Preface: A Map of Dreams
This morning I finally realized why José Argüelles called his version of the Mayan calendar “Dreamspell”. I don’t know whether he named it that way consciously, in light of actual knowledge/experience, or whether it was just an acute flash of his insight and intuition. But it doesn’t really matter.
Over the last month or so I’ve been visualizing Tzolkin sun signs just before falling asleep. I pick the sun sign in line to dawn the next morning and visualize its every feature and line as a form of meditation, until sleep finally takes me.
The results of this tuning and focusing have completely blown me away. Some of the dreams I’ve been experiencing have been profound and vivid, to the point of really being there. Some were directly related to the sun sign’s symbolism, like dreaming of a festival with friends the night before 11-Oc. Other dreams ended by activating my slumbering body with intense physical sensations.
Did I program myself to the point of creating this experience? Or is the Tzolkin a functioning, living map of dreams? This doesn’t really matter, either.
1-Ben: The Family comes together just before Winter begins
To counter the linear perception of time, Ken Johnson stresses that there’s no exact moment (for example, 00:00) when one day nawal is replaced by the following one. When the sun sets the nawal of the following day already begins to assert its energy, while the nawal that governed the current day wanes.
So like everything else in nature, days and nights have their unique, flowing dance of energies, which intensifies whenever they mix and switch governance (of day and night/winter and summer). Spring, after all, is known as “The Quickening”, and fall is exactly what it means – a slowing down, a time to stop and take stock, gather gravity in preparation for winter – the standstill.
There are no clear cuts in the natural world. Clear cuts are found in the world of words and language. They are arbitrarily set by my dualistic, calculating mind (one of my favorite tools!)
Goosebumps
During Barbara Sadtler’s community call about this sun-sign know as Ben (Aj) last Thursday, Don Carlos Barrios and his wife Adriana made an appearance and answered some questions from the people listening/calling in. It was quite a Master class, and the guests from Guatemala offered much of their wisdom, experience, and knowledge.
It took some time for Don Carlos and Adriana to establish connection with the mostly-US-based community call. As a last minute filler, Barbara was kind enough to invite me to share my celebrity Tzolkin birthday database with the fellow callers, and to focus on this mysterious sun-sign known as Ben in Yucatec and Aj in Guatemala.
Well, “mysterious” should be taken with a caveat. I mostly refer to “mysterious to us left-hemisphere dwellers”. I’m sure the complete sense of “Ben” is crystal clear in Momostenango. Well, maybe not immediately upon touchdown, but after a week or two there.
Back to the analysis: Ben (or “Reed”) is not as readily accessible to everyone as, say the serpent or eagle or any other animal sun-sign. I can relate to the essence of Ix by thinking of any kind of cat. But how can I relate with a reed or corn-stalk? Flora is alien to (western) human experience when compared to fauna. So I had to get some anchors.
I found three keywords which helped me in putting together a possible meaning. They are: Leadership, Family, and Destiny.
In the call, Carlos added “authority, the home, do everything as we like… creating possibilities… Aj is our internal alter”, among with many other depictions.
As I mentioned during the call, no less than 8 US presidents were born on this trecena. More leaders in many other fields are born on a Ben day, mostly in trecenas other than 1-Ben.
8 out of 44 means 18.1818…%. There are 20 sun-signs, so there’s an expected mean distribution of 5%. Big difference between 5 and 18+ per cent.
If I add the leaders that were born on a Ben day I get 2 more US presidents, a French PM, a Syrian one, 2 Israeli PMs, a Queen mother, the godfather of an elite Banking family, and Julian Assange.
Sounds familiar?
1-Ben: Leadership and the Family
Born on this day: Stephen Baxter, Brian O’Leary, Sean Bean, John Rhys-Davies, Richard E. Byrd, Michael Moore, Ralph Waldo Emerson
1-Ben: The Stone of Destiny
Leadership, since it is the sun-sign that follows The Road (Eb, human sun-sign), in the sense that after the road is mapped a leader must walk in front of the community.
Leadership, also, since the staff or Reed is a sign of authority (much like the Olympian torch, and Roman Fasces). It is the tool in the hands of the guide, or the elder. It is the staff of Moses, which can turn into a serpent (13-Chicchan) when the need arises.
A good leader instructs and bridges differences by giving the kind of advice that can run goosebumps up and down my spine. Regretfully, nowadays I seldom experience this when confronted with those who call themselves our leaders. It’s mostly PR and appearances, distractions and guilt-flinging.
