Cara Carozza

Living Maya Time – Symbols of Ajpu

Yesterday was my Nima Q’ij, or Great Day. I spent the morning in ceremony and the afternoon working. As much as I wanted to spend the entire day in prayer and celebration, my day job didn’t allow for that this cycle. It’s tax season and the flow of paperwork is relentless. If I don’t keep it moving, I will drown in it. Still, I couldn’t help but infuse the magic of my birth Nawal into all that I did to serve my clients. Ajpu asks us to see the divinity in the mundane and to find the hero that lives within us.

The hero’s journey is not an easy path to walk. Meeting our shadow is uncomfortable, at best. Ajpu is the promise of light at the end of the dark tunnel. It’s the elixir that is waiting on the other side of our greatest challenges. It’s the return of spring after a long dark winter. Kej has created the container for our blossoming. As the Nawal of the Maya religion, Kej is a spiritual teacher. I was an excellent student while under Kej’s tutelage. I was prepared for my Great Day. Some of the most important people in my life were born during the Kej trecena and I celebrated each of them with a personalized ritual.

Now I’m ready to integrate my ritual making skills into my business. Personalized ceremonies to initiate and close financial cycles. A divination card deck that I’ve designed from the messages spoken to me through my dreams and the symbols of the Cholq’ij. My second memoir which explores the themes of money, magic and menopause and my own hero twin journey. I can’t wait to share these offerings once they are fully gestated. They’ve alchemized my healing and illuminated my path forward.

Yesterday we also had a total lunar eclipse, also known as a blood moon. In the Popol Vuh, the K’iche’ Maya creation story, the mother of Jun Ajpu is named Ixquic which means blood moon or blood maiden. Perhaps this eclipse is inviting us to rebirth ourselves as the divine beings that we are. The world could certainly use more light right now and that’s what I intend to channel for the remainder of this trecena.

May you be the hero of your own life,

Cara

Living Maya Time – Symbols of Kej

I’m ready for the steady and grounded energy of the stag after yesterday’s convergence of astronomical events. The trecena of magic ended with a solar eclipse, the return of Venus to the evening sky and the final day of Wayeb or Tz’apin Q’ij. Wayeb is the five-day period at the end of the Maya solar year. It is seen as a time of introspection and in some communities, public ceremony is avoided entirely until the new year lord or Mam has been seated. Jun Kej will guide us over the coming solar year and the next thirteen days. Yesterday was also the Chinese or Lunar new year. According to those traditions, we will be guided by the fire horse this year. Another four legged for the journey.

Yesterday was also the first day of my Mayan Cross. Your Mayan Cross is calculated using your date of birth. Here is where you can look up yours: http://www.walkingthewhiteroad.com. There are nine Nawals in your cross and they all occur within a twenty-eight day period, every 260 days. This period is often referred to as, “The Path of the Feathered Serpent” and it’s an ideal time for personal reflection and intention setting. I’d originally planned on making a small fire ceremony for my ancestors yesterday. Oxlajuj’ Kame is, according to many, the day when the veil is most thin. Both the number and the Nawal are associated with the ancestors and the unseen realms. Mother nature had her own ideas about what was best for me yesterday and she poured rain all day, extinguishing my plans.

I almost abandoned my ceremony making. I’m in the middle of my busiest time of year. Yet, if I’ve learned anything about this calendar, it’s the power of listening to the energy of each day and meeting it where it is. I’ve also learned that ceremony can happen anywhere, at any time. Your presence and your intention are what’s most important. My ceremony yesterday supported me in all the ways that I needed to be supported right now. I spent the day at the spa. I invited my ancestors to join me in the sauna and then I made a prayer as I poured water over the hot rocks. My sauna was followed by a purifying shower and then a restorative deep tissue massage. It soothed my body and cleared my mind making it easy to feel the magic that was all around me.

Kej is the Nawal of the wilderness and it carries a decidedly masculine frequency. It is not unlike the fire horse archetype that was welcomed yesterday by so many. It’s also the Nawal of spiritual leaders and priests and priestesses. Kej derives his power from the force of nature itself. The deer embodies stability through it’s four powerful legs. It holds all four of the cardinal directions within it’s medicine and that medicine is best taken outdoors. That is the guidance for the next thirteen days and also the coming solar year. Get outside. Bathe in Mother Natures tonics. It will soothe your soul and heal you.

