We are now officially into summer. Venus is bringing in the dawn, and the moon is waxing from New to Full, exactly spanning a 13 day period that is going from a Ring of Fire Solar Eclipse on the last day of the last trecena to a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on the last day of this Ajaw (Sun) trecena. This intriguing timing even extends to the fact that Inti Raymi, the Inca Festival of the Sun, is coinciding with the third day of this period, at which time a great ceremony will be held in Cusco to honour the Sun God and Pachamama (Mother Earth).

Click here for the Podcast for this trecena

In the realm of the Classic Maya, this trecena was welcomed traditionally as a time for celebration. The very first day, One Ajaw, was observed as a celebrational “day of flowers”, during which dancers, singers, song-writers, drummers, storytellers, artists, orators, feast makers, gift-givers, banner-bearers, and flower-bedecked revelers would have been fully engaged in welcoming in the auspicious and joyful One Ajaw (or “One Flower”), representative of the initiation of “Full Sun” or “Full Enlightenment”. It was seen as a day to extol the virtues of creativity in all its diverse forms.

At this strange time in world history Old Coyote, the God of Dance who is the patron of this trecena, would likely advise a little “fancy dancing” during this trecena as a whole to help people “loosen up” and become even more innovative in their efforts to find solutions to the many crises plaguing this planet at the moment. Solutions are needed on so many levels and people are beginning to find many interesting ways to get things moving again even as restrictions continue to be imposed on a world that now has more than 9 million cases of Covid-19, with that number rapidly rising.

Indeed, creativity in all its forms, is central to this trecena, in line with “harnessing” the energy of the sun to bring forth new ideas. There is often “intense heat” – seen traditionally as solar energy from the Sun God – that drives actions forward during this time. Sometimes this even manifests quite literally as many extremely high temperatures have been recorded under this influence – which might not be surprising at this time, as this is now the first full trecena of the 2020 summer season.

During the last appearance of this trecena, in early October of last year, the heat was on in terms of the impeachment investigations in the US, and early testimonies were shedding light on the nature of corruption at the highest levels of government. Leadership in many countries was being tested at that time, with leadership in Israel still undecided, Congress in crisis in India, Brexit reaching a critical point in the UK, and pro-Democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong being inflamed by new restrictions. All that while massive climate change protests were taking place.

At that time, one cycle ago, the first day of this trecena (One Ajaw) marked the beginning of the 18th week of pro-Democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong, with the clashes between protesters and police becoming increasingly aggressive, as tens of thousands of people were involved. The city had just imposed a ban on the wearing of face masks, which exacerbated the conflict even further. Given what has happened since then with regard to the pandemic, this now seems ridiculous, but even so there is still some debate as to the application of this colonial-era law in the midst of a health crisis. In April a court ruled that the banning of masks was constitutional at unlawful gatherings, but that banning masks at lawful gatherings and allowing police to demand their removal was unconstitutional. The question remains: what is a lawful vs. an unlawful gathering?

As China has recently released details of legislation that outlines Beijing’s intention to set up a national security agency in Hong Kong, for the purpose of imposing further control, this is seen as a move to end the “one country, two systems” arrangement that has enabled such freedoms as the right to free speech and other kinds of civil liberties generally not seen in mainland China. The implications of this new legislation are yet to be seen. Establishment Day in Hong Kong on July 1st, towards the end of this trecena, could be a major flashpoint, as this is the 23rd anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong’s sovereignty from the UK to the People’s Republic of China, and this is a day that is always marked by a huge demonstration led by the Civil Human Rights Front. Will this demonstration be considered lawful and allowed ? And if it goes ahead will the people be allowed to wear masks? We shall see.

In the past this Ajaw trecena has ushered in many events of great significance, including the establishment of a camp at Veracruz by Hernán Cortés and his men in 1519 as they were embarking on their conquest of the Aztec Empire; the adoption of the U.S. constitution in 1787; the defeat of Napoléon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815; President Abraham Lincoln’s delivery of the Gettysburg address in 1863; the discovery of gold in the Klondike, in 1896; the opening of Sun Records, that gave birth to Rock ‘n’ Roll, in 1950; the putting into operation of the first computer produced for commercial use, in 1951; the averting of the outbreak of WWIII during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962; the massive March on the Pentagon demonstration in 1967 to protest the US involvement in the Vietnam war; the stoppage of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010; and President Obama’s visit to Cuba in 2016, the first visit to Cuba by a sitting president in nearly nine decades.

At the opening of this trecena three cycles ago, in May 2018, it was reported that California will become the first state to mandate the use of solar energy in every new home. One cycle before that, in the summer of 2017, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (Ligo) system detected simultaneously for the first time both light and the ripple of gravitational waves, thought to be from the collision of two neutron stars, which touched off “the greatest show in astronomy” as hundreds of astronomers on all seven continents began focusing their instruments on data collection about this distant event (in both space and time). As this was seen as “a new Rosetta Stone for Astronomy” this event signalled “a new era of astronomy”.

