For most people the first day of this time period may seem like just an “ordinary” day, but from the perspective of the Maya calendar, this day reveals a number of auspicious alignments. This is not only the beginning of a new trecena, but also the start of a new Maya month, and the first day of a new directional cycle, coming into place just after the New Moon, at the peak of the Delta Aquariids meteor shower. From an even wider perspective this coincides with the Islamic New Year and the beginning of Ghost month in China, all of which seems to suggest that something is shifting, and that something new is being initiated. And, considering all the significant events that took place over the last 13 days, there is the suggestion that “steps forward” from this point on will require quite a bit of negotiation, which ties right in with the “sacrifice and reconciliation” nature of this current trecena.

This trecena opens on the final day of Pope Francis’s visit to Canada, which he referred to as his “pilgrimage of penance”, his “pilgrimage of healing and reconciliation”, to address the “evil committed” and apologize for role of the Catholic church in perpetuating the highly abusive residential school system in Canada. For many this visit was long awaited, and was seen as a blessing. But for many others this visit triggered deep emotional wounds and highlighted the many issues that still need to be resolved. High on the list was the call to rescind the Doctrine of Discovery, the centuries-old papal edit that empowered Christian colonial expansion and the subjugation of Indigenous peoples, and spawned colonial regulatory systems such as the Indian Act that exerts so much control over First Nations communities in Canada. Throughout the Pope’s visit that call was echoed many times, emphasizing the generational pain that is still deeply felt, and vividly highlighting where attention now needs to be focused if any form of “reconciliation” is to be attained. The wounds, the pain, the grief, the anger, were all on display and during this current trecena all of that has to be processed from the perspective of the Pope’s visit, as the journey towards healing continues.

What we are working with during this period is the energy of Deer, known as Manik’ to the Maya, representative of both harmony with the Earth, as well as Sacrifice-and-Reconcilation. This energy was represented by the Maya, in hieroglyphic form, as a hand holding the sun, symbolizing the idea of the warmth and nourishment of the sun being brought to Earth, where it helps to “shape” things of the earth. In other Mesoamerican cultures this was represented by a deer, thought to be an embodiment of the sun.

Negotiation and compromise are often highlighted at this time as people work towards  some sense of harmonization regarding ideologies or courses of action. A considerable amount of “give-and-take” is often required in order to gain some sense of equilibrium. Note that the ancient deity known as Tlazolteotl was seen as being the patron of this time frame. Known as the “Eater of Filth”, she was a goddess of purification and curing who was oriented around the idea of erasing transgressions, so there is a sense that this trecena can help with the “righting of wrongs”, and finding ways to move forward.

At times the metaphor even extends to “life or death” situations or issues that require concerted attention, aligned with the idea of an encounter between deer and hunter, with the deer sacrificing itself to provide sustenance for the hunter, on condition that its sacrifice is put towards the greater good.

Eight cycles ago, in late November of 2016, this was the trecena in place when people were frantically attempting to sort out how to move forward after the “shocking” U.S. election, with large numbers of high level firings and resignations taking place during that time. In 1962 it was the Cuban missile crisis that had to be negotiated, with the final day of this trecena bringing the highest level of warning regarding the nuclear threat from the Soviets, as Soviet submarines in the mid-Atlantic were making their way to Cuba. That was a “game-changing” moment for President John F. Kennedy as this crisis was averted. Other dissolutions that have taken place during this time frame include the dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Four cycles ago this trecena began with the first ever UN High-Level Meeting (UN HLM) on Universal Health Coverage – a landmark summit where world leaders made an “historic commitment” to improve global health through the most “comprehensive international health agreement in history”. And one cycle ago the U.S. and China began to work together to tackle climate change issues, including the emissions cuts that need to be made over the next few years. As John Kerry, the US negotiator, said at that time: “You have to look beyond differences sometimes to find a way forward.” So that was a perfect way to begin a trecena that is all about cooperation, negotiation, and compromise. They were working to move forward and “shape” directions for the future.

As we embark on this trecena at this time we are being reminded that Covid is ramping up again. The World Health Organization points out that coronavirus cases across Europe have tripled over the past few weeks. Many countries, including the U.S. and Japan, have been averaging well over 100,000 new cases a day for the same period. During the last 260 days the global number of cases has again more than doubled, now reaching somewhere between 570-580 million.

