhat similar lifestyles, beliefs, languages, and material culture. Although the Pueblos share similar cultures, they do not all share the same language. An example of these tribes includes the Hopi, Zuni, Zia (Sia), Santa Ana, San Felipe and the Kiowa. Of course, none of the tribes are exactly the same, or else we’d be one big tribe! However, I will not go into the similarities and differences, but it will suffice to say that since the story of Spider Grandmother spans many of these tribes, I will tell you a story that contains bits and pieces of each tribe’s idea of her.

 

 

Before any of us ever existed and before anything was ever created, only the Sun Spirit, Sótuknang, was here. He created a proto-type earth, and from it, he created Kótyangwúti, Spider Woman, so that she could help him create the world and everything in it. From here, he rested from his first creations and Spider Woman continued the creation. She spun her spider silk from North to South, then to East and West, and this is what drew the earth into being. She sang as she spun, and from her beautiful singing, her two daughters came into being. These daughters helped their mother by creating the moon from dark black rock, yellow stone, red rock and turquoise. They saw that it was not quite light enough at night, so they created the Star People with sparkling eyes so that night would never be black again.

 

Spider Woman is also called Thinking Woman because she merely thought things into existence or they came into existence when she spoke or sang her thoughts. Spider Woman went to work creating people, and she did this by molding the red, yellow, white and black clay of the earth. For every person she made, she spun a fine line of spider silk that she attached to their heads, so that they would always be connected to her and have access to her wisdom and teachings. As long as they kept the doorway from the top of their heads to let in the spider silk, they would always be protected by her. She sang the Creation song over the newly formed people, and they came to life by hearing her beautiful voice. The people began to call her Spider Grandmother, since she gave them life.

 

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However, there were some in those first days who let their doorway shut. They did not have access to Spider Grandmother’s ancient wisdom and they began to forget what it meant to live. They turned on each other and became cruel and unthankful, so the Sun Spirit told Spider Grandmother that he would create a second world for those who kept their spider silk doorways open. This second world was created, and Spider Grandmother guided those who kept the ancient wisdom upwards to the second world. However, there were some who reached the second world and let their doorways shut, and once again there was violence and malice among the people of the second world. 

 

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Again, the Sun Spirit created a third world, and asked Spider Grandmother to help those who had kept the ancient wisdom find their way to the third world, which was again, accessed by the Sipapuni hole in the sky. However, some of the people in the third world let their doorways close, but with each world that had been created, fewer and fewer people let their doorways close. This fourth world would be the last world that the sun spirit would create, so he caused a flood on the third world, and all those who were still attached to Spider Grandmother by the silk thread were saved, and they climbed up her thread to the fourth world.   

 

To these people, Spider Grandmother shared her wisdom and gave them eagle feathers to guide them safely on their future journeys. One of Spider Grandmother’s daughters, Ut Set, gave the people the milk from her breast, which was maize. The other daughter, Nau Ut Set, gave the people prayer sticks so that their crops might prosper if they used them properly, and also gave them stones for grinding the maize. So it is important that we Pueblo people always keep our doorways open so that we may receive her guiding wisdom, just as we must honor her, our earth mother, in order to prosper on this land.

 

[Applause]

 

[Emily]: What a beautiful story. The theme of the Mother Goddess also being Mother Earth and Creator seems to be consistent throughout most of these stories......

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          Conclusion

[Emily]: So here we have seven different views of the Supreme Mother Goddess. She may look different in these different places, but all the images are one and the same. A human mother is many things at one time, and has different images that the world sees over time. When she is young, she is beautiful and radiant; when she becomes pregnant, her belly protrudes like a watermelon; when she gets older, her hair begins to gray, and she is not as radiant as she once was; when her children are grown and she is a grandmother, her skin wrinkles and her body becomes fragile. These are the phases of a woman, and just as women look different throughout their lifetime, so does the Goddess look different to each culture she encounters. Just as a mother has different responsibilities and tasks to perform throughout her life, so does the Mother Goddess.

 

When the mother gives birth to her child, she is like Spider Grandmother, Brighid, Coatlique and Kali- she has the power to give life, and as the child is helpless, then she has the power to take her life away. She is the essence of Mother Earth and Asherah when she nurses her child and provides her ground to grow on. When the child is a toddler, the mother is like Amaterasu and Kuan Yin, patient, and merciful when her child makes mistakes. As the child grows older, the mother is like all views of the Mother Goddess, bestowing knowledge to her child and instructing her in the way to live. Then when her child has children of her own, the mother helps her in her time of childbirth, just the Mother Goddess does. She is there for her child, even though she is grown, when she needs comfort or support.

 

Throughout every culture we have heard from tonight, there are common threads that connect each Mother Goddess, so that we can see that they are all one in the same. They are all related to the earth somehow, some more specifically than others; they are there for their children in time of need; they have the power to give and take life; they all bestow knowledge to their children; and they are all merciful to their children.

 

So why have we shared these things with you tonight? There are a few reasons. First, it is so that each of us realize that the role of “mother” is extremely important, and not one to be taken lightly. No matter how “equal” to a man a woman can be, what makes her unique and beautiful is that she can be a mother- she has the power to give life and proliferate the human species. Of course this is obvious to everyone here, I’m sure, but what is not so obvious is how badly people take it for granted. Why do some so-called feminists look on the role of motherhood with disdain? Motherhood is not the chain that holds women back from accomplishing their goals.

 

Secondly, the reason why these stories are important is because it helps every woman in every culture understand that she is not the “weaker sex”, even though she may be treated as if she were. Women have played a significant role in the history of their own cultures, no matter how much their efforts have been downplayed. The proof of this is that women’s great deeds are incorporated into their own culture’s mythos. These stories tell of the great potential women have, no matter if she is a human or a goddess, and these stories have lasted from ancient days up to today.

 

Through The Society for the Greater Education of Women, these are the things that we hope to convey to every woman that we come in contact with. That way, she can work within her culture to improve her status, just by having the confidence that she can accomplish whatever she wants to. Without confidence, all the great ideas and aid from organizations such as this one, women cannot break through the barriers that are holding them back.

 

I hope you all enjoyed tonight’s event! Lets have a round of applause for our speakers!

[Applause]   

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