8 Ik', 8th day in the 13-day Sih Muahn (Black Hawk) Week
8 Ik' (Ch'orti'): The center of the galaxy; the void. Glyph of the tree of life.
8 Iq' (Quiche') / 8 Ik' (Yucatec Maya): The wind; center of the galaxy
8 Ehecatl (Aztec): Wind
Direction: North
Note: Ik' is the dark spot in the Milky Way, or the Tree of Life, and specifically the center of the galaxy where there appear to be no stars. Also known as the void. Now we know that there is a black hole at this location. When the Mars retrograde cycle happens while aligning with the center of the galaxy, it occurs on the earliest possible date of the tzolkin. This will next happen in early April 2016. This happens due to the elongated orbit of Mars being pulled by the densest mass of the galaxy. This allowed the pre-Mayans to predict the exact day of the turning or retrograde motion of Mars. This is also how the pre-Mayans determined the exact center of the galaxy with such accuracy, i.e. when Mars turned retrograde in that spot it would lower the Mars retrograde calendar before expected or by two days rather than just the typical one. This day might also be known as yaxte', which means 'tree of life'. This was symbolized by the Mayans as the ceiba tree.
The Mayans and Mesoamerican people communicated with the heart of darkness of the galaxy by entering a meditative trance induced by the windy smoke of burning tobacco incense. Later other materials, including copal, were used. The Mayans called this a Tohil bath. Ik' Balam is also the name of one of the first four civilizing humans. Ik's village at the mouth of the Rio Lempa was most likely wiped out in the global flood event of the draining of Lake Agassiz in about 6400 BCE (Before Common Era).
Sih Muahn Week: The black hawk or eagle was the creature that brought the serpent out of the sea or lake and mixed its blood with that of a tapir and corn dough (masa) to make the first Mayans, in the Popol Vuh creation story. The tapir (cimin) symbolizes those that ruled the cave that the pre-Mayan-Mesoamericans escaped from. The serpent (chan) was brought out of the lake by the sih muahn and placed around a crater lake (Coatepeque) to make a rainbow (makchan) that protected the pre-Mayan people.
Astronomy of Sih Muahn week: Mars appears in the late evening sky as it does every third Sih Muahn week. During our era of several hundred years, Sih Muahn week will never have an eclipse, nor will the sun ever be square to the lunar nodes.
Acajutla
High Tides: 10:06 AM and 10:18 PM
Semi-diurnal Tide Range: 1.01 meters
and at its lowest (distance between high tide and low tide). In 13 days - the 8th day of the next week - the tide range will again have three days of low tides. Being able to predict the tides allowed the pre-Mayans to mobilized resources between fishing and agriculture, as well as to prepare for journeys when low tide ranges meant bad fishing and crabbing.
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