In the U.S. the case numbers have also nearly doubled during that last cycle, with the current number being between 91-92 million registered cases. Looking back we can see that by the fifth day of this trecena in June of 2020, which was three cycles (790 days) ago, approximately one in every 1000 people on the planet had been stricken with some variant of Covid, to some degree or other. Now it’s in the range of something like one in every 14 people, and yet there are STILL large numbers of unvaccinated people and large numbers who refuse to adhere to even basic safety guidelines.

And now we see that monkeypox has been declared a global emergency as cases began increasing significantly over the last trecena. So not only is Covid not over, but now there is that second worry, with many wondering how much we have actually learned over the last 900+ days since all this began.

To return to the topic of climate change – as this trecena opens, One Manik’ (One Deer), will mark four cycles exactly since the opening of the UN’s 2019 Climate Action Summit where Greta Thunberg gave an impassioned speech and then (along with 15 other children from 12 different nations) filed a formal complaint with the United Nations against five of the world’s major countries over the climate crisis, for failing to uphold their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. One cycle ago, at COP26 in Glasgow, Greta and the world’s youth were still calling for more concerted action to deal with that crisis – a call that did result in an important agreement, but was it good enough? It doesn’t take much to see that this is a major issue that will require much more “negotiation” and action before any kind of long lasting resolution will be reached with regard to these worldwide issues. Hopefully the U.S. and China will continue their joint efforts in this regard.

On a very positive note, we see that just before this trecena opened U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin announced that an agreement has been reached that has the potential to clear the path towards greater health care reform and climate change measures in the U.S. that would involve raising taxes on high earners and large corporations and reducing federal debt. This long-awaited agreement includes putting $369 billion towards energy and climate change initiatives, which would be, in essence, the biggest climate change deal in U.S. history. Apparently the Senate will vote on this wide-ranging measure next week, during the early part of this trecena, which would help to set an important foundation for potential victory in the November elections. A House vote would follow, likely in August. Note that the US Senate passed the historic $1.9tn coronavirus relief bill two cycles ago (as of the 11th day in this trecena), clearing the way for it to be signed into law shortly thereafter, so we could see a good “echo” here. As much as it is never possible to predict the exact nature of the “Sacrifice and Reconcilation” that may unfold during these 13 days, the seesaw often weighs in on the side of “reconciliation”.

As noted above, it DOES seem that something is shifting; something new (and more positive) is being initiated. As all of this unfolds, here are the energies that will come into play:

One Manik’ 0 Yaxk’in (July 29th) – aka “One Deer”, the “initiation of reciprocity”, symbolized by the Moon Goddess (the Number One) working with the Deer/Stag, the “carrier” of the sun on Earth, coinciding at this time with the start of the Maya month of Yaxk’in (“New Sun’) and a new 819-day cycle, a directional cycle associated with the West, after completion of an 819-day cycle oriented towards the South. This is the first day after the New Moon, at the peak of the Delta Aquariids meteor shower.

This is the final day of Pope Francis’s visit to Canada, which will begin with a private meeting with bishops, priests, and other members of his own religious order. He will then meet with Indigenous leaders from Eastern Canada before departing for Iqaluit where he will spend the afternoon in a private meeting with residential school survivors before attending a public community event hosted by Inuit. He will then depart for Rome from Iqaluit in the early evening.

This evening also marks the start of Islamic New Year celebrations, at the time of the first sighting of the waxing crescent moon. This is the beginning of Ghost month in China, with this day being the Ghost Gate Opens day. Traditionally it is believed that this is the day when departed spirits are free to return to this realm and wander about for a month. Food and offerings are provided during this time, to please the ghosts. (The festival itself takes place in early August – stay tuned.)

One Manik’ marks four cycles exactly since the opening of the UN’s 2019 Climate Action Summit where Greta Thunberg and others filed a formal complaint with the United Nations over government failure to uphold obligations related to addressing climate change. This also marks three cycles since the funeral and interment for George Floyd in Houston, and ten tortuous cycles since the dumpster announced his candidacy for the 2016 election. And even though, incomprehensibly, he is still making noises about running again, criminal investigations are now underway that hold the potential to bring significant federal charges against him and his cohorts, including seditious conspiracy and attempting to defraud the U.S. via the fake electors scheme. He is still due to testify in New York’s civil investigation into his business practices.

