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Glossary · Mayan astrology

Mayan astrology glossary

The vocabulary of Maya astrology, from the nawal to the Wayeb', gathered and explained: understand any word on the site without leaving the page.

Updated 2 October 2026

In short

  • Every word of the Maya count — nawal, tone, Cholq'ij, Maya Cross — defined on a single page.
  • First the core concepts; then the 20 nawales and the 13 tones, each with a link to its page.
  • Use the search to jump to a term, or the index alongside to browse the groups.
  • Every definition comes from the books of ajq'ijab' and of researchers who followed the living count.
  • At the end, find your nawal for free, just your date of birth.

1. Concepts

The core ideas of the 260-day count, each defined here.

Cholq'ij and Tzolk'in
The 260-day count that organises Maya astrology: twenty names and thirteen numbers that always travel in pairs and only repeat after 260 steps. Cholq'ij is the K'iche' name and means putting the days in order; Tzolk'in is the best-known name, coined in 1921 from it.
Nawal
The living force that inhabits each day, and the land, the weather, the animals and people too. The nawal of the day you were born is yours: from it come, in the tradition, your character, your gifts and your duties.
Tone
The number, from 1 to 13, that travels with the nawal and measures the strength of the day. The same nawal arrives differently with each tone: 1 is the seed that opens the count; 13, the full force that calls for a careful hand.
Ajq'ij
Someone who looks after the days and reads them for others. In the Popol Vuh, "he or she of the days"; in the plural, ajq'ijab'. For many it is not a calling you choose: the gift comes from your birth day.
Maya Cross
The figure that places your day at the centre and, around it, four others: conception, eight days before; destiny, eight after; and the two days flanking the birth. Read as a map of the person, it gives conception and birth equal weight.
Cross of 9
The nine-house version: conception, birth and destiny, each with two helpers alongside, making up the nine months of gestation. The sum of the nine numbers gives the person's "forces", a reckoning handed down by the elder ajq'ijab'.
Mam
The year bearer: the nawal of the Cholq'ij that opens the 365-day solar year and carries it to the next. In the K'iche' highlands only four nawales do this (Kej, E, No'j and Iq'), and each sets the tone of its year.
The 260 days
Why 260? The explanation the K'iche' themselves give is pregnancy: from the day of conception to birth runs about nine moons. And the body keeps the count: twenty are the fingers and toes; thirteen, the great joints.
8 B'atz'
The day of the great festival in Momostenango, called the Maya New Year, when new ajq'ijab' are initiated. It returns every 260 days, draws crowds and is held to celebrate the continuity of life.
Directions and colours
Each of the four directions has its colour in the tradition. The east is red, the north white. The west is black, the south yellow. Green and blue belong to the centre, and each direction answers to an element too.

2. The 20 nawales

The twenty forces of the days, in Tzolk'in order. Tap a name to read the full page.

3. The 13 tones

The thirteen numbers that travel with the nawal and measure the strength of the day, from 1 to 13.

4. Other counts

The other ways of counting time that surround the Cholq'ij.

Ab' / Haab'
The 365-day solar year: eighteen twenty-day months and a final block of five, the Wayeb'. Ab' is the K'iche' name; Haab', in Yucatec Maya. It runs alongside the 260-day count without fitting into it.
Wayeb'
The five days that close the 365-day year, outside the eighteen twenty-day months. A time apart, for withdrawal and offering, before the new year begins.
Wheel of 52 years
The time the two counts take to return to the same point: 52 years in which each bearer rules the year in turns of thirteen, the cycle the books named the Calendar Round.
Dreamspell
Another count, created in 1990 and popular online. It uses Maya-inspired names with a method of its own and, for the same date, usually gives a different day from the Cholq'ij still alive in the highlands.

What is your nawal?

Now that the words no longer trip you up, find your nawal and tone in seconds, free, just your date of birth.

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