When the credits come up at the end of the feature the theater lights are turned back on. It’s time to get off your seat and walk out into reality, pondering the make-believe experience you just went through.
It fades so fast. Five minutes ago you were still riveted to your seat, living some other life. Now you try to grasp at stale excitement, an elusive odor that is now obsolete.
“Baby I’m a star!” – Prince (12-Cauac)
World – keep on turnin’
I'm so darn glad HE let me try it again, 'cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin. I'm so glad that I know more than I knew then. Gonna keep on tryin' till I reach the Highest Ground. - Stevie Wonder (3-Eb)
1-Lamat: Starseed
Born on this day: Roger Daltrey, Avril Lavigne, Willem Dafoe, Rene Russo, Tiffani Thiessen, Keith Allen, Engelbert Humperdinck
“I can go anyway, way I choose. I can live anyhow, win or lose. I can go anywhere, for something new. Anyway, anyhow, anywhere I choose.” – Roger Daltrey (1-Lamat), Anyway
1-Lamat begins the trecena of the Spiritual abundance embodied by the maturity of learning yesterday’s lessons to the letter. It is the last chance to gather insights and precious lessons from the current frame of awareness. Beginning May 21st (1-Imix), the Tzolkin autumn will begin, and it’ll be time to manage the seeds that are collected Now.
It is the last trecena of the round, located in the 13th uinal a.k.a. Saturday. The resolutions I decide to focus upon are all going to be packed and shipped over to the next Tzolkin round. These will then be unpacked according to my personal sequence, and applied to my future reality.
Stage 13 is the equivalent of the Fruit stage of the natural cycle in the Flora domain. So what do I do with fruit? I can eat it, save the seed for next season, or let it rot on the vine or the on ground after falling under the tree.
So, metaphorically, these are my options regarding whatever my awareness picks up during the next 12 days. Let’s say I’m 3 months after finishing a house renovation. A good friend shares his experience and viewpoint and singles out an idea I can implement to make my home even more beautiful, efficient, practical – whatever.
I can disregard it, I can “consume” it right now and get my ladder and tools, or I can just keep it for the next round of renovations.
Who’s watching me watching you?
Every star has two sides to it – two observers. You never really know who’s looking down at you from the night sky. There are so many of them; there are so many of us. The multiplying aspect of Lamat means that the more convinced I am about something – the more surprised I’ll be one day when I realize that the opposite view can be just as convincing.
This Lamat duality is especially potent where Lamat rules – the 13th Uinal. It is the dilemma between fruit and seed, between One and Thirteen and back again.
2-Muluc: Wet Moon
Born on this day: Mickey Rourke, Madeline Kahn, John Travolta, Omar Hakim
“But the servant must wait, while the master bates.” – Madeline Kahn (2-Muluc), History of the World Part I
Boy, 2-Muluc. If there ever was a day in which José Argüelles came up with the idea that Muluc is the moon – it would be today.
The moon reflects the sun as water does. The moon draws and releases bodies of water.
2-Muluc is recognizing this feminine heartbeat that’s so easy to overlook. For the star (Lamat) to become a near source of Light (Ahau) it must first recognize the pattern of reflection in this world; the play of origin and destination. The key for achieving this realization lies in Muluc – one of the 3 Gathering signs in this trecena (along with Ix and Cauac).
Muluc tells me that gathering begins with a true intent of gratitude and sharing later. The Offering of water means that I’m gathering water not just for myself and my own, but as an offering to another or to the Divine. This liberation from personal indulgences creates a gap in mind and awareness.
When I gather just for my own survival my awareness is not the same. When I gather through Muluc I allow new available space in my being. This space wiggles and vibrates with refreshing overtones, as all new space does, and gives me the gift of adaptability. These two ingredients – the gap and the fluidity – are exactly what creation needs to present me with new abundance in places I never knew before.
