The Trecena of 1 Cauac/Kawoq

1 Cauac/Kawoq-The Trecena of Rainstorms

The Divine Feminine. That is the crowning energy that Cauac, or Kawoq in K’iche’ Maya, carries. Given its special connection with women and feminine energy, Cauac represents women in all their roles and walks of life, especially as mothers, wives, sisters, midwives, and healers.  This is a powerful sign that channels massive volumes of energy and force: it symbolizes spiritual connection, contact and communication; blood lightning signals and messages; difficulty, curses, and sacrifice; spiritual unrest and mental conflict and weakness. It is connected to the forces of nature, signifying thunder, lightning, and all manner of powerful rainstorms—typhoons, cyclones and hurricanes. It is also the archetype of community and communities, in all senses of the word, from family to neighborhood to city to nation to society and culture, and symbolizes our relationship with everyone and everything around us. Cauac is the nagual and patron of midwives, and is sometimes said to represent the celestial home of the gods. Curiously, it is also the nagual of all kinds of disputes. Cauac’s animal totems are the turtle and the puma.  In the Classical Maya tradition, it is associated with the cardinal direction West and the color black.  In the tradition of modern-day K’iche’ Maya, it is East and the color red. 

On Cauac days, the Ajq’ijab’ (Mayan priests) and the K’exelon (midwives) burn copal to ask for the well-being of their communities, and the people pray for everpresent harmony in their home lives and among their friends.  This is a highly auspicious day for all matters related to health, healing and well-being.  It is also the day for quartz crystals and the sacred tz’ite seeds Maya Daykeepers use in their readings.

Rainstorms bring forth the blessings of life-giving waters, of warmth and comfort, abundant harvests and growth, but also the potential for torrential downpours, sweeping winds, and floods that can erode entire cities, relationships, or histories.  Like the Sun, the Ocean, or the Wind, Cauac propels great amounts of energy and force—it is a vital source sign that will put you face to face with your own personal rainstorms.  

This Trecena, leave your umbrella at home.  Step outside as you are and let Cauac’s rain seep deep into the marrow of your soul.  Let it dissolve your worries and anxieties, flush out your fears, wash away toxic emotions and thoughts.  Let it comfort your heart, soothe your mind, clear the path you walk.  Above all, accept Cauac with all of its power—the power to nourish exuberant, abundant life, and the power to flood, destroy, and overpower.  Such is the everpresent duality in all aspects of existence; denying it only delays the fulfillment we seek.  However strongly we may desire only the best experiences or participate in only certain tasks and responsibilities—usually that which is easier or more enjoyable—we need to recognize the natural harmony and balance between two of everything.  Human society needs both women and men; day cannot exist without night; life without death would spiral into madness.  There can be no endless growth, whether in nature or the economy.  The cycles of sustainability, balance, and harmony are woven into the very fabric of reality—and no amount of marketing, money, or media noise can change that.  The sooner we all accept and embrace the natural state of things, the more we respect our power as human beings and the power of nature, the sooner we shall find ourselves on the path we seek.

These are the vast and overwhelming forces of nature, whether human, animal, or planetary, at once simple and complex, violent and compassionate, that meander and swell, deplete and nurture. Respect their power and their fragility, their strength and their softness. They are a part of you as they are a part of all existence.

This is what creates, in the end, true community.  We may all be individuals living independent lives, but we are part of various groups and communities, from our family and the place we live, to our country and global human society.  Tying it all together is Cauac’s distinctly feminine energy, for, as author Ken Johnson explains, “The sense of community and communion is founded in the feminine principle.”  So honor the women in your family and your community, honor that nurturing, bonding energy that keeps everyone and everything together in the face of the most violent storms.

The power of Cauac is unlike that of any other… so use it well.  Respect and honor it, harness it with the purest of intentions.  It will return the favor a thousandfold.

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(Excerpt from The Serpent and the Jaguar: Living in Sacred Time by Birgitte Rasine.  If you'd like to repost this Trecena text, please copy the above text in its entirety and credit Birgitte Rasine/The Serpent and the Jaguar with a link to www.maya-portal.net, and email us with a link to your site so we can reciprocate.)

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