From tonatierra.org
NAHUACALLI – A Cultural Embassy of the Indigenous Peoples supporting local-global holistic indigenous community development initiatives in accord with the principle of Community Ecology and Self Determination
NEMONTEMI
Tamechtlahpahloa, Greetings to all, the following is an offering from our relative in El Paso, TX, Carlos Aceves, related to the teaching and learning’s that is derived from the studies of the Tonalmachiotl. A new presentation will be offered each day of the Nemontemi that bridges the year mahtlactli calli, 10 House and mahtlactli ihuan ce tochtli, 11 Rabbit.
Tonalpohualli
Tonal Machiotl is a product of Tloque Nauoque/Hunab K’u, the “giver of all measurement and movement.” Through the geometric manifestation of circle united with square, Tonal Machiotl is thirteen wheels working together to track, measure, and calculate the cycles of Creation. My friend Andrés Juárez said it best, “The Aztec Calendar is a model of kinship with Creation.”
A cycle specific to human beings is Tonalpohualli, the cycle of human life.
This cycle centers around one quantity—260 days. There are two other numbers integral to this count—13 and 20. Thirteen has two functions, one as 13 x 20 = 260, and 260 + 13 = 273.
To understand their role we need to identify and track the 8 points of vital importance to life on Earth: two equinoxes, two solstices, the point at which the Earth is farthest from the Sun (aphelion), the point at which she is closest to the Sun (aphelion), and the two points at which they are equidistant from Tonatiuh (equihelion).
The aphelion happens 13 days after the summer solstice, the perihelion 13 days after the winter solstice, and both equihelions happen 13 days after each equinox.
Using the four celestial occurrences (aphelion, perihelion, equihelions) we arrive at 273. From aphelion to Spring there are 273 days. The same is true from the Fall equihelion to the summer solstice, from perihelion to Fall equihelion, and from Spring equihelion to winter solstice. What is significant about 273 is that those are the number of days in a human gestation period from conception to birth.
Tradition tells that the human season (first of nine in a human being’s life) is marked by five stages: conception, housing in the womb, housing of the heart, housing of the brain, housing of the tonalli, and birth.
Tonalli, the animating force which Sun, nests on the opening atop the skull, the moyera at day 260 of gestation.
At that moment the tonalli begins descending into the body (it takes two years to full enter) and integrating with the other animating forces: teyolia, ihiyotl, and atalchinolli. The first step of integration takes 13 days, and we are ready to be born at 273 days.
Tonal Machiotl’s wheel of 20 days functions on a count of 13. In counting the days, after thirteen we return to one. Here the day-glyphs tochtli, tecpatl, calli, and acatl not only serve as one of the twenty days but also as the names of the years (we are entering the year tochtli) and the 13th day after which each season begins.
The equihelion after Fall corresponds to tochtli. The Afelion correspond to acatl, perihelion to tecpatl, and the equihelion of Spring to calli. As we track the year through Tonal Machiotl we can identify these positions and their parent seasons through the number 13.
On a personal level, the birth of an individual can also be tracked.
Thirteen days prior to birth is the housing of the tonalli, the vibration frequency we share with the sun.
Tradition tells us that every 260 days our solar frequency begins a re-adjustment in its relationship with the other animating forces and that this adjustment takes 13 days. We undergo a “rebirth” every 273 days.
This is not a mystical concept. We have seen how these numbers correspond to positions of Earth in relation to Sun. Each one of us is a smaller planet, also orbiting the Sun. Our entire being is made up of the unity of Earth and Sun.
Current science, the very one we teach our children through their elementary and secondary school years is that this orbit creates accumulative changes that culminate in many pivotal changes of which the Seasons are only one aspect. All this is due to the radiation, gravity, heat, motion, weather, tides, and the space-time continuum.
Our bodies, as they orbit the Sun along with the Earth go through no less changes and adjustments. We too have our individual aphelion, perihelion, and equhelions. We too have our seasons.
Tonal Machiotl tracks, records, and calculates those as well as the celestial bodies that make up of significant Creation.
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