General symbols
In his need to give permanence to the verbal expressions of his thought, man had to invent the manner of symbolizing them through certain conventional signs, various figures among which stand out those we call letters. He created thus a set of signs that made it possible to satisfy such need.
In order to ensure the permanence of their cosmogonic thought, the ancient Mexicans employed, alongside the representation of the aforementioned naturalistic elements,four fundamental symbols which we refer to as abstract, because they are most frequently represented in forms reduced to their minimal expression: a constant and fixed number of subunits following a specific structure.That was, it can be said, the symbolic alphabet of which thay made use to give permanent expression to their conception of the origin of the universe...
Explaining the first three moment of the creative process, they appear in all the epochs and places of ancient Mexican plastic art.
The first of them is an element that essentially adapts to the form of the smaller base and the sides of a trapezium. It is a bridge with two ascents.These ascents feature stepped, curved, or mixed patterns, but they are always symmetrical and opposite one another.it represents the two divine serpents in the point in which they join their heads with the purpose of constituting, with man, the sum of power and matter, source of creation.
The second sign consists of two elements that form a single graphic unit, because they share the same shape and appearance,and because they were inscribed together and clearly distinguished from their surroundings.Furthermore, its two subunits are in many cases polarized forms that show some kind of opposition to each other,either through mirror images, or rotated 180° with respect to each other. To date, four large, major families of variants of the TWO sign have been identified,which are sufficient to account for all the diversity found.
It represents the divine serpents in the moment previous to their union with the human being.
The sign THREE is a sign Two to which a third element has been added in the middle, which may be the same as or different from the sides, but which is always related equally to both.
Five major families of variants have been identified within this sign, encompassing all known cases to date.
Since three of the four variant families of Sign Two are identical to the lateral elements of the variants of Sign Three, it suggests that the variants of Sign Three are derived from variants of Sign Two, to which a third element was added in the middle, either in the same or a different form.
The fourth sign is the quinqunx; five points placed as in the fifth face of a dice. This represents exactly the moment previous to the action that will create the universe; the divine serpents have already joined man; crossing in his hip, they have grabbed his extremities, marking that way the five points of the quinqunx.
