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Reviewed 10 October 2026 · Calculation gmt584283-proleptic-gregorian-v1 · Prepared by the Mayan Astrology Calculator editors · Sources below

Number 1 in the Tzolk'in (Dreamspell: "Magnetic" Tone)

Number 1 opens every run of thirteen days in the 260-day Maya count, the Tzolk'in (Chol Q'ij in K'iche'). Scribes wrote it as a single dot, or in carved texts as a portrait head with a many-part forehead ornament. The Classic Maya word was probably jun. Bishop Landa reported that the Yucatec count of days began on "Hun Imix", 1 Imix. Dreamspell calls this number the "Magnetic" tone, which is a modern label. [1][2][3][4]

Number 1 at a glance

Place in each 13-day run (trecena)	Day 1 of 13
Classic Maya word	jun (Kettunen & Helmke 2020: 48) [1]
K'iche' word	hun / jun (Christenson's Popol Vuh glosses the god name Hun Hunahpu as beginning with "One") [5]
Bar-and-dot form	One dot [3]
Head-variant form	A head whose forehead ornament is made of more than one part; otherwise nearly identical to the head for 8 (Morley 1915: 97) [3]
Days with this number in 260	20 (once with each day sign)
Dreamspell name (modern, from 1987)	"Magnetic" tone [4]

How number 1 moves through the 260 days

The Tzolk'in pairs a running number from 1 to 13 with a running list of 20 day signs. Both advance by one each day, so a given pairing, such as 1 Imix, returns only after 260 days. [6][2] Number 1 therefore comes round every 13 days, each time with a different day sign: 20 times in each 260-day cycle. It is always the first day of a thirteen-day run. Spanish chroniclers called that run a trecena, "a group of thirteen", and Dreamspell calls it a "wavespell". [7] The day before a 1 is always a 13, and the day after is always a 2.

In the trecena that opened on 1 Imix, 10 October 2026, number 1 falls on 10 Oct 2026, the day 1 Imix (Haab' 14 Yax). [8] The next eight days carrying number 1:

Date	Tzolk'in	Haab'
10 Oct 2026	1 Imix	14 Yax
23 Oct 2026	1 Ix	7 Sak'
5 Nov 2026	1 Manik'	0 Keh
18 Nov 2026	1 Ajaw	13 Keh
1 Dec 2026	1 Ben	6 Mak
14 Dec 2026	1 Kimi	19 Mak
27 Dec 2026	1 Kawak	12 K'ank'in
9 Jan 2027	1 Eb	5 Muwan

How scribes wrote number 1

In bar-and-dot notation a dot stands for one and a bar for five, so 1 is a single dot. [3] Carvers of monuments disliked empty space. Sylvanus Morley noted in 1915 that numbers made with one or two dots (1, 2, 6, 7, 11, 12, 16 and 17) were often padded with ornamental crescents or other fillers that carry no value. He warned that weathering can make those fillers look like real dots, so 1, 2 and 3 are easily confused on worn stones (Morley 1915: 88–91). [3] An 18th-century Yucatec writer, quoted by Daniel Brinton and reprinted by Morley, described the same system in plain words: "one dot for one year, two dots for two years, three dots for three years" (Morley 1915: 91). [3]

Inscriptions also use portrait heads as numerals, a kind of "Arabic" notation next to the "Roman" bars and dots. Morley identified the head for 1 by its forehead ornament made of more than one part. Except for that ornament it is almost identical to the head for 8, so he urged readers to take great care not to mix them up (Morley 1915: 97). [3] Later research has refined several of his identifications (see Numbers 8, 11 and 13).

Does 1 mean "the beginning"?

Inside each thirteen-day run, yes: 1 is always the first day. Whether the whole 260-day count has a first day is a different question, and the sources do not agree.

