The Trecena of Caban/Noj
1 Caban / No'j — The Trecena of Introspection
Caban, or No’j in K’iche’ Maya, represents intelligence, ideas, wisdom, knowledge, patience and memory. It also signifies dignity and honor, and represents education, counseling, advising, meeting, and related activities. The nagual of intelligence, Caban invigorates the intellect and enriches the eternal quest for wisdom. It is also the nagual of earthquakes and seismic disturbance. In the tradition of the Maya from the highlands of Guatemala, Caban is one of the four Year Bearers, a role that names and defines the nature and character of specific solar years. Caban’s animal totems are the woodpecker and the gazelle.
On Caban days, the Maya ask for wisdom, for talent, and for the capacity to think positive, innovative or productive thoughts or ideas. It is also a good day to ask for creativity in all of our endeavors and intelligence to address all of our challenges and resolve all of our issues. Indeed, Caban days are particularly propitious to ask for guidance from Mayan spiritual advisors, who may use the sacred tz’ite seeds to divine answers for our questions.
The trecena of Caban is ruled by the thoughtful, measured, introspective energy of this daysign. This is the time to use your powers of intellect and perception, acuity and insight, of harnessing all that rational, left-brain power for your personal growth, or to guide others to do so if that is your calling. But as with all dualities, one side can’t function well without the other, so as always, seek balance even while you focus on this aspect of your being.
You will need a significant amount of personal and mental freedom during the next thirteen days. So make room for you, for your soul, for your heart and mind. Clear your calendar, ask for more free time of your family or at work—don’t hesitate to take a day or a week off, even spending the days off out of town so you can focus. Organize your bedroom, office or reading nook, and dedicate those times of the day that are naturally yours, to you and only you—this may be the dawn, late morning, afternoon, evening, or even late at night. Only you know your natural inner rhythms. Honor your circadian time.
The principal challenge of Caban is not to allow its acute sensitivities and powers of perception to bubble up into emotional upheavals or to block it from living in the present moment:
When you let emotion or ego seep into your thoughts, you risk overanalyzing people or situations, overthinking events or things people say, or misinterpreting intentions, actions, conversations. Trivial or insignificant things can blow up far out of proportion. You can use the energy of Caban to hold ego and emotions at bay, and allow them to color your thoughts only as you deem most fit and appropriate.
What is past belongs there; what is present is in your hands. But it is only through your decisions in the present time that your future is defined: every action, every decision, every plan or project you undertake will have some impact on your life or perhaps those of others in the near- or long-term future. This is why the present is all-important; indeed, it is the only fleeting bit of time of which we have any active experience.
And this is why so many ancients and sages will tell you, live in the one moment, the ever-present, and think not of the past or future. For they are both already there, in that one eternal, flowing moment.
The message of Caban is simple. Trust your intelligence. Trust your instincts. Just keep them balanced, free and pure.
(Partial excerpt from "The Serpent and the Jaguar: Living in Sacred Time" by Birgitte Rasine, pp. 44–45. If you'd like to repost the Trecena texts, please copy the above text in its entirety and credit Birgitte Rasine/LUCITÀ Publishing with a link to The Serpent and the Jaguar, and email us with a link to your site so we can reciprocate.)
