Caban: The Trecena Of Introspection

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 is also the nagual of earthquakes and seismic disturbances, embodying the movement of earth and sky. Caban’s animal totems are the woodpecker and the gazelle. In the classical Maya tradition, it is associated with the cardinal direction East and the color red. In the tradition of modern-day K’iche’ Maya, it is North and the color white. Caban is also one of the four Year Bearers, which shape the nature and character of the solar years they are associated with. 

On Caban days, the Maya meet in council or in groups and ask for wisdom, talent, and the capacity to think positive, innovative, or productive thoughts or ideas. For the Maya, no one single person is wise; rather, it is the collective experience, knowledge, and insight of the group that create true wisdom. This is also a good day to ask for creativity in our endeavors, intelligence to address our challenges, and insight to resolve our issues. Indeed, Caban days are particularly propitious to ask for guidance from Mayan spiritual advisors, who may use the sacred to tz’ite seeds to divine answers for our questions.

The trecena of Caban is ruled by the thoughtful, observant, introspective energy of this day sign. This is the time to use your powers of intellect and perception, of acuity and insight, and harness all that mental power for your personal growth, or help others to do so if that is your calling. The power of the human mind is unparalleled; there is nothing we cannot imagine, nothing we cannot achieve, nothing we cannot do. 

But in order to empower the full depth and extent of your mental faculties, you need to dispel and disempower toxic forces such as fear, ego, greed, and malice - within yourself as well as influences coming in from the outside, from others. For these are the forces that monopolize your time, poison your thoughts, and undermine your actions. Indeed, these are the same forces that throughout history have prevented humanity from breaking the spell of slavery and attaining the higher, clearer mental frequencies necessary for enlightenment and evolution. 

You will therefore need a significant amount of personal and mental freedom during the next 13 days. Make room for you, for your soul, for your heart and mind. Clear your calendar, ask for more free time of your family or at work - and don't hesitate to take a day or two off, or a week if you can. Organize your bedroom, office or reading nook, and dedicate those times of the day that are naturally yours, to you and only you - whether it's dawn, late morning, afternoon, evening, or even late at night that you do your best work and think the most clearly. Only you know your natural inner rhythms, so honor your circadian time. 

Also keep in mind that the greatest challenge of Caban is not to allow its acute sensitivities and powers of perception to bubble up into emotional upheavals, or to block you from living in the present moment. No use regretting or living in the past, or worrying about the future - those are simply more stagnant sentiments that will block your progress.

Once you have cleared away the physical and the psychic sources of chaos and clutter, you can focus on your mind, your intelligence and intellect. Regardless of how “unintellectual" you may feel or how “illogical" you may have been told you are, trust in your ability to reason and to think. It may take a little while to set those gears in motion, but as with any endeavor, practice makes perfect. You will be surprised how brilliantly you can think once your environment and your psyche are free and clear. 

Trust your intelligence. Trust your instincts. Just be sure to keep them balanced, free and pure.