Naturally,

Cara

Living Maya Time – Symbols of Ix

My dream drought ended with the arrival of the Imox trecena. It had been nearly a month since I’d logged any images in my bedside journal. On 12 E I was suddenly gifted with three vivid dreams in a row right before dawn broke. Bathed in the energies of the collective consciousness and cumulative wisdom, I wash shown a new path. A path of ease.

In the first dream I am holding a small, soft and silky black dog. I’m petting his tiny head as he nuzzles into my chest. He makes me feel safe. My next memory is of standing in front an enormous oak tree. It’s boughs are heavy with bouquets of white and yellow flowers. Dozens of hydrangeas, daffodils, lilies and sunflowers smile down at me. They make me feel happy. In the final scene I’m in a house. It’s small and cozy and it reminds me of the cabin on the river that my husband and I raised our four children in. I open the door to a room. My sister is in it and she’s sleeping. In the next room I find my niece and nephew also sleeping. They are in a bed together with the little black dog. Seeing them makes me feel peaceful.

The dreamy otherworldly quality of Imox continues as we enter the trecena of Ix today. Ix is magic. To understand her, you must slow down and feel her. I struggled to stay grounded over these past thirteen days. My busy season is in full swing and I’ve taken on my partners tax clients this year. She’s slowing down and my son is ready for more work. I’m also writing a book. It’s a lot being wife, mother, daughter, friend, business advisor, mentor and writer. Disciplined scheduling has always served me when I’m overwhelmed, but it stifles creative flow. Imox showed me that over the past thirteen days. Now I’m feeling in need of a miracle to get through it all. Lucky for me, the medicine of the jaguar has arrived just in time.

Ix is the nawal of the jaguar and mother gaia. She rules mother earths natural alters and the cacao plant. She whispers through intuition and the fire. She nurtures and she protects. Don’t mistake her tender touch for weakness. Like her totem animal the jaguar she is a powerful and fierce. She also walks quietly. Ix asks us to continue to listen. If we’ve attuned ourselves while under Imox’s tutelage, we will be better able to see the magic that weaves our world. The magic of Ix is best appreciated outdoors. Ideally with a cup of cacao. If you arrive with presence and gratitude in your heart, Ix will bless you with more magic than you can possibly imagine.

Peacefully,

Cara xoxo

Living Maya Time – Symbols of Imox

Imox is the Nawal of water and the collective consciousness. It’s where we plant the seeds of our next creative dream. I’m not sure I’m ready for a new creative dream. I may have overeaten at the banquet that Q’anil offered me over the last thirteen days. I’m still feeling a bit energetically hung over from it all, or maybe it’s the intense solar activity we’ve been experiencing. Either way I feel spun and in need of grounding.

Imox is not a grounding energy. It’s an energy of pure potential and all those possibilities can feel overwhelming. Quiet presence is what Imox asks for and what I intend to cultivate as I enter the busiest time of my professional year. It won’t be easy. I still have a lot of crops in my garden from last season to tend to. Maybe this is why I don’t feel ready for any new dreams quite yet. I’m still digesting last season’s bounty. It was very delicious. The seeds of community and creativity that I planted during the last Imox trecena nine months ago flourished magnificently and I couldn’t resist tasting the fruit of each and every one of them.

My Q’anil banquet began with a Mayan personal ritual workshop which inspired me to harvest water from a natural source for my altar. That inspiration led to an invitation to visit my friend Kim. Kim lives near a seasonal lake and I hadn’t seen her in over a year. Our friendship was definitely in need of watering. My thirst quenched from our visit, I was then offered payment for tax services rendered from a new client in the form of an in-home massage. My main course followed. A retreat that included a sound bath and a cacao ceremony. It was hosted by another new client that I’ve added to my garden. My dessert was served at the edge of the pacific, in the baths of the Esalen Institute by my new friend Elena.

It was certainly a bountiful feast, but I’m ready to get back to my routine now. I’ve lost touch with my daily practices in the frenzy of my harvest celebrations. Without them, I risk drowning in the pool of Imox’s fertile waters. Staying present is what will keep me afloat. Presence arrives for me through my breath. If I can just remember to breathe deeply, then I will be okay.