This is the opening day for AIDS 2022 Conference, the world’s “most influential conference on HIV science”, which will feature many of the world’s leaders and top
professionals on HIV research, and will be hosted in person in Montreal and virtually.

One cycle since the Chinese Communist Party passed an historic resolution that not only cemented Mr. Xi’s hold on power, but put Xi Jinping on equal par with party founder Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping

2 Lamat (July 30th) – a “dynamic heralding” (or leadership) type of energy, generally referred to as “Star” by the Maya, on “shooting star Saturday”, as the early Perseids overlap with the Delta Aquariids, at the same time as the southern meteor shower known as the alpha Capricornids is in play.

This is the full day of the Islamic New Year, also known as the Arabic New Year or the Hijri New Year, the beginning of the first month in the Islamic calendar which is used to calculate significant Islamic events for the year.

This is a big day in Toronto as wildly costumed masqueraders take part in the Caribana Grande Parade, billed as North American’s biggest Caribbean festival, which ties in very well with the nature of this day, from the perspective of Mesoamerican mythology. As 2 Lamat was seen as the birth energy of an Aztec deity known as Ometochtli (Two Rabbit), associated with pulque, the fermented sap of the maguey plant, this day was seen as having a connection with intoxication – and, at least in Toronto, this will likely be an intoxicating day for many. This is also the Maya birth energy of Elvis Aaron Presley.

3 Muluk (July 31st) – the “activation of water”, often a powerful “shape-shifting” type of force, precisely one cycle since a deal was reached at the end of the UN’s COP26 Climate Summit last November in Glasgow, and marking 19 cycles since the first inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th US president, in 2009.

This was the energy in place at the start of the Cuban missile crisis in late October of 1962, in place at the time of the tragic death of Princess Diana in 1997, and in place 16 cycles ago when an enormous 9.0 earthquake struck Japan off the coast of Sendai, NE of Tokyo, triggering a devastating tsunami. This is the day when a 25-ton piece of space junk (debris from a Chinese rocket) is due to fall from space, uncontrolled – but no one knows where it will hit. If it hits an ocean or other body of water, there will surely be “activation of water”.

This is the Maya birth energy of both Sir Mick Jagger and Prince Louis, Diana’s grandson, who was born precisely 29 Tzolk’in cycles after the death of Diana. For Harry Potter fans, this would be Harry’s Maya birth energy.

4 Ok (Aug. 1st) – a “defining” Burner Day representative of fire (or heart-fire), an energy that can often stir the emotions as this is a “double-fire” type of force (the sun plus fire working together), seen as an energy that “runs with the fire”, which could be seen vividly in the powerful M7.3 class solar flare shot out from the sun on a 4 Ok day in October of 2014.

At this time this energy coincides with Emancipation Day in Canada, marking the day in 1834 when the Slavery Abolition Act came into effect across the British Empire. This is also B.C. Day, Heritage Day in Alberta, and Terry Fox Day in Manitoba.

5 Chuwen (Aug. 2nd) – a “precision” oriented energy in combination with play or even mischief (symbolized by a monkey); this is a “timeweaver” type of energy that can bring about change through innovation, as was in place last year when President Biden and President Xi of China met in a virtual summit, just after a signing ceremony for the historic, bipartisan, $1 trillion infrastructure bill in the US.

The WHO has forecast that there could be just over 27,000 monkeypox cases in 88 countries by this time. This is Naga Panchami in India – a Hindu festival when snakes are given milk and rice, and worshipped with flowers and sweets, to ward off evil. Let’s hope they can help to ward off this new pandemic.

Currently this is the day when Lindsey Graham is due to testify in front of the special grand jury in Georgia that is investigating the dumpster’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election (ordered by the Fulton County Superior Court judge). Rudy Giuliani and six other dumpster allies have also been ordered to testify.

6 Eb’ (Aug. 3rd) – generally a “stabilizing” type of energy aligned with “restorative vitality”, coinciding at this time with the legendary Tony Bennett’s 96th Gregorian birthday. Five years ago he was awarded the US Library of Congress Gershwin prize for his lifetime contributions to music.

