[Robert Urbanek]

The green, white and red flag of Mexico features an image of an eagle atop a cactus holding a snake in its talon. According to legend, the gods told the Aztecs to build a city (now Mexico City) where they spot an eagle on a nopal eating a serpent.

However, the image of an eagle fighting with a serpent also has an ancient meaning associated with myths found in the Near East, India and the southern Pacific, in which the bird and snake symbolize the tension that exists between the solar principle (bird) and that of the maternal chthonic forces (snake) or the conflict between the spiritual and material worlds.

In this ancient motif, one does not exult in the victory of the eagle killing the serpent. Given that ancient images often depict a goddess holding a serpent, one can see how Jewish and Christian traditions demonized both the serpent and female power. There can be no balance; the bird of the heavens must defeat the serpent of the earth.