Borderlands: The New Mestiza = La

Frontera Sections 3 & 4

Erika GenerosoChristina Lopez

Bao NguyenSteven Huicho-Murillo

SECTION THREE: Entering Into The

Serpent

Entering Into The Serpent: Ella tiene su tono

What animal is being referred to in this section?

- A Snake or Serpent

Entering Into The Serpent: Ella tiene su tono

What did Gloria dream of, the night after her mother killed the snake?

- She dreamt that rattler fangs filler her mouth, scales covered her body

Entering Into The Serpent: Coatlalopeuh, She Who Has Dominion Over Serpents

What is La Virgen de Guadalupe’s Indian name?

- Her Indian name is Coatlalopeuh.

Entering Into The Serpent: Coatlalopeuh, She Who Has Dominion Over Serpents

The Spanish identified Guadalupe with the ____ _____. Why?

- Dark Virgin; because Coatlalopeuh was homophonous (pronounced the same as) to the Spanish Guadalupe.

Entering Into The Serpent: For Waging War Is My Cosmic Duty: The Loss of the

Balanced Oppositions and the Change to Male Dominance

Name 1 of the 20 Toltec tribes that made the last pilgrimage from Azatlan.

- Azteca

Entering Into The Serpent: For Waging War Is My Cosmic Duty: The Loss of the

Balanced Oppositions and the Change to Male Dominance

Name the 3 goddesses worshiped venerated by the mazehuales (the common people).

-Chalchiuhtlicue,- Chicomecoatl,- Huixtocihuatl

Entering Into The Serpent: Sueno con serpientes

What was the most notable symbol in pre-Columbian America? (pg. 56)

- The most notable symbol in pre-Columbian America was the serpent.

Entering Into The Serpent: Sueno con serpientes

What do you think the author means when she says, “The destiny of humankind is to be devoured by the Serpent”? (Pg. 56)

-That at the end of all of it, the purpose of life of a human is to be able to live and come from what they call the “Serpent’s mouth” and be able to come back to it. The “Serpent” is the underlying idea between life and death. The serpent represents the end of life and the start of you life dying.

Entering Into the Serpent: The Presences According to the author, what are the two

modes of consciousness of in relation to reality? - First mode: external stimuli- Second mode: stimuli from imagination

Entering Into the Serpent: The PresencesShe believes that reality is split into two

functions; do you think that is true?- (No wrong or right answer).

Entering Into The Serpent: La facultadWhat is the meaning of La Facultad (Faculty) (pg.

60)?- It is the capacity to see in surface

phenomena the meaning of deeper realities, to see the deep structure below the surface. An instant “sensing”, a quick perception arrived at without conscious reasoning. An acute awareness mediated by the part of the psyche that does not speak, that communicates in images and symbols which are the faces of feelings, that is, behind which feelings reside/hide.

Entering Into The Serpent: La facultadHow is fear related to the sense aspect of la

facultad?- Fear triggers a shift in perception that

deepens the way we see concrete objects and people; the senses become so acute and piercing that we can see through things, view events in depth, a piercing that reaches the underworld (the realm of the soul).

SECTION FOUR: La Herencia de

Coatlicue

La herencia de Coatlicue: Enfrentamientos con el alma

What did the authors mother do when her father passed away?

- She put blankets over the mirror, "Consciously, she had no idea why. Perhaps a part of her knew that a mirror is a door through which the soul may "pass" to the other side and she didnt want us to to "accidentally" follow our father to the place where the souls of the dead live."

La herencia de Coatlicue: Enfrentamientos con el alma

What were mirrors made out of in the ancient times of the mexican indians?

- They were made out of obsidian. "The mirror is an ambivalent symbol. Not only does it reproduce images, it contains and absorbs them. Seers would gaze into the mirror until they fell into a trance. Within the black, glossy surface, they saw clouds of smoke which would part to reveal a vision concerning the future of the tribe and the will of the gods.”

La herencia de Coatlicue: El secreto terrible y la rajadura

What did Gloria say Visit her when she was two or three years old?

- She said coatlicue visited her Psyche. "The first time she devoured me. By the worried look on my parents' faces I learned early that something was fundamentally wrong with me.”

La herencia de Coatlicue: El secreto terrible y la rajadura

What was the secret that Gloria was trying to conceal?

- She was hiding her pregnancy. "She felt shame for being abnormal. Her soft belly exposed to the sharp eyes of everyone; they see, they see. Rajada. She is at their mercy, she can do nothing to defend herself. And she is ashamed that they see her so exposed, so vulnerable."

La herencia de Coatlique: Nopal de castillaWhat are some of the defense strategies that

Gloria uses to escape the agony of inadequacy?- "I have used rage to drive others away and

to insulate myself against exposure. I have reciprocated with contempt for those who have roused shame in me.”

La herencia de Coatlique: Nopal de castillaWhat does Gloria say can lead us toward

becoming more of who we are?

- She said that " Our greatest disappointments and painful experiences, if we can make meaning out of them."

La herencia de Coatlicue: The Coatlicue State

According to Gloria, what do the hearts represents?(Pg. 69)

- The heart represent the taking of life through sacrifice to the gods in exchange for their preservation of the world.

La herencia de Coatlicue: The Coatlicue State

What does Gorgon represents?( pg. 69)- The gorgon is a symbol of the fusion of

opposites: the eagle and the serpent, heaven and the underworld, life and death, mobility and immobility, beauty and horror.

La herencia de Coatlicue: The Coatlicue State Is A Prelude To Crossing

What is “knowing” according to Gloria?( pg. 70)

- Knowing is painful; when it happens, she is no longer the person she was.

La herencia de Coatlicue: The Coatlicue State Is A Prelude To Crossing

What does “darkness” equate? (pg. 71)- Darkness equates with matter, maternal,

germinal, and potential.

La herencia de Coatlicue: That Which Abides

How does she cure her wound? (Pg. 72)- She lets the wound caused by the serpent

be cured by the serpent.

La herencia de Coatlicue: That Which Abides

Why is she not afraid? (Pg. 73)- Her vigilance, her thousand sleepless

serpent eyes blinking in the night, forever open.