This doesn’t mean I’m not blessed with good leaders in my inner circle. Listening to my mother can sometimes cause me goosebumps. Although she wasn’t born on a Ben day or trecena, and doesn’t have Ben in her Mayan cross – her seniority has bestowed upon her the energy of Ben.
(She was born 9-Eb, BTW, the day before Ben)
2-Ix: Lunar Shaman
Born on this day: Shakira, Cliff Richard, Mike Rutherford (Genesis), Harvey Keitel, Carlos Slim, Richard Nixon (37th US President), Mitt Romney
“The spiraling pace of change allows us to contemplate, within our own lifetime, advances that once would have taken centuries.” – Richard Nixon (2-Ix) on his first inaugural address 1969
The way I see it, the number 2 is associated with the moon and the lunar cycles. First of all, the moon comes second to the Sun. Secondly, it receives its light from the Sun, so it’s a reflective device (like your computer screen).
Thirdly… well, maybe anything beyond 2 is already something other than lunar.
Manly P. Hall (3-Cauac, 1-Caban trecena) once said in one of his lectures: “Pressure can cause an individual to say ‘the End justify the Means.’ The moment he has done so – the madness of the moon is upon him.” In other words, he’s a lunatic.
So the Moon is reflective, and it wields dominion over the Jaguar’s time of prowl. It is little surprise, then, that one of the richest men alive (Carlos Slim) was born 2-Ix, and so did “Tricky Dick”.
2-Ix comes right after the seed of leadership and dreams which is 1-Ben. It can be thought of as a very shrewd and respectful feline; prone to flattery and high-life, perhaps.
3-Men: Omni-Vision
Born on this day: Matt Stone, Michael Stipe, Peter Lorre
“You’ve got it all, you’ve got it sized. Like a Friday fashion show teenager cruising in the corner, trying to look like you don’t try…” – Michael Stipe (3-Men) from Imitation of Life
The second keyword is “Family”, and here I’ll make a small aside for some background (Under the hood).
The sun-sign Ben is one quarter of a burner quadruplet which also includes Edznab, Akbal, and Lamat. Each quadruplet has a theme which binds its four members together. The quadruplet in question has to do with Dreams, Reality, and whatever’s in-between. Why? well, there’s the Night (Akbal) and the Star (Lamat), the mirror (Edznab) and driving it all – destiny’s conduit a.k.a. Jacob’s Ladder (Ben).
The family is where I find myself when the Night falls and the Stars come out. Under the same roof, the family takes the Night’s journey of dreams, where the Reed and the Mirror are predominant. I have dinner with my wife and talk about what came to pass and what’s looming ahead. We discuss our dreams and our daily reality. We take part in working out the minute aspects of each-others destiny.
To clarify, “Family” is anything YOU decide it is, with or without blood, and regardless of gender or any other denomination.
Regardless, “Family” means something very, very specific in human experience. This is where 3-Men comes in. The true engine (Activating 3) behind leadership is vision without boundaries. It is the vision and undying drive which is worth sweating out all the small details of daily life.
4-Cib: Four Mothers
Born on this day: Kenny Kirkland, Lisa Lopez, Brian Austin Green, Hal Holbrook, Ali Akbar Khan
4-Cib is the community center/shrine which completes the familial cycle
The infrastructure below the current 1-Ben process is finalized today. Beginning tomorrow constructive focus begins to shape reality, based on these roots. It is of little wonder the number 4 embodies completeness and definition.
The question arising today is: What do I define as being sacred to me?
To further define the question, keep the word “Family” in mind while pondering. The family was always considered sacred in all communities. It is my home and its sanctity. It is the wisdom I bestow to my dependents and offspring.
4-Aj’ maj today resonates with 1-Aj on a sound level. It shares the same prefix “Aj” which Barbara related to “Sri” in the vedic context.
In Hebrew, “Aj”/”Ach” means brother. You know, like Freemasons and G.I.s call each other…
5-Caban: Global Center of Gravity
Born on this day: Byron Katie, Fernando Torres, Robert Smith (The Cure), Demi Moore, Michael J. Fox, Nikos Kazantzakis, Michael Collins
“Jimi Hendrix changed my life. Each generation influences the following one and as a consequence brings it back to the past.” – Robert Smith (5-Caban) venerating Hendrix (9-Lamat, previous trecena)
The day after wisdom is firmly defined (4-Cib) it’s time to blaze new tracks using the global mind/heartbeat Caban.
5-Caban’s slogan might be:
“You live, you learn” – Alanis Morrisette (13-Caban)
As long as I’m breathing, eating, sleeping, communicating, expressing myself – I’m learning.