As we embark on this trecena at this time we can see a definite “new chapter” opening up with regard to the crisis in leadership in the U.S. At the end of the last trecena Humpty Dumpty’s ill-conceived and ill-advised rally in Tulsa saw a mere 6,200 supporters show up, leaving some two-thirds of the venue empty. This was significantly less than the organizers had expected, which meant that it was not as much of a “superspreader” for Covid-19 as, foolishly, it might have been. Nevertheless, there was little attention given to social distancing, so those in attendance were still at risk.  The outcome was a further stoking of racial tensions, as none of the key issues that require attention on a national scale were even addressed, and all across the country protests continued on.

A bombshell relating to Trump’s financial records is likely to be dropped during this period, which is interesting timing as it has been exactly one cycle since the US appeals court from the D.C. circuit ruled that his financial records must be turned over to Congress and that Congress is entitled to subpoena them – this among other similar rulings on related issues by other courts at that time. And now, at long last, the Supreme Court (the last stop in the long legal process) is due to present their ruling on these financial/tax related issues before the end of the month, within this same time frame.

We also have a significant Calendar Round return at this time as we see a realignment of the same number + day, plus number + month energies that were in place in 1968 at the time of the first outbreak of the H3N2 flu epidemic, in Hong Kong, that spread to several countries over the following next few months. So we are again paralleling 1968, not only in terms of the racism conflicts, but also in terms of major threats to public health.

As always, much is at stake, but this trecena brings significant opportunities to shed light on issues that need to be dealt with. It also brings in much creative solar power to help people open up inventive new avenues for positive action. As always, this is a good time to call upon the assistance of “Lord Ajaw”, to bring forth light and warmth and creativity, and even “apply heat” where necessary to foment change. These are the energies that are coming into play:

1 Ajaw (June 22nd) – the “initiation of Full Sun/ Enlightenment”, the traditional Maya celebrational “day of flowers”. Through its association with Venus as the Morning Star, One Ajaw was sometimes referred to as the Sacred Day of Venus, an important “marker” day in the Classical Long Count calendar. As Venus is currently rising as the Morning Star this is right on schedule. This is also the third day of World Unity Week, an eight-day celebration of global unity that culminates with the UN’s 75th anniversary.

Today’s edition of the New Yorker magazine features a stunning image of George Floyd embodying the history of violence inflicted upon black people in the U.S., titled “Say Their Names”. It was created by award-winning artist Kadir Nelson, who was born on a 9 Ajaw day. This comes out on the 28th straight day of anti-racism protests across the U.S. and worldwide – in many ways a continuation of the protests that have been unfolding for the entire duration of Humpty Dumpty’s presidency.

In January of 2019 huge demonstrations were held under this One Ajaw influence in over 30 large cities around the world, including London, Berlin, Washington DC, and New York to mark two years since the historic Women’s March on Washington D.C. where hundreds of thousands of women and their allies rallied to protest the Trump presidency and to stand in solidarity in support of equal rights and humanitarian principles. In London this third march was called the Bread and Roses march with the idea being that one must have the opportunity to thrive and not just survive – “The worker must have bread, but she must have roses too.” Women’s March Global now has a network of over 100 Chapters worldwide that are taking action on human rights and social injustices on a wide range of issues. On its last appearance, last October, One Ajaw marked the beginning of the 18th week of pro-Democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong.

2 Imix (June 23rd) – a dynamic type of energy often aligned with “world-making”, coinciding at this time with primaries in both Kentucky and New York, on the same day as the official release of John Bolton’s book: The Room Where it Happened, even though the Trump administration and U.S Department of Justice tried to block it.

It has been one cycle exactly since Judge Victor Marrero rejected Trump’s “extraordinary” claim to immunity with regard to a New York state criminal investigation. In a 75-page ruling Judge Marrero emphasized that Trump’s “overreach of executive power [was] repugnant to the nation’s governmental structure and constitutional values”, pointing out that Trump’s broad claim of immunity from criminal investigations is at odds with the U.S. Constitution. As part of this ruling he said that Manhattan’s district attorney could subpoena 8 years of Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns from Mazars. Although Trump’s lawyers have made appeals all the way to the Supreme Court, time and the appeal process has run out, as the Supreme Court ruling on this case is expected to come out before the end of this month.

In India, this was to be the day of Ratha-Yatra in the state of Odessa, the oldest chariot festival in the world, attended by millions of devotees, but it was wisely cancelled due to the pandemic.

