Tone 9, B'elejeb'

B'elejeb' means nine. In the Momostenango bands, the 9 closes the group of measured strength. In divination with Aq'ab'al, even the 9 still answers yes.

Odd as it is, the 9 tends to be read as very positive, and it turns up often in the rites.

The strongest explanation comes from the body: the K'iche' of Momostenango and Chichicastenango themselves tie the 260 days to human pregnancy, which lasts about nine moons.

The 9 is the time it takes a life to form.

The shrine of the 9 in Momostenango is the belejebal, the nine-place. There the initiate makes offerings from 9 E to 9 B'atz'; the other 9 days belong to the heads of lineages.

9 E is the great day that completes the initiation, and 9 Toj is kept for the ajq'ijab' who head the lineages.

Nine also orders the reading of a person: whoever reads the day of birth also looks at the ninth day back and the ninth day forward. The Maya Cross is born from that count.

Nine moons to be born; nine days to each side.

People born on a 9 day tend to stand firm and keep their balance. In the reading of the 9, some see the feminine principle, in men and in women alike.

The 9 also tends to be read as the struggle between light and dark, but mostly from the good side: nine steps to raise a house, nine stages of the maize until harvest, nine to bring up a child.

In practice, this often looks like someone who knows how to wait for things to ripen, and who looks after what they started until the end.

What the 9 plants, it looks after until the harvest.

Each nawal falls on tone 9 once every 260 days. Open any of them to read its page.

• 9 Imox
• 9 Iq'
• 9 Aq'ab'al
• 9 K'at
• 9 Kan
• 9 Kame
• 9 Kej
• 9 Q'anil
• 9 Toj
• 9 Tz'i'
• 9 B'atz'
• 9 E
• 9 Aj
• 9 I'x
• 9 Tz'ikin
• 9 Ajmaq
• 9 No'j
• 9 Tijax
• 9 Kawoq
• 9 Ajpu