And where is the place I go to “do everything as [I] like”, as Carlos put it? I go back to Mother earth. I go back home to get my heart synchronized with whoever I hug there. I can be myself and put some focus on the destiny I share with those under my roof.
We all learn from each other all the time.
If I have to go global and say where can that be on Google Maps, I’ll say this place is wherever I travel with my family on the home planet. This can be many places, even the ones I travel to alone to meditate and remember my family.
This is why I’m into house-swapping.
6-EDZNAB: Tradition is Real
Born on this day: Kimberley Ann Deal (Pixies), Zachary Taylor (12th US President), James A. Garfield (20th, same) , Benicio del Toro, Lisa Kudrow, Nicolas Godin (Air), Jim Abrahams
“The chief duty of government is to keep the peace and stand out of the sunshine of the people.” – James A. Garfield (6-Edznab)
Yesterday was 5-Caban, and since Caban relates to a global heartbeat and to the planet itself, it’s a good time to focus on the universal.
Whatever I find sacred in my personal life has a global counterpart – some kind of “value” which is observed in any and all communities and families around the globe.
When pondering my own personal values I realized I cannot use “family” as a word for value, but rather rephrase to a value within what I call family. Something like giving respect to elders and leaders, giving due attention to children, or thinking about stocking the fridge and pantry (maintenance of abundance in the home).
Edznab [Tijax] is a mirror or reality and truth. I look at a polished mirror and nothing remains concealed. Today’s energy can reveal those places where reality contradicts attitudes and perceptions.
For example, I can go along with my day thinking I look dreadful just because I feel so. When I go to the bathroom I know for sure whether I’m right/wrong about this perception. Looking in the mirror has that quality of changing (and even destroying) whatever misconception came before it.
When coupled with the number 6, Edznab becomes a reliable reflector. It demands the kind of truth that can be appreciated anywhere.
dead presidents’ Wisdom
We’ll go over two of the names above, and begin with the one who is currently least known. Zachary Taylor came from the Whigs party of the mid-19th century. The Whigs basically supported the supremacy of Congress over the presidency and favored a program of modernization and economic protectionism.
Economic Protectionism, by the way, is called Anti-Globalization
nowadays.
James Garfied, called a Republican in the parlance of the times, was the 20th man in the white house. He got to call the shots for a mere 6 months, right up to the point where he got his two .44 mm shots by a ‘deranged assassin’. That happened on the Tzolkin day 8-Ahau (2 days following his birthday).
James Garfield was the second US president to be assassinated (after
Lincoln).
Zachary Tylor was the second US president to die in office.
7-Cauac: Cloudy Horizon
Born on this day: James Buchanan (15th US president), Jerry Seinfeld, Kurt Cobain, Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim), Robert Altman, Mario Savio
“With the lights out, it’s less dangerous. Here we are now, entertain us! I feel stupid and contagious. Here we are now, entertain us! A mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido.” – Kurt Cobain (7-Cauac)
Cauac (Rainstorm) shares traits with the current trecena theme of Ben. It appears on the North/feminine Mayan cross of Aj/Ben. Cauac is considered to be a homey sign, and people born under this sign tend to appreciate the comforts of home and family. This is the flip-side of the stormy nature of Cauac, who knows how stormy it can be outside the family and home settings.
In addition, Cauac, much like Ix on stage 2 and Kan on stage 12 of this trecena – embodies potential and a gathering of energy before release. It is therefore fitting for Cauac to appear on the 7th stage of this trecena, since it is on this day that Destiny reaches its highest potential and gains purpose, as a cleansing and educating force within HOME.
Another aspect of Cauac is a special gift for teaching and learning. This goes well with the description of 5-Caban and “you live, you learn”.
8-Ahau: Infinite Light
Born on this day: Alan Dershowitz, Warren Beatty, Toni Collette, Vincent van Gogh, Douglas Adams, Norah Jones
“If the Universe came to an end every time there was some uncertainty about what had happened in it, it would never have got beyond the first picosecond. And many of course don’t.” – Douglas Adams (8-Ahau) from Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (1987)
Also from Adams, and this time, resonating with the current hearsay that Bill Gates (8-Cimi) has joined Voldemort, Darth Vader, and Ben Bernanke:
“The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armor to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he, by peddling second rate technology, who led them into it in the first place, and continues to do so today.” – The Guardian 1995
Happy Towel Day!
