Eb: The Trecena Of Pathways

Eb, or E’ in K’iche’ Maya, represents the Road, the Saq B’e or sacred path that we all travel on our quest for self-fulfillment and realization. This is the path of destiny, the road we travel to develop, discover, and evolve our personal history and future imprinting; it is also the activity and movement of travel, moving us toward our horizon, our goals and aims in life. It is the connection between people, places, dimensions, and worlds. In that vein, Eb represents the stairways between the three worlds of the heavens, the Earth, and Xib’alb’a or the underworld. It also symbolizes thanks and gratitude, blessing, and benediction. Eb is the patron of travelers, protector of merchants, and the nagual of all roads and road guides. Eb’s animal totems are the thrush and the bobcat. In the Classical Maya tradition, it is associated with the cardinal direction South and the color yellow. In the tradition of modern-day K’iche’ Maya, it is West and the color black. Eb is also one of the four Year Bearers, which shape the nature and character of the solar years they are associated with. 

On Eb days, the Maya give thanks for the Road of Life that we all travel, and ask for physical and mental well-being and meaningful occupations. This is the most auspicious day in the Tzolk’in to begin a journey of any kind, be it personal, professional, or other: leaving for a trip, groundbreaking for a new house, signing contracts, or starting a new business or professional relationships. It is also a great day for communication - especially international communication - to and from friends, loved ones, and/or colleagues living overseas.

Eb is Saq B’e, in the material sense the White Road that connects Mayan temples and ceremonial centers, and in the spiritual sense the sacred path that propels us forward on the course of self-realization and life fulfillment. This is the realm of the seeker who cannot turn back once she has seen Truth, and despite efforts to forget, is forever changed by the experience. This is the pilgrim who must get lost in order to find himself, who is willing to open his very soul to discovery and exploration so that he may once again enjoy things new and wondrous that children see. And as they wind through life’s unceasing turns, the white roads that connect us all to our past and future selves, return, always, to the center of our soul. 

The paths we travel evolve and change through experience and time, accelerate to vertiginous speeds and slow to a deep silence, split into myriad strings of existence and fuse again into the thick luminous band that guides our journey. We travel within and through time, passing from one life stage to the next, assimilating the energy of each one into our soul. We travel physically, today more than ever before in the history of our species, and incarnate the stresses of multiple cultures, time zones, and distances. We travel emotionally, our psyche growing and evolving as we meet new people, create new bonds and release those we no longer wish to hold. We travel mentally, some of us forever exploring new horizons in skill, innovation, and knowledge, some of us content with simpler routines and the comforts of home. And we travel spiritually, covering depths and distances much greater than our physical bodies could ever dream of, and dimensions that perhaps only our higher souls are aware of. 

Any journey we undertake, whether a vacation overseas, a business trip, a new career, a new relationship, or a spiritual exploration, changes or affects us in some way. The more open we keep heart and mind, the deeper into Truth we see, the more vibrant the colors of the landscapes we explore, the more fascinating the people we meet, the more enriching our experience and enjoyment of life. 

The essence of Eb is not so much about traveling on a path as becoming the path yourself. How so? By channeling who you are and what you know, what you inspire and what you receive, through your heart and soul, through your being and your mind, through your actions towards others, as a mighty river might cut through solid rock to carve its way. 

We are all wondrously individual, unique, vibrant living beings; and so we will all experience the energies coursing through this trecena in very personal ways. As we should… for there are no two Saq B’e alike.