Tag Archives: Gathering

11 K’at (13th September 2024)

11 K'atIt is possible that today you can bundle many different ideas, and that these ideas will lead to an abundant master plan. Be prepared to do some editing at a later date, to cut away the excess before setting out on the journey.

As the energy of the number 11 has strength without direction, and the nawal K’at seeks to bind, this could prove to be a rather hectic day. You might even end up feeling like you have tied yourself up in a knot.

The animal associated with the nawal K’at is the spider, she who sits within her woven net. If caught in a spider’s web, one must consider carefully the course of action. Erratic movement trying to escape the web may lead to becoming even more entangled. Worse they may attract the attention of the spider, even if it seems the correct move to make. This could be a representation of today.

Think carefully about your direction before making your moves, as there may be many possibilities in front of you. What consequence does each possibility bring? Ensure that you do not become to bound to something which ultimately holds you back.

It may be difficult to work out what you need to carry with you on your journey, there are so many possibilities, and each one may have its own sense of importance. Maybe it is OK to carry these for a while, but make sure you understand when to lighten the load a little. A lack of sense of direction may lead to becoming overburdened, using a little discernment could see you lightening your load.

The Nawal K’at

Blood Moon, mother of the Hero Twins being sent away from Xibalba after becoming pregnant. <yoastmark class=

K’at signifies a net and represents gathering together or bundling. In the Western Highlands of Guatemala, to this day many crops are harvested and carried in nets – oranges, lemons, avocados to name but a few. Through this we see one of the positive meanings of this nawal, that of abundance and harvest. K’at is a great day to draw things together. This could mean gathering your harvest, collecting ideas for your projects, or inviting people to a social event. It is a day of prosperity and the bounty which comes from the Earth, a day of gardeners and merchants.

However, K’at also has its more challenging side. An abundant crop will fill the net, but it will also slow you down. K’at is also the nawal of prisons and burdens, as the net which gathers, can also ensnare us. When candles are purchased for the fire ceremonies, they come in bundles held together by little strings. When the nawal K’at is addressed during the fire ceremony, these strings are put in to the fire,  with offerings, to ask K’at to help us release ourselves from our burdens, from the ties which bind us.  These ties can also be seen as excessive attachment to material things.

The Number 11

The number 11 is a high and odd number. This gives it some rather challenging properties, although it can come good in the end. Imagine you visit Ireland and are transfixed by the green of the hills. Then you go to Morocco and are awed by the red of the buildings. Then you go to the Caribbean and are moved by the turquoise sea. You return home and paint a beautiful picture using those colours. When you were in Ireland you didn’t know you were going to paint that masterpiece. You may not have even known why you were there.  This is how 11 works. You are sure you need to be doing something, but unsure why. You are collecting experience through many wanderings.

4 K’at (24th August 2024)

4 K'atGather your physical abundance today. It is a day of collection, but also a day to release physical burdens and attachments.

K’at can be seen as the planting of the seed. It is possibly the planting aspect that differentiates the energy of K’at from the ripening seed energy of Q’anil. Here, with the physical energy of the number 4, we could see a good planting day. Once the crops are planted, they will need tending, which is perhaps the burden that is implied. However, there can be no multiplication, no harvest, no abundance, without this physical preparation and attachment.

If we see Aq’ab’al as the conception point, perhaps we can see K’at as the point of implantation of the blastocyst into the uterine wall. The beginning of the development of a new life, the physical planting of a new human being. K’at can also represent the womb, the first carrying bag.

After the possible confusion of recent days, today things start to settle down. In fact, things may come together very well today. The dreams, potential and energy start to be held together by a binding force, that of the nawal K’at. The brief images and ideas that may have appeared to you are gathered together within the net and grounded into reality. Yesterday I suggested waiting for a more conducive day to start a project. Today the pieces start to fit together to form a coherent picture.

K’at days can be great days to declutter, and today focuses on the physical. What are you prepared to release to bring your new concept to life? Carefully select the physical attributes you wish to gather. Ensure that what you carry with you physically will assist you rather than bind you. Now that you have things straight, you can proceed.

