Maya * Aztec Astrology Report

Introduction - The Astrology of Time

The most important time cycles in ancient Mayan and Aztec astrology are those of the day, 9-days, 13-days, and 20-days. Additionally, years are counted also, in groups of 4 and 13. Each day is then part of several other cycles, so no two days are exactly the same. Your Maya/Aztec horoscope below shows exactly where in each of the cycles you were born. Each category below examines a specific cycle and a specific aspect of your personality. Keep in mind that our personalities are complex and contain many contradictions. All of us present a different "face" depending on who we meet. The delineations below will reflect this, but they will also give you a clear picture of who you really are. The true value of astrology lies in self-knowledge, the first step to wisdom.
 
 

Your Most Personal Traits -- The Day-Sign of Your Birth

Water: You have powerful emotions and feelings which are easily aroused. For some, these feelings are so deep and so intense that they may take over, or even split, the personality. You have very strong territorial drives that often operate openly with little conscious resistance. At your worst you may display compulsive and addictive behaviors, including abuse of power, sexual compulsions, drinking, and use of drugs. On the positive level these emotional drives can lead you into deep commitments and persistence in achieving goals. Whichever way your emotions lead you probably has much to do with your early childhood experiences, in particular the influence of your mother who was probably your dominant parent.

It is possible that you have psychic abilities, or have an interest in psychic phenomena. Undoubtedly this is something that stems from your unusually strong feelings and reactions to people, ideas and situations. Your conscious mind is capable of linking with your subconscious mind and this can manifest as creative artistic ability or vision. Many Water personalities become artists who produce sounds and colors from their souls, not superficial illustrators or imitators. Even if you are not an artist you probably have a vision that you will attempt to realize during the course of your life. Whether psychic, artist or visionary, you are driven by forces that most people have no idea even exist.

You also have a natural "show business" flair that is both a blessing and a curse. If circumstances allow you to exercise this part of your nature legitimately, as a teacher, performer or artist, then you are probably very successful. If circumstances work against you, there is the potential of drifting into an unrealistic or even potentially dangerous life-style that wins negative attention. You are concerned with recognition, which may arise from a deep-seated inferiority complex. However, your "performances" are usually quite powerful and arouse strong feelings in others. Other people find you charismatic and sexual.

You have an uncompromising quality that pushes you toward great success in career matters. You do nothing halfway, it is everything or nothing -- and this is often what it takes to be at the top of a profession. You have a strong, independent mind and are capable, and very willing, to solve your problems by yourself. You do tend to have a problem with responsibilities though, possibly because you anticipate getting in over your head, which you do all the time anyway. This problem is one that is probably rooted in early childhood experiences. In particular, it was probably your mother that made the deepest imprints on you. If your mother was a good role model, then leadership and responsibility is not a serious problems for you. The influence of your mother has probably made you unusually sensitive to the female side of life and to things that are basically receptive, reactive and nurturing. When you have developed good control over your powerful feelings, you make an excellent, and responsible, leader. You naturally tend to take responsibilities very seriously, hence the problem with this issue.

Ultimately, you will receive recognition for your accomplishments, whether these be positive or destructive. You are not a moderate person -- you tend to go to extremes. You are constantly attempting to control, or at least monitor, a host of nearly uncontrollable urges surging within you. Your intense behaviors and bizarre interests take you well beyond the world of ordinary people allowing you to find opportunities to exercise your personal power. By most people's standards, you take plenty of risks along the way.

The Aztecs called this sign, the ninth of the twenty day-signs, Atl, which means water. It was symbolized by a cross-section of a canal or river valley through which ran bubbling water. The Aztecs said this was a symbol for the "passage through life." One Aztec source reported that those born under this sign were frequently dissatisfied in life. Perhaps this is better expressed as moodiness, which certainly seems to be a major theme in the above delineation. The ancient fire god Xiuhtecuhtli was the ruler of this sign and he was the lord of both time and life itself. Perhaps this suggests, as does the symbol, that Water is a sign of currents (water and life) that are structured or limited (the canal or channel, and time).

The personality of your day-sign is reflected in the planet and sign emphasis in your Western astrological chart. At least one of the three water signs, Cancer, Scorpio or Pisces, or the Moon, Pluto and Neptune, is probably strongly emphasized in your birthchart. These symbolize your extreme emotions and sensitivity. The zodiac sign Aquarius and the planet Mars, symbols of your strong independent streak, may also be prominent.
 
 

Your Deeper Self -- the 13-day Week of Your Birth

You were born on the fifth day of the 13-day period beginning with 1-Serpent. Beneath your surface personality you struggle with strong urges that drive you to the front. Your reaction to a crisis is to confront it head-on. Emotionally you are tense and driven to grappling with power conflicts. Your strong feelings often lead to your taking some rather committed positions on certain issues. For you, life is never gray -- people are either on one side or the other. When you get going, you play hardball, and others may think you a bit fanatical at times, or somewhat extremist.

Others feel your power and are attracted you. Part of your personal power and charisma lies in the fact that you are generally well-informed. You are interested in learning and acquiring information -- which you then apply with great intensity according to your own principles. The raw energy you emanate can be awesome. This is harnessed energy, however, and you generally prefer a more indirect approach to getting your way rather than a frontal assault. You are a real powerhouse, driven by strong desires toward leadership positions. Make sure to know the difference between leadership and domination.

Both Water and Serpent are signs of the East, a direction symbolic of action, self-interest and self-realization. This is a particularly strong combination, one signifying a strong urge for personal expression. You will not be tied down. Cultivate self-discipline, patience, and a respect for the rights of others to make your life a success.
 
 

What You Share With the Others of Your Birth Year

You were born in the year called 12-West. It is in the West that the Sun leaves the sky and disappears beneath the earth. It is the point where day is changed into night but it is also the point where day and night merge. The implication here is that the West is a direction symbolic of both transition and merging, a point of balance between two worlds. In a general sense, those born during this year stride along boundaries, one foot in the past and one in the future, one foot that is their own, one that is part of another. The energy of the West is balancing energy.

In a very general sense, relatedness is a challenge for you and all the others born this year. As a group you find it necessary to become skillful in handling relationships and dealing with other people in general. Diplomacy and counseling abilities are your strong point. Your ability to weigh alternatives will eventually lead you to good judgment and fair decisions, but if you take to long to think, you may be perceived as indecisive. The style of those born on this year is not so dramatic as it is sensitive to the needs of others and genuinely concerned with progress in the area of relationship -- personal and collective.

The number 12 preceding your direction indicates that you are driven to express yourself in many areas and on many levels. The energy of your direction needs to be focused to be most effective and productive.
 
 

Your Deepest and Darkest Motivations -- the Night Lord

You were born under the sixth Lord of the Night. Chalchihuitlicue (Chal-chi-WIT-lee-ku-ee), the Aztec goddess of water, springs, lakes, rivers, and birth itself is your ruling deity. She suggests that you are an emotionally deep person, difficult for others to understand. You feel strongly about many things, have strong attachments to the feminine side of life, and struggle with the role of parent.

Your deepest instincts push you towards a self-sufficient kind of lifestyle or career. You may be self-employed, or have had this kind of experience at some point in your life. This drive is behind many of your personality traits -- you are controlled, traditional, organized, and markedly entrepreneurial. You have a strong desire to build something, a business or an empire, and you are a very hard worker. Your work is rarely something done alone, more often you deal directly with the public, perhaps as a consultant or counselor.

Capturing the attention of the world is one of your goals. It is almost as if you need the world to verify the reality of anything you accomplish. You are strongly motivated by fame and worldly success and you constantly hold yourself to high standards of performance, ones that you probably didn't create on your own. Here is the secret to understanding your unconscious will -- you are driven to success in the world because you are really striving to be accepted by others. Probably, as a youth, one of your parents was somewhat critical of you. This may have led you to feel that standards of behavior and accomplishment are what life was all about. The lack of a parent or parents can have the same effect. If one or both of your parents were rarely present, or perhaps completely unavailable, you may have used your childhood imagination to create a set of standards that you believed your lost parents would have held. In either case, you do need to succeed in the world and be recognized for it. Media publicity and public popularity is very important to you. It is as if this kind of success signals to you the approval of your parents.

Your drive for independence and approval are all part of your quest for self-worth. Self-worth is belief in yourself, belief that you are a worthy person with something to offer. Why are you driven by this quest? Probably because you have many deep fears about who you are. Your ambitions and achievements in the outer world are all a response to this deep inner need. Your fear is that you are nothing, so you work to make something of yourself. As you progress along your path your life becomes a learning experiment and you discover your strengths and weaknesses. You become sensitive to the rhythms and nuances of life and you may develop a special interest and respect for the feminine side of life. Your best friends or clients may be women, or, if you are female, you may find that simply being a woman is a conscious challenge. Overall, however, your intentions are good and others will recognize this and accept you.
 
 

Your Patterns of Relationship -- The Phase of Venus

You were born with Venus in its Evening Star phase. According to the Maya, this is a 250-day period when Venus is visible after the Sun sets. This phase follows the Superior Conjunction phase and precedes the Inferior Conjunction phase.

For you, feelings and emotions arise after an action has been taken. In making judgments, which you do very well, you evaluate what has happened against the background of society's rules and values. You instinctively understand the power, and perhaps the correctness, of the world as it is and has been. The values and morals of the past are important to you and your vision is one that has probably been strongly influenced by tradition.

There is a sense of inevitable compromise in your life, possibly a reaction to your awareness of having been strongly imprinted by society, culture or your parents. One result of this may be seen in your stance towards the powers that be. It is possible that deep down you are troubled by your conditioning and how it causes you to evaluate and interpret the world in a certain way. But this is very subtle and most of you will only notice this pattern in a general way, far more obvious when viewed over the course of a lifetime.

One positive manifestation of evening star Venus is that you may become, consciously or unconsciously, successful due to the fact that you personify certain family and traditional values. In extreme cases, you could become a hero, a person who represents what your society truly believes in. It is through participation with the traditions and cultural definitions of reality that you achieve emotional satisfaction and success in life.

Your Days of Peak Experience

You will probably find that your experience of life becomes more intense about five days before the peak date and then builds. Keywords displayed next to the dates are a suggestion of how to focus your energies.
 
 

Critical day list for Bill Clinton (born Aug 19, 1946)

Report start date: Jan 01  2002
Report end date:   Jan 01  2007

Critical Day         Phase      Day No./Name   Direction      Keyword

Tue Feb 26 2002        Full        5 Water       East          surge
Thu May  2 2002         1/4        5 Ocelot      North         sense
Sat Jul  6 2002         1/2        5 Rain        West          heal
Mon Sep  9 2002         3/4        5 Lizard      South         regenerate
Wed Nov 13 2002        Full        5 Water       East          surge
Fri Jan 17 2003         1/4        5 Ocelot      North         sense
Sun Mar 23 2003         1/2        5 Rain        West          heal
Tue May 27 2003         3/4        5 Lizard      South         regenerate
Thu Jul 31 2003        Full        5 Water       East          surge
Sat Oct  4 2003         1/4        5 Ocelot      North         sense
Mon Dec  8 2003         1/2        5 Rain        West          heal
Wed Feb 11 2004         3/4        5 Lizard      South         regenerate
Fri Apr 16 2004        Full        5 Water       East          surge
Sun Jun 20 2004         1/4        5 Ocelot      North         sense
Tue Aug 24 2004         1/2        5 Rain        West          heal
Thu Oct 28 2004         3/4        5 Lizard      South         regenerate
Sat Jan  1 2005        Full        5 Water       East          surge
Mon Mar  7 2005         1/4        5 Ocelot      North         sense
Wed May 11 2005         1/2        5 Rain        West          heal
Fri Jul 15 2005         3/4        5 Lizard      South         regenerate
Sun Sep 18 2005        Full        5 Water       East          surge
Tue Nov 22 2005         1/4        5 Ocelot      North         sense
Thu Jan 26 2006         1/2        5 Rain        West          heal
Sat Apr  1 2006         3/4        5 Lizard      South         regenerate
Mon Jun  5 2006        Full        5 Water       East          surge
Wed Aug  9 2006         1/4        5 Ocelot      North         sense
Fri Oct 13 2006         1/2        5 Rain        West          heal
Sun Dec 17 2006         3/4        5 Lizard      South         regenerate

Background - The Nature of Maya/Aztec astrology

All of the Mesoamerican civilizations, Olmec, Toltec, Maya, Zapotec and Aztec, used essentially the same astrology. Although the names of symbols varied, the concepts remained the same. Because the Aztecs were the predominant civilization at the time of the Spanish Conquest, we have chosen to use their symbol names in this modern reconstruction of the Mesoamerican astrological tradition.

At the core of Mesoamerican astrology are the 20 day-signs. Like the 12 signs of the Western Zodiac, these are signs descriptive of both personality and possibility. In other words, the signs can be used to describe a person, or they can describe an event. In the Western 12-sign zodiac, the signs are sections of space spread across the sky along the path of the Sun, Moon, and planets. The Maya/Aztec day-signs are very different. They are based on time and are actually names of days. Each sign lasts only one day, until it comes up again twenty days later. Like our 7-day week, which is astrological and named for the planets, the Maya and Aztecs used a 20-day week for astrological purposes.

There is no presently known reason why the Maya and Aztecs used only 20 signs. Perhaps they had discovered an important biorhythm or cycle. But besides the 20-days, they also used a 13-day cycle (or sign) and these intertwined with each other. While the days of the 20-day cycle each have a name, the days of the 13-day cycle are numbered from 1 to 13. If you start both cycles together, the first day of the 20-day cycle coinciding with the first day of the 13-day cycle, it will take exactly 260 days for all possible combinations of day and number to occur. This period, 260 days, is the length of the sacred Mesoamerican astrological calendar that this program is based on.

The 20 day-signs each have a name and a symbol. The names of these with a brief meaning are listed below.

Alligator (east) - protective and dominating.

Wind (north) - agile, clever and multifaceted.

House (west) - deep, thoughtful and conservative.

Lizard (south) - active, dynamic and sexual.

Serpent (east) - powerful and charismatic.

Death (north) - sacrificing and helpful.

Deer (west) - cooperative and nomadic.

Rabbit (south) - clever and playful.

Water (east) - emotional and imaginative.

Dog (north) - loyal and helpful.

Monkey (west) - clever and demonstrative.

Grass (south) - careful and useful.

Reed (east) - knowledgable and crusading.

Ocelot (north) - intelligent and secretive.

Eagle (west) - free and independent.

Vulture (south) - authoritative and wise.

Earthquake (east) - intellectual but practical.

Knife (north) - self-sufficient but romantic.

Rain (west) - helpful and healing.

Flower (south) - loving and artistic.

You may have noticed that each of the signs is connected to a particular direction. The signs of the east are initiating and forceful. Those of the north are intellectual and critical. Signs of the west are cooperative and compromising. Signs of the south are emotional and reactive.

The day-sign a person was born under is the named day that occurred on their birthday. It delineates their most obvious personality characteristics and traits. A person is also born during one of twenty 13-day periods, periods that begin with a day-sign linked to the number 1. The 13-day period delineates their more subtle, possibly subconscious, personality qualities. It shows their deeper instincts and yearnings. The combination of day-sign and 13-day period yields a quite complete personality description, perhaps as good or even better than does the Western 12-sign zodiac. It should be said that these two signs represent only a partial reconstruction of what was once a more complex system. The rest, including signs ruling the year and the hour of birth, have been lost or completely recovered and made workable.

Because the day-signs signify general meanings and themes as well as personality configurations, they were used by the Aztecs for divinations. Like the I-Ching, a random drawing of beans or stones would allow a reader to find one of the 260 sign/number combinations and thus an answer to a question. Even today, the 260-day astrological calendar is used by Native American daykeepers in remote parts of Guatemala and Mexico. The divination section of this program utilizes computer technology to randomly select the sign/number combinations that may yield insights into a question asked.

Because the Maya and Aztecs did not have a developed writing system, and because most of their astrological knowledge was destroyed by the Spanish friars, little was known about this great product of theirs, and other Mesoamerican, cultures. The delineations used in this program were arrived at after several years of historical investigation, deep thought, and trial and error experimentation. Long lists of persons famous or known to the author, yet born under the same day-sign, were compared with each other. Eventually, this process led to some key concepts about each of the signs and the results, in the form of personality descriptions, are found in this program. The meanings for the signs when used in divinations were extrapolated from this information also.

We hope you find Maya/Aztec astrology to be not only interesting and fun, but helpful and a source of insight into your life.
 
 

The Year of Birth

East: creative/mental -- fertile/abundant

North: violent weather -- barren/dry/cold

West: wild/losses/illness -- cloudy/evil

South: good business/health -- variable

A second factor is a cycle of 52 years. In this longer period, 13 repetitions of the basic 4-year cycle are counted. As each year arrives, it is identified with a number and a direction. Four cycles of 13 years each make up the 52-year calendar round or Xiuhmolpilli.

Not all ancient Mexican cultures applied the cycle of years the same way. There was a lack of consensus about which year was linked to which number. The Aztecs used Reed (east), Knife (north), House (west), and Rabbit (south). The Classic Maya used Caban (east), Ik (north), Manik (west), and Eb (south), which correlate with Earthquake, Wind, Deer, and Grass. During Postclassic times the pattern was changed. The Classic pattern is used by the Quiche Maya who have kept the astrological traditions alive in Guatamala. The author believes that the year correlation established by the Classic Maya and continued by the Quiche Maya works.

Four and eight-year cycles have been found in nature by cycle researchers, a strong suggestion that there may be a real material basis to the cycling of the years. It is also interesting to note that the Olympics and United States presidential elections are held in the same year, years that are ruled by the east, according to the Quiche. Further, the Chinese cycle of 12 years correlates with this pattern if you look at it as three groupings of a 4-year cycle.
 
 

The Lords of the Night

The Lords of the Night are not a calendar per se, but a kind of symbolic cycle. The Maya linked the Lords to the Long Count. We know that on August 11, -3113 the ninth Lord was ruler. Start ing from this date we run a 9-day cycle along with the day-signs which allows the program to find the ruling Lord of the Night for any date. The 260-days of the tzolkin do not mesh perfectly with the 9-day cycle and it takes 9 cycles of 260 (2,340 days or 6.4 years) before the same combination occurs again.

Much less is known about how the Aztecs used the cycle. It appears that they ran the 9-day cycle against the 260 days and had the last two Lords ruling the last of the 260 days. In this manner the cycle would start again at the same place. In Maya/Aztec Astro-Report we have chosen to follow Maya usage.

Some writers have suggested that the Lords of the Night are actually a division of the nightime hours. Like the planetary hours of Western astrology, the night was divided into 9ths with the 5th Lord's rule centered around midnight. In this line of reasoning the day was divided into 13 hours.
 
 

The Cycle of Venus

According to the Dresden Codex, an ancient Maya manuscript that is one of the most authoritative sources on Maya astronomy and astrology, the cycle of Venus began when its rays first appeared in the twilight of dawn. This event usually occurs several days after the Inferior Conjunction of Venus with the Sun. The Inferior Conjunction is so-named because Venus, the lesser body, passes in front of the Sun, the greater body. In this conjunction, Venus, which disappears in rays of the Sun for over a week during this time, comes closest to the Earth. The Maya allocated exactly 8 days for this phase of the Venus cycle. After its heliacal rising, the second phase of the Venus cycle, its phase as a morning star, commenced. The Maya allocated 236 days to this period.

As Venus ends its time as a morning star, it once again disappears into the rays of the Sun. As it moves to conjoin the Sun again, it does so at its greatest distance from Earth. The conjunction in this part of its cycle is called the Superior Conjunction, because here Venus passes behind the Sun. The Maya allocated 90 days for this third phase of the cycle, a phase where Venus is not visible. After it re-emerges from behind the rays of the Sun, Venus begins its phase as an evening star, a phase for which the Maya allocated 250 days. These four phases of the Venus cycle, 8 days, 236 days, 90 days and 250 days add up to 584 days, the full cycle of Venus. The duration of these phases is a symbolic approximation of the astronomical facts, which actually vary somewhat from cycle to cycle.

The Maya and Aztecs believed that the cycle of Venus depicted the experiences of the god Quetzalcoatl in his descent to Earth. The first rising of Venus as a morning star symbolized his arrival on Earth. During the morning star phase Quetzalcoatl was overcome by desire and lust and committed sins; he pushed against the boundaries of society. During the disappearance of Venus at Superior Conjunction, a warlike athletic duel with the Sun took place and during the evening star phase, Quetzalcoatl, now fully sober, walked the Earth until his sacrificial death during the Inferior Conjunction. He was then reborn as the new Venus and the cycle began again.

This report calculates the phase that Venus was in at your birth according to the figures used and recorded by the ancient Maya. For each phase, the program offers a brief interpretation of the possible significance of Venus, symbol of both impulsive personal desire and collective social values, in your life.
 
 

Maya/Aztec Predictive Techniques

In the modern world where the individual comes first, experience has shown that dividing the 260-day cycle into fourths beginning from one's birthday reveals "critical" points that mark shifts or changes in personal matters. In many cases rather extreme events do occur precisely on one of the critical days, in others the effects occur a few days earlier. In some cases the effects are more subtle or psychological in nature. In understanding these critical dates it is helpful to view them from two perspectives, cycle and direction.

From your birthday, every 260 days represents one completed cycle in life. If this cycle of 260 days is divided by 4, or quartered, four sets, or "seasons," of 65 days is the result. Using the symbolism of the Sun/Moon cycle as a model, the occurrence of the birth day-sign is like the New Moon, the beginning of the cycle and a time of personal centering and new, barely conscious, beginnings. 65 days later corresponds (symbolically) to the first quarter, a time of crisis that demands action and adjustment. The midpoint of the cycle, 130 days, corresponds to the Full Moon, a time of separation or perspective. 195 days from the start of the cycle compares with the third quarter, a time of crisis requiring conscious choice.

The second perspective on the critical days is to recognize that each of the four dates in the cycle corresponds to one of the four directions. These are listed below.

East: Alligator, Serpent, Water, Reed, Earthquake. These are points that emphasize the need to be creative, to do something new and to move forward.

North: Wind, Death, Dog, Ocelot, Knife. These are points that may indicate crisis and the need to protect oneself from negative energy. The mind is under pressure during these times.

West: House, Deer, Monkey, Eagle, Rain. These are points of encounter with others, times of sharing and loss of ego. Relationships are important now.

South: Lizard, Rabbit, Grass, Vulture, Flower. These are points of strong feelings and emotional extremes. These may also be times of accomplishment and activity in the outside world.

Combining cycle symbolism with directional symbolism gives deeper insight into the patterns of the critical days. For example, if a sign of the north coincides with one of the quarters, a stressful time might be expected. If a sign of the west coincides with the opposition, important developments in relationships may be a prominent theme. A keyword has been given for each of the combinations that may suggest the direction in which the energies and trends are heading around that time. Experience has also shown that the effects of the critical days often become apparent several days before the exact day computed in this report.