300px|thumb|Stone statue of Cihuacōātl, showing her framed by the mouth of a serpent, holding an ear of [[maize in her left hand.]]
Cihuacōātl was one of a number of motherhood and fertility goddesses in Aztec mythology. She was sometimes known as Quilaztli.
Cihuacōātl was especially associated with midwives, and with the sweat lodges where midwives practiced. She is paired with Quilaztli and was considered a protectress of the Chalmeca people and patroness of the city of Culhuacan.
Although she was sometimes depicted as a young woman, similar to Xōchiquetzal, she is more often shown as a fierce skull-faced old woman carrying the spears and shield of a warrior. While the cihuacoatl supervised the internal affairs of the land, the tlatoani oversaw the affairs of the Mexica state.
The cihuacoatl commanded the army of Tenochtitlan to the emperor. During the course of the 15th century AD, Tlacaelel served as cihuacoatl under four emperors: Moctezuma I, Axayacatl, Tizoc and Ahuizotl.