3-Oc: Omni-Love
Born on this day: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Nelson Mandela, Eddie Murphy, Annette Bening, Chico Marx, Newt Gingrich
“(- Now, then, baboons, what is a corpuscle?) – That’s Easy. First ‘s a Captain, then ‘s a Lieutenant then ‘s a Corpuscle.” – Chico Marx (3-Oc), Horse Feathers
Whatever you come across as News, my advice to you is to take it with a pinch of ridicule and doubt. Why? Well, yesterday was 2-Muluc, dealing with illusions that inhibit thankful sharing. Tomorrow will be 4-Chuen, realizing that not taking things too seriously leads ultimately to the truth (11-Edznab) and enlightenment (13-Ahau).
But hey, besides the serious Oppenheimer 3-Oc seems to be about something very funny and liberating. Nelson Mandela is still inspiring good people today, and so do Eddie Murphy and Chico Marx.
Under the Hood
Yesterday’s dilemma is resolved by today’s sun-sign Oc and its message of Love and loyalty, along with the 3rd stage of rhythm and motion.
The Dog has similar meanings in various cultures. In Islam he’s the one animal admitted into heaven. In the Greco-Egyptian stream the Dog is Sirius the faithful dog-star (duo-star, to be exact) that faithfully affects affairs down here on Earth from millions of light-years away.
According to other studies it is also associated with the planet Mercury, governing faithful communication of knowledge and wisdom.
In the Book of Numbers (12:4) Caleb Ben Yefune was one of the twelve scouts who “went in front of the camp” to tour the promised land. Ten of the scouts reported high impregnable walls and towers, a host of giants, advanced war machinery and a big useless desert. Two scouts, Caleb and Joshua were the only ones who told the people that the land is good, and that any adversaries there are no match for them. As a reward, they were the only two who were admitted into the promised land, as the old generation of the Desert all died away.
In Hebrew, Caleb (or Kelev) means Dog, and the word itself can be meaningfully divided: Lev means heart and Ke-lev means ‘all heart’ or ‘as a heart’.
For the Maya Oc carries a torch in his jaws and leads the way for Man down the dark labyrinth of the underworld.
All this symbolism makes perfect sense, and it comes together to stand for the kind of love and devotion that goes beyond Death. When coupled with the 3rd stage, which is the fuel that drives the next 10 days – I get something very romantic and warmhearted.
It feels like the right key ingredient during the current edition of Ascension by Dawn.
best-friend Comedians
Here’s Chico (3-Oc) Groucho (6-Ahau, previous trecena), and Harpo (4-Ik) Marx in Horse Feathers, during a college biology lesson:
4-Chuen: Fantasia has no Boundaries
Born on this day: Trey Parker, Tina Turner, Mark Margolis, David Bowie, Marie Fredriksson (Roxette), Sean Connery, 1st Atomic Bomb (Hiroshima)
“Oh man, look at those cavemen go! It’s the freakiest show.” – David Bowie (4-Chuen), Life on Mars
Chuen is the spirit of art and craft, and today it appears on the trecena of the Star to become a what’s called a Rock-Star. You know, like Ziggy Stardust.
Art assumes a stable expression on 4-Chuen; firm foundations of creativity to build upon. Hence – Rock (solid)-Star. It originates from love (Oc), transmutes loyalty to others into loyalty to a higher self, and thus enhances creation by adding a weaving motion to the flow of time. Chuen weaves ideas into the tapestry of existence, and turns mundane time into a play of destiny.
It is said that a true artist is the one who makes obvious something that was completely disregarded. Well, when the artist manifests and then wanes the Road (Eb) becomes clearer.
Going back to the cultural discussion under 3-Oc, it seems that Chuen embodies the other aspect of the planet Mercury (the first being faithful communication – Oc). This other aspect deals with the craftiness, playfulness and ingenuity that complement and are the result of the first aspect.
