MAYAN CALENDAR ASTROLOGY

MAPPING YOUR INNER COSMOS

By

Kenneth Johnson

Day-Sign Illustrations by Gregorio Kukulcan Itzep Hernandez

Published by Mystical Jaguar Productions, Taos, New Mexico, 2011.

Copyright © 2011 Kenneth Johnson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or

mechanical, including photocpying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the publisher.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Unlike some other books on “Mayan Astrology,” none of the information contained in

this volume is my own personal invention. All of the material contained herein is based upon my

studies with Mayan Daykeepers and shamanic priests in Guatemala, all of whom are well known

in the contemporary tradition of the Mayan Calendar. Almost everything I have written here is

similar to what you would learn if you had chart readings from village priests in the highlands of

Guatemala.

I would like to thank my teachers. First and foremost, I thank Rigoberto Itzep

Chanchavac of Momostenango, who clarified for me the distinctions of meaning between Day

Sign, Number, Conception Sign and so on. He also made available to me detailed teachings on

the meaning of the numbers and the phases of the sun and moon, none of which have been

published before. Since Momostenango is one of the few communities which still keeps both the

Sacred Calendar (tzolk’in) and the Solar Calendar (haab), he is the source for all my information

regarding the influence of the Solar Year Lord as well. His son, Gregorio Kukulcan Itzep

Hernandez, also an aj q’ij (Daykeeper), was the creator of the day-sign and number images used

throughout the book.

I would also like to thank Roberto Poz of Zunil, for introducing me to the esoteric

technique known as the Path of Feathered Serpent. A summary of some of his teachings can be

found in a book authored by his sister-in-law, Jean Molesky-Poz, and entitled Contemporary

Maya Spirituality: The Ancient Ways Are Not Lost (Austin, University of Texas, 2006). Thomas

Hart’s book, listed below, also contains a substantial passage from the work of Don Roberto.

Thanks are also due to Carlos Barrios, whose published writings have detailed the five-

sign Tree of Life technique that was originally made popular internationally by the celebrated

Mayan priest, Cirilo Alejandro Oxlaj Perez, commonly known simply as Don Alejandro.

I take my hat off to Martin Prechtel, author of Secrets of the Talking Jaguar (New York,

Tarcher, 1999), who taught me the meaning of the intimate connection between the thirteen

numbers, the Moon Goddess, and the principle of the Divine Feminine.

I also received a great deal of guidance in understanding contemporary Mayan culture

from Thomas Hart of Quetzaltenango, author of The Ancient Spirituality of the Modern Maya

(Albuquerque, University of New Mexico, 2008) and an aj q’ij himself.

Finally, I never would have made it into the highlands and been welcomed there were it

not for the extraordinary assistance of Anita Garr, Don Rigoberto’s friend, and mine.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1. An Introduction to the Sacred Calendar.......... 1

Chapter 2. The Day Signs..................................................... 20

Chapter 3. The Numbers...................................................... 104

Chapter 4. The Mayan Destiny Chart................................. 129

Chapter 5. The Year Lord.................................................... 158

Chapter 6. Sun and Moon..................................................... 170

Chapter 7. Compatibility...................................................... 178

Chapter 8. The Path of Feathered Serpent.......................... 187

Appendix A. The Pop Wuj..................................................... 224

Appendix B. Mayan Calendar Tables.................................. 231

1

On the Nature of Sacred Time

(from Jaguar Wisdom)

The Sacred Calendar is about time.

We all know what time is—or think we do. It is a succession of dawns and sunsets, days

and nights and seasons. We may divide it into hours and minutes or years and centuries, but we

can never step outside of it—except perhaps in moments of special awareness which constitute the

peak experiences of life. Time is one of the essential words. Life itself is subject to the regimen of

time—not just human and animal life, but the life of planets and galaxies as well. Time is an

inescapable fact of existence. Our personal quantum of biological energy will wind down in time,

and time will overcome us in the end. We as a species have always been inclined to regard time as

a kind of taskmaster, a relentless clock that holds us always in its grasp, ticking away the minutes

toward our eventual extinction. Time is the linear reality that gives shape and pattern to our

lives, defining our mortality.

According to many traditional societies, there are two dimensions of time: ordinary time

and sacred time.

What has just been described is ordinary time.

If ordinary time represents a process to which all of us are subject and before which all

of us are ultimately powerless, then sacred time represents cosmic order. It is the foundation of

rhythm and motion. It is the glue that binds the universe together. Without the sense of cosmic

order implied by this sacred dimension of time, nothing could happen. There would be no loom

upon which to weave the tapestry of life. In many ancient mythologies, the gods do their work of

universal creation in a world where time does not yet exist. Time itself is the summit of creation,

for it is only when time exists that the new-made world is ready for humankind. The creation of

time replaces original chaos with cosmic order.

Sacred time exists contemporaneously with ordinary time. It is fashioned of the same

elements—seasonal and celestial—which comprise ordinary time. It is simply our altered or

ritualized perception of time that allows us to enter its sacred dimension.

