Water – a force with so many characteristics, so many possibilities. While it can be cleansing, healing, refreshing, and lifegiving, it can also be moody, terrifying, and massively destructive. It also holds the power to promulgate monumental shifts in state. And here it is as the force pushing forward the Muluk trecena, the last full trecena before the all-important midterm elections in the U.S. With this also being a critical period in the UK with regard to Brexit negotiations, a great many people are involved in efforts to push forward their own agendas at this time. Undoubtedly there will be a lot of high level energy swirling around as this trecena unfolds.

With regard to the positive aspects of water, this water-oriented trecena will be bringing forth a number of events of an energizing, “life engaging”, nature, such as the opening of Invictus Games in Sydney. In London a massive People’s Vote and Independence March for the Future will take place on the first day of this time frame as citizens rally together to demand a vote on the final Brexit deal. And then, towards the end of the trecena, the landmark Juliana vs. U.S. trial will begin with 21 youth plaintiffs poised to take on the Trump administration over the issue of climate change.

In the US millions are being asked to take a stand – to either allow democracy to WORK, in a system that will respect and allow all eligible voters to exercise their right to have their choices acknowledged, or to undermine democracy and do everything they can to suppress the process. Fortunately record numbers of people have been turning out to register to vote, but many frightening examples of voter suppression have also been reported. It appears that this is the trecena where battles will be taking place in many parts of that country as people work towards exercising this basic right at the same time as others try to thwart this process.

This brings to mind a statement published 98 years ago in the Baltimore Sun on the first day of this trecena, where HL Mencken noted that “As democracy is perfected, the office [of president] represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people . . . On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” And although Rex Tillerson and countless others have already verbalized this reality as it applies to the current situation in the White House, the situation at the moment is, of course, far worse than this. Given the manipulation going on, it remains to be seen whether all who want to vote will actually GET to vote in these midterms. The nature of this struggle to exercise this hard won right will become much more evident as this trecena unfolds, with the results being revealed in the election returns that come in on the fifth day of the trecena that will follow. This will tell the tale as to whether democracy will start to “get a grip” after being severely battered over the past couple of years or whether, as Mencken put it all almost a century ago, it will continue to take the form of “running the circus from the monkey cage”, as it continues on with its current “off the charts” trajectory towards oblivion.

With this Muluk oriented time frame being known as a period that can trigger unexpected shifts in direction that can significantly alter personal lives or change the world, it will be interesting to see where such shifts may occur.

In the past the shifts that have taken place during this trecena have included the Black Tuesday crash of the New York stock exchange in 1929, King Edward VIII’s abdication of the English throne in 1936, the beginning of the Battle of Britain in 1940, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, India’s declaration of independence in 1947, the invasion of South Korea by North Korea in 1950, the Detroit race riots in 1967, the resignation of Prime Minister Yatsenyuk after the collapse of the ruling coalition in Ukraine in 2014, and the ousting of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff in 2016. The resignation of South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma during this trecena earlier this year took place on the same day as the mass shooting at a high school in Florida that triggered widespread activism related to the need for greater gun control in the US.

Due to the nature of the last few days of this time frame, its watery aspects are often felt quite intensely at that time, as could be seen in December 2015 when a massive tornado outbreak in the southern U.S. destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes. Christmas day that year (on 11 Kawak – “storm”) was particularly intense as the U.K. was hit by severe flooding and vast areas in South America suffered some of the worst inundations in 50 years. A similar situation took place in the U.K. on 11 Kawak last year (two cycles ago), followed by Tonga being devastated by Cat. 4 tropical cyclone Gita, the worst storm to hit that area in 60 years, on the last appearance of this energy, earlier this year.

But as much as deluges have been engendered by these forces in the past, there have also been many inspirational events, many of which have taken place on 4 Eb’, representative of a solar force in combination with Eb’s “animating vitality”, which can create an uplifting, refreshing type of energy marked by a sense of the opening up of new possibilities.

This 4 Eb’ energy was in place in June of 1965 when the first spacewalk took place, and then again in 1968 when the “Earthrise” photo was taken from Apollo 8, becoming the iconic first photograph taken by a human of Earth from Deep Space. In 2008 this also was the energy in place when Barack Obama became the first African-American to win the U.S. presidential election. Five cycles ago, on Maya New Year’s Day in April of 2015, this same energy brought the announcement by President Obama that agreement had been reached on the framework for an historic nuclear reduction agreement with Iran, which was seen as a significant political breakthrough, the most important foreign relations negotiation of the Obama presidency up to that point.

Two cycles ago, in the spring of 2017, this trecena got underway just hours after former FBI Director Robert Mueller was named as a special counsel to oversee the investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the U.S. election. Since then ample proof of that interference has been found, with the latest being the release of a “motherlode” of data from Twitter that revealed more than 10 million tweets from over 4000 bogus accounts linked to a Russian “troll” factory that actively worked to spread propaganda to influence the 2016 election and to foment divisiveness within the U.S. Apparently Iran was also involved with this influence peddling. With so much evidence of outside interference having been found, the question, at this point, is “What happens next?” and what will shape those directions? (According to The Guardian films and documentaries are also factoring in strongly.)

Another factor of significance is the issue of migrants, as currently a “river” of over 7000 people are fleeing from the violence in Honduras and making their way north towards the US border. Overnight, as this trecena was just coming in, hundreds were huddled together on the Suchiate River bridge which connects Guatemala with Mexico, as they awaited entry into Mexico. With pressure mounting to not allow them entry into the US, Mexico has called on guidance from the UN as to how to deal with this crisis – a horrific situation for the thousands of struggling people who are caught in the middle of this political maelstrom.

