Inspiration

Coatlicue or Serpent Skirt'  from the Mexica (Aztec) culture.  In ancient times she was depicted wearing  a necklace of severed human hands and hearts with a large skull pendant. She is known by many other names such as Teteoinan or Teteo Inan, representing the Mother of Gods who birthed the moon, stars, and Huitzilopochtli, the god of sun and war. She is also known as Toci, “Our Grandmother”, and Cihuacoatl, “The Lady of the Serpent”, who is the protector of women who die in childbirth. She represents many dualities—the loving nurturing mother, yet also a deadly monster. Her loving qualities are attributed to her sunken breasts that have nurtured so many, and her deadly qualities are attributed to her necklace of human bodies she has consumed. In this case she represents both the creator and the destroyer, symbolic of the Earth that has the power to create and destroy humans, where both the grave and the womb exist simultaneously. Similarly this goddess is associated with themes of death and rebirth. The snakes are representative of blood spurting out of her body and in Aztec tradition symbolize divine fertility, literally the power of life and death.