Aztec and Maya Calendar
In the tonalpohualli, the sacred Aztec calendar, Thursday July 4, 2024 is:
Xihuitl:
solar year
12 - Tecpatl (flint knife)
Xiuhpohualli:
365-day calendar
15 - Tepeilhuitl (XIII)
Long Count:
Mayan calendar
13.0.11.12.13
(Correlation: Alfonso Caso - Nicholson's veintena alignment [adjust])
The significance of this day
Day Acatl (Reed, known as Ben in Maya) is governed by Tezcatlipoca as its provider of tonalli (Shadow Soul) life energy. Acatl is the scepter of authority which is, paradoxically, hollow. It is a day when the arrows of fate fall from the sky like lightningbolts. A good day to seek justice, a bad day to act against others.
The thirteen day period (trecena) that starts with day 1-Atl (Water) is ruled by Chalchihuihtotolin. These are 13 days of instability and unexpected events, of accidents and coincidences: these are good days to gamble a little on a long-shot; bad days to gamble a lot on a sure thing. Every day rollercoasters between all-good and all-bad, between rapture and terror. This trecena advises the priest-warrior to perfect the art of shapeshifting: only by mimicking the nature of water do we become an agent of change rather than a target of it. The purified heart casts no reflection in the smoking mirror.
Aztec facts
Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital was captured by Hernán Cortés on August 13, 1521 (day 1-Coatl). This date, as recorded by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, provides an anchor for the correlation of the calendar.