#mayanastrology – Cara Carozza

Living Maya Time – Reflections on N’oj

The Solstice revealed some very old knots within my family. Many ugly things were said. It left me shell shocked and seeking support from both the heart of the sky and the heart of the earth. The wounds will take time to heal, but they will no longer be festering. With time and space reconciliation will arrive. I’m focusing on keeping my own head in my heart as I serve as mediator. I’m also beginning to understand that the job of parenting never ends. Even when your own children become parents themselves. In fact, it is a whole new opportunity to untangle the knots of the past and our ancestral lineage. These are the gifts that the Trecena of K’at offered me while I was in the mountains. Opportunity and compassion.

Since I moved onto my parents property three years ago, I have been praying for healing between myself and them and it’s happened. Now there is space for this same healing to happen between myself and my own children. It’s not comfortable and it’s most certainly exhausting, but it’s the most sacred work that we can do while we are here in earth school. The Maya believe that the fire is the ear of spirit and that’s why fire ceremonies are such an important part of their spiritual practices. I made my Wajxakib B’atz fire ceremony at 4500 feet, opposite Mt Lassen this cycle. My fire offered me an image of a portal and an invitation to enter it. I accepted and spoke the words that needed to be spoken.

N’oj arrived quietly after we had descended the mountain and returned home. Still bruised and vulnerable, I found myself unable to write as the first full trecena of the new calendar cycle opened. My spirit asked for stillness and reflection first. I often think about N’oj as the mind of the calendar. However, N’oj is not only the mind. It is also the earth thinking through us. In order to hear the wisdom of the earth we need to listen. I listen best when I am quiet and that’s why I’ve decided to offer a reflection at the end of each trecena this calendar cycle instead of at the beginning.

Tomorrow our loyal companion T’zi arrives to chaperone us into our destiny. T’zi brings the frequency of justice and natural law along with the playful and instinctual nature of the dog. I look forward to sharing my journey with T’zi after I’ve taken it.

In Stillness,

Cara xoxo

Living Maya Time – Symbols of B’atz

Yesterday we entered a new creation cycle. I was up early and filled with excitement. B’atz is the weaver of time and our reality. An ideal day to make a small ceremony and offering at my cabin site, or so I thought. As my husband, step-father and I made the final ascent up the Santa Lucia range, we encountered an obstacle. A cattle guard that’s not nearly wide enough for the cabin that I’ve already entered into contract to purchase. Excitement deflated into fear and then shame. The signs had been so clear and I had felt so supported. Why had we not noticed the cattle guard before? What is the guidance now? I’m still not sure. I’m still sitting with it. My offering has been made and now I must wait for my answer.

Jun B’atz begins the twenty day tour through all the Nawals as we prepare for Wajxaqib’ B’atz. On this day new calendar day keepers or Aj’ij are initiated and large fire ceremonies are held to celebrate the new calendar cycle. Yesterday was also my step-mother’s Nima Q’ij, or great day. Linda is a master weaver. Her life is full of connection and beauty and she’s shared it all with me. I’ve inherited a new sister and an entire new extended family. They were just the medicine I needed to harness the purifying frequencies of the Tijax trecena while I was visiting them in New York. I did get to see the Niagra Falls and lots of Lilacs. Lucky me.

**Linda and her new beau, Bob at Chichen Itza**

My new sister Maat showed me over and over again what needed excising from my field. I’ve never met someone who moves through their life with such grace and optimism. She’s a mother of six and she and her husband own and operate a number of businesses together. Rather than have a rigid plan, she allows life to direct where her energy should go at any given moment. She doesn’t always arrive at the time that she intends to, but she never worries about it. And she ALWAYS speaks her mind. How refreshing! Being with her and her family for a week was truly liberating and very inspiring.

As I sit with my disappointment that I cannot build the cabin that I wanted to, I will be focusing on creating something new. I will trust the wisdom of time and the threads of creation. I will remember all of my blessings and all those that support me on my path. And I will pray and I will listen.