9-Imix: Begin from Zoom-Out
Born on this day: Robert Plant, Johann Sebastian Bach, Aretha Franklin, John Noble, Richard O’Brien, Glenn Close, Ron Silver
“With a bit of a mind-flip you’re into the Time slip. And nothing can ever be the same. You’re spaced-out on sensation, like you’re under sedation” – Richard O’Brien (9-Imix) Rocky Horror Show
The 4th uinal begins today with 9-Imix. If you’ve ever watched Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, or Richard O’Brien as Riff-Raff – you might have some idea as to the measure of madness inherent in this combination.
The 9th stage, when all cycles of action come to completion, gets a primordial jolt back to the basic aspect of nurturing and initiation (Imix).
9-Imox makes one memorable parent.
10-Ik: Palpable Change
Born on this day: Lou Piniella, Tom Selleck, Richard Dean Anderson, James Hetfield (Metallica), Egberto Gismonti, Boy George, Billie Joe Armstrong, Beth Gibbons, L. Ron Hubbard, George Lucas
“The only way you can control anybody is to lie to them.” – Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (10-Ik)
What began in the stalk of the Reed manifests today on the breath of the boundless Wind. The ideals and morals that established Leadership and Family during the first stages, the same ones that make the Reed rigid (the proverbial Backbone) all get blown away and diluted today by the complications of language and meaning.
This is what Mr. Hubbard was talking about when he uttered the above quote, at least the way I see it.
The wind bends the flexible Reeds and breaks the rest.
11-Akbal: Commander-in-Chief
Born on this day: Pelé, Danny Kaye, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi, Jay Kay (Jamiroquai), Kai Eckhardt, Jack London, Henry James, Chester A. Arthur (21st US president), Herbert Hoover (31st US president), Abraham Lincoln (16th US president), Andy Serkis, Oliver Platt, Crispin Glover (George McFly), Kevin Costner
“I am your density.” – George McFly (11-Akbal) to the Future Lorraine McFly (9-Lamat)
To have 3 US presidents born on one day, and to have so many of them on the same trecena (wait, there’s more to come) – is a very curious finding, to say the least.
However, it is merely a finding. Everything else that is currently spiraling around my mind is speculation and theory, when extracted through everyday discourse.
12-KAN: Deep Harvest
Born on this day: Pope Benedict XVI (265th Pope), Nomar Garciaparra, Charles Mingus, James Doohan, Pia Zadora, Werner von Siemens, Omar Bradley
“Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.” – Charlie Mingus (12-Kan)
The next-to-last stage 12 is like the next-to-final scene of a good suspense movie. It is when all the pieces fall into place, and all loose ends are somehow tied or otherwise dealt with. It concludes when it’s obvious that the only thing left in the movie is to watch some kind of final goodbye, with a hint regarding what happens next.
The moment of understanding for the Reed, that instant when everything falls into place – is when it produces a Seed. The Seed is tomorrow’s potential. It is the offspring that allows the leader of Destiny to depart, knowing that even if his own destiny hasn’t been completely realized within his Time, the seeds of a new destiny have already been sown.
Kan is a sign of gathering potential that has no time boundaries. Something like indefinite storage. After all, a seed can remain buried in the desert for many years, awaiting the ever-possible flood from the old mountains.
13-Chicchan: Winter’s Terror
Born on this day: Heath Ledger, Sylvester Stallone, Jodie Foster, Mark Wahlberg, George W. Bush (43rd US president), Osama bin Laden
“I cannot believe in God when there is no scientific evidence for the existence of a supreme being and creator.” – Jodie Foster (13-Chicchan) As quoted in the Calgary Sun (2007), and sounding a lot like Dr. Eleanor Arroway
The United States declared independence on the Tzolkin date 9-Ben (1-Chicchan trecena). So, today these two related sun-signs (Serpent and Reed) meet again, but in reverse.
To find that Bush and Bin-Laden shared the same Tzolkin birthday really got my attention a few years ago. Bush is the 8th US president to have his birthday on this trecena. I wonder if this record will be beaten. His father, BTW, Bush senior, was born the very next day in the Tzolkin – 1-Cimi. In other words – close, but no cigar.
The sun-sign Ben seems to have a lot in common with the United States. Heck, even Obama was born on 9-Ben!
So the last day of the Tzolkin Fall is 13-Chicchan, which is a divine flavor of fluidity, with an unreal scent for drama – directly contrasting our point of origin (1-Ben, the Unitary Steel Pipe).
… and Moses remained on mount Nebo, and watched his flock cross the Jordan into the promised land.
Another Time 