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Wednesday, September 1, 2010 18:03 - 0 Comments

Thematics and Energetics: A Cosmology of Color, Form, Movement and Recurrence: TD pt 2

Tzolkin Dynamics part 2: The Components.

The three subcycles of the Tzolkin correspond to fundamental properties of our Universe. Properties of energy-matter such as color, form, movement and cyclicity.

In the closing passage of my introductory article on Tzolkin Dynamics I mentioned that learning and tracking the Tzolkin Cycle-Code is an unequaled exercise in mindfulness, fascination and not to mention the utility in applying the foreknowledge of upcoming thematics and energetics.

The Tzolkin Cycle-Code has been characterized as a divinatory device. Divinatory is defined as the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means. There is nothing supernatural about the Tzolkin. The Ancient Meso Americans simply discovered very subtle cycles that have eluded detection by every other culture.

Most cultures have divinatory technologies of one kind or another, but all of them stand cursed by the priests of science as superstitions even though they have not been scientifically investigated —a very unscientific position. Such is the scholasto-centrism of even some of the most watchful among us.

Thematics

In the case of the Tzolkin Cycle-Code “knowledge of the future” may be thematically known. It is appropriate to view the symbols and colors of the Tzolkin Code as the themes that give form, substance and meaning to our world.

The 4 seasons of our earth’s cycle around the sun have their associated themes. Summer themes differ from winter ones and the spring’s themes differ from those of the fall and they all differ from each other.

The seasons come and go and we can “predict” that summer is going to be a warmer time and that winter is going to be a colder time. And we can predict the general situations and themes we are likely to experience.

The seasons may not vary near as much in the equatorial regions, but the example is useful to illustrate what I mean by thematics. We can predict the themes of each season whatever they maybe because they have been occurring with unerring constancy since time immemorial.

The Tzolkin Code points toward subtle cycles with 4, 13, 20 and 260 day intervals. We can “predict” the themes associated with each day in the same way we can predict the seasonal themes of the year. The Ancient Meso-Americans discovered and mapped these cycles and their associated themes for us. The very next article I publish will give you the step by step means with which to begin to verify the Tzolkin for yourself.

Energetics

The variable determining the difference between the seasons is the amount of solar radiation received by a given region of the earths surface.

Solar radiation as heat has an effect on the weather sphere and we experience this variation as more or less heat-energy in the air and as more or less precipitation.

The weather in turn influences human behavior in innumerable ways. I have just shown the relationship between seasonal themes, human behavior and the amount of heat energy present in a volume of space and the effects the heat-energy variable has on the weather as precipitation levels and quality—water as snow or rain.

The day-night cycle can also be broken down into 4 “seasons”—the midmorning (6am), the midday (12pm), the midafternoon (6am) and the midnight (12am).

Energetically and thematically speaking the 4 part day cycle corresponds to the 4 part year cycle ie, midmorning=spring equinox; midday=summer solstice; midafternoon=autumn equinox; midnight=winter solstice.

Are not the 4 parts of the day also characterized by their own particular themes as well? And what drives the day’s cycle of themes, but the amount of solar radiation (energy) received.

The rising sun’s heat/light rousts us from our slumber. At daybreak we prepare to engage the days activities, we engage them and then the sun begins to lower and we too wind down. We then go into full rest mode during the coldest part of the day-night cycle.

Energy as heat imparted from light is the driving force of activity and evolution on earth. Simply compare the difference in life forms between the equator and antarctica. The recurring actions, states, seasons, stages and features of life may be called themes and the attendant level and quality of activity of any theme pertains to its energetics.

The Cosmology of the 4 day 4 Color Cycle.

The 4 colors of the Tzolkin Code are to be thought of as themes or “seasons”. Each color is a particular set of themes. Each of the 20 archetypal symbols represents a set of specific theme attributes of the color in question.

In essence the Tzolkin Code describes a world of 4 basic seasons or themes with a total of 5 variations on each theme. Four colors times five variations results in the 20 archetypal symbols. Each variation has been assigned an archetypal symbol that best characterize the day’s foremost theme.

The genetic code is structured in the same way. There are 4 molecules (nucleobases) forming the foundation of the genetic code. The workings of the 4 nucleobases create the 20 building blocks (amino acid molecules) of all living organisms.

The 4 nucleobases and the 20 amino acids are made of the same 4 elements—hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. Two of the amino acids have a 5th element–sulphur. I will delve into the power and workings of 5 in another article.

