Horoscopes · Systems of many cultures
Mayan (Tzolk'in) · Mayan day sign 1
Imix
Crocodile, water, the primordial earth · Imox (K'iche') · Imix'
The first day sign: the crocodile or water-lily earth monster floating on the primordial sea. In K'iche' tradition Imox is the day of water, the left hand and the unconscious, of creativity and also of madness.
Imix opens the twenty day signs. In Classic Maya imagery its glyph shows a water lily or the textured snout of the earth crocodile, the great reptile on whose back the world was thought to float. It stands for the beginning of things, the fertile and watery ground from which life arises.
Among K'iche' daykeepers the day is called Imox and is linked with rain, rivers, lakes and the sea, and with the left hand — the side of intuition rather than calculation. Imox is regarded as a powerful but unsettled day: those born on it are said to be inventive and sensitive, attuned to dreams and to things that cannot be put into words, but also prone to confusion or, in the traditional phrase, to 'madness' when their gift is not handled with care. It is a good day for asking the spirits of water for rain and for prayers for those who are mentally troubled.
Personality
intuitive · inventive · sensitive · dreamy · creative · unconventional
Among K'iche' Maya daykeepers, a person born on Imox (Yucatec Imix) is described as intuitive, inventive and deeply sensitive, attuned to dreams and to what cannot easily be put into words. The day is linked with rain, rivers, lakes and the sea, and with the left hand, the side of intuition rather than calculation, and its nawal, or day spirit, carries the power of the primordial waters from which life arises.
Daykeepers credit Imox people with creativity, imagination and an unusual way of seeing the world; they may become artists, visionaries or healers, and often sense things before others do. The challenge traditionally named is that this openness is unsettling: the old phrase is that Imox people risk 'madness', meaning confusion, anxiety or being carried away, when their gift is not handled with care and grounding.
In love and friendship Imox people are portrayed as tender and imaginative but changeable, needing patience and understanding. In work they are suited to the arts, healing, and any role that values intuition. As in all Maya day readings, the number of the birth day (from 1 to 13) shapes the reading, and daykeepers interpret a person's nawal within the whole of the sacred calendar.
Sources and further reading
- Time and the Highland Maya — Barbara Tedlock, 1982
- The Code of Kings — Linda Schele and Peter Mathews, 1998
- Maya Calendar Origins — Prudence M. Rice, 2007