Akb'al: The Trecena Of Potential

Akb’al, or Aq’ab’al in K’iche’ Maya, symbolizes both darkness and dawn, those magical times of the day when Night cedes to Day and Day gives way to Night. These are periods of transition, of grace, of potential - and polarity, which Akb’al naturally embodies. It is light and dark, heat and cold, opposing sides and opposite energies. Akb’al embodies the essence of the love between a man and a woman, of marriage, romance and all matters of physical, spiritual, and emotional love. It also signifies harmony, truth, hope and solemnity; awakening and enchantment; magical spells, mystery and devotion. It is the nagual of clarity and light, a force of renewal, and helps us gain illumination into the issues that impact our lives. The animal totems of Akb’al are the fawn and the macaw. In the Classical Maya tradition, it is associated with the cardinal direction West and the color black. In the tradition of modern-day K’iche’ Maya, it is East and the color red. 

On Akb’al days, the Maya ask for a wife or husband, for this day sign is the most propitious of them all for love, romance and marriage. It is equally customary to ask for humility and blessings. Akb’al days can also be very favorable for securing employment. 

This is the realm of Night, of the great deep Void where nothing yet exists and all potential dwells. This is the place where all things begin, all roads commence, all thoughts germinate; and the place where everything ends, all paths converge, and the ultimate impact of all intentions becomes material. 

For all beginnings are endings on the other side of their reality, and all endings bloom yet again in a burst of renewed energy and life - these are the sacred cycles of existence, large, small, microscopic and two boundless to enumerate, cycles that pulsate in infinite variety and on infinite levels of complexity, repeated and iterated in every droplet of consciousness as well as the great unconscious… cycles that we, the human species, endeavor to explain by fragmenting them into a million multi-colored pieces that our minds can grasp. 

Fulfilling your potential is really a matter of awareness, of acceptance, of letting go. To be aware is to know yourself fully, on all levels and in all aspects of your being; for without awareness you cannot begin to understand your true potential. To accept is to love you and who you are, without preconditions, judgments or comparisons, and to extend this love to others no matter how stinging their criticisms of you, no matter how sharp their tongues, no matter how intolerant their views, for they in turn may not yet be ready to accept and love themselves. To let go is to respect and trust in yourself and your chosen life path, and to release toxic emotions, thoughts, and attitudes, whether your own or those of others, that would fracture your life's horizon. 

In times of despair, uncertainty, or fear, remember that fulfilling your potential is both the toughest and the simplest thing you'll ever do. Yes, you are indeed free to choose which path to follow, which direction in life to take, which aspects of your soul to let bloom, but it may take a lifetime to figure it all out - and often does. But before you can choose, you need to be aware that choices exist at all - many cultures, religions, and family environments shackle their people with rules, customs, and laws that depress or prevent the realization of individual potential. You must first break free of your prisons and forgive those who put you there, before you can learn how to fly. 

Honor the sacred seed of potential that is your soul… sink into the profound, pregnant silence of Akb’al and release all earthly stresses, pressures and deadlines. For here, time has no sway. Here, all simply is, was, and will be. This is where the core of all things vibrates into existence, bathed in an inner peace that has neither beginning nor end, holding within the possibility to become anything and to be everything. This, too is you