The Seating of the New Mam is the moment that the Wayeb has ended, when the period of retreat has finished and we can emerge from our “cave” back into the real world. In some communities, this would be celebrated with feasting and drinking, welcoming in the new grandfather who will guide us through the next revolution of the sun.

This year is governed by the Mam . In addition to 11 E’ carrying the energy of the day, it is also carrying the energy of this new year. The properties and benefits brought by the nawal 11 E’ are discussed in my post for the day of 11 E’ here. The energy of this day is a representative of the energy which we will be living with for the whole year. The general feeling of this year should be about spontaneous movement, discovery and intuitively guided journeys. It has the potential to be a year of great adventure, but it may be that the movements may be very difficult to plan.

The new Mam may take a little while to settle in. This is usually the first 20 days. Whilst it is obvious that the “administration” has changed, it takes a little time for all the promises made in the campaign to be adhered to. Nothing in nature moves in a square wave, it is always a gentle transition more akin to a sine wave. This is the first light of dawn, the day is just beginning, but we are still experiencing a little of the cold of the night. It will not be until midday, the height of the cycle that we will experience the fullest expression of the energy of this year lord. We can expect that in around 140 days or so, 1 E (19th June 2023).

The last time we experienced a E’ year was 2019, which was the year 7 E’. That year could have been seen as coming to the end of the road with certain aspects of our lives, with it lasting from 20th February 2019 through to 19th February 2020. The path to the finish point, the top of the pyramid, then gives us a view of which path we would like to take next, which one we would choose. This time around we will be guided by the Mam 11 E’. I consider this to be the energy of the wanderer. Guided by intuition, it may result in snap decisions over changes of direction, or changes of path. This is a year which cannot be planned! E’ is a nawal of discovery, it encourages us to investigate and to embrace new experiences. When combined with the highly active and unpredictable energy of the number 11, we may not be aware where it is that our intuition is leading us, we just know we have to walk that path until our intuition tells us to change directions. The eventual outcome of the 11 is to put all the experiences we gather together in a masterpiece, but for now, it’s just a time to go with it, relax and enjoy the experience without attachment to knowing where you will be next week, next month or next year.

On a grander scheme of things, the cycle of the year bearers repeats every 52 years. Of course, we do not relive exactly the same experiences, but we may see similarities with the last time this year bearer was in office. That was the year 1971, when Mam 11 E’ would have taken his seat on the Gregorian day 4th March. This gives us the opportunity to understand how to engage with the benefits of, and avoid the errors committed during, the previous incarnation of the Mam 11 E’.  For some ideas on major events of 1971, please click here.