Since today is 1 Uayeb on Julie's version of the Mayan Calendar...the beginning of five days when we take time out literally...I thought i would include a few things you might enjoy reading about using the Mayan calendar for divination.
Each day of the Tzolk'in has a Patron Spirit who influences events. Ah K'in, the Mayan shaman-priest, whose title means "Day Keeper", read the Tzolk'in to determine the answers to yes/no questions as well as more compex questions involving health, wealth and family. The Sacred Calendar is also used to set the most auspicious dates for household, lineage, and community rituals.
When a child is born, the day keeper interprets the Tzolk'in cycle to identify the baby's character (similarly done today with a natal chart). For example, a child born on the day of Ak'b'al is thought to be feminine, wealthy, and verbally skillful. The birthday of Ak'b'al (along with several other days) is also thought to give the child the ability to receive messages with the supernatural world through somatic twitches of "blood lightning", so he or she might become a Shaman-priest or a Marriage Spokesman.
There are several forms of Maya Calendar divination employing the sacred coral seeds which each Calendar diviner carries in a small bag with crystals and 'other small things' (Tozzer 1941).
The Precolumbian Maya practiced a form of Bibliomancy, in which they would cast the seeds upon a calendar to determine the good and bad days for the year.
Precolumbian Maya employed and Modern Maya Ah K'in employ Sortilage, in which piles of four or five beans are counted from the current calendar day of the Sacred Round to arrive at the result.
Modern Maya Ah K'in also employ Cartomancy, in which the fifty two cards of the poker deck represent the fifty two Year Bearers of the Maya Calendar Round.
Maya shamans also perform a wide variety of divinatory arts which do not specifically depend upon a mastery of the sacred calendar, including crystal, mirror and water gazing and spirit possession, among others.
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