Honouring Sacred Time Through the Cholq’ij Calendar
We are soon approaching a new year in the Maya Cholq’ij calendar. In much of our modern culture, a new year is usually associated with outward celebration. Within the Maya Cholq’ij, the transition into a new cycle is approached very differently, with reflection, awareness, and reverence for time itself.
The Cholq’ij is a sacred system of timekeeping of the Maya that reflects a completely different relationship with time than our Gregorian calendar does today. Rather than measuring time as something to move through or manage, the Cholq’ij understands time as alive, cyclical, and conscious, something we are in relationship with.
I share this moment with reverence, not as a teacher from Maya tradition and certainly not as a ajq’ij (daykeeper), but as a devoted learner, inspired by a living tradition that invites us to meet time with humility, awareness, and respect.
My name is Sharon Fernie, and I am the founder of Herbal Cacao, a brand devoted to high-quality ceremonial cacao blends and the holistic wisdom carried by sacred plants.
My path is guided by a deep love for holistic wellness and ancient traditions. Through Herbal Cacao, it is our mission to support our community on their holistic wellness journey of self and spiritual discovery by spreading awareness about ceremonial cacao and other medicinal adaptogenic herbs and mushrooms, as allies that have supported humanity for generations.
Here in the Herbal Cacao Journal, I explore not only the active medicinal ingredients within our blends, but also the wider world of ritual, ancient healing practices, and modern wellness, woven together with reflections from my own lived experience. Whether you are deeply immersed in holistic practices or just beginning your journey, this blog is an invitation to deepen your understanding of sacred plants and their profound impact on mind, body, and spirit.
Learning about the Cholq’ij and its cyclical understanding of time deeply shifted the way I relate to cycles, in life, in ritual, and in inner work. Rather than moving endlessly forward, this sacred calendar revealed time as relational and intelligent, weaving together the human experience, the rhythms of the Earth, and the movement of the cosmos.
Before a new Cholq’ij cycle begins, there is a short, liminal period often associated with inward turning and preparation for renewal. This threshold invites reflection on the cycle that has passed and a conscious release of what no longer belongs, creating space to enter the new year with clarity and intention.
What Is the Maya New Year in the Cholq’ij (Tzolk’in)?
The Cholq’ij (Tzolk’in) calendar is an ancient system of timekeeping that continues to be actively used today by Maya communities and daykeepers. It reflects a living cosmology, one that understands time as cyclical, relational, and intelligent, deeply connected to human experience, the natural world, and the greater movements of the cosmos.
In the Cholq’ij, the Maya New Year marks a shift in sacred time, the completion of one cycle and the conscious entry into the next. This transition is preceded by the Wayeb’ period, marking our Gregorian calendar from February 14–18th 2026, a liminal time dedicated to introspection and release. The Maya New Year begins on February 19, following these days of conscious pause.
This transition is defined by the Maya by the movement of the Year Bearer, the Nawal that carries the overarching energetic theme of the year ahead.
Within the Cholq’ij, a new year is not something we rush into. It is something we arrive at, with presence, humility, and respect for the cycle that has brought us here.
Learning to see the new year as a cycle shift rather than a fixed date profoundly changed how I relate to time in my own life. It invited me to honour completion as much as initiation, and reflection as much as forward movement.
The Maya Sacred Calendar
Time as a Living System
The Maya sacred calendar is not a single system, but a living network of timekeeping that reflects a deeply relational worldview. In Maya cosmology, time is not linear or mechanical; it is cyclical, conscious, and alive. Each moment carries a quality, and each cycle offers context for how life unfolds.
Rather than separating time from life, Maya timekeeping weaves together multiple calendars that move simultaneously. These include sacred and solar cycles that interact with one another, creating a holistic understanding of existence. While each calendar has its own function, together they form a unified system that mirrors the rhythms of nature and human experience.
What inspired me to learn more about this sacred calendar is how it integrates different layers of life:
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Human cycles: emotional, psychological, and spiritual development
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Earth cycles: seasons, agriculture, regeneration, and rest
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Cosmic cycles: celestial movement, creation, and completion
The Maya sacred calendar reminds us that life moves in spirals, not straight lines and that when we honor those spirals, we begin to live with more presence, and respect for the unseen.
This way of understanding time does not ask us to dominate or control it. Instead, it invites us into relationship, to listen, respond, and align. For me, encountering this worldview was a turning point. It ignited my spiritual journey many years ago.
What Is the Cholq’ij Calendar?
The Cholq’ij (also known as the Tzolk’in) is a 260-day sacred calendar that forms the spiritual heart of Maya timekeeping, mapping the energetic quality of each day, offering context for how life is experienced and understood.