• Colonial Yucatán. Bishop Diego de Landa wrote that "the character or letter with which they commence their count of the days or calendar is called Hun-ymix", that is, 1 Imix (quoted in Morley 1915: 41–42). [2]
• Modern handbooks. Kettunen and Helmke's workshop handbook starts its tables with 1 Imix, followed by 2 Ik' and 3 Ak'bal. [9] Morley noted that the twenty names run "like the rim of a wheel", so the starting point is a choice (Morley 1915: 42, note 28). [2]
• Highland Guatemala. Barbara Tedlock's fieldwork in Momostenango concluded that "there is no fixed first day" in the highland calendar. [10]
• Living ceremony. The best-known cycle-opening ceremony in highland practice today falls on 8 B'atz', not on a day numbered 1. [6] See Number 8.

So "1 = new beginnings" is true as arithmetic, nothing more.

The number 1 in names and early records

Day names with their numbers were also used as personal and divine names. In the K'iche' Popol Vuh, the brothers One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu face the underworld lords One Death and Seven Death. Translator Allen Christenson notes that Kame (Death) is a named day of the highland calendar, so "the death lords thus both bear calendric dates as their names" (Christenson 2007: 101). He also notes that Junajpu is a day "dedicated to the memory of ancestors" (p. 99). [5]

Two of the early 260-day records listed by Stuart and colleagues in 2022 carry the number 1. One is a possible "1 Ajaw" painted in the San Bartolo murals around 100 BCE. The other is "1 Movement" on Monument 3 at San José Mogote in Oaxaca. Its excavators dated it to 700–500 BCE, and several later authors have argued for a much later date. [11]

In living practice

We have not found a published academic or ethnographic source that gives the number 1 on its own a fixed meaning in highland Maya daykeeping. So we do not assign one. Words like "initiation" or "unity" come from Dreamspell or modern interpretation.

Dreamspell: the "Magnetic" tone (a modern system)

This section describes the modern Dreamspell system (José & Lloydine Argüelles, from 1987; Dreamspell kit 1990), not the traditional Maya count. [12]

In Dreamspell, tone 1 is called "Magnetic". The Foundation for the Law of Time lists its essence as purpose, its power as unify and its action as attract. [4] These are Dreamspell teachings. They are not translations of a Maya word, and we have not found them in Classic, colonial or ethnographic sources.

Dreamspell also counts days differently. It fixes 26 July 1987 as Kin 34 and does not count 29 February. [13][12] So a Dreamspell tone 1 day is usually not a traditional number 1 day. For example, 10 Oct 2026 is 1 Imix in the traditional count but Kin 45, "Red Rhythmic Serpent" in Dreamspell. Our reports show the Dreamspell name as a labelled alias next to the traditional number. Is "Magnetic" a Maya term? How the two counts differ →

Number 1 with each of the 20 day signs

Each link opens the 1 section of that day sign's page. Dates are the next occurrence on or after 10 October 2026 (GMT 584283).

Day	Next date	Day	Next date
1 Imix	10 Oct 2026	1 Chuwen	17 Feb 2027
1 Ik'	19 May 2027	1 Eb	9 Jan 2027
1 Ak'bal	10 Apr 2027	1 Ben	1 Dec 2026
1 K'an	2 Mar 2027	1 Ix	23 Oct 2026
1 Chikchan	22 Jan 2027	1 Men	1 Jun 2027
1 Kimi	14 Dec 2026	1 Kib	23 Apr 2027
1 Manik'	5 Nov 2026	1 Kaban	15 Mar 2027
1 Lamat	14 Jun 2027	1 Etz'nab	4 Feb 2027
1 Muluk	6 May 2027	1 Kawak	27 Dec 2026
1 Ok	28 Mar 2027	1 Ajaw	18 Nov 2026

← Number 13 · All 13 numbers · Number 2 →

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Questions about number 1

Is "galactic tone" a Maya term?
No. "Galactic tone", and "Magnetic" as the name for 1, come from the modern Dreamspell system (from 1987). [12][14] Maya sources speak of the days' numbers. The English word trecena comes from Spanish chroniclers. [7]

Why does another calculator give me a different number?
Most likely it uses Dreamspell, which anchors its count to 26 July 1987 and skips 29 February. The traditional count runs without a break and matches the dates published by Guatemala's Ministry of Culture. [13][15] A few calculators also use the 584285 or 584286 correlation, which moves results by two or three days. [16]

Is 1 a good or bad number?
We have not found a traditional source that ranks the thirteen numbers, and we do not rank them.

