The Symbolism of the Image

The miraculous image produce on the apron or tilma of Blessed Juan Diego is rich in symbolism. The aureole or luminous light surrounding the Lady is reminiscent of the "woman clothed with the sun" of Rev. 12:1. The light is also a sign of the power of God who has sanctified and blessed the one who appears. The rays of the sun would also be recognized by the native people as a symbol of their highest god, Huitzilopochtli. Thus, the lady comes forth hiding but not extinguishing the power of the sun. She is now going to announce the God who is greater than their sun god.

The Lady is standing upon the moon. Again, the symbolism is that of the woman of Rev. 12:1 who has the "moon under her feet". The moon for the Meso-Americans was the god of the night. By standing on the moon, she shows that she is more powerful than the god of darkness. However, in Christian iconography the crescent moon under the Madonna’s feet is usually a symbol of her perpetual virginity, and sometimes it can refer to her Immaculate Conception or Assumption.

The eyes of Our Lady of Guadalupe are looking down with humility and compassion. This was a sign to the native people that she was not a god since in their iconography the gods stare straight ahead with their eyes wide open. We can only imagine how tenderly her eyes looked upon Blessed Juan Diego when she said: "Do not be troubled or weighed down with grief…Am I not here who am your Mother?"

The angel supporting the Lady testifies to her royalty. To the Meso-American Indians only kings, queens and other dignitaries would be carried on the shoulders of someone. The angel is transporting the Lady to the people as a sign that a new age has come.
The mantle of the Lady is blue-green or turquoise. To the native people, this was the color of the gods and of royalty. It was also the color of the natural forces of life and fecundity. In Christian art, blue is symbolic of eternity and immortality. In Judaism, it was the color of the robe of the high priest. The nimbus or gold border of her mantle is another sign of nobility.

The stars on the Lady’s mantle shows that she comes from heaven. She comes as the Queen of Heaven but with the eyes of a humble and loving mother. The stars also are a sign of the supernatural character of the image. The research of Fr. Mario Rojas Sánchez and Dr. Juan Homero Hernández Illescas of Mexico (published in 1983) shows that the stars on the Lady’s mantle in the image are exactly as the stars of the winter solstice appeared before dawn on the morning of December 12, 1531.

The color of the Madonna’s dress is rose or pale-red. Some have interpreted this as the color of dawn symbolizing the beginning of a new era. Others point to the red as a sign of martyrdom for the faith and divine love.

The gold-encircled cross brooch under the neck of the Lady’s robe is a symbol of sanctity.

The girdle or bow around her waist is a sign of her virginity, but it also has several other meanings. The bow appears as a four-petaled flower. To the native Indians this was the nahui ollin, the flower of the sun, a symbol of plenitude. The cross-shaped flower was also connected with the cross-sticks which produce fire. For them, this was the symbol of fecundity and new life. The high position of the bow and the slight swelling of the abdomen show that the Lady is "with child". According to Dr. Carlos Fernández Del Castillo, a leading Mexican obstetrician, the Lady appears almost ready to give birth with the infant head down resting vertically. This would further solidify her identification with the woman of Rev. 12 who is about to give birth.
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"The Virgin's tunic is embroidered with strange flowers. They are not merely decorative elements. The Aztecs, who spoke the Nahuatl language, used "glyphs," or hieroglyphics, to tell a story. Janet Barber states that Nahuatl is a symbolic language that has meaning far beyond words. To the indigenous people the image was not only an extraordinary icon, but a "text, a document, dense with the symbolic language of the Mesoamerican peoples." When the Indians wanted to speak about divine revelation, they would refer to it in terms of "Flor y Canto," Flower and Song, the complementary union of two words called disfrasismos. One of the flowers on Mary's tunic is over her womb. It is the four-petaled Mexican Jasmine, the Flute-player Flower, Flor y Canto, which speaks of divine revelation through the Incarnation. Even though the Fifth Sun had died, the Sixth Sun was to be born, Jesus Christ, the "Sun of Justice with its healing rays" foretold in Malachi 3:20.The nine large Heart Flowers all over the tunic speak of Crucifixion. The Heart Flowers speak of resurrection as the blood-red seeds burst into new life, and are a metaphor for the beating heart torn from the sacrificial victim. The message of the Heart Flowers was that human sacrifices were unnecessary. The first letter of John says:

God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 Jn 4:9-10).
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For the dying Nahuatl people, Mary appeared on the day of the winter solstice, recognized by all cultures as the day of the sun's birth. The sky of the winter solstice which took place in 1531 is represented very accurately on the Virgin's mantle. Even Halley's comet is represented. The Boreal crown is above the Virgin's head, Virgo (Virgin) is on her breast. Leo is on her womb - Jesus the Lion from the tribe of Judah. Gemini, the twins, are found on her knees, and Orion, God's messenger, is depicted as an Angel.

While the Spaniards saw the Virgin's hands in a position of prayer or intercession, by the position of her left knee, the Indians were able to see that she was dancing and clapping her hands to the music. Dance was and is fiesta and prayer in the Mexican culture. Mary worships God with her entire being:

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name (Luke 1:46-49).
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Since the apparition occurred within the Octave of the Immaculate Conception, the Spaniards associated the name Guadalupe with the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Patroness of Extremadura in Spain from where most of the men who conquered Mexico came. In the choir area of the shrine in Extremadura there is an ancient statue of the Immaculate Conception. The statue was named "Guadalupe" for the village located near the place of its discovery after being lost for 600 years. The resemblance of the image of Guadalupe is startling. She too has golden rays surrounding her. There are stars on her blue mantle, her tunic is rose, and she is standing on a crescent moon supported by an angel. Unlike Guadalupe, she is carrying the Christ child in her arms.
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The image of the Virgin is synthesized for both the Spaniards and the Indigenous peoples. Who but the Almighty God could not only reassure the Spaniards, and also give the Indians a profound teaching on their own terms. While neither group saw it in the terms of the other, they were evangelized from within their own culture. The Spaniards were convinced that the image represented the Immaculate Conception whom that they knew and loved. The Virgin appeared to the Indians as one of their own, the “Virgen Morena” - the brown skinned virgin. Her features are not those of a Spanish woman nor of an Indian. They are mestiza, a combination of the two, a new humanity, a new Christian people.

- Our Lady of Guadalupe (a really great website on her) [link]