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

Number 11 in the Tzolk'in (Dreamspell: "Spectral" Tone)

Number 11 is the eleventh day of every thirteen-day run in the Tzolk'in. It is written as two bars and one dot. In 1915 Morley knew a single head-variant 11 and could not identify it. In 2024 David Stuart identified the deity that serves as number 11 as an earth god marked with the kab' "earth" sign, the same figure as "God R" of the codices. The Classic Maya word was buluch or buluk. Our $7 sample report is an 11 Ik' signature. Dreamspell calls 11 the "Spectral" tone. [1][2][3][4]

Find your number

Number 11 at a glance
Place in each 13-day run (trecena) Day 11 of 13
Classic Maya word buluch / buluk (Kettunen & Helmke 2020: 48) [3]
K'iche' word Not yet confirmed from a published source we have checked
Bar-and-dot form Two bars and one dot [1]
Head-variant form Morley knew one example and could not identify it (1915: 100). David Stuart has since identified the deity that serves as number 11 as an earth deity with the KAB "earth" sign, the same figure as "God R" in the codices [1][2]
Days with this number in 260 20 (once with each day sign)
Dreamspell name (modern, from 1987) "Spectral" tone [4]

How number 11 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 11 Chuwen, returns only after 260 days. [5][6] Number 11 therefore comes round every 13 days, each time with a different day sign: 20 times in each 260-day cycle. It is always the eleventh 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 an 11 is always a 10, and the day after is always a 12.

In the trecena that opened on 1 Imix, 10 October 2026, number 11 falls on 20 Oct 2026, the day 11 Chuwen (Haab' 4 Sak'). [8] The next eight days carrying number 11:

Date Tzolk'in Haab'
20 Oct 2026 11 Chuwen 4 Sak'
2 Nov 2026 11 K'an 17 Sak'
15 Nov 2026 11 Kaban 10 Keh
28 Nov 2026 11 Ok 3 Mak
11 Dec 2026 11 Ak'bal 16 Mak
24 Dec 2026 11 Kib 9 K'ank'in
6 Jan 2027 11 Muluk 2 Muwan
19 Jan 2027 11 Ik' 15 Muwan

Today, 10 Oct 2026, is 1 Imix — trecena day 1. The next day numbered 11 is 20 Oct 2026, 11 Chuwen.

How scribes wrote number 11

Eleven is two bars and one dot: "a dot above two lines, eleven" (Morley 1915: 91). [1] The single dot often left a gap in the glyph block that carvers filled with decoration. That is why Morley grouped 11, 12 and 13 as numbers that are easily confused on worn stones (Morley 1915: 90–91). [1]

The head for 11: from "undetermined" to an earth deity

This is one of the clearest cases of how the study of Maya numerals has moved on.

  • 1915. Morley had found the head for 11 "only once in the inscriptions, namely, on Lintel 2 at Piedras Negras". With no comparison material he could not name its key feature. He did note that it "has no fleshless lower jaw", so it was not built from the heads for 1 and 10 (Morley 1915: 100). [1]
  • 2024. In his note on the day Caban, David Stuart traces an animated head of the KAB ("earth") sign and writes: "we see it as the deity that serves as the number 11". He links it to "God R" of the Postclassic codices, whose "portrait name glyph is preceded by the number 11", and to the patron of the month Tzec. [2]

So the head for 11 is now understood as a personified earth deity, related to the day Kaban, rather than a combination of 10 and 1. This tells us how 11 was written. It does not give the number a personality.

11 Ik': the date in our sample report

The sample personal report on this site was generated for 1 January 2000. The Smithsonian gives the full Maya date for that day as 12.19.6.15.2, 11 Ik' 10 K'ank'in. [5] Our calculator gives the same result. The Julian Day Number of 1 January 2000 is 2,451,545. Subtracting 584,283 leaves 1,867,262 days. ((1,867,262 + 3) mod 13) + 1 = 11, and (1,867,262 + 19) mod 20 = 1, which is Ik'. [8]

The report's number chapter is labeled "Number 11 · Modern Dreamspell name: Spectral". It explains that the number comes from the traditional count and the name from Dreamspell. See the sample report →

In living practice

We have not found a published source that gives the number 11 on its own a fixed meaning in highland daykeeping. The Dreamspell "Spectral" keywords (liberation, dissolve, release) are modern.

