Heraldry: The Jaguar Sisters

The motto "Rize and roar" (with that spelling, with a Z) was come up at this year's Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) Congress in San Francisco.  The jaguars trace back their origin to a dream that one of the founders, Julie McCurdy, had when the group just started back in February 2011.

This coat-of-arms was created for the Jaguar Sisters, a community organization in Portland, Oregon.  Unlike most of my past work it is essentially an Iberian-style heraldry (i.e., Spanish, Portuguese, Latin American) rather than a more British or Irish style one.  The faces of the two sable jaguars rampant are taken from a Mayan jaguar mask design.

The crown is in fact a mural crown, which is common among the heraldry of cities and communes in the continental Europe as well as in Central and South America, which traces its history to a symbol of the Hellenic Goddess Tyche, Roman Goddess Fortuna, or of Cybele.  Rather than being a symbol of monarchy or empire, as such is the case with the crown in British heraldry, the mural crown would be a befitting symbol for this women's empowerment and solidarity community.  Additionally, the city walls historically symbolize both the communal nature of a city, as well as its common and mutual defence of its citizens.  The mural crown imagery subconsciously evokes the sense of protection, stability and safety in a community, something the Jaguar Sisters have set themselves to achieve through their organizing.

The gules, sable and or are the official colour scheme of the organization.

The division of the oval shield in the middle alludes to the forests of the Pacific Northwest.

a vexillological rendition