3 Ik’ (June 24th) – the “activation of Wind/Breath/Spirit”, on the day of Inti Raymi in Peru, the Inca Festival of the Sun, where a great ceremony will be held to honour the Sun God and Pachamama (Mother Earth). Although many sites in Peru are closed due to the pandemic, there has been no indication that this festival, Cusco’s biggest, would not be going ahead.

In Russia this is the day when the Moscow Victory Day parade will take place to commemorate the 75th Diamond Jubilee of both the capitulation of Nazi Germany in the Second World War in 1945 and the historic Moscow Victory Parade of 1945. Originally scheduled for May 9th, it was postponed due to the pandemic and will now take place at this time.

This is also Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day in Quebec, and International Fairy Day.

In Washington D.C. this is the day when two key prosecutors will testify before the House Judiciary Committee concerning the “politicisation” of the US Department of Justice.

This is the energy that was in place 50 years ago at the time of the Women’s Strike for Equality, the first massive Women’s Liberation demonstration and march, in New York. It has been two cycles since Senator Kamala Harris announced her candidacy for the 2020 presidential election. Although she eventually withdrew from the race she is now a strong contender to become Joe Biden’s running mate.

This is the day when the deployment of over 40,000 National Guard troops to help with such things as setting up and sanitizing hospitals, and enforcing safety guidelines associated with the Covid-19 crisis could come to a “hard stop”, one day short of meeting the required 90 emergency service days to attain certain retirement and educational benefits. A bipartisan group of 75 House members have sent a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper to register their objection to this “heartless” action, particularly since these troops are still needed in a country battling with such high numbers of coronavirus cases.

4 Ak’b’al (June 25th) – a “defining” day associated with night, darkness, dreaming, and the subconscious. Sometimes referred to as “house”, this is also associated with earth-oriented mystery, secrecy, abundance, and even sorcery. The day of the Dragon Boat Festival (aka the Duanwu or Double Fifth Festival) in China.

It has been three cycles since the heartless announcement that the U.S. gov’t would separate undocumented parents and children who cross into the U.S. at the southern border, which triggered the separation of more than 2600 children from their families. That was the day when Vladimir Putin took the oath of office for his 4th term as Russia’s president. In 1962 this was the energy in place when World War III was averted by the quick thinking of Vasili Arkhipov, the Commander of the Russian submarine flotilla during the Cuban missile crisis.

5 K’an (June 26th) – a “blessing” type of energy associated with youthful vitality and prosperity, but can also involve “recklessness”, coinciding at this time with the virtual start of NYC’s Pride rallies, and Pride weekend in several other cities. It is likely that most, if not all, of this will be virtual this year.

In keeping with that idea of youthful vitality and prosperity this is National Take Your Dog to Work Day, celebrated in many countries since 1999. For all the millions now working from home due to the pandemic this will be a very easy thing to do.

As of today it has been three cycles since Trump ripped up the Iran nuclear deal (in 2018) when he insulted Tehran and announced the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a move that was criticized by many different countries and international organizations.

It has been two cycles since the nationwide marches in Venezuela that involved tens of thousands demonstrating in Caracas in a bid to topple Maduro’s government, prompting Venezuela’s oppposition leader Juan Guaido (head of the National Assembly) to declare himself to be the country’s interim president. Although security forces have denied Guaido and his associates access to parliament, they have been recognized as legitimate by several of the world’s leaders.

Currently this is the 75th anniversary of the signing of the charter of the United Nations

6 Chikchan (June 27th) – “Lifeforce Everywhere” – a structuring type of energy associated with Lifeforce, the Arts, and Higher Knowledge, coinciding at this time with Canada Multiculturalism Day.  This is the day when Conservatives in Canada will be electing a new leader. This is also Armed Forces day UK, with many virtual events this year.

One cycle since the US appeals court from the D.C. circuit ruled that Trump’s financial records must be turned over to Congress and that Congress is entitled to subpoena them, and that Mazars must comply, at the same time as another federal court ruled that he violated federal law when he used a declaration of a national emergency to try to get millions in order to build a border wall. On that same day last October three federal courts blocked Trump’s attempt to overthrow immigration policy to keep out low-income immigrants. That was the same day as former US ambassador to the Ukraine Maria Yovanovitch testified in closed door congressional hearings about how the Trump administration pressured her to leave. With regard to that issue about Mazars and those financial records, again, the Supreme Court ruling is due to present their ruling on this issue before the end of the month, possibly even on (or within shouting distance of) one cycle after the first ruling.

7 Kimi (June 28th) – “self-generating death” or “self-generating foundations”, a “return to Source” type of force that can draw attention to “absolute foundations”, exactly 160 days since the first person in the US was diagnosed with Covid-19. At the start of this current trecena there were over 2,300,000 cases in that country with thousands more being added every day, suggesting that by the end of this year (or before) there could easily be over 5 million cases in the US, if things continue at the present rate.