Here’s Marie Fredriksson (4-Chuen) and Roxette in an inspiring song:
Listen to your heart
There’s nothing else you can do
5-Eb: Man’s Stairway
Born on this day: Ron Paul, Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th US President), Fred Alan Wolf, Mike Myers, Claus von Stauffenberg, Rev. Jim Jones
“BIBLE – Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth” – Mike Myers (5-Eb), The Love Guru
On November 18th, 1978 Rev. Jim Jones (5-Eb) led his sheepfold to mass suicide, emulating the desperate story of Massada from the 1st century CE. He was the kind of leader that could actually pull that kind of sacrifice off on a grand scale. He shares his Tzolkin birthday with two other common-people leaders: Ron Paul and Ike.
Another 5-Eb heroic failure would be Claus von Stauffenberg.
5-Eb means knowing how to find and follow your one true path of integrity and purpose, which must always lead upwards and onwards, like a staircase. Having established Chuen in the previous stage, I now return to the theme cardinal direction for the first time (south) and incorporate the essence of Eb in order to walk the path of the Stars.
5-Eb also means knowing what moves you forward and what keeps you back, as the Buddha once said (Buddha being the Hindu name for Mercury). Since Eb is a sensitive and communal sun-sign, those boosters and obstacles can be the subtlest things – an orchard in bloom, a far-away snow-capped peak, an off remark.
Rather than keeping things hidden inside, today I share my thoughts about where I am and where I’m heading. I pin-point the landmarks that offer promise, and those that present challenge. I rally my tribe to follow me down the star-spangled path of the universe.
You know, like Ike.
6-Ben: Staff of Tradition
Born on this day: Andy García, Meat Loaf, Beck, John McEnroe, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, Graham Hancock
“I really love that Rock n’ Roll!” – Meatloaf (6-Ben) as Eddie in the Rocky Horror Picture Show
I think you have to be born on a Ben day to be the head of a distinguished family dynasty, like old Mayer was in the mid 18th century. He raised his five daughters and five sons – literally raised them, as any spiritual ladder/leader does; from the ghetto to the very top of the world.
Of course, the five sons in particular were his life-long project. In due time, he sent each son to a different country in Europe in order to establish a financial and political beachhead. All five sons succeeded beyond imagination. When the French Revolution came along the family business got a boost from supplying Britain with mercenaries – a business move many think they still use today.
In his recent book, Kenneth Johnson depicts Ben-types as being insatiable at their worst. They can never quite get enough of anything. Does this trait fit Mayer’s card by some strange coincidence?
Biographies aside, 6-Ben embodies a unique mix of tradition (6) and family (Ben). These two words seem to go along well together, and share a mutual web of meaning. As opposed to the example I gave above with Rothschild and the extremities of the Ben aspect, 6-Ben is a balanced and nurturing mother – the kind of guiding light of the family and home that Ian Lungold talked about. She draws her power from the last Eastern sign we had – Muluc, and her every action is dedicated to elevating herself and her family.
Here’s Beck (6-Ben) doing “Deadweight”:
This music video has scenes from the movie “A life less ordinary” (1997). Amazingly, it includes 3 people born on the same trecena: Beck (today), Cameron Diaz (10-Caban) and Ewan McGregor (12-Cauac).
Don’t let the Sun catch you crying…
7-Ix: Magic Mountain
Born on this day: Muhammad Ali, Sarah Palin, Waco siege end
“I’m the greatest thing that ever lived. I’m so great I don’t have a mark on my face. I shook up the world.” – Muhammad Ali (7-Ix)
After 2-Muluc, the second Gathering sun-sign in this trecena appears on stage Se7en. Ix is the sign of magic and of skill. It embodies a gathering of spiritual potential.
The Starry Shaman 7-Ix lives on the top of the Magic Mountain. He shows me the path that I’ve walked so far, through 19 trecenas, and teaches me that the ultimate purpose of the journey is something magical and profound, something that’s lying in ambush for me on the next Tzolkin round.
Muhammad Ali (7-Ix) interviewed before and then right after his “Rumble in the Jungle” bout with Foreman in Zaire: “I’ll TKO him. Humiliation will stop this fight!”