Overall, now would be a good time to tie in with the shapeshifting potential of water, a good time to think about and act upon ways in which you might co-create with this energy as it brings forth inevitable change. There will be points of “refreshment” within this trecena, and (potentially) times when water could unleash with a fury. As always, vigilance will be needed. Drink lots of clean, fresh H20! During this watery, animating, shapeshifting – and potentially electrifying – time frame these are the energies that will come into play:

1 Muluk (Oct. 20th) – “the initiation of water”, a kind of “double water” day associated with the Moon Goddess (symbolic of the Number One) in conjunction with the refreshing, shape-shifting energy of water. As noted above, this is an important 52-day Shift-point within the 260-day cycle, at the opening of a trecena often brings forth dramatic shifts in state. Currently this Shift-point coincides with the start of the Invictus Games in Sydney, and with a massive People’s Vote and Independence March for the Future, in London, from Park Lane to Parliament Square, to demand a vote on the final Brexit deal. This is also the day of the colourful Alebrijes parade in Mexico City, an annual parade through the historic centre of Mexico City to honour Mexican crafts and folk arts, with emphasis on the fantastic creatures called “alebrijes”.

2 Ok (Oct. 21st) – a dynamic yin/yang type of force relating to love, warmth, guidance, and loyalty (associated with the Maya glyph for Dog), this time correlating with the peak viewing time (through to the following morning) for the Orionids meteor shower, which were created from debris from the famous Halley’s comet (see also Oct. 23rd)

3 Chuwen (Oct. 22nd) – the “activation” of creativity; an important “time-weaving” type of energy that can often bring forth powerful shifts, coinciding at this time with the annual October 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation.

Maya birth energy of both Rachel Maddow, the popular television journalist who shines so much light on political machinations in the US, and Michael Faraday, whose contributions to the creation of electric motor technology through his work with electricity and electromagnetism have been the “activating” forces leading to technological revolutions.

4 Eb’ (Oct. 23rd) – the “defining of animating vitality”; an uplifting, refreshing type of energy that often brings a sense of new possibilities, often significantly eventful. Five Calendar Rounds since the sighting of Halley’s Comet on 4 Eb’ 5 Sak in 1758, just as Halley predicted.

5 Ben (Oct. 24th) – the “blessing of personal authority”, coinciding at this time with the Full Hunter’s Moon (or Blood Moon), with United Nations Day and World Development Information Day, and with UK release of Bohemian Rhapsody, a biographical film about the rise of the British rock group Queen and the life of Freddie Mercury.

6 Ix (Oct. 25th) – the energy of the six directions in conjunction with the jaguar (and Jaguar Warrior) and the fate of the earth, at the time of the opening of the UK’s Museums at Night festival. In 1973 this was the energy in place when the Endangered Species Act passed legislation.

7 Men (Oct. 26th) – a “self-generating” type of energy associated with the Eagle’s “higher vision” correlating at this time with NASA’s launch of the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket.

8 Kib’ (Oct. 27th) – the “resurrection” of the transmutation oriented force that can lead towards the restoration of order, this time in conjunction with the final day of the Invictus Games in Sydney. One year since Catalonia declared independence from Spain (in defiance of the Madrid government).

9 Kab’an (Oct. 28th) – representative of “outwardly-projecting” longevity in connection with the earth and evolutionary movement. Sixtieth anniversary of the election of Pope John XXIII, known as “the Good Pope”, who revolutionized the Catholic church. On this current 9 Kab’an, however, things could go from tense to explosive in Brazil, as this is the final day of Brazil’s starkly divided and highly consequential presidential elections.

10 Etz’nab’ (Oct 29th) – foundational “flint”; a sparkling, “knife-edged” type of energy that can either dazzle or divide and separate, as was in place in 1861 when President Abraham Lincoln addressed the U.S. Congress in his call for 500,000 militia for the Civil War, followed by ratification by Congress. The start day for the landmark Juliana vs. U.S. trial (youth against the Trump administration over the issue of climate change), after the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favour of allowing the trial to go ahead even though the Trump administration has been attempting to find ways to “silence” the voices that have been protesting the government’s failure to protect essential public trust resources.

11 Kawak (Oct. 30th) – inspirational “storm of compassion”, coinciding with a Jupiter – Mercury conjunction, at the time of the opening of the International Indigenous Tourism Conference in Saskatoon. This is also the 80th anniversary of Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds radio broadcast that caused mass panic in the eastern U.S. On its last appearance of this intense “storm” related energy the island nation of Tonga was hammered by a massive Cat. 4 hurricane.

12 Ajaw (Oct. 31st) – a “gathering together” force aligned with the full sun, coinciding at this time with Hallowe’en, and with the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain, marking the end of harvest and the beginning of winter. Divination was often a favourite passtime during these festivities. Even today Samhain is observed by many as the beginning of the spiritual new year.

Reportedly, this will be the day when a third large group of people in Honduras will be forming another migrant caravan, at which time they will head north, on foot, from San Salvador, en route to Mexico and the U.S.

13 Imix (November 1st) – “transformational birth”, another force that can be highly intense, coinciding at this time with All Saints’ Day and Dia de los Inocentes, the part of Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) festival  that focuses on remembrances for the young who have died (also celebrated in Guatemala); also the start of the Sapporo and Bunkyo Chrysanthemum Festivals in Japan.

Two cycles since a sacred fire ceremony was held in Whitehorse to mark the opening of the first public hearings into the long awaited National Inquiry into some 4000 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

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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.]