Goddesses and Women of Mexico

Coyolxauhqui, which means Golden Bells, was the elder sister of Huitzilopochtli and, in Aztec mytholoty, represents the Moon. She incited their 400 other brothers and sisters to slay their mother, Coatlicue, believing she had disgraced them by becoming mysteriously pregnant with Huitzilopochtli after a ball of feathers fell from above and touched her breast.

Huitzilopochtli, who was born fully clothed and armed, killed his other siblings and, after cutting of Coyolxauhqui's head and dismembering her body, threw her head into the sky, forming the Moon.

Coyolxauhqui, able to shine both day and night, thus possesses a power her brother, the Sun God, does not have... the eternal glow of Golden Bells.

The artist's rendering of Coyolxauhqui is an absolutely ingenious work - a mystical puzzle. Based on a stone at the entrance to the Templo Mayor, every facet of the sculpture corresponds to the original depictions - the rattlesnake skirt, the skull at the back of her belt and the machete marks on her limbs and torso.

The mystery of the figure of Coyolxauhqui is revealed upon learning and seeing that the entire sculpture can be dismantled along the lines of the machete slashes. Her head, which became the Moon, is removable, baring the top a her vertebrae in the shape of a rattlesnake spine. Her arms and legs can be removed, and within her torso, at the center of her being, one makes the final magical discovery: Coyolxauhqui's ovaries, still intact.

Click HERE to see Coyolxauhqui dismantled

Women of Mexico: La Adelita | Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez | Frida Kahlo | Maria Sabina | Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz