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

Reed: You are probably highly regarded by others for one accomplishment or another. You may be way ahead of your competitors, or you have made your mark in your field. You may simply be competent at whatever you set your mind to or your hands on. You may also be popular and have earned a well-deserved fame and recognition from your peers. Even your enemies respect your successful ways.

Behind the all-around competency described above is your integrity and personal confidence. You will "stick to your guns" when under fire, keep a "stiff upper lip" when in trouble and, like the reed, remain firm when pressed. There is a militant side to you, and although you don't deliberately seek conflict, you seem to thrive in it. You can be politely aggressive, or a crusader for a cause -- but to you life is something to be won through strength and conviction.

You are quite ambitious -- but usually also very clear about your goals and intentions. You have principles that govern your behavior, and these are often of a moral or ethical nature. You may be attracted to religious or philosophical studies, or possibly concerned with justice. If you did not receive a good education, then you may have some problems in being opinionated and judgmental.

You work very hard, and you are far-sighted. You know the value of consistency and are capable of disciplining yourself to accomplish a task, even though it may take some time. Frequently, you take risks or pioneer the way in whatever it is that you do. Your inner confidence lets you do things that others would shy away from. You can take criticism because you know yourself so well. Your most important attribute is that you want to learn. Your openness to new ideas keeps you in the forefront of your field.

Closely related to your love of knowledge is your love of open spaces. You can't stand restraint -- you must be physically free to do as you choose. For this reason, you probably are more than casually interested in travel or exploration.

Teaching, politics, and the social sciences seem to appeal to you. You have a deep instinct for reading the characters of others and a talent for diplomacy. You are able to communicate well because you understand other people; you know where others really stand on important matters. Like a psychologist, you learn to evaluate people and form expectations that are realistic.

One of your pitfalls is a tendency to go to extremes. This may be compensated by your accomplishments in the world, but may also be a real problem. You are not a moderate person. You are a high-powered activist and achiever, capable of burning yourself and your friends out if you let things get too carried away. Once interested in something, you will not stop until you've learned enough about it or have accomplished what you set out to do in the first place. Sometimes others have to slow you down or even stop you from what may be destructive obsessions. Fortunately, you are generally balanced and usually catch yourself in time.

Reed was called Acatl by the Aztecs and it was symbolized by a tall reed plant that was used in making war darts and arrows. Its ruler was the dark deity Tezcatlipoca, a powerful warrior-magician who represented the force behind the rhythms of the sacred cycles of fate. He was also associated with vision of the future, and, quite possibly, this is a trait that those born on this day share or are interested in. One also gets the impression from this ancient symbolism that Reed types are warlike, capable of striking with sharp, pointed weapons, tools, or words.

The personality of your day-sign is reflected in the planet and sign emphasis in your Western astrological chart. It is quite possible that the zodiac signs Libra or Sagittarius, or their planetary rulers, Venus and Jupiter, are emphasized in your birthchart. These symbolize your sense of right, wrong and justice and your knowledge of human nature. The sign Aries or the planet Mars are also likely to be emphasized, these symbolizing your aggressive side.
 
 

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

You were born on the ninth 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 to 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 Reed and Serpent are signs of the East, a direction symbolic of action, self-interest and self-realization. This is a particularly potent combination, a reinforcement of self-interest and personal intensity. While you are an extremist and may even struggle with self-destructive patterns, you are also capable of great things due to your personal power and your dynamic leadership.
 
 

What You Share With the Others of Your Birth Year

You were born in the year called 2-North. From the perspective of ancient Mexico, the North is a place of cold and snow, a place that symbolizes the difficulty of survival. The North is where living things must invent ingenious survival tactics in order to make life worth living. A difficult environment stimulates intelligent adaptation. Correspondingly, those born during a North year are, in a general sense, adept at finding ways to preserve themselves. They don't seek to dominate their physical or social environment, they find ways to adjust to it, modify it, and work with it. This is the energy of the North. Northern types are fit to survive.

Persons born in years ruled by the North use their minds to solve problems. They are generally quite mental and rational and sometimes too clever for their own good. At best they are precise and exacting and good problem solvers. At worst they can convince themselves that things are other than what they are. Northern types should make an effort to better understand their feelings in order to balance out their strong mental orientation to life.

The number 2 preceding the direction of your birth indicates that it is a responsive and reactive year. You take strong imprints from the world around you and you carry memories for many years.
 
 

Your Deepest and Darkest Motivations -- the Night Lord

You were born under the seventh Lord of the Night. The goddess Tlazolteotl (Tlah-zole-TAY-ot-el) is your ruling deity. She was a confession goddess, one who was said to consume a person's sins, particularly their sexual sins. She was also a goddess of purification and healing. The symbolism of this goddess suggests that you are a person who may struggle with strong, socially unacceptable, urges.

Your desire nature is very strong. You also have a strong investment in presenting a socially acceptable face to the world. How do you reconcile these opposing needs? You cannot repress your urges to power, or sexual urges forever, eventually you must face this conflict directly. Perhaps you have "sinned" or simply said or did something that is against your better judgment. You will need to settle the imbalance somehow, if only for your peace of mind. A kind of penance, or self-inflicted punishment, may be your typical reaction to this kind of situation. Or maybe you never do anything "wrong," but hold many unsociable thoughts. Perhaps you bury yourself in work in an attempt to deny your deeper urges. Often times, this kind of repression makes you become a fanatic about order and cleanliness. You want at all costs to be in control of your outer world, because your inner world is not so controllable.

