I found this online in Google books. The book is called “Imaginary States: Studies in Cultural Transnationalism. It talks about the writings of Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa (September 26, 1942 - May 15, 2004). She was a Chicana lesbian feminist writer, poet, scholar and activist who wrote about Coatlicue as a state of being that allows us to move to higher levels of consciousness. What resounded with me was the role of illness is the Coatlicue State. Here is what it said:
“Coatlicue offers a powerful image of inspiration. The goddess is represented as a woman whose head is actually two rattlesnakes facing each other. She wears a necklace made of open hands and hearts (the one symbolizing giving, the other, pain _ particularly of birth, but also of everyday life). She has snakes where her hands should be _indeed, the snakes act as claws. Coalticue is a symbol of ancestral and local knowledge deployed by Anzaldua to register her identification with Aztec culture but also her divided self within mestiza reality. Importantly, it is also a state of mind, something that allows those affected to take stock, to understand the situation they are in. Anzaldua explains that “We need Coatlicue to slow us up so that they psyche can assimilate previous experiences and process the changes. If we don’t take the time, she’ll lay us low with illness, forcing us to rest”. Coalicue is a mark of psychological paralysis, a kind of mental stasis that shakes one out of the torpor of acquiescence to the pain of everyday or normalized. What Anzaldua calls the “Coatlicue State” is this prelude to heightened awareness, a state in which her identity will either fragment or disintegrate in the face of adversity or reform with those framents into a more resilient, conscious, and what I would call answerable sense of self. If she does not answer to Coatlicue, she will remain a stone frozen in the roles apportioned her. On this level, the imaginary state is a state of trenchant awareness.
‘Every increment of consciousness, every step forward is a travesia, a crossing. I am again an alien in new territory. And again, and again. But if I escape conscious awareness, escape knowing, I won’t be moving. Knowledge makes me more aware, it makes me more conscious. “Knowing” is painful because after “it” happens I can’t stay in the same place and be comfortable. I am no longer the same person I was before.’”
The original text can be found here:
books.google.com/books
My question. Is this something unique to Coatlicue or is your experience with the Dark Goddess similar. Is there a Kali State? A Hekate State? A Morrigan State? If there are, does She lay one low with illness or is there another way that She makes one think about where they are and change their awareness? If so, what sort of ‘illness’ does each goddess bring? Monetary? Mental? Relationship? Etc…
~ Pauline
“Coatlicue offers a powerful image of inspiration. The goddess is represented as a woman whose head is actually two rattlesnakes facing each other. She wears a necklace made of open hands and hearts (the one symbolizing giving, the other, pain _ particularly of birth, but also of everyday life). She has snakes where her hands should be _indeed, the snakes act as claws. Coalticue is a symbol of ancestral and local knowledge deployed by Anzaldua to register her identification with Aztec culture but also her divided self within mestiza reality. Importantly, it is also a state of mind, something that allows those affected to take stock, to understand the situation they are in. Anzaldua explains that “We need Coatlicue to slow us up so that they psyche can assimilate previous experiences and process the changes. If we don’t take the time, she’ll lay us low with illness, forcing us to rest”. Coalicue is a mark of psychological paralysis, a kind of mental stasis that shakes one out of the torpor of acquiescence to the pain of everyday or normalized. What Anzaldua calls the “Coatlicue State” is this prelude to heightened awareness, a state in which her identity will either fragment or disintegrate in the face of adversity or reform with those framents into a more resilient, conscious, and what I would call answerable sense of self. If she does not answer to Coatlicue, she will remain a stone frozen in the roles apportioned her. On this level, the imaginary state is a state of trenchant awareness.
‘Every increment of consciousness, every step forward is a travesia, a crossing. I am again an alien in new territory. And again, and again. But if I escape conscious awareness, escape knowing, I won’t be moving. Knowledge makes me more aware, it makes me more conscious. “Knowing” is painful because after “it” happens I can’t stay in the same place and be comfortable. I am no longer the same person I was before.’”
The original text can be found here:
books.google.com/books
My question. Is this something unique to Coatlicue or is your experience with the Dark Goddess similar. Is there a Kali State? A Hekate State? A Morrigan State? If there are, does She lay one low with illness or is there another way that She makes one think about where they are and change their awareness? If so, what sort of ‘illness’ does each goddess bring? Monetary? Mental? Relationship? Etc…
~ Pauline
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Re: The Coatlicue State
Sat, March 8, 2008 - 1:39 PMIME with Kali, all the states of being are contained within Her, since she is the all-pervasive Reality - but if you are working with Her seriously, there will be difficulties of all sorts... this is to burn off your karmas and attachments. the fast way to liberation has it's price; things can get bumpy on the road. Hindus believe there are many ways to liberation, but some are faster than others. the faster ones tend to be less comfortable, because instead of working out all the kinks over a ton of lifetimes, you're opting to deal with them as swiftly as possible - so the transitions are not easy and gradual, but quick and hard, kinda like the difference between thousands of years of environmental erosion on a rock to make it smooth or putting it in a tumbler, only the rock is you!
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Re: The Coatlicue State
Sun, March 9, 2008 - 3:28 PMPauline, I find your questions to be very much to the point...
the language may differ from Shamanism to Shaktism to the Western Traditions etc., though when authentically being practiced I feel that all do converge. some of us may not call this a state or an illness, though isn't it a prerequisite that before one can learn to heal others they must first heal themselves? I have heard tales of the one who would be Shaman, and to take up such a position comes with immense physical, astral, causal body transfiguration; the old self dying, so the Shaman may emerge. doesn't sound easy or glamourous to me....
everyone is different, we will all have our own unique obstacles to surmount. I don't think that there is any way around this once we're really on the spiritual path and not just going through the motions. as the karmic knots begin to unravel, anything goes, and it can become very dangerous for the practitioner. which is why one is always warned *before* awakening Kundalini in the eastern traditions, for She is not to be played with, and most westerners haven't begun to understand what this means, as it seems more like a buzz word for sexual practices which have really nothing to do with awakening Kundalini...
all attachments to the old self must be relinquished, or the path will become much more difficult. I can speak about this from real experience, and much suffering due to my own ignorance. I have never worked with Coatlicue personally but She seems to be particularly fiery in nature, much like the Goddess that owns my head. The conundrum is that no advancement on the spiritual path will occur without this fire ... but if it is not balanced, it will consume one completely .. in my most humble opinion, the Dark Goddess in any guise demands nothing less.
blessings,
adya