In Peace,

Cara

Living Maya Time – Symbols of Q’anil

I traded my usual flute of sparkling champagne for a sponge filled with bubbly soap to welcome the Gregorian new year of 2026. Last trecena, Tz’ikin offered an expanded vision of the path to prosperity and I wanted to view that path with a clear lens. This opportunity to see with the clarity of the eagle inspired me to clean and clear every corner of my physical life. My house, my car and even my office. On the ceremonial day of the trecena, 8 Iq, I performed a purification ritual. I washed all of my window sills and door thresholds with a salt water wash infused with lavender and cypress oil and fresh eucalyptus leaves. As I opened each window, I invited the fresh and recalibrating energy of the new solar year to clear away any stale or dense energy that no longer served.

Today we welcome the energy of Q’anil. Q’an means yellow and combined with the suffix il it means yellowing or ripening. The glyph for the nawal of Q’anil represents a perforation upon the earth separating four seeds that represent the four colors of corn: red, black, white and yellow. It is the planting of the seed, but also the harvesting of the crop. It is the continuum from germination to maturity. It’s the path from the vision offered by Tz’ikin to the manifestation into physical form through our careful tending. In the brilliant lucidity of my purified reality, two seeds were offered. The first was an educational path that will enable my son to take over my business when I’m ready to retire and the second was a traditional publishing contract for my second book which I’m currently in the middle of writing.

These are the seeds that I’m planting today in my garden under the benevolent and sunny energies of Q’anil. My seeds are hearty and from a known lineage. This next cycle will be about refinement for me. Refinement and dissemination of all the wisdom I’ve gained over the past three decades of traversing the landscapes of money and energy. I’ve come to understand how they intersect and how to make both work for you in a balanced and aligned way. I was also shown the vision for the cover of my new book. It’s a Mayan T shaped window overlooking a garden of spring flowers. The title of the book will be, A Second Spring: Money, Menopause and Magic. I can’t wait to share it with you once it’s finally born.

In the meantime, I invite you to choose your own couple of seeds to germinate today. What ideas presented themselves in the space between Christmas and New Year’s? Maybe today is the day your wishes can begin to come true. Your intentions will be in alignment with a calendar that is as old and as wise as time itself.

Happy New You,

Cara xoxo

Living Maya Time – Symbols of Tz’ikin

Iq blew threw California with tremendous force. Many on the west coast celebrated the Christmas holidays by candlelight, but not necessarily by choice. The hurricane force winds disabled much of our local power grid and most businesses in Carmel-by-the-Sea had to shutter their doors for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and even the day after Christmas. My family celebrates the Winter Solstice so we had plenty of leftovers and a generator to ride out the storm.

Iq is a strong nawal. It’s best faced with courage. My son mustered all his courage and the inspiring energies of Iq to propose to his girlfriend on Jun Iq which fell on December 15^th. Her acceptance initiated thirteen days of happy news, lively celebrations and lots and lots of conversation. Iq hummed, hovered and buzzed through my holiday season just like it’s animal totem the hummingbird. Iq has cleared the skies for todays nawal Tz’ikin. I’m grateful for the lighter energy this nawal offers.

Tz’ikin is the nawal of vision and it’s animal totem is the bird. Today’s energy gifts us with a panoramic view that may illuminate possibilities that have evaded our awareness. The expanded sight of the bird will be available to us over the next thirteen days. Most of us are reflecting on the past Gregorian calendar year whether we celebrate it or not. This new year, my outer and inner calendars are aligning and it feels quite magical. Especially while I’m still glowing from all our holiday fun.

Tz’ikin is the intermediary between humans and the creator and as such, it is the nawal of prosperity. Prayers made today are likely to manifest tangible and observable results. I’m going to channel my high vibes into a fire ceremony today. I’ve got three specific prayers to make.

One for a friend who’s having surgery tomorrow. My prayer for her will be for wellness. I will hold the vision of her completely healed and experiencing relief after years of suffering. My next prayer will be for another friend who is seeking a consistent flow of clients who value her services and happily pay her fee. I will offer seeds to the fire to keep Tz’ikin well fed so it can deliver her prosperity. My final prayer will be for my amazing daughter Caroline. She’s one of just a handful of women at her software company and she’s been recommended for a promotion. Ahead of many of her co-workers that have been working at the company longer than she has. The prayer that I offer for my daughter will be for expanded career opportunities and a healthy compensation for her new responsibilities.

Tz’ikin is the wisdom of a prosperous and healthy community. My prayer for our entire world this trecena will be for harmonious coexistence. Through the higher vision that Tz’ikin offers we can all imagine a brighter world into existence. One prayer at a time.