The Nawal K’at

Blood Moon, mother of the Hero Twins being sent away from Xibalba after becoming pregnant. <yoastmark class=

K’at signifies a net and represents gathering together or bundling. In the Western Highlands of Guatemala, to this day many crops are harvested and carried in nets – oranges, lemons, avocados to name but a few. Through this we see one of the positive meanings of this nawal, that of abundance and harvest. K’at is a great day to draw things together. This could mean gathering your harvest, collecting ideas for your projects, or inviting people to a social event. It is a day of prosperity and the bounty which comes from the Earth, a day of gardeners, but also of merchants.

However, K’at also has its more challenging side. An abundant crop will fill the net, but it will also slow you down. K’at is also the nawal of prisons and burdens, as the net which gathers, can also ensnare us. When candles are purchased for the fire ceremonies, they come in bundles held together by little strings. When the nawal K’at is addressed during the fire ceremony, these strings are put in to the fire,  with offerings, to ask K’at to help us release ourselves from our burdens, from the ties which bind us.  These ties can also be seen as excessive attachment to material things.

The Nawal K’at and Ix K’ik

The nawal K’at is associated with Ixk’ik, Blood Moon, who was magically impregnated in Xibalba (the underworld) by the spirit of Jun Junajpu.  Jun Junajpu and his brother Wucub Junajpu were summoned by the Lords of Death to Xibalba to face the challenges after they disturbed the Lords by playing the ball game too noisily. Unfortunately this first pair of heroes went unprepared and were tricked and sacrificed by the Lords of Death. After their deaths, the head of Jun Junajpu was hung in a calabash tree, where it eventually blended in with the wizened fruit on the tree. However, it was known to speak and the news of this dis-incarnate voice in the tree reached Blood Moon.

She decided to go an visit the tree where she was asked to hold out her hand. The head spat into her hand and she became impregnated with the Hero Twins, Junajpu and Xbalamque. She was banished from Xibalba and went to meet the mother of Jun Junajpu and Wucub Junajpu, Ixmucane. At first Ixmucane did not accept that Blood Moon was carrying her grandchildren, and set a task to fill a net with corn from the garden. When Blood Moon arrived, there was only one stalk, but by pulling the corn silk, the plant magically produced an abundant harvest and Blood Moon was accepted as telling the truth.

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.

10 K’at (4th August 2024)

10 K'atThe day 10 K’at can be seen as an excellent day to gather your community together. Whether it is a town meeting or a social event this would be a perfect day for it. This could result in abundance for all.

There is a certain image that comes with this combination of number and nawal for me. That is a community coming together to bring in the harvest. It is time to reap and leaving the crop in the field could cause wastage. Bringing together a task force of your friends to help you complete this work could benefit all. This is a day to ask for help from those around you to finish a project. Equally, lending a hand to help friends and family complete a task bring an unexpected bonus. This is a day to fulfil your commitments to your community.

However, it is important to know when to break away too, before it holds you back from progress. K’at is the nawal of the burden. Here we can see it in combination with the number which represents society. Whilst fulfilling the commitments you have made to your community, you may find yourself over burdened. This could leave you with little time or energy to for your own or your family’s needs.

This could also be a day to take a look at where you have become trapped by the expectations of society. Are there certain parts of your community that hold you back from achieving what you could? K’at helps to highlight these issues It shows us where the net which entangles us is, and helps us to break free if we choose. This is the day to ask for help to be released from that within society which holds you back from fulfilling your true potential.

The Nawal K’at

Blood Moon, mother of the Hero Twins being sent away from Xibalba after becoming pregnant. <yoastmark class=

K’at signifies a net and represents gathering together or bundling. In the Western Highlands of Guatemala, to this day many crops are harvested and carried in nets – oranges, lemons, avocados to name but a few. Through this we see one of the positive meanings of this nawal, that of abundance and harvest. K’at is a great day to draw things together. This could mean gathering your harvest, collecting ideas for your projects, or inviting people to a social event. It is a day of prosperity and the bounty which comes from the Earth, a day of gardeners, but also of merchants.

However, K’at also has its more challenging side. An abundant crop will fill the net, but it will also slow you down. K’at is also the nawal of prisons and burdens, as the net which gathers, can also ensnare us. When candles are purchased for the fire ceremonies, they come in bundles held together by little strings. When the nawal K’at is addressed during the fire ceremony, these strings are put in to the fire,  with offerings, to ask K’at to help us release ourselves from our burdens, from the ties which bind us.  These ties can also be seen as excessive attachment to material things.