8-Men: Forever Vision
Born on this day: Bryan Adams, Émile Zola, Gates McFadden (Star Trek TNG), Swami Vivekananda, Dr. Sanjay Gupta (CNN, 60 Minutes)
“In a day when you don’t come across any problems — you can be sure that you are traveling in the wrong path.” – Swami Vivekananda (8-Men), Pearls of Wisdom
“On January 6, 2009, CNN announced that Gupta had been considered for the position of Surgeon General by President Barack Obama.” – Wiki on Gupta
I think Gupta can make a dandy Surgeon General. Big pharma and big medicare have nothing to worry about. NOT!
Panoramic vision is one of the gifts that the Eagle was given by the Maker. This aspect is true for all Men days, but 8-Men has a special twist to it.
Let’s say I have panoramic vision but at the same time I’m also biased towards a particular course of action. I will probably use my vision to pursue that course without considering alternatives. Maybe it’s just because I’m used to it.
8-Men doesn’t have that problem. Since this kin is multiplied by Lamat’s energy, and ultimately leads to enlightenment (13-Ahau) it has no permanent bias to speak of. It is an idealized version of Men that is totally free on all levels because of its fine balance.
Jesus, meet Krishna
On September 11th 1893 (2-Men) Swami Vivekananda (8-Men) took the stage at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago, representing India and Hinduism, and gave the following famous speech:
Some say that this speech brought the spiritual philosophy of the sub-continent to the West for the first time. Well, I’m not too sure about that, but I’m pretty sure it’s the first time an Indian guru was recorded on tape, speaking to some seven thousand people in Illinois.
9-Cib: Wisdom of Patience
Born on this day: Tori Spelling, Warren Buffett, Marlon Brando, Gabi Ashkenazi (previous Israeli Chief of General Staff)
“After all, we’re not murderers, in spite of what this undertaker thinks.” – Marlon Brando (9-Cib), The Godfather
Warren Buffet (9-Cib), the Godfather’s aura has been dispelled. Take a seat.
The cardinal direction of the trecena appears again today, 9-Cib. This day has a special emphasis on our ancestors and on honoring their memories and wisdom (even more than other Cib days).
Honoring fore-bearers and parents is a value that is common to all mankind, and it seems to be indispensable. If I thought I can do without it when I was a child, chances are I’ll have no choice but to do without it when I have my own children (because they’ll do the same to me). When my parents are no more I will think about the honor I gave them while they were around. I’ll face the mirror with my own children, and strive to create something new with them.
Since the next stage is manifestation, stage 9 stands for the actions and factors that lead to it. It is always close to the now, but not quite (t)here. The wisdom and tranquility of our ancestors (Cib) is the same. It is available to me through reminiscing at any given time, but it’s already disembodied and above the material plain, so it’s never here.
Maybe this is the reason why Kenneth Johnson points out that the Nine days are usually reserved for remembrance rituals, taking place in graveyards and memorial sites. I assume that 9-Cib and 9-Ahau are especially devoted to those, and for good reason.
10-Caban: Universal Heartbeat Now
Born on this day: Chris Noth (Sex and the City), Cameron Diaz, Reese Witherspoon, Avigdor Lieberman (Israeli Secratery of State), Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Incumbent Turkish PM), Marco van Basten, Lara Logan
The Star (1-Lamat) manifests as the Global Heartbeat (10-Caban)
Lara Logan (10-Caban) was born 2 days after Sanjay Gupta (8-Men) according to the Tzolkin. They are both doing very well in the mainstream media. I wonder where they draw their lines of integrity. Does their Boss help them draw it?
One aspect of Caban has to do with frequencies, modulations, and harmonics. The rules that govern these sciences seem to permeate and remain relevant on all planes and spectra.
For example, in harmonics there is a term called resonance. Resonance appears in music as well as in color. It manifests in network meetings under pavilions and during live performances on stage.
It happens when I write something and you know what I mean.
But always, every time the trecena chimes Ten – responsibility dawns. Other 10’s might take a break. Not 10-Caban. Since it carries within it the resonant message of all previous manifestations, 10-Caban chooses responsibility every time. It’s very logical to do so. It is the only thing conceivable.