Many Blessings,

Cara

Living Maya Time – Symbols of Iq

Both of my step-sons were born on an Iq day. It’s an energy that I should have a deep understanding of having known them both for most of their lives. Yet, the essence of Iq is not a force that you can see, it’s one you that you must feel or perhaps hear. Iq is the wind and the breath of life. It offers purification and renewal after the embers of Toj have received our offerings and burned away any imbalances. Iq also rules communication and fuels manifestation through our words. It’s not surprising that one of my step-sons is a songwriter and the other one a salesman. They’ve both harnessed their innate powers as wordsmiths to make their way in the world.

Words have come less easily for my own son. Numbers have always been his favorite language. He’s mastered the compliance side of my tax business with ease over this past year. What he’s still learning is the art of conversation. This weekend, Toj offered my son the perfect chance to practice his communication skills and make an offering. An elderly patron of our local coffee shop was in need. Julia’s lost her sight in one eye and can no longer pay her own bills. She’s also struggling with her memory and is afraid she might forget something important.

I wasn’t sure if my son wanted to take on Julia’s paperwork. She would need a lot of patience and she can’t afford to pay very much. The job is a charitable one. So far in my son’s young life, he’s mostly been motivated by earning money. Julia even needed help getting to and from her car. My son shepherded her with ease, having done it many times before at the coffee shop. The image of his six-foot frame tip toeing alongside fragile Julia with his arm offered as support suggested that he might be willing to take her on as a client. His words confirmed that he certainly was when I told him that I didn’t think that he was going to make much money on this job.

“I don’t care about the money Mom. I just want to help her. She’s part of our community. It was also really good practice for me. Only about ten percent of what she said is relevant to the job, but I wouldn’t have heard it unless I was patient.” Sometimes Toj brings an offering. This weekend I was the recipient of one and my heart is full. Now I’m ready to embrace the winds of change and the renewal that Iq offers.

Iq’s spirit animal is the hummingbird. The hummingbird is a master of the wind. It can fly in every direction and even hover. It reminds us of the power our words carry. Each and every one. Even small statements can have a big impact. Just like the tiny hummingbird, we live through vibration. Our words and our voice are powerful tools for creation. Over the next thirteen days they will be infused with the magic of Iq . I intend on chaneling this frequency to plant seeds of intention on the Solstice. Our family will gather to exchange gifts and a meal and then we will all read the intentions that we recorded last year and craft new ones for the coming year. I’m delighted to have Iq and the spirit of the hummingbird at our table next Sunday.

Happy Solstice,

Cara

Living Maya Time – Symbols of Toj

I’ve had a lot of opportunities for gratitude over the past thirteen days, but I was not immune to the sting that the medicine of Ajmaq often brings. After eight long months and many hours on the phone with the Internal Revenue Service, Mercury Retrograde delivered my sister’s tax refund. The last thing I had been waiting for in order to finally close her estate. All that remained was to sort through her personal possessions. She left a surprisingly small amount of stuff. She’d done a massive purge and even managed to get her house into escrow in the weeks leading up to her suicide. She made the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do as easy as it could possibly be for me. For this I will always be grateful.

I’ve kept what I think my niece and nephew will want the most when they are finally able to look at it. I found a few things that I know they will never want to see. I’ve set those aside to burn in ceremony this evening. Today we welcome the energy of Toj. Toj is the Nawal of reciprocity and the sacred fire. The fire ceremony is the Mayan’s most fundamental ritual and also my favorite. The fire is our portal to communion with the spiritual realms and our ancestors. It’s where we offer spiritual food to the energies that sustain us. Toj teaches that in order to have balance in our lives, we must make offerings in payment for what we have received.

I’ll be offering rose petals and rosemary from my own garden today. I’ve been trying to use what I have and what already knows the land. I will also offer cacao, tobacco, copal and agua florida from my favorite local sources in Central America. Supporting the indigenous wisdom keepers of the spiritual practices that feed my soul is part of the reciprocity of Toj. It’s another offering from me to create balance in my life.

The fire also offers an opportunity for purification. Fire cleanses and transmutes. Today I will burn the documents of old agreements. I will pray for the transmutation and renewal that only the flame can deliver and I will offer prayers of gratitude for the financial stability that my sister’s departure has created for me. I invite you to light a candle each day for the next thirteen days and take a moment to offer your presence and your gratitude for what you’ve received this year.