This calendar is created through the interaction of:
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20 Nawales: sacred day energies or consciousness forces
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13 tones: movements of creation that shape how each energy expresses itself
Together, they generate 260 unique days, each carrying its own energy and teaching. In Maya cosmovision, every day matters. Each moment carries intelligence, and when we learn to recognize the energy of the day, we are invited to act with greater responsibility, humility, and presence. This way of understanding days brought a sense of rhythm and meaning into my rituals, my work, and my relationship with rest.
Bringing the Cholq’ij into Daily Ritual
For those who feel called to deepen their relationship with the energies of the Cholq’ij in a grounded and respectful way, we offer the Living Maya Destiny – Card Deck.
Created by Maya cultural practitioners, artists, and an Ajq’ij (daykeeper), this deck is rooted in authentic Maya cosmology and designed to make the wisdom of the Cholq’ij accessible for modern daily life.
The Living Maya Destiny Cards are based on the 20 Nawales of the Cholq’ij day-count and offer a daily reflection to help you understand the energy of the day, supporting clarity, self-inquiry, and conscious decision-making. They pair beautifully with a cacao ritual, inviting a moment of stillness, intention, and listening before moving into the day.
Rather than teaching or interpreting the calendar ourselves, this deck allows Maya voices to speak directly, offering a way to engage with the Cholq’ij that honors lineage, living culture, and reciprocity.
Why This Matters: The Cholq’ij reminds us that timeis relational. When we begin to recognize the unique energy of each day, we are invited into a more conscious way of living, one that values reflection as much as action, and awareness as much as achievement.
The Role of the Ajq’ij
Why Lineage Matters
In Maya cosmology, an ajq’ij (often translated as daykeeper/timekeeper) is a guardian of time. The path of a Mayan spiritual leader or ajq’ij is a lifelong commitment. They are the ones who can make Kotzij' or Mayan ceremonies. Their role is to maintain a relationship with sacred time and support balance within the community. Ajq’ijab’ are trained within specific lineages, carrying knowledge that is transmitted through generations, prayer, and lived practice.
The work of an ajq’ij is deeply relational. They listen to the movements of the Cholq’ij, hold ceremonies aligned with the day energies, and offer guidance that supports harmony between people, the Earth, and the unseen world.
This is why lineage matters. Maya cosmology is not a symbolic system to be extracted or reinterpreted at will. It is a living body of knowledge held by people, families, and communities who have preserved it through centuries of colonisation, disruption, and resilience. Respecting this continuity means recognising the difference between learning from a tradition and speaking on behalf of it.
For me, encountering this wisdom made humility essential. Rather than claiming authority, I felt called to listen, study, and learn, allowing the calendar and the teachings to inform my own life without assuming ownership over them. This distinction shapes how I share, how I write, and how I hold space within Herbal Cacao.
Honoring the role of the ajq’ij reminds us that wisdom is not something we take, its embodied knowledge we are invited into, through respect, patience, and relationship.
What Is a Year Bearer in Maya Cosmology?
In Maya cosmology, a Year Bearer is the guiding energy that carries the overarching theme of a year. Rather than determining fate, it offers context, a collective tone that shapes how the year’s lessons and experiences may unfold across communities, relationships, and the natural world.
Each year is associated with a specific Nawal from the Cholq’ij calendar. This Nawal becomes the Year Bearer, holding qualities and invitations that influence the rhythm of the cycle ahead. How each person meets this energy remains deeply personal, shaped by awareness, choice, and circumstance.
The transition into a new year holds five days without a main Year Bearer, known as Wayeb’. Through the introspective days of Wayeb’, this transition calls us to release what no longer belongs and to enter the new cycle with humility, gratitude, and trust, walking our path step by step, supported by the Earth beneath us.
These days are traditionally honored through ceremony, prayer, and reflection, guided by ajq’ijab’ within Maya communities. This crossing marks a conscious completion of one cycle and an intentional entry into the next.
The Year Bearer of the New Cycle: Jun Kej’ (1 Deer)
According to Maya tradition, four primary energies alternate as Year Bearers:
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Kej’ (Deer)
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Ee (Wildcat)
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No’j (Woodpecker)
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Iq’ (Hummingbird)
This year, we welcome Jun Kej’ (1 Deer). Kej’ is a Nawal known to be deeply connected to the spiritual path and the natural world. It is understood as the energy that carries our spirit as we walk our life’s mission.
Why the Maya Calendar Feels So Relevant Today
Modern life is largely shaped by linear time with a system that moves relentlessly forward, measuring worth through productivity, speed, and output. In this framework, rest is often seen as something to earn, and pauses can feel like falling behind.
