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

Number 13 in the Tzolk'in (Dreamspell: "Cosmic" Tone)

Number 13 is the highest number in the Tzolk'in. After 13 the count returns to 1, so 13 Ajaw is always followed by 1 Imix. It is written as two bars and three dots. Its head variant has two forms, and David Stuart links one to the Water Serpent. Thirteen also frames the Long Count era of 13 bak'tuns, which ended on 21 December 2012. The Classic Maya word was uxlajun or oxlajun. Dreamspell calls 13 the "Cosmic" tone. [1][2][3][4][5][6]

Number 13 at a glance

Place in each 13-day run (trecena)	Day 13 of 13
Classic Maya word	uxlajun / oxlajun (Kettunen & Helmke 2020: 48) [5]
K'iche' word	Not yet confirmed from a published source we have checked
Bar-and-dot form	Two bars and three dots [2]
Head-variant form	Two forms: the head for 3 with the jaw of 10, or a special head with a long pendulous nose and bulging eye (Morley 1915: 101); David Stuart links the Water Serpent to the head for 13 [2][3]
Days with this number in 260	20 (once with each day sign)
Dreamspell name (modern, from 1987)	"Cosmic" tone [6]

How number 13 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 13 Ben, returns only after 260 days. [4][1] Number 13 therefore comes round every 13 days, each time with a different day sign: 20 times in each 260-day cycle. It is always the thirteenth 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 13 is always a 12, and the day after is always a 1.

In the trecena that opened on 1 Imix, 10 October 2026, number 13 falls on 22 Oct 2026, the day 13 Ben (Haab' 6 Sak'). [8] The next eight days carrying number 13:

Date	Tzolk'in	Haab'
22 Oct 2026	13 Ben	6 Sak'
4 Nov 2026	13 Kimi	19 Sak'
17 Nov 2026	13 Kawak	12 Keh
30 Nov 2026	13 Eb	5 Mak
13 Dec 2026	13 Chikchan	18 Mak
26 Dec 2026	13 Etz'nab	11 K'ank'in
8 Jan 2027	13 Chuwen	4 Muwan
21 Jan 2027	13 K'an	17 Muwan

How scribes wrote number 13

Thirteen is two bars and three dots. The 18th-century Yucatec description reprinted by Morley ends its list exactly here: "a dot above two lines, eleven; if two dots, twelve; if three dots, thirteen" (Morley 1915: 91). [2]

As a head, 13 had two forms (Morley 1915: 101). [2]

• A composite: the head for 3, with its headband, plus the fleshless lower jaw of the head for 10. Morley knew only two examples, on the Temple of the Cross at Palenque and the Hieroglyphic Stairway at Copan.
• A head of its own, "by far the more frequent". It is a grotesque face with a long pendulous nose topped by a curl, a large bulging eye, and a curl or fang at the back of the mouth.

David Stuart's 2025 note on Imix adds an identification. The Water Serpent, the being behind the Imix day sign, "could also appear as the head for the number 'thirteen'" (citing Robertson 1990). He suggests the link may come from a mythic period ending on 13 Ajaw 13 Kumk'u, a pre-era k'atun station recorded on Lacanjá-Tzeltal Panel 1. [3]

The top of the count: 13 Ajaw → 1 Imix

Morley's rule: the sequence of numbers "repeats itself again and again without interruption, 1 following immediately 13" (Morley 1915: 43). [1] Because Ajaw is the last of the twenty names and 13 is the last number, the day before every 1 Imix is 13 Ajaw (Morley 1915: 43). [1] In practice: 9 October 2026 was 13 Ajaw, and 10 October 2026 opened a new round with 1 Imix (GMT 584283). [8]

Thirteen in the Long Count and beyond

• 13 bak'tuns. The Smithsonian describes the 13-bak'tun cycle as 1,872,000 days, about 5,125 years, ending on 21 December 2012. [4] That ending was a 4 Ajaw day, not a 13: the number 13 here counts bak'tuns, not Tzolk'in days.
• K'atun 13 Ajaw. In the colonial naming of k'atuns by their ending day, the next "K'atun 13 Ajaw" ends on 25 May 2052 in the GMT 584283 count (our calculation from Morley's rule). [1]
• Thirteen score days. The Popol Vuh describes K'iche' lords fasting and sacrificing in periods of "thirteen score days", that is, 13 × 20 days. Christenson notes that the "score" is implied in the original wording (Christenson 2007: 268–269, note 826). [9]
• Early records. La Mojarra Stela 1 in Veracruz records 13 Snake (Chikchan) 3 Kayab with a Long Count that Stuart and colleagues correlate to 20 May 143 CE. It is in Isthmian script, not Maya. [10]