11-Edznab: Tomorrow’s Mirror
Born on this day: Britney Spears, Condoleezza Rice, Kiefer Sutherland, Dominic Monaghan (portraid Merry in LOTR 2001-3), Chris Farley
“I can get a great look at a t-bone steak by shoving my head up a bull’s ass but I’d rather take the butchers word for it.” – Chris Farley (11-Edznab)
I wouldn’t bet on an end-date if I wasn’t willing to gamble on the extraordinary off-chance. You know, like Kiefer Sutherland (11-Edznab) did in “Flatliners” back in 1990.
But then, coming back to reality, I count numerous “end dates” that came and went in the past. The usual example would be the Y2K bug, but there were famous men and women of divination that clearly marked a certain date for something extraordinary to happen, on cue. And then that date came and went into obscurity, followed by the fame and name of the professed prophet.
However, I only need one end-date to be correct in order to manifest this long-awaited “Event”. I’m sick of waiting and I have no more fear of catastrophes. But most of all, I’d like an end-date to be true in order to, ultimately, have it behind me already!
I can go on and on, by the way – going back and forth between heart and mind, cause and effect, Orient and Occident. The mirror does that to me.
In essence, 11-Edznab means Reality as a twist in the plot, as an anti-climax. The key question 11-Edznab asks me regarding my preoccupation with end-dates and prophecies that work is – Then what? You still need to clean up, remember? Don’t you know the destiny of Man?
I mean, think about it. Just about now – aren’t you in a mood for another Adventure?
Rhythm is a dancer
Shlomo Bar (11-Edznab) is a Moroccan-born musician who wrote the music for an 80’s band called “The Natural Selection”. His fellow band members were from many different countries, including India, Israel, and Iraq. Here he is singing “Yeladim ze simcha” (Children are happiness):
12-Cauac: Purple Rain
Born on this day: [music] Prince, Miles Davis, Antonín Dvořák, Alban Berg, Butch Vig (Garbage, “Nevermind” producer), Jonas Hellborg; [stage/screen] Steve Martin, Peter Sellers, Kyle MacLachlan, Ewan McGregor, Tim Allen; [politics] John C. Breckinridge (14th US VP)
“If I can’t really find a way to live with myself, I can’t expect anyone else to live with me.” – Peter Sellers (12-Cauac), The Hollywood Book of Extravagance
The third and last Gathering sign is Cauac – rain clouds are collecting water and bringing a storm of Purification and freshness.
Whatever transpired around the vernal equinox is already yesterday’s news. Today I understand the deep meaning of being cleansed; of preparing happily in the bathroom for an amazing night out with some neighborhood demigods.
ATHEISTS got no song
Before signing off, here’s the indestructible Steve Martin (12-Cauac) singing about the Atheist’s angst:
13-Ahau: Everything is Satisfactual
Born on this day: Ethan Jesse Coen (younger brother of filmaker duo), Ron Howard, Alan Arkin, Nigel Terry, Arjen Robben, Japan surrenders 1945, Bob Dole
“Today, freedom is on the offensive, democracy is on the march.” – Douglas MacArthur (4-Edznab) in his WWII Victory broadcast, on 5-Edznab
13-Ahau. Clock strikes 13, it is almost tomorrow.
Stage 13 undoubtedly affects the following stage 1. One is never a beginning. It is a seed of yesterday’s fruit.
Could it be that 13-Ahau is the fruit of the entire round that’s ending? Could it be exercising its effect on the entire round to come?
If it does, then any other day on the Tzolkin must do the same.
The Tzolkin round is circular and endless. I apply beginning dates and end-dates just so I’ll be able to grasp its dance somehow. A dance that cannot be frozen inside a word for more than one day.
However, taking this powerful masculine sun-sign Ahau and coupling it with number 13 must mean something. The same goes for tomorrow: 1-Imix – the young alligator in the swamp marks the beginning of Fall.
Another Time 