The Maya calendar offers a radically different perspective in my opinion. Rooted in cyclical time, it reminds us that life unfolds in rhythms, moments of growth, completion, rest, and renewal. Nothing is meant to expand endlessly. Every cycle contains both action and stillness, movement and return.
This understanding feels especially relevant in a world experiencing widespread burnout, disconnection, and overproduction. When time becomes pressure rather than relationship, we lose our sense of orientation, to our bodies, to the Earth, and to what truly matters. The Maya approach invites us back into dialogue with time, asking not how much we can do, but how we are moving through each moment.
Relating to time as a living system has deeply influenced my own values around ritual, nourishment, and self-leadership. It has taught me that leadership begins with listening, that nourishment includes rest as much as action, and that ritual creates the space to meet life with intention rather than reaction.
The Maya calendar does not ask us to escape modern life, it offers a way to inhabit it more consciously. By remembering that we are part of larger cycles, we are invited to live with greater care, clarity, and respect for the rhythms that sustain us.
Sharing, Not Teaching, Learning with Respect:
It feels important to pause here and name this clearly.
I am not an ajq’ij.
I am not a teacher of Maya tradition.
What I share comes from the place of an inspired learner, shaped by listening, study, and the ways this wisdom has touched my own life.
Maya cosmology is a living tradition, held and carried by people, families, and communities today. It is not a symbolic system to be borrowed freely or reshaped without context. Honoring this wisdom is very important to me and to Maya communities, and this means recognizing the difference between appreciation and appropriation, between learning from a tradition and speaking on its behalf.
For me, integrity in sharing spiritual wisdom matters deeply, both personally and through Herbal Cacao. The plants we work with, the rituals we honor, and the stories we tell all carry lineage. Approaching them with humility, care, and respect is not optional; it is essential.
If this calendar, these teachings, or the energy of the Maya New Year speaks to you, I encourage you to seek out voices from Maya communities, elders, and cultural practitioners. Let those who carry this wisdom speak for themselves.
Some of the insights I have shared here have been informed by the work of Mark Elmy (Four Pillars) and teachings shared by the book of destiny from Carlos Barrios, approached with care and respect for the original Maya lineages and the nuances of translation.
This post in the Herbal Cacao Journal is offered as an invitation, to curiosity, to reverence, and to remembering that true wisdom is not claimed, but received through relationship.
Matyox to the ajq’ij, the grandfathers and grandmothers I had the blessing to learn from and sit with in ceremony, to listen to their stories and receive their knowledge as integrated wisdom shared throughout time.
Honouring the Maya New Year with Intention
Honoring the Maya New Year does not require elaborate ceremony or special knowledge. At its heart, this transition is an invitation into presence, a moment to pause, reflect, and consciously step into a new cycle with gratitude and intention.
For some, this may look like time in silence. For others, journaling, prayer, lighting a candle, or simply spending time in nature. What matters is not the form, but the quality of attention, meeting the threshold of a new year with humility and openness.
I often mark transitions like this with a simple cacao ritual. Cacao has always offered, shared and drunk in ceremony to open the dialogue with the energies that enable existence, supporting reflection, emotional clarity, and connection. Sipped slowly and with intention, it becomes a heart-opening companion for listening to what is ready to be released, and to what is quietly asking to be nurtured in the year ahead.
As we enter the year of Jun Kej’ (One Deer), the intentions we hold can be gentle yet profound. This energy invites us to walk with humility, to offer our work with devotion, without ego or the need to control, and to stay true to the path that is meant for us.
Honoring this moment can be as simple as setting an intention to listen more deeply, to move with greater care, and to follow the whisper of guidance of your heart.
The Maya New Year reminds us that beginnings are most powerful when they are entered slowly, with gratitude for what has carried us this far, and respect for the cycle now unfolding.
An Invitation to Remember Time Differently
The Maya calendar offers a way of relating to life. It reminds us that time is not something to race against or control, but something sacred we are in conversation with. Each cycle carries its own wisdom, asking us to listen as much as we act.
In remembering time as cyclical and relational, we are invited back into rhythm with our bodies, with the Earth, and with the intelligence that moves beneath the surface of daily life. This remembrance does not ask for perfection or mastery, only presence.
At Herbal Cacao, we hold ritual as a simple act of care, as a moment to nourish, to pause, and to return to the heart. Within our Inner Circle, we also share daily energy updates offered by an ajq’ij from Guatemala, allowing Maya wisdom to be carried in its living voice and context, day by day. This practice helps us stay in relationship with time as listeners.
If this moment speaks to you, consider it an invitation:
to slow down,
to sip with intention,
and to listen to what time is offering you now.
We walk these cycles together, one breath, one cup, one moment of presence at a time.
