What Aztec goddess is depicted as a decapitated snake woman?

Coatlicue is the Aztec goddess depicted as a decapitated snake woman. Her name means “Serpent Skirt,” and her most famous statue shows her wearing a skirt of writhing snakes, a necklace of human hearts, hands, and skulls, and clawed hands and feet.

In the imagery, two facing serpents form her head. They represent the streams of blood said to spurt from her neck after her decapitation. Coatlicue was associated with the earth, fertility, life, death, and motherhood, so the frightening image expresses both creation and destruction rather than evil alone.

Aztec mythology identifies her as the mother of Huitzilopochtli, Coyolxauhqui, and the Centzon Huitznahua. According to one story, she became miraculously pregnant after a ball of feathers fell on her while she swept a temple. Coyolxauhqui and her brothers attacked her, but Huitzilopochtli emerged fully armed and defeated them. Coyolxauhqui is the decapitated moon goddess in that myth, a frequent source of confusion with Coatlicue.