The Nawal K’at and Ix K’ik

The nawal K’at is associated with Ixk’ik, Blood Moon, who was magically impregnated in Xibalba (the underworld) by the spirit of Jun Junajpu.  Jun Junajpu and his brother Wucub Junajpu were summoned by the Lords of Death to Xibalba to face the challenges after they disturbed the Lords by playing the ball game too noisily. Unfortunately this first pair of heroes went unprepared and were tricked and sacrificed by the Lords of Death. After their deaths, the head of Jun Junajpu was hung in a calabash tree, where it eventually blended in with the wizened fruit on the tree. However, it was known to speak and the news of this dis-incarnate voice in the tree reached Blood Moon.

She decided to go an visit the tree where she was asked to hold out her hand. The head spat into her hand and she became impregnated with the Hero Twins, Junajpu and Xbalamque. She was banished from Xibalba and went to meet the mother of Jun Junajpu and Wucub Junajpu, Ixmucane. At first Ixmucane did not accept that Blood Moon was carrying her grandchildren, and set a task to fill a net with corn from the garden. When Blood Moon arrived, there was only one stalk, but by pulling the corn silk, the plant magically produced an abundant harvest and Blood Moon was accepted as telling the truth.

The Number Ten

The number 10 is another number which demonstrates the connection between the sacred calendar and the human body. As five represents one hand, ten represents two hands coming together. This can be seen as the shaking of hands creating agreement between people. Ten is seen as a good number, a number of community and the laws of society, of acting in harmony.

3 K’at (15th July 2024)

3 K'atThis may be a day when what you try to catch slips through your net. However, it is an excellent day to sort through what you hold in your home and your heart.

The day 3 K’at might be a rather difficult day on which to get things together, in whatever form. It could be seen as a day on which your burdens may really slow you down. The number 3 can represent obstructions and blockages in the outer world. When combined with the challenging side of the nawal K’at, could lead to some potential stumbling blocks in life. This may be seen particularly when it comes to collecting things together. The harvest is not yet ready, and you may find that your effort reaps little reward.

Perhaps a better use of energy would be to focus on what is holding you back internally. This could be an excellent day for an introspective analysis of the beliefs and concepts which no longer serve a purpose. It is a day to look inside for the bounty, for the true abundance which resides within you. Allow your net to gently release that which no longer serves you, so that changes, new life and new creation may emerge.

As the number 3 can also represent the house and home, this could be an excellent day for decluttering. How often do we assess what we have collected in our storage spaces. It takes up space, both physically and energetically. Today, focus your energy on what you wish to hold onto in your living space.

The Nawal K’at

Blood Moon, mother of the Hero Twins being sent away from Xibalba after becoming pregnant. <yoastmark class=

K’at signifies a net and represents gathering together or bundling. In the Western Highlands of Guatemala, to this day many crops are harvested and carried in nets – oranges, lemons, avocados to name but a few. Through this we see one of the positive meanings of this nawal, that of abundance and harvest. K’at is a great day to draw things together. This could mean gathering your harvest, collecting ideas for your projects, or inviting people to a social event. It is a day of prosperity and the bounty which comes from the Earth, a day of gardeners and merchants.

However, K’at also has its more challenging side. An abundant crop will fill the net, but it will also slow you down. K’at is also the nawal of prisons and burdens, as the net which gathers, can also ensnare us. When candles are purchased for the fire ceremonies, they come in bundles held together by little strings. When the nawal K’at is addressed during the fire ceremony, these strings are put in to the fire,  with offerings, to ask K’at to help us release ourselves from our burdens, from the ties which bind us.  These ties can also be seen as excessive attachment to material things.

The Number Three

The number 3 is still in the low end of the range of numbers. It does not have much energy yet, and it is also an odd number. It can represent the home, relating to the three hearthstones laid by the creators, and this is probably a good focus for a 3 day. However, it lacks stability and can represent challenges and obstructions. The number three brings up internal/external dilemmas. The lack of stability in the physical, external world that it brings suggests that the more appropriate action is to look to the internal world, both of the home and yourself.

12 Kej (28th June 2024)

12 KejThis is a day on which life experience empowers leadership or resolve issues. However, it may be important to understand where those experiences are useful and where they are not.

