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

Number 8 in the Tzolk'in (Dreamspell: "Galactic" Tone)

Number 8 is the number of the best-documented living ceremony tied to the 260-day count: Waqxaqib' B'atz' (8 B'atz'). On that day highland Guatemalan daykeepers mark a new cycle of the Chol Q'ij and new daykeepers are initiated. B'atz' corresponds to Yucatec Chuwen, so the day is 8 Chuwen. Eight is written as one bar and three dots, and its head variant is Ajan, the maize god. Dreamspell calls 8 the "Galactic" tone. [1][2][3][4][5]

Number 8 at a glance

Place in each 13-day run (trecena)	Day 8 of 13
Classic Maya word	waxak (Kettunen & Helmke 2020: 48) [6]
K'iche' word	waqxaqib' / wajxaqib' (as in Waqxaqib' B'atz', "8 B'atz'") [7][1]
Bar-and-dot form	One bar and three dots [3]
Head-variant form	Forehead ornament of a single element, otherwise like the head for 1 (Morley 1915: 100); Kettunen and Helmke identify the head for eight as Ajan, God E ("he of elote"), the maize god [3][4]
Days with this number in 260	20 (once with each day sign)
Dreamspell name (modern, from 1987)	"Galactic" tone [5]

How number 8 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 8 Lamat, returns only after 260 days. [1][8] Number 8 therefore comes round every 13 days, each time with a different day sign: 20 times in each 260-day cycle. It is always the eighth day of a thirteen-day run. Spanish chroniclers called that run a trecena, "a group of thirteen", and Dreamspell calls it a "wavespell". [9] The day before an 8 is always a 7, and the day after is always a 9.

In the trecena that opened on 1 Imix, 10 October 2026, number 8 falls on 17 Oct 2026, the day 8 Lamat (Haab' 1 Sak'). [10] The next eight days carrying number 8:

Date	Tzolk'in	Haab'
17 Oct 2026	8 Lamat	1 Sak'
30 Oct 2026	8 Imix	14 Sak'
12 Nov 2026	8 Ix	7 Keh
25 Nov 2026	8 Manik'	0 Mak
8 Dec 2026	8 Ajaw	13 Mak
21 Dec 2026	8 Ben	6 K'ank'in
3 Jan 2027	8 Kimi	19 K'ank'in
16 Jan 2027	8 Kawak	12 Muwan

Waqxaqib' B'atz': the 8 B'atz' ceremony

The Smithsonian's Living Maya Time describes it this way: "Every 260 days, the Ajq'ijab' in the highlands areas of Guatemala, celebrate a new year ceremony called Wajxaqib', B'atz, and welcome another cycle in the sacred Chol Q'ij or Tzolk'in Maya calendar. During this ceremony, new calendar Day Keepers are initiated." [1]

Guatemala's Ministry of Culture and Sports publishes the date each time. In January 2025 it wrote that "El 8 B'atz marca el inicio del calendario sagrado, Lunar o Cholq'ij, que dura 260 días" (our translation: "8 B'atz' marks the start of the sacred calendar, the lunar calendar or Cholq'ij, which lasts 260 days"), and it quoted spiritual guide Ángel Zapeta greeting the guides celebrating Waqxaqib' B'atz' on 18 January 2025. [7] The government portal marked the next one on 5 October 2025. [11]

Our calculator uses the GMT 584283 correlation, and it gives 8 Chuwen (8 B'atz') on those same two dates. That is a useful public check that the count on this site matches the living calendar. [10] B'atz' (howler monkey) is the K'iche' name of the day the Yucatec call Chuwen (Christenson 2007: 99, note 225). [2]

8 B'atz' (8 Chuwen) by our count	Note
18 Jan 2025	Reported by Guatemala's Ministry of Culture [7]
5 Oct 2025	Reported by the Government of Guatemala [11]
22 Jun 2026	Calculated (GMT 584283)
9 Mar 2027	Calculated: next occurrence after 10 Oct 2026
24 Nov 2027	Calculated

We report these dates. We do not lead or describe the ceremony itself, which belongs to the daykeepers who keep it.

How scribes wrote number 8

Eight is a bar and three dots: "if three dots above, eight years" (Morley 1915: 91). [3] As a head numeral, 8 is almost the same as 1. Morley's rule was that the head for 8 has a forehead ornament made of a single element, while the head for 1 has one of several parts (Morley 1915: 97, 100). [3] Kettunen and Helmke give the identity behind the face: Ajan, "Name of God E (Lit. 'he of elote')", that is the maize god, "also the head variant for number eight". [4]

Number 8 elsewhere in the record

• Kaminaljuyu, Stela 10 (Guatemala highlands, about 100–1 BCE) carries a day 8 Ix, one of the early 260-day dates listed by Stuart and colleagues. [12]
• In K'iche' chronicles a lord is named Wajxaqi K'a'am, "Eight Cord". Christenson reports Recinos's suggestion that this is a K'iche' translation of a Nahuatl calendar name, Chicuey Malinalli ("Eight Grass") (Christenson 2007: 275). [2]

"Galactic" in Dreamspell

Dreamspell's name for tone 8 is "Galactic". Its founding date was also an 8: according to the Foundation for the Law of Time, the count was set "so that July 26, 1987, would be White Galactic Wizard", which is Kin 34. [13] Do not confuse this with the general Dreamspell term "galactic tone", which covers all thirteen numbers.

