by Denise Barrios and Andy Rocca, Maya Spiritual Guides
When we are observant and present we become aware. It is at that moment that we begin to understand the world around and within us, that we are able to comprehend that it is constantly speaking to us, providing us with all the messages, wisdom, and tools we need to transit our journey through this existence.
The ancestral elders knew this. They observed to understand the energies that surrounded them. Through the attention they paid to the movements of the sun, to the transit of the planets, to the cycles of the moon and the rhythms of Mother Earth, to the plants and animals, they developed such an awareness that enabled them to create the wisdom tools through which they were able to align their own cycles in synchrony with the cycles of the sky and of the planet and to vibrate and flow in harmony with the energies emitted by the Cosmos and the Earth. We, their sons and daughters, are the heirs to this wisdom and our calling is that of being attuned, observant, and present so that the wisdom lives and evolves, as nothing is static, it is all ever-changing. We are called to observe the dance of the Sun throughout the year and to realize how it affects us; we are called to see the moon and its phases, its impact on us and the world that surrounds us; we are called to understand and vibrate with the energies that flow on each day and move in accordance to their rhythm; we are called to respect all forms of life and to live in connection with the earth and with the sky. For this purpose the wise grandfathers and grandmothers bequeathed us with their calendars and with the knowledge kept in their stories, in their practices and in the oral wisdom, to make our path to being present and aware much smoother.
Just recently the Sun reached its place on the zenith, illuminating its light right above us and thus gifting us with all its strength and its power of manifestation. The passing of Grandfather Sun through the zenith is part of the journey it transits in his walk from the summer solstice to the autumn equinox. On September 22, as the energy of the autumn equinox marks the pace, we enter into a spiritual cycle of connection with the inner self. It is a time of going within to learn from the knowledge and wisdom that the past cycle has brought, to clear our inner grounds of old patterns and ideas, of the limits we are experiencing which stagnate our processes of expansion, and to prepare our inner self for the new cycle to come. We do it through the energy of balance that the equinox brings and which impels us to acknowledge, to understand, embrace, and work with both our light and shadow. This equinox will be influenced by the energy of 4 Iq’, which for the Mayas represents balance and the wind. Iq’ is a power that nourishes our creative mind, bringing the wisdom of our elders to integrate it into our integral being. We will also be under the influence of a waning moon, the power of this moon, which is attuned to the energy of the equinox, also speaks of clearing the inner space, through its dimness it allows us to connect with our shadow, letting go of what no longer serves us so that we can find the equilibrium of the self.
On November 1 and 2 after the equinox, we celebrate a moment of connection with our ancestors. During these days we honor and connect to those members of our lineage who have already transcended and who are now our guides and protectors. We commemorate their lives and the path they walked before us, the path that has allowed us to be born with the knowledge, power, gifts and level of awareness that we are now experiencing. In Maya spirituality, the energy of the ancestors is very sacred, as we understand ourselves not only as individual beings, but also as bearers of a lineage in which we share growth and healing and for which we are grateful.
*Although the days of November 1 and 2 were adopted by the Maya people after the time of the invasion and with the coming of Catholicism, as a way to preserve and protect their spirituality —the Mayan ancestors paid homage to the memory of those who had transcended on the days that hold the energy of Kame, especially on the day of 13 Kame,— the activation of these days endowed them with a great power that they now hold and which creates a channel of connection between our reality and that of those who have already transcended.
We will finish these three Gregorian months of connection with the Mayan energies by celebrating the beginning of a new cycle in the Sacred Calendar. In Mayan Cosmogony the creation of this reality begins on a day 1 B’atz’, an energy that holds the power of the beginning, it is the thread of life that unfolds and expands to create the interweaving of space and time. 1 B’atz’ is the last trecena (thirteen-day energy cycle) of this Cholq’ij year. The Mayan process of creation lasts for twenty days, during these days each of the cosmic and telluric energies emerge, one at a time, to imprint their power and wisdom, so that through it this reality is created. After these twenty days have passed we arrive at the day of 8 B’atz’, the day in which we celebrate the creation of material reality. The number 8 symbolizes the tangible and physical world.
On this November 10 we begin the 20 days of creation, during which not only our world, but also ourselves, receive the power and gift of each of the twenty energies. On November 20 we celebrate that our reality has come to be, it is the New Year in the Sacred Cholq’ij Calendar.
There are other events that will happen during these three months. We will be traversing several trecenas. A trecena is a thirteen-day energetic cycle that is ruled by one of the twenty energies of the Sacred Calendar and which marks the energy that is available to work with in unity with the energy of each day. We will also be flowing with the different phases of the moon and aware of the energy that the Sun presents us with each day. However, we focused on the most powerful events that will occur each month to allow you to experience a bit of the guidance that emerges from the Mayan calendar and way of living.