In Service,

Cara

Living Maya Time – Symbols of Ajmaq

Today we welcome not only a new trecena, but also a new moon in Scorpio. Before I discovered the Maya’s sacred count of days, the Cholq’ij, I was a life-long student of western astrology. Planetary cycles still interest me, but I don’t keep track of them like I used to. I’ve turned my attention inward to observe and understand my own personal landscape and cycles. But, it’s still good to know what the weather is going to be like before we head out the door.

Mercury went retrograde on the 9^th and won’t go direct until the 29^th. You may have noticed that there’s a lot of static out there right now. Static in communication, electronics and plans you’ve tried to make. Everything slows down to allow time for integration during Mercury retrograde. Whether we like it or not. I found the sluggish pace of Mercury retrograde to be in perfect alignment with my intentions to find as much stillness as I could during the last trecena of Aq’ab’al. Through this stillness, I’ve been accessing more of my own wisdom through dreams.

Last night I had a really lovely and vivid dream to welcome the redemptive energy of Ajmaq and the introspective quality of the Scorpio new moon. Thank You had been tattooed in rainbow letters across the length of my arm and I was asking for it to be removed. Once I made my request, the tattoo transformed into blue and green stars. I was offered the phrase, “Gratitude creates transformation” as I watched the images on my arm alchemize.

I’ve come to know Ajmaq as the nawal of human nature. To be human is to make mistakes. Mistakes teach us and invite even more wisdom through forgiveness. Ajmaq’s medicine is intense like the sting it’s spirit guardian the bee delivers when it feels threatened. Pain is a compelling teacher. It has a powerful energy signature that gets stored deep in the human body and psyche. Ajmaq invites us to transmute our pain through forgiveness. Forgiveness of ourselves and forgiveness of others. One of my favorite rituals to initiate self-forgiveness is the practice of repeating the Hawaiian Ho’oponopono mantra. It’s used to heal negative memories and situations by taking personal responsibility for what appears in your reality and seeking forgiveness and love for yourself and others.

I am sorry

Please forgive me

Thank you

I love you

I’ve got a beautiful new beeswax candle for my Ho’oponopono practice this trecena. I’ve also got another mantra that my own dreams have gifted me with, “Gratitude creates transformation.”

May you find love and forgiveness in your own heart as this new moon and the energy of Aqmaq illuminates the shadow within us.

Living Maya Time – Symbols of Aq’ab’al

We’ve been blessed with some early rains this year in California. Always something to celebrate. Both for the earth and the sky. The parched soil cherishes every drop and the rain clouds paint the horizon in a most spectacular way. Especially at dawn and dusk. This transition time is the energy of Aq’ab’al. It is the moment when the light changes. New concepts and ideas are revealed. Supported by the wisdom of N’oj the scribe and the unconditional love of Tz’i the dog, it’s time to start imagining our new creation for this calendar cycle.

This Spring I bought a journal just for dreams when I took a Rest and Digest workshop. I’ve always recorded the lucid dreams that come through with vivid clarity, but never kept a journal specifically for dreams. Remembering all my dreams has been more challenging than I expected. The images dissolve quickly in the first light of morning. Stillness is how I’ve learned to capture them. My mornings have become a quiet prayer to my soul. A totally new concept for me.

I am a morning person. I always awake before the dawn. When we had our four kids all living at home with us, my morning energy was channeled into making lunches and wrangling paperwork into backpacks while my husband made breakfast for everyone. I relied upon him to tell me what the weather was going to be like because I rarely looked outside until it was time to take the kids to school. It was exhausting and left me feeling disconnected from myself.

These days, I allow myself more time to rest and be still in the morning. When I do, I can remember my dreams much more easily. Rest, renewal and stillness are symbols I’ve come to understand as embodying the energy of Aq’ab’al. If we’re busy all the time and darting around from here to there, we might miss out on hearing what spirit is trying to speak. Or we might not even see the beautiful sunrise that is right outside our window. It will be gone in an instant, just like the images in our dreams.

Over the next thirteen days, I invite you to rest more and find time for stillness. If you do, new ideas and important messages may arrive. Mother nature may also gift you with a beautiful sunrise or sunset. This is wisdom of Aq’ab’al for me. Be still and all will be revealed in its’ own time.

Happy Listening,

Cara