7 B’en (Aug. 4th) – a “self generating personal authority” type of energy, coinciding at this time with Barack Obama’s 61st Gregorian birthday. Currently this is Chinese “Valentine’s Day”, the Chinese traditional festival known as the Double Seventh Festival (aka the Qixi or Qiqiao festival), also seen as “Young Girls’ Festival”, often associated with romance.

In 1974 this was the energy in place when seven of Richard Nixon’s top aides were arraigned in court. This energy was also in place when Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in early April of 1865, signalling the “beginning of the end” of that war.

8 Ix (Aug. 5th) “Resurrecting Jaguar” – this is Santo Mundo, a special Maya day devoted to the Celebration of the Earth and its sacred mysteries, coinciding at this time with the opening of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, referred to as “the greatest celebration of arts and culture on the planet”.

This is a festival that dates back to 1947, when eight theatre groups showed up to perform at the Edinburgh International Festival. Since they weren’t officially invited to the Festival they staged their own shows on the “fringe”. The vision of “giving anyone a stage and everyone a seat” continues, as Edinburgh Fringe marks its 75th anniversary.

This is the Maya birth energy of Kane Tanaka, who was the world’s oldest verified living person until her death three months ago at the age of 119.

9 Men (Aug. 6th) – the “outward projection” of vision (as in the high-flying vision of the Eagle – which sometimes manifests as a “warrior” type of energy), currently marking the 57th anniversary of the signing into law of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by President Johnson. This is also the 77th Gregorian anniversary of the Hiroshima bomb attack in 1945. Eighty years before that this was the energy in place at the time of President Abraham Lincoln’s last speech, the day when he had a premonition regarding his assassination, at which time he expressed his support for black suffrage. In the audience was the Confederate activist who shot him in Ford’s theatre three days later.

This was also the energy in place in 1997 at the time of the funeral of Princess Diana, which was watched by millions. August 31st will mark the 25th Gregorian anniversay of her shocking death.

It has now been five cycles exactly, since David Laufman, the former Chief of the DOJ’s Counterintelligence and Export Control section, warned that the dumpster was a “clear  and present danger” to the national security of the US.

10 Kib’ (Aug. 7th) – a “foundational restoration-of-order” type of energy, coinciding at this time with Friendship Day in India. This is the Maya birth energy of Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, and the Maya birth energy of long-time civil rights activist Andrew Young, who is now 90. He helped draft the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

This is an energy which can fluctuate between the setting up of important foundations for a “restoration of order” (as in the setting up of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty in 1968) to the kind of massive “clean up” that was required in China in 2008 after the Szechuan earthquake.

11 Kab’an (Aug. 8th) –the energy of “change” combined with the force of evolutionary movement, exactly two cycles since the US Senate passed the $1.9tn coronavirus relief bill, clearing the way for it to be signed into law shortly thereafter.

12 Etz’nab (Aug. 9th) – a robust “knife-edge” type of force that can bring forth powerful separation (or “sacrifice-related”) events, on the 77h Gregorian anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Nagasaki in 1945.

Currently this is national Peacekeepers’ Day in Canada, in honour of more than 125,000 Canadian peacekeepers who have served in dozens of international efforts over more than six decades.

This is also the UN’s International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, with this year’s theme being: “The Role of Indigenous Women in the Preservation and Transmission of Traditional Knowledge”, with a Virtual Commemoration taking place at this time.

In April of 1865 this same energy was in place at the time of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Currently this marks three cycles since the dumpster held a rally in Tulsa to try to “re-boot” his campaign. That rally was seen as one of the first “superspreader” events that he held to try to downplay (or ignore) the deadly pandemic. Currently this is the day when Rudy Giuliani is scheduled to testify before the Georgia grand jury that is investigating election issues.

13 Kawak (Aug. 10th) – “transformational storm”, the energy that was in place at the time of the death of President Abraham Lincoln in April of 1865, following his assassination the day before.

This day marks five cycles exactly since the Indigenous Peoples March in Washington D.C. in 2019, to bring awareness (through speeches, prayers, songs, and dances) to long term injustices against Indigenous peoples in the US.

Currently this is World Lion Day.

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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.]