Is 1 Imix the Maya New Year?
No. The Tzolk'in has no months and no New Year's Day. 1 Imix is a conventional starting point (Landa recorded it, and modern handbooks still use it), but Tedlock found no fixed first day in highland practice. [2][10] The 365-day Haab' is a separate calendar that begins with the month Pop.

Is number 1 a "leader" or "new start" number?
We have not found a traditional source that ranks or characterises the number 1 on its own. Words such as purpose, unify and attract come from the Dreamspell "Magnetic" tone. [4]

Sources

1. Kettunen, Harri, and Christophe Helmke. Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs, 17th rev. ed. Wayeb, 2020, p. 48 (Table VI, Classic Maya numerals). https://www.mesoweb.org/resources/handbook/IMH2020.pdf
2. Morley, Sylvanus G. An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 57. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1915, ch. III (pp. 41–43, 79–82). https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_Introduction_to_the_Study_of_the_Maya_Hieroglyphs/Chapter_3
3. Morley, Sylvanus G. An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 57. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1915, ch. IV (pp. 87–103, "Bar and Dot Numerals" and "Head-variant Numerals"). https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_Introduction_to_the_Study_of_the_Maya_Hieroglyphs/Chapter_4
4. Foundation for the Law of Time. "Learning the 13 Galactic Tones and 20 Solar Seals." https://lawoftime.org/infobooth/sealsandtones.html
5. Christenson, Allen J. Popol Vuh: Sacred Book of the Quiché Maya People. Electronic edition, Mesoweb, 2007 (of the 2003 print edition). https://www.mesoweb.com/publications/Christenson/PopolVuh.pdf
6. Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. "The Calendar System." Living Maya Time. https://maya.nmai.si.edu/calendar/calendar-system
7. "Trecena." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trecena
8. Mayan Astrology Calculator. "Calculation Methodology and Cultural Scope." https://mayanastrologycalculator.com/methodology
9. Kettunen, Harri, and Christophe Helmke. Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs, 17th rev. ed. Wayeb, 2020, p. 49 (Tzolk'in, Haab and Calendar Round). https://www.mesoweb.org/resources/handbook/IMH2020.pdf
10. "Tzolk'in." Wikipedia (summarising Tedlock, Barbara. Time and the Highland Maya. University of New Mexico Press, 1982, pp. 174–177). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzolk%CA%BCin
11. Stuart, David, Heather Hurst, Boris Beltrán, and William Saturno. "An early Maya calendar record from San Bartolo, Guatemala." Science Advances 8, no. 15 (2022): eabl9290. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abl9290
12. "Dreamspell." Wikipedia (used for dates of the system and 13 Moon structure; cites Argüelles & Argüelles 1990). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamspell
13. Foundation for the Law of Time (Galactic Research Institute). "The Wizard's Count and the Triumph of the Synchronic Order." Rinri Project Newsletter, Phoenix Edition, vol. 2, no. 1. https://www.lawoftime.org/pdfs/Rinri-II-2.1.pdf
14. AtitlanVida. "Two Distinct Streams: The Traditional Cholq'ij and the Dreamspell." https://atitlanvida.com/culture/tzolkin/traditional-vs-dreamspell/
15. Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes de Guatemala. "La importancia Waqxaqib' B'atz en la cosmovisión Maya." 18 January 2025. https://noticias.mcd.gob.gt/2025/01/18/la-importancia-waqxaqib-batz/
16. Van Stone, Mark. "2012 FAQ." FAMSI. https://www.famsi.org/research/vanstone/2012/faq.html