September 5 – 2 Tijax (Etznab) 2 may be a “mild” number in terms of its place within the ritual cycle, but it is a powerful number philosophically. In Mayan thought, there is a fundamental polarity which informs the universe and which many have compared to the Chinese concept of yin and yang. These two cosmic forces are opposing expressions of a single unified force. They mirror each other like opposites, but they are ultimately of the same essence. Don Rigoberto Itzep Chanchavac, a traditional Daykeeper and teacher from Momostenango, names such pairs of opposites as summer and winter, hot and cold, light and darkness, and so on. In a sense, the ritual ball game which was of vital importance all over Mesoamerica was a symbolic combat between these two opposing principles of the universe, of the cosmos. No day sign exemplifies the power of these polarities more than Tijax (Yucatec: Etznab), which represents a double-edged obsidian blade. Two different types of individuals may wield the knife; the warrior and the healer. Thus one of Tijax’s functions is medicine. It is the nawal of Mayan medicine; Tijax corrects imbalanced or negative energies that affect human health. Day signs, like everything else in Mayan culture, may be either in or out of balance, and when Tijax is out of balance it represents a state of psychic, physical, moral and social pain. Thus it is said that, in its negative manifestation, Tijax shapes individuals who are quarrelsome, angry, perhaps often in trouble or even in jail for fighting. But ultimately, in its positive manifestation, Tijax is meant to correct bad actions, injustices that cause pain, problems and suffering. As well as representing the “born-to-it” healer, Tijax is also a day upon which important healing rituals may be performed. On this day one invokes and supplicates the nawal or ruling spirit of Tijax for good individual and collective health. On this day difficult illnesses are cured, especially those that are hard to treat because they arise from not having observed the norms of respectable behavior called awas, a word that can signify both the harmonious outlook toward Mother Earth, Grandmother Moon, ancestors and neighbors, as well as the behaviors which may place us out of harmony with all these things.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 13:18:44 +0000
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