To New Beginnings,

Cara

Living Maya Time – Symbols of Tijax

Today we are invited to look in the mirror and reflect on what is no longer serving us. Tijax asks us to edit, purify and set the boundaries that need to be set so that deeper healing can occur. The past thirteen days have been very introspective for me. That’s the power of the serpent. If we were able to sit still and listen, Kan delivered powerful wisdom from deep within ourselves and our lineage. Kan left me with the gift of empathy for my mother. Empathy for her overwhelm with all the busyness that living on a multi-generational homestead can bring. My son and daughter-in-law to be welcomed a set of Siamese cats to their growing family. Sisters. My twin sister and I had a set of Siamese cats when we were growing up. I would have expected to have been thrilled by these two little lovelies. Instead I panicked. What about their dog, Beso? How would he react to his new roommates? Who would take care of them when we all go on vacation? So many questions.

I’ve been praying for healing and intimacy for my mom and I ever since my husband and I moved onto her and my stepfather’s property three years ago. The original plan included only us, but has expanded to include our youngest son, his beloved, their dog and now their two cats. My mom has accepted it graciously, but not without discomfort. Kan showed me how this discomfort feels in her body when I became overwhelmed by my son and future daughter-in-law’s decision to adopt two new pets.

My favorite purifying plant, Rosemary

Today Tijax arrives in perfect time and with just the precision I need to excise any lingering feelings of anxiety that I may hold. I now understand that for my mother, most anything can feel overwhelming. She deserves grace and my compassion. This is the real work that we are doing together. We’re showing up just as we are and we are still choosing to live together in community. I’ve come to understand that a community thrives when its members are diverse and carry different frequencies. Different medicine.

I’ve awoken on the other side of the country this morning. I’m in New York visiting my new sister, her family and my stepmom. I’m feeling all their frequencies and I can’t wait to see how they polish me and my perspective. I’m hoping to see a lot of lilacs and even Niagara Falls. It’s going to be purifying and it’s going to be healing. May you find just what you need to deepen your own healing over the next thirteen days.

Happy Spring,

Cara

Living Maya Time – Symbols of Aj

Today we welcome the stabilizing energy of Aj and boy am I ready for it. Ajpu led me on quite a quest over the past thirteen days. Yesterday I was rewarded and my new path was revealed. For seventeen years I have been a member of a mutual benefit corporation. The corporation has 100 members and collectively we own 2600 acres. Yesterday the ancestors and Nawal E’ conspired to grant me permission to build a cabin on this land. I’d abandoned this dream long ago, but Ajpu asked me to consider it again. From an elevated perspective. With the wisdom that my latest hero’s journey has gifted to me.

Aj is the connection between heaven and earth. It stands tall to hear the whispers of spirit and channels it into it’s roots which are firmly planted in the soil of mother earth. Aj represents the spinal column and it asks us to lead with our heart and for the good of our communities. Aj is most often symbolized by the cornstalk or the staff of life, but I’ve come to associate it with the mountains also. It’s quiet and noble strength are unwavering. Aj holds the container for our ceremonies. An Aj Q’ij is a spiritual guide and calendar priest who interprets the Cholq’ij and offers guidance.

The law of man may say that I own a piece of the mountain that my cabin will sit on, but I know that it cannot be owned. I am merely an invited guest and I do not take the hospitality that this sacred land has offered me for granted. I asked the land for permission to build on seven Aj. As I made my offering of cornmeal and tobacco, I asked for absolute clarity. I promised not to proceed unless the answer was crystal clear. Ajpu shined it’s light brightly over the past thirteen days. My application to build was approved unanimously and one of the other members has even offered to do all the ground work, at a discounted rate. When he told me that his birthday was March 22^nd, the same day as mine, I knew with absolute certainty that the land had also given her approval. She had just one condition. She asked for more ceremony.

The land that I have the privilege of building a cabin on is the land of the Esselen. The tribe that lived in reciprocity on these lands for hundreds if not thousands of years before colonization. For at least the past one hundred years our 2600 acres has been a gun and hunting club. No ceremonies have been made on these lands for a very long time. She is starving for communion with the humans that she hosts and provides for. This is what I heard on the mountain. A cry for connection and reverence. This is what Aj is asking of us over the next thirteen days. For the good of our families, our communities and the land herself we must stand up tall and witness what needs to be witnessed and then do better. A simple prayer is all it takes to begin.

In Strength,

Cara

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 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 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.