Living the Calendar
Location
Santa Fe, NM
United States
See map: Google Maps
How many in your family/community/group are living with the Mayan calendar?
I live alone and tend to practice alone; however, there is a powerful interest in the Mayan Calendar here in my community. If one seeks to share knowledge with others, it is never far to seek. Santa Fe is probably one of the few towns in the U.S. which has a surplus of initiated Daykeepers. The Tedlocks live here when they are not teaching back east, and Martin Prechtel is ensconced in the hills somewhere near Abiquiu.
How do you use the Mayan Calendar in your everyday life? Do you combine it with the Gregorian calendar?
I use it as spiritual pathwork. I hope soon to be able to introduce aspects of spiritual practice which were not in my original book, notably the "Art of Dreaming" in connection with the Calendar, and a special meditative technique sometimes known as the "Flight of Feathered Serpent."
To me, the Gregorian Calendar and the tzolk'in are entirely different in spirit. I don't combine them. I am either in one world or the other. Some K'iche' people have been known to remark that the Gregorian Calendar is the calendar of Father Sky, while the tzolk'in is the calendar of Mother Earth. When we go to work, deal with bureaucrats, or cash our paycheck, we are in Father Sky's world. When we connect with our deep spiritual roots, we are in the realm of Mother Earth. I feel the same way about it.
How has the Mayan Calendar influenced or changed your way of life or thinking?
I have been an astrologer for most of my working life, and have long been accustomed to attuning myself to different rhythms -- terrestrial, celestial, and so on. The tzolk'in has a special rhythm all its own. To attune oneself to it is to enter a flowing river which has neither beginning nor end.
What challenges or difficulties have you encountered in integrating the Mayan Calendar into your daily life?
I don't experience any difficulties. As I have said, I keep the two aspects of life separate. When the day is done and it is time to light candles and incense, the count of days will be there, waiting for me, just as it always has been, just as it always will be.
What do you feel are the benefits of living with the Mayan Calendar?
Entering a rhythm which is woven of a deep spiritual fabric. Among the K'iche' the day-sign we call Chuen (in Yucatec) symbolizes the thread from which life is woven, just as a beautiful blanket or huipil is woven. To live the Calendar is to weave the thread of life.
Do you have a blog or a web site you’d like your story to link to?
Visit me at www.jaguarwisdom.org, or follow me at twitter.com/jaguarwisdom