The complexity of life is constructed out of 24 key molecules and 4 elements. Ninety-six percent of the elemental composition of every organism is made of the 4 elements mentioned. The Tzolkin Code is saying that there is a 4 stage/state cycle deeply embedded in the fabric of reality and we experience the 4 part cyclical pulse in a span of 4 day-night cycles with a total of 20 variations on the 4 stages/states.

The 4 seasons of the year and the presence of 4 distinct phases, states or stages across a myriad of living and non-living processes are manifestations of the 4 state/stage process I am talking about. For an listing of processes involving 4 states, stages or phases please see The Numbers Underlying the Order of the Universe.

The 20 variations on 4 basic themes or states are represented by the 20 day cycle of archetypal symbols. For a more in depth explication on the atomic-molecular correspondences between the Tzokin Code and the genetic code and other levels of the energy-matter continuum please see The Atomic-Molecular Foundations of a “Social Physics” ARTSOS pt 2.

Color is a fundamental attribute of our universe. The 4 colors refer to the very essence of color itself and to the corresponding subjectivity-objectivity we associate with color. I would have to say that the 4 color schema, though registering high on the visual scale, pertains more to our subjective realm.

Color is formless, but has felt properties (elicits emotions) and therefore registers predominately as a subjective experience.

Red, white, blue and yellow constitute the Tzolkin’s 4 day 4 color cycle. Code wise the 4 day, 4 color cycle corresponds to the 4 nucleobases (thymine, adenine, guanine, cytosine) of the DNA code. The nucleobases themselves are composed of the 4 elements hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.

Instead of thinking of the various groupings of elements and molecules as static things think of them as dynamic states of energy-matter. Colors in Tzolkin cosmology are to be regarded as states, themes or moods. Every culture associates certain human traits (passion), organismic properties (life force) and natural phenomena (earth) with certain colors or red as in the examples given.

Red

The first element of the universe and building block of life is hydrogen and it consists of a single proton. The first color of the visible spectrum is red. Red is the color emitted by hydrogen.

I associate red with the DNA code molecule thymine because of the 4 nucleobases it has the least number atoms and an odd number of atoms. Red is the first day of the 4 color 4 day cycle and it is associated with the East… the place where the sun first appears.

Red is the color of the some soils and stands for the earth in Tzolkin cosmology. Red is the sunrise as it emerges from the deptsh of darkness. Red is the color to be associated with beginning and initiation. Are we not nurtured (placenta) and birthed in blood?

Five of the 20 archetypal symbols constituting the 20 day cycle represent the distinct set of traits and attributes most associated with the color red.

Within a vertical color cosmology the reddish earth is first. Red as an equivalent of 1 represents numerical “oddness” (asymmetry). Red corresponds to the spring equinox and season.

White

The second building block of life is carbon and it consists of 6 protons, a multiple of 2, hence a representative of “eveness” (symmetry).

White is the color emitted by carbon. I associate white with the DNA code molecule adenine because it bonds with thymine and it has an even number of atoms.

Within Tzolkin Dynamics red and white are compliments. White is the second day of the 4 color 4 day cycle and it is associated with the north, land of snow and ice. White is also related to the colorless clarity of water. White is the color of sea foam, clouds and ice.

White corresponds to the winter solstice and season when either the southern or northern hemisphere are at their whitest. White pertains to the quality of refinement. Five of the 20 archetypal symbols constituting the 20 day cycle represent the distinct set of traits and attributes most associated with the color white.

White is the color of the clouds, dispensers of rain and represents the second layer of a vertical cosmology containing the clouds and the wind. White represents the wind in Tzolkin cosmology.

White as the second day of the 4 day cycle and pertains to numerical “evenness” (symmetry).

Blue

The third building block of life is nitrogen and it consists of 7 protons (asymmetry). In the traditional calendrics of Meso-America black was used in place of blue. Blue is an Arguellen modification of the traditional color schema which I happen to find is a valid equivalent of black.

Does not the blue sky of day turn into the blackness of night? Blue and black may be used interchangeably.

Blue is the color emitted by nitrogen and is the reason the sky is blue. I associate blue with the DNA code molecule guanine because it has an odd number of atoms and blue is the 3rd day of the 4 day sequence, an uneven number.

Blue relates to the west, land of the setting sun or darkening day. Blue is the sundown phase of the day and corresponds to the autumnal equinox and season.

Blue pertains to the quality of transformation. Five of the 20 archetypal symbols constituting the 20 day cycle represent the distinct set of traits and attributes most associated with the color blue.

Blue is the third layer of a vertical cosmology—the sky or dome of the earth. Blue is the 3rd day of the 4 color cycle and pertains to numerical “oddness”(asymmetry).