This is the 101st Gregorian anniversary of the day in 1919 when the peace document known as The Treaty of Versailles was signed by Germany, officially ending World War I.

President Lincoln delivered The Gettysburg Address under this influence in 1863. It was delivered at the dedication of a cemetary for the more than 7500 men who died in the Battle of Gettysburg, which is now seen as a critical civil war turning point as that was when southern forces began their retreat. This particular address was seen as a point of resolve, that those who died “shall not have died in vain”, that there would be “a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by  the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”. It was a point of light in the midst of a great darkness, and that is what this trecena is about – the return of light. And currently we are now halfway between that New Moon and Full Moon as even nocturnal light is returning.

8 Manik’ (June 29th) – the Day of the Lord Deer in Maya tradition, a “resurrection” type of energy aligned with sacrifice and reciprocity. While this could be seen as a “doubly harmonious” type of influence, representative of a doubling of solar energy, there is a strong “fire/heat” aspect to it. This ties in with the mythological link to the ancestral lineage of the Quiché Maya, as this day in the Tzolk’in was seen as the day when one of the ancestral forefathers left the people a “bundle of flames” as a reminder of his continuing presence.

This is the Maya birth energy of Saint Katherine Drexel who established 145 missions, 50 schools for African Americans, and 12 schools for Native Americans. More about her will be found in the accompanying Podcast.

Maya birth energy of Huston Smith, one of the world’s most influential figures in religious studies, who would have celebrated his 101st Gregorian birthday in May. Also the Maya birth energy of Ram Nath Kovind, the President of India.

9 Lamat (June 30th) – an “outwardly projecting” type of energy associated with Venus and the idea of leadership, coinciding at this time with the Calendar Round return (New Fire) of the energies that were in place in 1968 when at the time of the first outbreak of the H3N2 flu epidemic, in Hong Kong, that spread to several countries over the next few months

10 Muluk (July 1st) – “foundational water”, often a powerful “shape-shifting” force, coinciding at this time with Canada Day, on Canada’s 153rd birthday. With large group celebrations cancelled due to the pandemic, online activities (as in the government’s Canada Day Celebration Kit) are being encouraged instead.

This is Establishment Day in Hong Kong, the 23rd anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong’s sovereignty from the UK to the People’s Republic of China, which is always marked by a huge march led by the Civil Human Rights Front.

This is the first day of Kyoto’s popular Gion Festival, one of the most famous in Japan, with roots dating back to 869 when the people of Kyoto held a festival to pray for respite from a plague that had befallen the city. This festival spans the entire month of July. In the EU there is likely to be much celebrating at this time since this is the day when the EU will ease its ban on nonessential travel.

This is also the 45th anniversary of the entering into effect of CITES, the multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals.

In the US this is the day when five new gun control measures come into effect in Virginia. It has now been five cycles (1300 days) since the CIA revealed their conclusion that Russia had intervened to help Trump win the 2016 election . . . . and yet . . . . the carnage continues.

11 Ok (July 2nd) – “inspirational love (or guidance)” – an “extinguishing” Burner Day representative of heart, love, fire, and passion. Maya birth energy of Terry Fox, the young Canadian who sparked a movement to raise money and awareness for cancer research. More about Terry can be found in the Podcast.

12 Chuwen (July 3rd) – “dedicated” play; a “timeweaver” type of energy than can have a kind of “anything is possible” aspect to it, coinciding at this time with Rain Festival in China and the observance of Kuan Kung’s birthday in Taiwan. Aka Guan Gong, he was seen as a defender of the people, a kind of benefic warlord known as a great and righteous protector, able to deflect all negative energy.

As of this day it has been two cycles (520 days) since the mass mobilization in the streets of Venezuela, with large numbers of people protesting the desperate state of affairs and calling for humanitarian aid and for Maduro to step down.

13 Eb’ (July 4th) – “transformational vitality”; a powerful stream-of-consciousness type of energy reflective of the intense vitality at the end of this “sun-oriented” time frame, a vitality that can sometimes “let loose”, coinciding at this time with the Full Moon (the Thunder Moon), a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse, with Saturn and Jupiter close by, at the time when bright star Sirius conjuncts the Sun.

This is Independence Day in the U.S.. However, this year the 4th of July will be very different from previous years. Parades have been cancelled from California to New York and many other events have been forced to alter their plans or turn the celebrations into virtual events. In the UK this will be a truly transformational day since this is when the UK plans to ease up on some of its Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

This is the Maya birth energy of Karl Marx, the German philosopher, political theorist, and socialist revolutionary who wrote the highly influential “Communist Manifesto”, and whose ideas have had a profound impact on world politics and intellectual thought. More about him in the accompanying Ajaw Podcast.

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[Please note that the brief descriptions of the days provided above are only “thumbnail sketches”. Much greater detail can be found in Manual for the Soul: A Guide to the Energies of Life.]