Chuen: The Trecena Of Creativity

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 260 seeds, which symbolize the nine months of pregnancy. Chuen is the nagual of the arts, artists, and the art of weaving, and as such, represents all concepts and elements of life related to art and weaving, from time itself - called by the Maya “the thread of life” - to the life connecting umbilical cord. Not surprisingly, Chuen is often referred to as “Monkey,” for monkeys were the mythic patrons of the arts in ancient Mayan lore. The monkey is, in fact, Chuen’s animal totem. 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 Chuen days, the Maya express their intentions to freely receive all that they have requested from the universe, and to be able to unravel or resolve any matter or issue, especially family problems. Chuen days are extremely auspicious for all artistic works, and endeavors; in fact, it is a powerful day to begin any project. And it is the best day in the Tzolk’in to ask for a partner or to be married. 

In Maya culture, you dance around the fire of a sacred ceremony thirteen times from right to left, unwinding the spool of time, and then thirteen times again in the opposite direction, so that you may wind it back up again. It is said that the Creators threw a spool of thread to the end of the universe, which of course unraveled, then wound it up and tossed it back again. Accordingly, the upcoming thirteen days embody a magical period of creativity, art, music, dance, and play. This is the time to slip out of your rigid professional persona, leave that business suit and tie in the closet, and let the real, creative you thrive, no matter who you are, where you come from, or what work you do. 

Chuen can help you transform your life from a dull cycle of the mundane daily tasks of modern existence to one of an endlessly vibrant, exuberant dance of experiences. I know of many such transformations: a Wall Street investment broker who quit his job to dedicate his life to photography; a Washington DC accountant who shed his corporate skin to be the painter he always knew he was; a PR executive who started an environmental video production company. You no doubt know many others. Who says you need to stay where you are, or keep going to that soul-killing job? What is your purpose: make money, attain power or fame, dedicate yourself to your children, drive your talents to their peak, protect our natural world, leave a lasting legacy to future generations…? Whatever your purpose may be, if you’re not waking up each and every day in love with life and eager to start the day, you’re not fulfilling your soul. 

But first, get in tune with your personal time. Use Chuen days to do this. Pay attention to patterns, cycles in your life that seem to repeat, circumstances that keep taking you to certain places or certain people, things that keep happening despite all of your efforts to the contrary. This will illuminate your unique, individual life history, the pattern woven by your personal time; only then can you start to weave a different pattern which can lead to a richer, more creative lifepath. 

As you discover your personal time, explore without looking for anything specific - you need to keep ego out of the process. Most importantly, do not compare. To repeat, do not compare yourself to others, celebrities you see in glossy magazines, wealthy executives, or even your family or neighbors. You are you.

As with any creative or magical power, you need to respect and honor Chuen, and guide it to help you as you would any wild untamed force of nature. Lose sense of what you’re doing and it will snap into chaos. 

Do you have the courage to be who you are?