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

This section describes the modern Dreamspell system (José & Lloydine Argüelles, from 1987; Dreamspell kit 1990), not the traditional Maya count. [9]

In Dreamspell, tone 11 is called "Spectral". The Foundation for the Law of Time lists its essence as liberation, its power as dissolve and its action as release. [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. [10][9] So a Dreamspell tone 11 day is usually not a traditional number 11 day. For example, 20 Oct 2026 is 11 Chuwen in the traditional count but Kin 55, "Blue Electric Eagle" in Dreamspell. Our reports show the Dreamspell name as a labelled alias next to the traditional number. Is "Spectral" a Maya term? How the two counts differ →

Number 11 with each of the 20 day signs

Each link opens the 11 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
11 Imix 27 Feb 2027 11 Chuwen 20 Oct 2026
11 Ik' 19 Jan 2027 11 Eb 29 May 2027
11 Ak'bal 11 Dec 2026 11 Ben 20 Apr 2027
11 K'an 2 Nov 2026 11 Ix 12 Mar 2027
11 Chikchan 11 Jun 2027 11 Men 1 Feb 2027
11 Kimi 3 May 2027 11 Kib 24 Dec 2026
11 Manik' 25 Mar 2027 11 Kaban 15 Nov 2026
11 Lamat 14 Feb 2027 11 Etz'nab 24 Jun 2027
11 Muluk 6 Jan 2027 11 Kawak 16 May 2027
11 Ok 28 Nov 2026 11 Ajaw 7 Apr 2027

← Number 10 · All 13 numbers · Number 12 →

Calculate my Maya signatureSee a full sample report first →

Comparing two people? See the sample pair report →

Questions about number 11

Is "galactic tone" a Maya term?
No. "Galactic tone", and "Spectral" as the name for 11, come from the modern Dreamspell system (from 1987). [9][11] 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. [10][12] A few calculators also use the 584285 or 584286 correlation, which moves results by two or three days. [13]

Is 11 a good or bad number?
We have not found a traditional source that ranks the thirteen numbers, and we do not rank them.

Why is your sample report an 11?
The sample uses 1 January 2000, a well-documented date (11 Ik') that anyone can check against the Smithsonian. [5]

Is 11 a number of release?
Only in Dreamspell, where "Spectral" carries the keywords liberation, dissolve and release. [4] We label those keywords as modern in the report.

Sources

  1. 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
  2. Stuart, David. "Day Sign Notes: Caban." Maya Decipherment, 12 August 2024. https://mayadecipherment.com/2024/08/12/day-sign-notes-caban/
  3. 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
  4. Foundation for the Law of Time. "Learning the 13 Galactic Tones and 20 Solar Seals." https://lawoftime.org/infobooth/sealsandtones.html
  5. Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. "The Calendar System." Living Maya Time. https://maya.nmai.si.edu/calendar/calendar-system
  6. 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
  7. "Trecena." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trecena
  8. Mayan Astrology Calculator. "Calculation Methodology and Cultural Scope." https://mayanastrologycalculator.com/methodology
  9. "Dreamspell." Wikipedia (used for dates of the system and 13 Moon structure; cites Argüelles & Argüelles 1990). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamspell
  10. 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
  11. AtitlanVida. "Two Distinct Streams: The Traditional Cholq'ij and the Dreamspell." https://atitlanvida.com/culture/tzolkin/traditional-vs-dreamspell/
  12. 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/
  13. Van Stone, Mark. "2012 FAQ." FAMSI. https://www.famsi.org/research/vanstone/2012/faq.html