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

This section describes the modern Dreamspell system (José & Lloydine Argüelles, from 1987; Dreamspell kit 1990), not the traditional Maya count. [14]

In Dreamspell, tone 8 is called "Galactic". The Foundation for the Law of Time lists its essence as integrity, its power as harmonize and its action as model. [5] 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][14] So a Dreamspell tone 8 day is usually not a traditional number 8 day. For example, 17 Oct 2026 is 8 Lamat in the traditional count but Kin 52, "Yellow Cosmic Human" in Dreamspell. Our reports show the Dreamspell name as a labelled alias next to the traditional number. Is "Galactic" a Maya term? How the two counts differ →

Number 8 with each of the 20 day signs

Each link opens the 8 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
8 Imix	30 Oct 2026	8 Chuwen	9 Mar 2027
8 Ik'	8 Jun 2027	8 Eb	29 Jan 2027
8 Ak'bal	30 Apr 2027	8 Ben	21 Dec 2026
8 K'an	22 Mar 2027	8 Ix	12 Nov 2026
8 Chikchan	11 Feb 2027	8 Men	21 Jun 2027
8 Kimi	3 Jan 2027	8 Kib	13 May 2027
8 Manik'	25 Nov 2026	8 Kaban	4 Apr 2027
8 Lamat	17 Oct 2026	8 Etz'nab	24 Feb 2027
8 Muluk	26 May 2027	8 Kawak	16 Jan 2027
8 Ok	17 Apr 2027	8 Ajaw	8 Dec 2026

← Number 7 · All 13 numbers · Number 9 →

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Questions about number 8

Is "galactic tone" a Maya term?
No. "Galactic tone", and "Galactic" as the name for 8, come from the modern Dreamspell system (from 1987). [14][15] Maya sources speak of the days' numbers. The English word trecena comes from Spanish chroniclers. [9]

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][7] A few calculators also use the 584285 or 584286 correlation, which moves results by two or three days. [16]

Is 8 a good or bad number?
We have not found a traditional source that ranks the thirteen numbers, and we do not rank them.

When is the next Waqxaqib' B'atz'?
By the GMT 584283 count it is 9 March 2027 (8 Chuwen). Communities announce their own ceremonies, so follow local announcements for exact timing. [7]

Is Waqxaqib' B'atz' the Maya New Year?
Guatemalan sources describe it as the start of a new 260-day cycle of the Cholq'ij. [1][7] It is not the start of the 365-day Haab' and has no fixed Gregorian date.

Does a birthday on 8 B'atz' mean anything special?
We do not make claims about individual births. The ceremony belongs to the community and the daykeepers who keep it.

Sources

1. Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. "The Calendar System." Living Maya Time. https://maya.nmai.si.edu/calendar/calendar-system
2. 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
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. Kettunen, Harri, and Christophe Helmke. Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs, 17th rev. ed. Wayeb, 2020, p. 97 (vocabulary entry ajan). https://www.mesoweb.org/resources/handbook/IMH2020.pdf
5. Foundation for the Law of Time. "Learning the 13 Galactic Tones and 20 Solar Seals." https://lawoftime.org/infobooth/sealsandtones.html
6. 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
7. 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/
8. 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
9. "Trecena." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trecena
10. Mayan Astrology Calculator. "Calculation Methodology and Cultural Scope." https://mayanastrologycalculator.com/methodology
11. Gobierno de Guatemala / Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes. "Hoy 5 de octubre: El Waqxaqib' B'atz' marca el inicio y el equilibrio en el Calendario Maya." 5 October 2025. https://guatemala.gob.gt/hoy-5-de-octubre-el-waqxaqib-batz-marca-el-inicio-y-el-equilibrio-en-el-calendario-maya/
12. 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
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. "Dreamspell." Wikipedia (used for dates of the system and 13 Moon structure; cites Argüelles & Argüelles 1990). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamspell
15. AtitlanVida. "Two Distinct Streams: The Traditional Cholq'ij and the Dreamspell." https://atitlanvida.com/culture/tzolkin/traditional-vs-dreamspell/
16. Van Stone, Mark. "2012 FAQ." FAMSI. https://www.famsi.org/research/vanstone/2012/faq.html