Meaning
Imox stands first in the count, and 1 Imox is day 1 of the 260. Scholars gloss the Yucatec name Imix as water or the water serpent; J. Eric S. Thompson read the glyph as the flower of the water lily and gave the day to the earth crocodile that floats on the primordial water.
The highland reading keeps the water and turns it inward. The Komon Tohil daykeepers of Zunil derive the name from the sea, the rivers and the lakes; the Maya' Wuj manual adds the lizard and the subtle, intuitive and creative side of a person.
Our reading, written for EsoTerrier from these sources: a day of water in all its forms and of the deep, imaginative side of the mind, whose task is to keep that depth from turning into confusion. People born on Imox are described as imaginative and sensitive to what others overlook. The sentences are ours, not a daykeeper's.
In the highlands today
The Zunil daykeepers use Imox to ask for rain, for the return of someone who has left home, and for calm in a troubled mind or household; the Maya' Wuj manual makes it a day for the purity of rivers, lakes and seas.
In Momostenango the day's reminder, as the daykeeper Andrés Xiloj gave it in 2005, is to keep a clear head and not act foolishly in one's work. The Momostenango reminders are plays on the sound of the day's name, and they differ from community to community.
The glyph and the old readings
The Classic reading of the glyph is uncertain: the epigraphers' handbook gives Ha'? or Baah?, with the question mark that means the reading is not secure. Thompson's colonial sources give maize and fruitfulness as the day's augury in Yucatan and the earth as its highland association; such gradings differ from place to place, so we read none of them as a fortune.
In the Central Mexican count the day of the same position is Cipactli, the caiman or water monster: a related image from a different calendar, not the meaning of the Maya day.
In the count
Imox comes round every twentieth day, thirteen times in the 260: on days 1, 21, 41, 61, 81, 101, 121, 141, 161, 181, 201, 221 and 241, with the numbers 1, 8, 2, 9, 3, 10, 4, 11, 5, 12, 6, 13 and 7 in that order, so 1 Imox is its first day in the count and 7 Imox its last. In the nawal cross of a person born on Imox, the day eight before (conception) falls on Aj, the day eight after (destiny) on Toj, six before (the right hand) on Tz'ikin and six after (the left hand) on Kej, each with its own number.
Correspondences
Each item with how it stands: “sourced” is in the work cited, “our construction” is EsoTerrier’s own, and “disputed” means the sources disagree.
- Thompson's reading of the glyph (1950)
- flower of the water lily sourced
- Presiding god of the day, after Thompson
- the earth crocodile sourced
- Old augury, Yucatan and the highlands, after Thompson
- earth (highlands); maize and fruitfulness (Yucatan); gradings differ between communities disputed
- The name, as the Zunil daykeepers explain it
- sea, river and lake sourced
- Direction and colour
- east, red (chak): read off the four-direction cycle; not attested for this day itself, and not shown on our chart unverified
- Our reading
- Water in all its forms and the deep, imaginative side of the mind: sensitive, intuitive, at risk of confusion when that depth is not kept clear. our construction
How the schools read it
- Classic inscriptions (epigraphers)
- Reading of the glyph: Ha'? or Baah?
- J. Eric S. Thompson, 1950
- The glyph as flower of the water lily; the day's god the earth crocodile.
- Komon Tohil daykeepers, Zunil
- Sea, river and lake.
- The Maya' Wuj manual
- Lizard; intelligence; the subtle, intuitive and creative side of a person; a day for the purity of rivers, lakes and seas.
- Momostenango (Andrés Xiloj, 2005)
- A day to keep one's mind clear and not act foolishly in one's work.
- The Central Mexican count (tonalpohualli)
- Cipactli, caiman, aquatic monster: the day of the same position in a related but different count.
- Dreamspell (1990)
- "Red Dragon" for the same position in its own count; not our name for the sign.
- EsoTerrier
- Water in all its forms and the deep, imaginative side of the mind: sensitive, intuitive, at risk of confusion when that depth is not kept clear. Our words.
Claims about it
-
The Aztec day image of the same position, the caiman, is the meaning of Imox.
falseWhat the record shows: The Central Mexican count is related but different. The highland daykeepers read Imox as water, the sea and the rivers.
-
Imox is the "Red Dragon".
falseWhat the record shows: That is the Dreamspell name for the first position in its own count of 1990. For most birth dates the Dreamspell sign is not the traditional one.
-
Imox is a bad day, the day of the mad.
disputedWhat the record shows: A grading from some old highland lists. Thompson's tables show the gradings differing between communities, and the daykeepers today use Imox for rain and calm.
