[Aztlan] Cipactli and Venus

[Karen Bassie]

Gary,
I would not characterize 1 Imix as the beginning of the tzolkin count. 
All k'atuns do, however, begin on Imix days.
I think there is evidence that the Maya thought there were gods who 
ruled over and influenced all of the various cycles. In terms of the 
tzolk'in, each day had both a day lord and a number god (there were 20 
day lords and 13 number lords). The day lord and number lord in power on 
the day that a person was born was thought to determine the fate of a 
person.
The same was true for the beginning of a time period. The day name that 
started each year determined the kind of year it would be. Simply 
because of the mathematics, only four day names can start a new year, 
and we call them the Yearbearers. That is why the Dresden New Year pages 
are divided into 4 sets of rituals, that are each repeated 13 times for 
a total of a 52 year calendar round.
In terms of the 365 day cycle itself, each of the 18 periods of 20 days 
and the 5 days of wayeb also had a patron god who apparently ruled these 
period.
K'atuns (periods of 7200 days) are named for the tzolk'in day on which 
they end. A k'atun named 1 Ajaw will not occur again for 13 k'atuns. 
There is evidence that each of these 13 different k'atuns was ruled by a 
different deity.
The Dresden Venus pages are divided into 5 cycles of Venus. Each of 
these five cycles is further divided into the four intervals of a Venus 
cycle (morning star, disappearance, evening star, disappearance). The 
Dresden table indicates that a different deity ruled each of the 20 
intervals in the greater Venus cycle.
And then there is the nine day cycle nicknamed the supplementary series. 
Each day in this cycle was apparent ruled by a different deity. And also 
the lunar series indicates that there were three deities who ruled over 
lunar cycles.
So if a Maya diviner was going to make a prognostication, he (or she) 
would have to know not only what day lord was in power but all these 
other deities as well. No wonder they needed charts to keep track. 
Negative characteristics for an event could be modified by making the 
proper petitions to the gods. If the modern Maya are any indication, 
just about every important event was likely scheduled using divination. 
Diviners who controlled the scheduling of events had enormous power.