This day can bring powerful, decisive, practical aspects of healing. The combination with the number 4 brings a steadiness to the tenacity of Tijax.

The energy of Tijax can accentuate the drive on a quest. The usual kind of Tijax quest involves searching out the truth in matters, cutting away at falsehoods and perceived injustice. It brings an essence of tenacity, cutting through anything that stands between you and your goal, sometimes almost literally. Tijax can sometimes have a rather belligerent reputation, even if its desired achievement is noble. The energy of Tijax is precise and to the point.

Today this energy is tempered by the stability afforded by the energy of the number 4. The energy of the 4 brings out the solid, grounded, physical aspects of what it is connected to. It is a day on which forms of healing should have exactly the desired effect, with the recipient put firmly on the road to recovery. It can also be a good day to sever any unnecessary ties gently but with firmness and certainty. Use the day 4 Tijax to apply your powers of discernment in the physical world. It will show you to understand where improvements, or cuts, may be made. Remember to keep a steady hand on the knife of refinement!

The Nawal Tijax

The nawal Tijax represents an obsidian (or flint) blade. How the blade is used depends on the intention of the person wielding it, a warrior or a surgeon. These would seem like opposite ends of the spectrum, but where Tijax is concerned the aim is the same – healing and purification.

Tijax is the nawal of the holy warrior. In the Mayan book of creation, the Popol Vuh, the first act of the hero twins was a mission given to them by the Heart of the Sky to rid the world of the false gods Seven Macaw, Zipacna and Earthquake. By destroying the false gods, the twins brought balance to the world and helped mankind, they brought healing to the world. They cut out that which caused disease, exactly as a surgeon would do.

Tijax is celebrated as a day of healers, particularly what could be seen as the masculine aspect of healing. It is a day of crusading, of standing up for what is right, the healer who refuses to give up on finding a cure. Tijax gives powers of discernment and refinement. Just as the surgeon’s scalpel cuts away disease and the warrior’s blade dispatches the evil, the sculptor’s chisel creates beauty by remodelling the base material. This is a day of alchemy, both internal and external, turning the ordinary into the divine.

The Number Four

The number 4 is very important within Mayan mythology. Four represents the cardinal points, the four colours of maize, the four carriers of the year, the two equinoxes and two solstices, as well as midnight, sunrise, midday and sunset. The number four is representative of the four first men, who raised the sky from the sea to create the world we live on. In Mayan myth it is four pillars that support the sky from the Earth. As you can imagine, four is a number which represents stability, a good, down-to-Earth number.