You are strongly motivated by relationships, partnering, and working with the public. You are indeed a very social person and you judge yourself by your company. You are also motivated by aesthetics, comforts, or material security. You like the finer things of life, or at least have more than a casual appreciation for music or art. All of this is in contrast to your deeper urges. Be careful what you say or do if you lead a public life.

Your inner conflict is great and so you need to heal yourself from time to time. You need to be more accepting of who you are, and especially be accepting of your darker urges. Repressing them makes your life worse. No one is perfect. Don't hide part of yourself under the rug. Find ways to creatively explore your deeper urges such as through art, or through psychotherapy. When you heal yourself, you will become a healer of others.
 
 

Your Patterns of Relationship -- The Phase of Venus

You were born with Venus in its Morning Star phase. According to the Maya, this is a 236-day period when Venus is visible before the Sun rises. This phase follows the Inferior Conjunction phase and precedes the Superior Conjunction phase.

You have what might be described as "youthful" emotions and feelings. You are interested in the world and in other people and you go out to meet them. You act first, evaluate later. Your warmth of feeling and willingness to join in with others can make you a popular person, unless others reject you in response to what they perceive as your radical social initiatives. Ultimately, it is your feelings that move you to action and these feelings also allow you to make instant evaluations. Underneath it all you are an individual testing the limits of what you believe to be true. Your personal vision, your personal sense of purpose, is your motivation in life, and hopefully, you will find the world open to it.

In your enthusiasm for life, you may occasionally make some mistakes. At times of crisis, try to consider other's perspectives before you put all your emotional energy into an action based on your instincts. You are a creative person who responds to a deep and very personal voice. In some cases, the rules of society may severely limit your initiatives causing you to experience defeat and disillusionment. Also, consider the fact that some of your desires may run counter to the rules of the society that you live within. A little patience and you may eventually succeed in stamping something of yourself onto the world, and changing it for the better.

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 Barack Obama (born Aug 04, 1961)

Report start date: Jan 01  2008
Report end date:   Dec 31  2012

Critical Day         Phase      Day No./Name   Direction      Keyword

Tue Jan 15 2008         1/4        9 Knife       North         evaluate
Thu Mar 20 2008         1/2        9 House       West          analyze
Sat May 24 2008         3/4        9 Rabbit      South         challenge
Mon Jul 28 2008        Full        9 Reed        East          project
Wed Oct  1 2008         1/4        9 Knife       North         evaluate
Fri Dec  5 2008         1/2        9 House       West          analyze
Sun Feb  8 2009         3/4        9 Rabbit      South         challenge
Tue Apr 14 2009        Full        9 Reed        East          project
Thu Jun 18 2009         1/4        9 Knife       North         evaluate
Sat Aug 22 2009         1/2        9 House       West          analyze
Mon Oct 26 2009         3/4        9 Rabbit      South         challenge
Wed Dec 30 2009        Full        9 Reed        East          project
Fri Mar  5 2010         1/4        9 Knife       North         evaluate
Sun May  9 2010         1/2        9 House       West          analyze
Tue Jul 13 2010         3/4        9 Rabbit      South         challenge
Thu Sep 16 2010        Full        9 Reed        East          project
Sat Nov 20 2010         1/4        9 Knife       North         evaluate
Mon Jan 24 2011         1/2        9 House       West          analyze
Wed Mar 30 2011         3/4        9 Rabbit      South         challenge
Fri Jun  3 2011        Full        9 Reed        East          project
Sun Aug  7 2011         1/4        9 Knife       North         evaluate
Tue Oct 11 2011         1/2        9 House       West          analyze
Thu Dec 15 2011         3/4        9 Rabbit      South         challenge
Sat Feb 18 2012        Full        9 Reed        East          project
Mon Apr 23 2012         1/4        9 Knife       North         evaluate
Wed Jun 27 2012         1/2        9 House       West          analyze
Fri Aug 31 2012         3/4        9 Rabbit      South         challenge
Sun Nov  4 2012        Full        9 Reed        East          project

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.

Aztec Name	Direction	Classic Maya Name	Qualities
Alligator	East	Imix	protective and dominating
Wind	North	Ik	clever and multifacted
House	West	Akbal	thoughtful and conservative
Lizard	South	Kan	active dynamic and sexual
Serpent	East	Chiccan	powerful and charismatic
Death	North	Cimi	sacrificing and helpful
Deer	West	Manik	cooperative and nomadic
Rabbit	South	Lamat	clever and playful
Water	East	Muluc	emotional and imaginative
Dog	North	Oc	loyal and helpful
Monkey	West	Chuen	clever and demonstrative
Grass	South	Eb	careful and useful
Reed	East	Ben	knowledgeable and crusading
Ocelot	North	Ix	intelligent and secretive
Eagle	West	Men	free and independent
Vulture	South	Cib	authoritative and wise
Earthquake	East	Caban	intellectual but practical
Knife	North	Etz'nab	self-sufficient but romantic
Rain	West	Cauac	helpful and healing
Flower	South	Ahau	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.