In living practice

Contemporary Guatemalan sources link the thirteen numbers to the body. In 2025 the Ministry of Culture wrote that the twenty nawales are related to the twenty digits of the human body, and that they are "linked with the 13 levels of energy, and these represent the 13 joints of the body" (our translation of "se vinculan con los 13 niveles de energía y estas representan a las 13 articulaciones del cuerpo"). [11] We report this as a contemporary view published by the Ministry. We do not treat it as an ancient inscription or apply it to individual birth dates.

Dreamspell: the "Cosmic" 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 13 is called "Cosmic". The Foundation for the Law of Time lists its essence as presence, its power as endure and its action as transcend. [6] 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 13 day is usually not a traditional number 13 day. For example, 22 Oct 2026 is 13 Ben in the traditional count but Kin 57, "Red Overtone Earth" in Dreamspell. Our reports show the Dreamspell name as a labelled alias next to the traditional number. Is "Cosmic" a Maya term? How the two counts differ →

Number 13 with each of the 20 day signs

Each link opens the 13 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
13 Imix	18 May 2027	13 Chuwen	8 Jan 2027
13 Ik'	9 Apr 2027	13 Eb	30 Nov 2026
13 Ak'bal	1 Mar 2027	13 Ben	22 Oct 2026
13 K'an	21 Jan 2027	13 Ix	31 May 2027
13 Chikchan	13 Dec 2026	13 Men	22 Apr 2027
13 Kimi	4 Nov 2026	13 Kib	14 Mar 2027
13 Manik'	13 Jun 2027	13 Kaban	3 Feb 2027
13 Lamat	5 May 2027	13 Etz'nab	26 Dec 2026
13 Muluk	27 Mar 2027	13 Kawak	17 Nov 2026
13 Ok	16 Feb 2027	13 Ajaw	26 Jun 2027

← Number 12 · All 13 numbers · Number 1 →

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Questions about number 13

Is "galactic tone" a Maya term?
No. "Galactic tone", and "Cosmic" as the name for 13, 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][11] A few calculators also use the 584285 or 584286 correlation, which moves results by two or three days. [15]

Is 13 a good or bad number?
We have not found a traditional source that ranks the thirteen numbers, and we do not rank them.

Is 13 the most powerful number?
We have not found a traditional source that ranks the numbers. Thirteen is the highest number, after which the count returns to 1. "Presence", "endure" and "transcend" are the Dreamspell keywords for "Cosmic". [1][6]

Why did 2012 end a cycle of 13?
The Long Count era is counted as 13 bak'tuns (13 × 144,000 days), and 21 December 2012 completed that count. It was a 4 Ajaw day in the Tzolk'in. [4]

Is Dreamspell's "13 Moon" calendar the same as the 13 numbers?
No. The 13 Moon calendar is a Dreamspell year of thirteen 28-day months plus a "Day Out of Time". Its months are named after the tones, but it is not a Maya calendar. [12]

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. III (pp. 41–43, 79–82). https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_Introduction_to_the_Study_of_the_Maya_Hieroglyphs/Chapter_3
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. 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
3. Stuart, David. "Day Sign Notes: Imix / Imox." Maya Decipherment, 14 August 2025. https://mayadecipherment.com/2025/08/14/day-sign-notes-imix-imox/
4. Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. "The Calendar System." Living Maya Time. https://maya.nmai.si.edu/calendar/calendar-system
5. 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
6. Foundation for the Law of Time. "Learning the 13 Galactic Tones and 20 Solar Seals." https://lawoftime.org/infobooth/sealsandtones.html
7. "Trecena." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trecena
8. Mayan Astrology Calculator. "Calculation Methodology and Cultural Scope." https://mayanastrologycalculator.com/methodology
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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/
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. Van Stone, Mark. "2012 FAQ." FAMSI. https://www.famsi.org/research/vanstone/2012/faq.html