In order to fulfil a position of leadership within our community, we have to use our life experience. That is often the reason for which leaders are chosen. Their life experience and skill set fit the challenges faced by the community. The energy of this day strongly suggests reviewing and collating the experiences of life in order to move forward. This may represent something like being invited to join a committee as an experienced mentor in a particular field.

However, the determination associated with the nawal Kej may become inflexibility when it comes to the attachment to “the way it has always been done.” Strength is built on experience. But, understanding how to adapt those experiences to become relevant as society evolves is the real goal. The day 12 Kej has a very strong energy,  with regard to both the nawal and the number. This energy may bring you determination, but be aware of where determination becomes stubbornness.

You may find that a walk in the wilderness, or other connection with nature, acts as a very positive recharge for your energy. It may help you to balance the strength of this day and assist with decision making. Possibly it will bring some perspective to the more determined ideas. This might be especially true if that forest is one familiar to you from your past. Perhaps a journey in a familiar wilderness will remind you of something that in turn brings you strength.

The Nawal Kej

Xbalamkiej, patron of the day Kej one of the hero twins from the Popol Vuh. From the Dresden Codex
Xbalamkiej, patron of the day Kej one of the hero twins from the Popol Vuh. From the Dresden Codex

Kej is possibly the strongest of the nawales, it is powerful, but in a different way to Kan. Kej is energetic, lively and determined. It is the nawal of nature, of the wilderness and it is this power that it draws on. The animal totem of Kej is the deer, but if you have fragile, new-born Bambi in mind, think again. This is the majestic stag, standing on the mountain surveying his domain. Whilst most nawales are not necessarily engendered, Kej is most definitely masculine. Both men and women that carry Kej as their nawal have great strength, although the men tend to hide their strength more. Kej women are particularly driven, resourceful and brave, sometimes to the point of being rather dominant. All radiate an aura of nobility, people tend to look to them to lead.

Kej is the nawal of the Mayan “religion”, a day of spiritual leaders, of shaman and of priests. It is these leaders who understand how to read the messages from the natural world, who help to keep our existence in balance with nature. It is a day to connect with the wilderness and draw the power of the natural world into you, to harmonise and replenish.

The Number 12

The number 12 is the penultimate number. In some ways it can be seen as the last Earthly number, the number 13 representing the spirit world. We travelled through the mortal world with 1 through 6, then the other world with 7 through 12. In this way 12 can be seen as a point of bringing all of the experiences into one bundle for presentation to the spirit world as we step into 13. As such, the number 12 brings a wealth of experience into one place, it is rather like writing an autobiography. It is totality, all that is, brought together.

 

9 K’at (25th June 2024)

9 K'atThis is a potent day for bringing together life’s abundance. It could also be seen as a day on which to use your discernment to choose what to keep and what to let go of.

This is another harvest day, a day on which we can collect that which we have been propagating through life. This may be our physical harvest, from our fields and gardens, or the bounty which comes from our ideas. Whilst this might be true of any K’at day, today the number of life is highlighted. This suggests that what is gathered today is the harvest from your life’s work. This is bigger than just one growing season.

The nawal K’at also represents merchants – those who understand what is of value and what to release from our nets. This could be a great day to liberate yourself from the things which are stopping you from really living. What are the things which are filling your net and stifling the ingress of new abundance? It’s a great day to release yourself from attachments that life may have brought you at some point, yet are no longer relevant. What do you really need in your life?

With the 9  representing the feminine, and the women in our lives, it is particularly a day on which to appreciate the bounty brought to us by the women around us. This should be a great day for gatherings of women, abundance may come from a collaboration of female energy.

As we move through the trecena of Ajmak, holding on to burdens may be highlighted today. I often think of guilt, blame and shame as rocks in our net. Naturally, those rocks take up space which could be put to better use. Through forgiveness we release those rocks and allow life in.

The Nawal K’at

Blood Moon, mother of the Hero Twins being sent away from Xibalba after becoming pregnant. <yoastmark class=

K’at signifies a net and represents gathering together or bundling. In the Western Highlands of Guatemala, to this day many crops are harvested and carried in nets – oranges, lemons, avocados to name but a few. Through this we see one of the positive meanings of this nawal, that of abundance and harvest. K’at is a great day to draw things together. This could mean gathering your harvest, collecting ideas for your projects, or inviting people to a social event. It is a day of prosperity and the bounty which comes from the Earth, a day of gardeners and merchants.

