Mayan Spirituality

Caban, or No’j in K’iche’ Maya, represents intelligence, ideas, wisdom, knowledge, and memory. It signifies dignity and honor, patience, prudence, and sublime, unconditional love; and also represents education, counseling, advising, meeting, and related activities. The nagual of intelligence, Caban invigorates the intellect and enriches the eternal quest for enlightenment. Just as time turns choice grapes into fine wine, so Caban turns knowledge and experience into wisdom. It

The symbol of the sacred Ceiba tree, Kan, or K’at in K’iche’ Maya, represents the magic of germination and growth, in the form of new offspring, new crops, and the expansion of future generations. At times called Seed, Kan is considered by some Maya to control the sexual force in the body, and as such, it embodies the power of gender. Within its vast body of meaning, it also signifies the Net, in all of the diversity of senses of the word: a fisherman’s net, a woven net for f

Master of all the Arts, Chuen, or B’atz’ in K’iche’ Maya, is the weaver of the thread of life and the cords of time. For the Maya, history is woven with the thread of time just as clothing is sewn from the fibers of plants. Chuen symbolizes evolution, movement, motion, and development; initiation, affirmation, and favorable divination readings; intelligence and wisdom; and especially marriage and pregnancy - the tz’ite representing the Mayan priests, the ajq’ijab’, contains 2

The Trecena Of Truth & Healing Etznab, or Tijax in K’iche’ Maya, is the day sign of Obsidian, an extremely sharp natural glass formed by volcanic activity that among the Maya is most prized by diviners and warriors. Like obsidian that embodies the forces of nature that forged it, Etznab symbolizes the power of thunder and lightning. Like obsidian, Etznab is sharp yet fragile, difficult to polish and manipulate, and cuts to the core of things with all of the force of integrity

Associated with the mystical Feathered Serpent, Kukulkan or Quetzalcoatl as the Aztecs called this deity, Chicchan, or Kan in K’iche’ Maya, is one of the most powerful day signs in the Tzolk’in. The Regent of the Sky and the Ruler of Time, Chicchan symbolizes the transformation of time, transcendence, peace, spiritual development and human evolution, and represents those predestined for spiritual vocations. Yet it is also the lord of all material things and represents the con

The Divine Feminine. That is the crowning energy that Cauac, or Kawoq in K’iche’ Maya, carries. Given its special connection with women and feminine energy, Cauac represents women in all their roles and walks of life, especially as mothers, wives, sisters, midwives, and healers. This is a powerful sign that channels massive volumes of energy and force: it symbolizes spiritual connection, contact and communication; blood lightning signals and messages; difficulty, curses, and

Cimi, or Kame in K’iche’ Maya, means “death” and “rebirth”; grammatically, kame is the present tense of “the eternal Now.” Cimi represents Xib’alb’a. The Underworld of Mayan mythology, and embodies the eternal flow and cycle of death, rebirth and transformation. The Maya did, and still do believe in reincarnation; Cimi is the day sign that embodies this transcendental spiritual state. It carries a special connection to the world of the ancestors, and is imbued with plentiful

The following is an excerpt from "The Serpent and the Jaguar" by Birgitte Rasine. For those of us used to living with the no-nonsense, business-like Gregorian calendar, it can be a bit of a stretch to integrate not only a completely different timekeeping system (260 instead of 365 days, 13-day weeks, and no specific beginning or end), but also a vastly different conception of time - the concept of sacred time. The ancient Maya lived - and their descendants continue to do so