When the shaman draws his magic circle, or when a priest approaches the altar

to celebrate the mass, he enters ritual space. This is a sacred place where the ordinary laws of

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reality do not apply. This is where magic happens. The center of the shaman's circle, the altar

with its bread and wine—here lies the center of the universe.

We enter ritual space in our daily lives whenever we pray or meditate, whenever we create –

in short, whenever we pay homage to the presence of the divine in our lives. For that moment, we

are at the center of the universe. Whenever we enter ritual space, we enter ritual time as well.

Ordinary time may be going on all around us, but we are no longer a part of it. Our perception

of time has changed. It is no longer a mere progression of hours and minutes, but a living, vital,

spiritual presence. This is what the sacred dimension of time is all about.

Both ordinary and sacred time are generally measured by the patterns of heaven and

earth, for it is these patterns, these constantly recurring cycles, that integrate us with the

cosmic order underlying all things. Honoring these recurring changes is yet another way for us

to enter the sacred dimension of time. Thus humanity has devised rituals to mark the four major

changes of the solar and seasonal year—the equinoxes, when day and night are of equal length,

and the solstices, when the sun appears to stand still and then "turn back" to the north or south.

Priests and magicians of all cultures have charted the progress of planets and fixed the positions

of the stars, for the orderly cycles of the heavens are among the most potent symbols of the

cosmic order.

The Mesoamerican spiritual tradition exemplified its vision of the universe in

cosmograms, diagrams of the infinite. The double pyramid construction of the Mayan universe

was one such diagram; the geomantic city was another. But these cosmograms are essentially

static; they are not in motion. The Maya believed that the universe, both human and cosmic, was

constantly evolving through different worlds or "suns," different epochs of cosmic time. They

believed that every moment in time was in a state of flux, a shifting tapestry of energies that

manifested in earthquakes and volcanoes, in the wars of gods and men and the changes of the

human heart and spirit. Hence the theme of transformation is central to all Mesoamerican

mythology. In one story, a deformed and rejected god is transformed into the glorious sun of the

new world epoch. In another, the god-king Quetzalcoatl is transformed into the planet Venus.

The world is constantly evolving. Human beings must constantly struggle for the sense of

universal order and harmony even as they struggle towards their own evolution.

To pluck order out of chaos we must understand the ebb and flow of energy in time, the

vast transformations and metamorphoses that make up life on earth. Yet how shall we find

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the sense of cosmic order in this shifting, restless world of volcanic passions, both human and

terrestrial? How shall we sense both the order and the chaos entwined in one vast scheme?

For this, the people of ancient Mesoamerica needed a cosmogram that was fluid rather

than static—a cosmogram that moved in time, capable of embodying the flux and reflux of life.

This was the Sacred Calendar.

4

Chapter 1

An Introduction to the Sacred Calendar

The Structure of the Calendar

When we talk about the Mayan Calendar, we are really talking about two calendars—one

that measures ordinary time, and one that measures sacred time. These two calendars

interpenetrate in such a way as to integrate and synthesize the secular and sacred dimensions of

reality. In this book we shall be primarily concerned with the measure of ritual time, usually

called the tzolk’in and sometimes referred to as the Ritual Almanac or Divinatory Almanac.

We do not know what the ancient Maya called this ritual or sacred aspect of the

Calendar. Most scholars use the Yucatec term tzolk’in (from tzol = count and k’in = day,

hence "count of days"), but this term may not have been used by the Classic Maya and is in fact

based on the equivalent K’iche’ term ch’olq’ij.1 The tzolk’in is a unique method of reckoning

time. It consists of twenty named days combined with thirteen numbers. Each day-name is

repeated thirteen times during the Calendar cycle, for a total of 260 days (13 x 20 = 260). The

twenty days, with their glyphs, directional correspondences, Mayan names, and some of their

most common English meanings, are shown here as “The Names of the Days.”

1 The term ch’olq’ij is itself an abbreviated rendering of the more correct ch’ol b’al q’ij.

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The Names of the Days

YUCATEC K’ICHE’ ENGLISH Chuen B’atz’ Master of all the Arts,

Monkey, Thread (of

Destiny)

Eb E Road of Life, Path,

Tooth, Destiny

Ben Aj Resurrection of the

Corn, Cane, Reed,

Authority

Ix I’x Jaguar, Strength, Vigor,

Magic, Sacred Earth

Men Tz’ikin Vision of the Bird,

Eagle, Wisdom, Fortune

Cib Ajmaq Forgiveness, Sin,

Pardon, Vulture, Dead

Ancestors

Caban No’j Vision of the Cosmos,

Intelligence, Thought,

Wisdom, Knowledge,

Etznab Tijax Obsidian Knife, Pain,

Healing

Cauac Kawoq Universal Community,

Family, Rain, The

Divine Feminine

Ahau Ajpu Hunter, Sun,

Marksman, Hero,

Ancestors

Imix Imox The Left Hand,

Craziness, Water,

Crocodile

Ik Iq’ Breath of Life, Wind,

Air, Lord Tepeu

Akbal Aq’ab’al Dawn, Harmony,

Obscurity

Kan K’at The Net, Womb, Heat,

Fire