However, K’at also has its more challenging side. An abundant crop will fill the net, but it will also slow you down. K’at is also the nawal of prisons and burdens, as the net which gathers, can also ensnare us. When candles are purchased for the fire ceremonies, they come in bundles held together by little strings. When the nawal K’at is addressed during the fire ceremony, these strings are put in to the fire,  with offerings, to ask K’at to help us release ourselves from our burdens, from the ties which bind us.  These ties can also be seen as excessive attachment to material things.

The Number Nine

The number nine is the number of lunations in the human gestation period and in the sacred calendar. The sacred calendar is known as a calendar of life, and it is women that give life. As such the number nine is seen as the number of life and the number of the divine feminine. It gives all that it is attached to a strong feminine presence. It is a day on which women may wish to give thanks for their gifts.

 

2 K’at (5th June 2024)

There are days when we must make stark choices between what to embrace and what to release. With the nawal K’at representing attachment and the number two representing duality, this may come into sharp contrast today.

The energy of the nawal K’at is usually seen as rather favourable, particularly concerning collecting things. When these are the things that sustain us, this is highly beneficial. However, it is also the nawal of prisons, burdens and ensnarement, where we become ensnared in the nets of others. Whilst all the energies of the days have both beneficial and challenging aspects, K’at can be particularly extreme.

The number 2 is said to represent duality and polarity, and here we see it combined with those aspects of K’at. We also get to see from opposing points of view. The nawal K’at helps us to gather these different points of view, which can give a more rounded idea of situations, which may in turn result in abundance and sustenance for all involved.

The day 2 K’at  could also be seen as rather binary in its nature. K’at days are often good days to declutter our lives. With the binary nature of the 2 this could be very decisive. There is no “maybe” pile, just yes or no. It could be a great day for this clearing, although rather ruthless.

With the number 2 is also said to represent lovers, relationships and self-sacrifice, those areas may be highlighted by the energy of K’at  today. This may be a day to look at the sacrifices you make in life and what they represent to you. Are you viewing something which brings you abundance as a burden? Is it time to cut the net and release it?

The Nawal K’at

Blood Moon, mother of the Hero Twins being sent away from Xibalba after becoming pregnant. <yoastmark class=

K’at signifies a net and represents gathering together or bundling. In the Western Highlands of Guatemala, to this day many crops are harvested and carried in nets – oranges, lemons, avocados to name but a few. Through this we see one of the positive meanings of this nawal, that of abundance and harvest. K’at is a great day to draw things together. This could mean gathering your harvest, collecting ideas for your projects, or inviting people to a social event. It is a day of prosperity and the bounty which comes from the Earth, a day of gardeners and merchants.

However, K’at also has its more challenging side. An abundant crop will fill the net, but it will also slow you down. K’at is also the nawal of prisons and burdens, as the net which gathers, can also ensnare us. When candles are purchased for the fire ceremonies, they come in bundles held together by little strings. When the nawal K’at is addressed during the fire ceremony, these strings are put in to the fire,  with offerings, to ask K’at to help us release ourselves from our burdens, from the ties which bind us.  These ties can also be seen as excessive attachment to material things.

The Number Two

The number 2 is representative of duality, of polarity. Although a low number, it has surprising strength. It is said to be able to call upon both aspects or polarities of what it is attached to. It is said to be the number of lovers, it signifies relationships and self-sacrifice. Whilst it can lend itself to mediation, seeing both sides of the story, it also can be indecisive.

12 Imox (2nd June 2024)

12 ImoxThis has the potential to be very light, but also very dark. It is a day of gathering together the dreams, but whose dreams are they? Imox teaches us how to embrace our individuality and escape from the herd.

The nawal Imox connects us with the dream world, that place of visions and creation from which all things come. It is where we all exist together, as do all polarities. Sometimes when we dream we receive inspiration, sometimes we might have a nightmare. When we go to sleep we don’t necessarily know to which aspect we will journey.

