In my painting, a pregnant woman is in the cosmos with a spiral galaxy of different solar systems radiating from her womb and a jaguar crowning her head. 
This image draws from the video “A day in the life of an Aztec midwife” because after the mother gives birth, the midwife praises her, telling the woman she acted like “an eagle warrior, a jaguar warrior.” A jaguar is an appropriate symbol for birth, as many women in labor must move beyond their beta brain and return to that deep, primal place where intuition and instinct reign.
 
In Aztec culture, women were revered for their strength and bravery in childbirth, just as men were honored for their valor in battle. One of the major goddesses of the Aztec Pantheon, Teteoinnan was “Mother of the Gods”, “Earth Goddess”, a female warrior goddess who is called upon for both women’s battlefield of birth and in men’s battles with their enemies. Women’s roles as mothers, midwives, healers, priestesses, merchants, housekeepers were rightly considered noble, indispensable, and sacred. The earth body and the physical body were seen as sacred vessels of life, embodying both the physical and spiritual connection to the cosmos. 
"One of the most pervasive notions in Aztec religion is the sacrality of the human body and its potential to return its energy to the cosmos." - David Carrasco - Mesoamericanist 
 
The earth goddess, earth body, and bodies of women were respected for their life-giving fertility, nurturing, and healing.
“It is not amazing that in our culture there is an issue about carving up a woman’s natural body, that there is a corresponding issue about carving up the landscape, and yet another about carving up the culture into fashionable parts as well. Although a woman may not be able to stop the dissection of culture and lands overnight, she can stop doing so to her own body.” (Women Who Run With Wolves, Joyous Body)
As a doula, I support people in labor and know the process is magical. When a child is in the mother’s belly, they are in a dark womb just as our planet is in the dark womb of space. Birth is a sacred, transformative passage where the cosmic, spiritual, and physical realms meet. It is in these moments I witness the magic of the universe unfold. 
“In any event, the present book will argue that while geomythology often dispels one kind of awe, it replaces it with a new kind of astonishment. In doing so, it suggests that complete demythologizing, strictly speaking, may be impossible for humans and that some kind of enchantment may be an existential necessity— even for would-be demythologizers.” 
(Geomythology: how common stories reflect earth events, Introduction: What is Geomythology?)
 
 
Sources:
Estes, Clarissa Pinkola. “Women Who Run With Wolves. Ballantine Books, 1992, pp. 213-230
Burbery, Timothy J. Geomythology : How Common Stories Reflect Earth Events. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2021, pp. 1-18.
Drea MacMillan. “Essay: The Role of Women in Aztec Society.” Drea MacMillan, Drea MacMillan, 21 Jan. 2018, dreamacmillan.com/2018/01/21/essay-the-role-of-women-in-aztec-society/.
“A day in the life of an Aztec midwife - Kay Read” Youtube, uploaded by Ted-ED, 12 May 2020, https://www.ted.com/talks/kay_read_a_day_in_the_life_of_an_aztec_midwife/transcript
"Aztec Religion Explained" YouTube, uploaded by RelgionForBreakfast, 9 Feb 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdO-QB7weUs