Yellow

The fourth building block of life is oxygen and it consists of 8 protons (symmetry). Yellow is the color of the sun or last element of the 4 color vertical cosmology.

Yellow-green is the color emitted by oxygen. I associate yellow with the DNA code molecule cytosine because it has an even number of atoms (symmetry).

Cytosine bonds only with guanine and within Tzolkin Dynamics blue and yellow are compliments. Yellow is the 4th day of the 4 color 4 day cycle and it relates to the south.

From the geographical vantage point of the Meso-Americans, which is north of the equator, the south is where the sun was seen to reside most of the year. Yellow is the zenith phase of the suns journey across the sky and is the equivalent of the summer solstice and season.

Yellow pertains to the quality of ripening. Five of the 20 archetypal symbols constituting the 20 day cycle represent the distinct set of traits and attributes most associated with the color yellow.

Within a vertical color cosmology yellow is the 4th and final layer or place of the sun. Yellow is the fourth color in the 4 color sequence and pertains to numerical “evenness”(symmetry) and completion.

The 20 Archetypal Theme Symbols

The 20 symbols may be understood to represent the distinct archetypal form qualities that color takes on as energy-matter evolves and cycles. The 20 archetypal symbols impinge more on our objective perception of the world while the 4 colors impinge more on our subjective perception of the world.

Each of the Tzolkin’s 20 icons represent an aspect of nature (energy-matter continuum) that best exemplifies the foremost qualities present on a particular day of the 20 day cycle. The symbols as archetypes means that they are representative of a deeper foundational property of our reality.

Archetypes are not easy to define and I suggest reading the article What is an Archetype for the broadest definition. Whatever the base source of an archetype, they are to be regarded as universal and foundational properties of energy-matter.

In my work to relate the Tzolkin Code to existing branches of science I have found that the key numbers of the Tzolkin Code are fully manifest in the genetic code and in other levels (quantum-atomic-stellar-galactic) of the energy-matter spectrum.

Their distribution throughout the various layers of the cosmos and life compelled me to subtitle the tables of ARTSOS part 2, The Numbers Underlying the Order of the Universe. In ARTSOS part 2 I show in detail how the 20 symbols of the Tzolkin Code correspond to the 20 amino acid molecules of the genetic code.

The 20 amino acids are the building blocks of all living organisms from the simplest to the most complex. In the previous section on colors I related the 4 nucleobases of the genetic code to the 4 colors of the Tzolkin Code. The 20 amino acids are coded for by the specific sequence of the 4 nucleobases.

Please note that the 20 amino acids are composed of the same 4 elements that the 4 nucleobases are themselves made of. The 20 amino acids differ only in arrangement and in the numbers of atoms of each specific element contained. Similarly the 4 colors of the Tzolkin Code are primary to the symbols themselves.

The evolution of life is an aggregative process where more of “X” element results in a novel configuration such that the 20 amino acids start with a simple 10 atom molecule of glycine and ends with the 27 atom molecule called arginine.

You will note how the Tzolkin’s symbols start out with organisms or elements at the beginning of the evolutionary/complexity scale and gradually increase in evolutionary complexity as you count up to symbol 20, the Sun, whose one key attribute is “life”. The full range of life requires 20 key amino acids to develop—no more and no less.

When studying the 20 symbols you will see that alligator comes before seed and clearly an alligator is a more complex organism than a plant. In this case it’s what the symbols stands for not so much the symbol itself.

And in some cases the linear progression of archetypes does reflect the linear progression of evolution as in the dog coming before monkey and the monkey before the human. Please remember that the symbols are a stand in for archetypes and they are to be understood as having 4 faces, a thematic one, a literal one, a metaphorical one and an associative one. I will elaborate on the foregoing in my next article.

Each archetype has 3 key Arguellen provided attributes associated with it. While tracking the Tzolkin cycle you will first pay attention to the 3 key attributes, but as you become more acquainted with the archetypes you will find that there are other apt descriptors for each achetype.

It is with the names associated with certain symbols where we find the first modern revision of the Maya Tzolkin code. Dr. Jose Arguelles’ treatment and study of the Tzolkin code involved changes to the traditional Maya Tzolkin symbol names.

Arguelles did not provide justification for the name changes he simply introduced his work as the “new dispensation”. While it can be said that I am empirically validating the Arguellen Account of the Tzolkin I must admit that I found his presentation of Maya calendrics unintelligible and his scholarly style exceedingly presumptuous and unacademic. A situation that has relegated him to the outermost fringes of society.

