Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe – The Most Important Symbol of Mexico

by Sergio Magaña Ocelocoyotl

The most important symbol of Mexico is Our Lady of Guadalupe, an image flawlessly designed by the eagle warrior Cipactli, who was later known in our history as Juan Diego, a humble indigenous peasant.

According to traditional accounts, the Virgin appeared to him on a hill, Cerro del Tepeyac, where the ancient Mexihca temple of Tonantzin Coatlicue, the Divine Mother and ruler of life and death, was once located. The drawing Cipactli presented to the Spanish archbishop Fray Juan de Zumárraga at the time contained everything I mentioned above. The Virgin was standing over the moon, vanquishing it, while rising towards the sun, that is, tearing down the moon’s invisible prison in order to reach the full potential represented by the sun. The blend of catholic and traditional symbols made Our Lady of Guadalupe the perfect example of Mexihca–Spanish syncretism.

Nowadays the pilgrimage to el Tepeyac, which takes place on 12 December, is the most popular in the world, attracting approximately 7 million people each year. I try to make this pilgrimage every year and I can say that it is the epitome of devotion. Millions of people come together to visit Our Lady of Guadalupe  – the Virgin, thousands come to visit the Tonantzin coatlicue temple and thousands, like me, come to visit them both.

Sun and Moon

These teachings were also illustrated in the ancient Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan, in the temple dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, the main energy cultivated by the Mexihcas, which in the tonal is the warrior’s discipline and the rising sun, and in the nahual is the hummingbird flying to the left, guiding us to overcome our weaknesses and achieve our potential during our dreams. It is said that the sculpture of a moon cut into pieces, called the coyolxauqui and representing the moon’s phases, was originally placed under the temple’s staircase. on top of it was the rising sun, vanquishing the moon day by day and fulfilling its grand destiny, just as we too overcome the moon and the darkness to reach our sun, changing our tonal  (waking) via our nahual (dream state) .