Connected with the number 12, it can be seen as a day of powerful experiences within the group consciousness. The 12 can represent the gathering together of all of life’s experiences. Today we can imagine that the hopes, fears, dreams and nightmares of an entire generation are gathering. It can be easier than ever to be caught in strong media images and dragged to the depths of despair, feeling everything from those around you.

One way to help navigate Imox days is to take some time alone. Get away from people, and especially the media. In its most positive aspect, the day 12 Imox can be seen as a day to gather together all the dreams that you have had throughout your life in one fertile and creative bundle. This bundle can then be used to nurture and inspire, yourself and others as you feed it back to the collective.

The Nawal Imox

Nawal Imox represents the collective consciousness, the great ocean. It is the moment before the “big bang”, when all that existed was the dream of the creator. It is everything and nothing in one place, the ovum from which reality was conceived. Imox is still very much in the other world, requiring another component to physically manifest the dream into reality.

Imox is considered to be a feminine nawal. Sometimes called water lily, sometimes crocodile, it is an embodiment of the primordial. It was from the great ocean that the four first men raised sky to create the world which we inhabit. Imox can also be seen as the Darwinian swamp from which all life emerged. It is fertile and creative, the mother that gave birth to our entire reality.

Imox is our common origin, and as such links us all together. It is the place of dreams, the collective conscious we delve into on our nightly voyages. It may also relate to the place that certain plant medicines take us to in order to bring us wisdom. However, as the font of all of creation, Imox harbours the dark as well as the light.

Imox is a day to celebrate the spirit of the times, to understand the collective mind. It is a day to dream your creations, your art, your music. Imox helps us all feel connected, when the psychic field between us may be particularly strong. Discernment may be called for, to understand when to dissociate from the collective. It is important to remember your individuality.

The Number 12

The number 12 is the penultimate number. In some ways it can be seen as the last Earthly number, the number 13 representing the spirit world. We travelled through the mortal world with 1 through 6, then the other world with 7 through 12. In this way 12 can be seen as a point of bringing all of the experiences into one bundle for presentation to the spirit world as we step into 13. As such, the number 12 brings a wealth of experience into one place, it is rather like writing an autobiography. It is totality, all that is, brought together.

8 K’at (16th May 2023)

8 K'atEvery day is a good day to be grateful for the abundance you receive in life, but today is of greater importance. It is also a day to give thanks for your freedom and to release anything which is holding you back. Wholly embrace it or set it free.

The eighth day of the trecena is the most common for ceremony.  Today it is combined with the net that gathers the harvest. It is a day to be grateful for your abundance and your liberty. Make ceremonies to celebrate the harvest and to give thanks for the full bellies of our families. It is a day of gathering, of seeds, of people, of ideas. Celebrate the abundance that these things bring to your life.

The nawal K’at also represents capture. Whilst the positive aspect represents harvest and abundance, the darker side represents entanglement and prisons. This is not just those outside of ourselves, but our ability to get caught in our own nets. This is a representation of our own attachment to the physical things which sustain us within our physical body. Whilst this abundance might serve us well, over attachment to physical goods may distract us from our true life path. The same may be true for situations or people. It does not just have to be physical objects that create the net which holds us back. K’at days give us an excellent opportunity to understand what is stopping us from achieving our dreams, and setting ourselves free of it.

The Nawal K’at

Blood Moon, mother of the Hero Twins being sent away from Xibalba after becoming pregnant. <yoastmark class=

K’at signifies a net and represents gathering together or bundling. In the Western Highlands of Guatemala, to this day many crops are harvested and carried in nets – oranges, lemons, avocados to name but a few. Through this we see one of the positive meanings of this nawal, that of abundance and harvest. K’at is a great day to draw things together. This could mean gathering your harvest, collecting ideas for your projects, or inviting people to a social event. It is a day of prosperity and the bounty which comes from the Earth, a day of gardeners and merchants.

However, K’at also has its more challenging side. An abundant crop will fill the net, but it will also slow you down. K’at is also the nawal of prisons and burdens, as the net which gathers, can also ensnare us. When candles are purchased for the fire ceremonies, they come in bundles held together by little strings. When the nawal K’at is addressed during the fire ceremony, these strings are put in to the fire,  with offerings, to ask K’at to help us release ourselves from our burdens, from the ties which bind us.  These ties can also be seen as excessive attachment to material things.