Arguelles is the person responsible for popularizing 2012 and Maya calendrics, but for the reasons mentioned his is the least known and least understood of the Neo-Mayanist calendrical researchers.

Please see Origins of Mayan Calendar Confusion and 2012 Mania: Separating Fantasy from Fact for more details about the Arguellen factor when it comes to his presentation of MMAC.

I am inclined to believe that Arguelles changed certain symbol names based on a desire to universalize Tzolkin knowledge. And I also believe that in some cases his changes are more appropriate or to say more effective symbol carriers of the archetypal meme from a universalizing perspective.

Given the import of MMAC knowledge I believe that an association of calendrical researchers should have an opportunity to weigh in on the key aspects of Tzolkin nomenclature. At this stage an association does not yet exist, but it reflects my desire to do certain things by committee when possible versus the issuances of decrees as in the case of the Arguellen contribution.

The modern study of Tzolkin knowledge is in its infancy. Arguelles is thus far the only published researcher on the in depth study and nature of the Tzolkin Cycle-Code. For more information on the Arguellen contribution to Tzolkin facet of Maya-Meso-American Calendrics (MMAC) please see Origins of Mayan Calendar Confusion and 2012 Mania: Separating Fantasy from Fact.

The two other well known calendrical researchers are Carl Johan Calleman and John Major Jenkins and they make some fantastic and vague claims about the Tzolkin, but offer little or no empirically work to back up their claims. My own work makes me the first researcher to begin to lay an empirical foundation for Tzolkin science and for my own discoveries about the Tzolkin cycle as well.

Of the 8 names changes that Arguelles made I take issue with only two. You may compare names of the traditional symbols with those of the Arguellen Account in the tables provided here. In the traditional Maya Tzolkin the first archetype is symbolized by the alligator.

The Arguellen revision changed the name to dragon. Curiously the attributes he gave to the first archetype are more fitting with the alligator symbol. The key attributes of the first archetype are nurture, being and birth.

Alligators and crocodiles are perhaps the only reptiles who care for their young. Being pertains to our awareness of having an existence and to simply be as in a meditative stillness. What do alligators and crocodiles do most of their day, but lay motionless by the waters edge.

In contrast a dragon conjures up an entirely different image and set of attributes. Though I have found that the dragon archetype does seem to fit many instances as in the sudden fiercesness or abruptness of an alligator on the attack… among other examples to be shared as my work progresses.

The second name change I take issue with involves archetype 14, which in the traditional Maya Tzolkin is known as the jaguar. Arguelles needlessly transformed the jaguar into a wizard. The jaguar shamans of Maya culture may be thought of as wizards, but the name change is unnecessary in my estimation and experience.

The key attributes of archetype 14 are enchants, receptivity and timelessness. The second case is also a good example of some of the more abstract attributes characterizing some of the archetypes. In this case it is hard to see just how receptivity and timelessness are effectively conveyed by either the jaguar or the wizard.

Enchantment is easier to understand and works for both symbols, but I see no justification whatsoever for the need to change jaguar to wizard.

In my presentation of the Tzolkin code I will use the traditional Maya names for archetype 1 and 14. The beauty of Tzolkin Cosmology is that one can make it their own and lets suppose you have more of cultural and experiential connection to the dragon than to the alligator then by all means use your preference.

Movement: The Tone Cycle

If the colors and symbols refer more to thematics then the tones refer more to energetics.

The tones can be said to point to a quality and type of energetic momentum and they are also a measure of the energetic intensity associated with each particular momentum stage of the 13 day tone cycle.

Fundamentally everything is a form of energy, but energy differentiates into a myriad of manifestations. The symbols and colors frame energy as form and subjectivity more so while the tones capture it qualitatively and quantitatively as movement.

Thirteen types of energetic stages (tones) times 20 thematic states (color/archetypes) yields the 260 distinct days of the Tzolkin cycle. This is why you will see each day of the Tzolkin designated by an archetype and a tone number.

The 13 day “tone” cycle is the most abstract of the 3 Tzolkin subcycles and it is denoted by the numbers 1 through 13 using the traditional Maya dot-bar counting system. In the traditional schools of Maya calendrics the tones are referred to only by number. In the Arguellen Account they were given names and attributes.

I have found that some of the Arguellen labels are accurate and some are not, but I have found that all of the attributes seem fitting. The descriptor of “tone” is an Arguellen contribution and I don’t know how the Ancient Meso-Americans referred to the 13 day subcycle. Current traditionalist interpretations of the tone cycle refer to it as a “trecena”, which is Spanish for 13.

