Horoscopes · Systems of many cultures
Aztec (Tonalpohualli) · Aztec day sign 17
Ollin
Movement
Ollin, 'movement', day sign 17 of the Aztec tonalpohualli. Patron: Xolotl.
Ollin, movement or earthquake, is the sign of the present age, the Fifth Sun, 4 Ollin, which according to Aztec myth will end in earthquakes. Its patron is Xolotl, the dog-headed twin of Quetzalcoatl. The sign joins movement, change and the turning of the cosmos.
The patron deities of the day signs differ between the surviving codices; the list used here follows the Codex Borgia tradition as reconstructed by modern scholars. The tonalpohualli was read by trained diviners together with the number of the day and its trecena, so a sign was never interpreted alone.
Personality
dynamic · passionate · transformative · energetic · restless · intense
In the Aztec tonalpohualli, a person whose tonalli, or birth sign, is Ollin is described as dynamic, passionate and transformative, living in constant movement. Ollin means 'movement' or 'earthquake', and the present age, the Fifth Sun, is named 4 Ollin and is destined, according to Aztec myth, to end in earthquakes; its patron is Xolotl, the dog-headed twin of Quetzalcoatl.
Modern readings of the sign credit Ollin people with energy, enthusiasm, intelligence and the power to change their surroundings; they are said to be catalysts who shake up stagnant situations and to have a strong sense of destiny. Their challenges are said to be restlessness, volatility, a love of upheaval for its own sake and difficulty finding peace and stability.
In love Ollin people are portrayed as intense and exciting partners whose feelings move quickly; in work, as reformers, innovators, performers and anyone who drives change. The tonalpouhque read the sign with the number of the day and its trecena, and the cosmic weight of the sign made Ollin days important in the ritual calendar.
Sources and further reading
- The Aztec Calendar Stone — Khristaan D. Villela and Mary Ellen Miller (eds.), 2010
- Codex Borgia: A Full-Color Restoration of the Ancient Mexican Manuscript — Gisele Díaz and Alan Rodgers, 1993
- The Aztecs — Michael E. Smith, 2012