The Number Eight

The number 8 is considered to be several wholeness. It can be seen as birth (1) and death (7) combined to represent the whole cycle of the soul. Also, it can be seen as the point where the four first men who raised the sky from the sea were joined by their wives and the world became whole. The eighth day of the trecena is the most common day for ceremonies to be made. Therefore, it is still in the balanced range of numbers and is an even number, which is also considered fortunate. This wholeness represents every aspect of the energy of the day with which it is coupled. It is the wholeness of the nawal that is addressed in the ceremony.

1 K’at (26th April 2024)

1 K'at The energy of 1 K’at can be seen as gathering together and embracing the new time. Life is a continual cycle of birth, death and rebirth. We have the possibility to reap an abundant harvest, but right now to do that we need unity. It is time to put aside differences and work together to plant a new field if we are to enjoy abundance in the future.

In the cycle of re-creation, the soil of the field has been turned, tilled and fertilised by the wisdom of the ancients. The threads of creation are being gathered ready to join the new to the old on the day of Wajxakib B’atz.

When combined with the number 1, new births and new beginnings are signified. This is the beginning of something new, new growth all around. The previous day, 13 Aq’ab’al, could be seen as a spiritual conception, and here the new process begins. This conception will be gestated through Wajxakib (8) B’atz, until finally the birth process assisted by 3 Kawok leads to 4 Ajpu, the new world, the resurrection of the maize, the birth of Junajpu.

K’at and the Popol Vuh

The nawal K’at is associated with Ixq’ik, Blood Moon or “She of Blood”. In the Popol Vuh, she was magically impregnated in Xibalba (the underworld) by the spirit of Jun Junajpu.  Jun Junajpu and his brother Wucub Junajpu were summoned to Xibalba by the Lords of Death. They would face challenges after they disturbed the Lords by playing the ball game too noisily. Unfortunately, this first pair of heroes went unprepared and were tricked and sacrificed by the Lords of Death. After their deaths, the head of Jun Junajpu was hung in a calabash tree. The tree fruited for the first time and his head eventually blended in with the wizened fruit on the tree.

However, it was known to speak and the news of this dis-incarnate voice in the tree reached Blood Moon. She decided to go an visit the tree where she was asked to hold out her hand. The head spat into her hand and she became impregnated with the Hero Twins, Junajpu and Xbalamque. She was banished from Xibalba and went to meet the mother of Jun Junajpu and Wucub Junajpu, Ixmucane. At first Ixmucane did not accept that Blood Moon was carrying her grandchildren. She set Blood Moon a task to fill a net with corn from the garden. When Blood Moon arrived, there was only one stalk. However, by pulling the corn silk, the plant magically produced an abundant harvest and Blood Moon was accepted.

In this story we see the relationship between Blood Moon and the nawal K’at, the creator of magical abundance and a bountiful harvest. This was the gathering, the bringing together of the family through this harvesting, we also see the seeding.

The Nawal K’at

Blood Moon, mother of the Hero Twins being sent away from Xibalba after becoming pregnant. <yoastmark class=

K’at signifies a net and represents gathering together or bundling. In the Western Highlands of Guatemala, to this day many crops are harvested and carried in nets – oranges, lemons, avocados to name but a few. Through this we see one of the positive meanings of this nawal, that of abundance and harvest. K’at is a great day to draw things together. This could mean gathering your harvest, collecting ideas for your projects, or inviting people to a social event. It is a day of prosperity and the bounty which comes from the Earth, a day of gardeners and merchants.

However, K’at also has its more challenging side. An abundant crop will fill the net, but it will also slow you down. K’at is also the nawal of prisons and burdens, as the net which gathers, can also ensnare us. When candles are purchased for the fire ceremonies, they come in bundles held together by little strings. When the nawal K’at is addressed during the fire ceremony, these strings are put in to the fire,  with offerings, to ask K’at to help us release ourselves from our burdens, from the ties which bind us.  These ties can also be seen as excessive attachment to material things.

The Number One

The number 1 is representative of the seed, of unity. It represents birth and beginnings. It is a low and odd number, which usually represents something challenging. However, the seed can grow into a mighty tree, it is full of potential. It needs the correct nutrients and conditions to germinate and develop its potential. We also may need encouragement to develop our ideas.