In my presentation I will use the tone number and the Arguellen attributes in my discussion of the tones. I will also include the Arguellen names for the sake of some of the tone names that do accurately reflect the tone’s characteristics. I will note which tone names I find adequate and which I do not.

Recurrence

The three subcycles capture the most basic properties of our universe when viewed with the naked eye and hand—color, form and movement.

Recurrence: the fact that we are dealing with cyclicity, reveals a fourth property of energy-matter—spin. Everything spins and comes back around to a very familiar and regular place, but it’s not the exact point in space—as in the case of our year cycle.

The earth spins around the sun and we find ourselves once again at the summer solstice or any other time marker, but it’s not the same summer solstice of a year ago. Our entire solar system is also moving through space. The sun has lost mass as light and atomic particles.

You have the experience and maturation of another year. The process of the year has changed you and everything else to varying degrees, but all of the changes result from patterned and recurring processes. Organisms have been living, growing, reproducing, dieing and evolving ever since the first day life took hold.

Patterns recur, but all things are factored and influenced by what came before and by what they are encountering in the now. This dynamic insures that we will always encounter novelty. That is… the essential rules of development and form are constant, but are subject to slight changes in form and energetics as dictated by past and present local conditions.

For example, all vertebrates (fish, reptiles, mammals and birds) share a similar body plan (theme), but there are over 50,000 variations (species) on the theme. The vertebrate theme of fish started in the oceans. The conditions of dry land modified the fish vertebrate theme into the amphibian-reptile vertebrate theme and so on.

The Art and Science of a Social Physics: ASSP

The interaction between the genetic code and the local conditions of the environment results in as many form variants as there are varieties of local conditions (niches). The genetic code defines the 4 base molecules of life.

The interactions of the 4 base molecules (nucleobases) results in the 20 variations of the 4 base molecules called amino acids. Every living organism results from the workings of the 4 and 20 molecules and their conjunction with environmental conditions. A simple code gives rise to astounding variety and complexity.

Now bear in mind that the environment is made up of the same elements that the molecules of life are themselves made of. This intimately cojoined process ultimately results in humans beings (macro-molecules) and human societies or macro-molecular chains and networks.

This assembly process refers not only to life’s chemistry, but also to the events we experience as elements of life in a continuous process of orderly unfoldment. The Tzolkin code charts what I mean by orderly unfoldment. When it gets down to it we can explain and predict all behaviors according to the action-reaction and bonding rules that govern the elements and molecules of life.

The Tzolkin Code is to humans as the genetic code is to molecules. The implication is that our behaviors and interactions are governed by a universal process of which we are products and part of the same ongoing cyclical process. The deeper implication is that humans come in 4 basic flavors and 20 variations on those flavors as defined by the Tzolkin’s 4 colors and 20 archetypal symbols.

Tzolkin Dynamics makes testable predictions about the quality and preponderance of relationship types humans will experience with one another as based on their place in the universal assembly process—conception, fetal development and birth. And bear in mind that human gestation is approximately 260 days.

Understanding what I call universal personality characteristics and universal relationship dynamics is what you will gain by tracking the Tzolkin Cycle and learning Tzolkin Dynamics. In my very next article I will prepare you to begin tracking the Tzolkin Cycle-Code and learning Tzolkin Dynamics.

The Art and Science of Synchronicity: ARTSOS

Learning to track and apply the Tzolkin Cycle-Code enables you to detect the correspondence and simultaneous occurrence between events and the recurring cosmological essences discovered by the Ancient Meso Americans that we now know as the Tzolkin Cycle and Code.

The Themeplex.

In my next article on tracking the Tzolkin Cycle I will talk about the Day’s Themeplex. You may have thought to your self as you read about the 20 themes that a days themes are varied and could not possibly be attributed to one only one set of themes. Earlier I mentioned that on a “blue day” all attributes of blue are present, but that the archetype of the day represents the set of blue attributes most pronounced.

But what about the other theme colors you may ask? Tzolkin Dynamics reveals sets of themes grouped together via numerical and colors relationships. There is the central or foremost theme of the day and then we have the analog, the antipodal, the guiding and the quasi themes. I will cover the basics of the Themeplex in my very next article. Below is a picture of a Red Serpent Day Themeplex.

My contention is that within the schemas of the modern physical sciences we will find the corresponding nomenclature that will unify the naked hand-eye cosmology of MMAC with the augmented reductionist hand-eye of the physical sciences. The particulars of that endeavor I have only just begun and the reader may get more concrete glimpses of what I mean by reviewing ARTSOS articles 2, 5 and 6.