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

Number 9 in the Tzolk'in (Dreamspell: "Solar" Tone)

Number 9 is the ninth day of every thirteen-day run in the Tzolk'in. It is written as one bar and four dots. Its head variant, with dots on the cheek and sometimes a beard, is the most common head numeral after zero, because most Classic Long Count dates begin with 9 bak'tuns. The Classic Maya word is tentatively balun. K'iche' b'elejeb' appears in the name B'elejeb' Kej, "Nine Deer". Dreamspell calls 9 the "Solar" tone. [1][2][3][4]

Number 9 at a glance

Place in each 13-day run (trecena)	Day 9 of 13
Classic Maya word	balun? (reading uncertain) (Kettunen & Helmke 2020: 48) [2]
K'iche' word	b'elejeb' (as in the lord's name B'elejeb' Kej, "Nine Deer") [3]
Bar-and-dot form	One bar and four dots [1]
Head-variant form	Dots on the lower cheek or around the mouth, sometimes with a beard; after zero, the most frequent head numeral (Morley 1915: 100) [1]
Days with this number in 260	20 (once with each day sign)
Dreamspell name (modern, from 1987)	"Solar" tone [4]

How number 9 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 9 Muluk, returns only after 260 days. [5][6] Number 9 therefore comes round every 13 days, each time with a different day sign: 20 times in each 260-day cycle. It is always the ninth 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 9 is always an 8, and the day after is always a 10.

In the trecena that opened on 1 Imix, 10 October 2026, number 9 falls on 18 Oct 2026, the day 9 Muluk (Haab' 2 Sak'). [8] The next eight days carrying number 9:

Date	Tzolk'in	Haab'
18 Oct 2026	9 Muluk	2 Sak'
31 Oct 2026	9 Ik'	15 Sak'
13 Nov 2026	9 Men	8 Keh
26 Nov 2026	9 Lamat	1 Mak
9 Dec 2026	9 Imix	14 Mak
22 Dec 2026	9 Ix	7 K'ank'in
4 Jan 2027	9 Manik'	0 Muwan
17 Jan 2027	9 Ajaw	13 Muwan

How scribes wrote number 9

Nine is a bar and four dots: "if four dots above the line, nine" (Morley 1915: 91). [1] The four dots stay together as a group; Morley knew only one text where the dots of a "four" are separated (Morley 1915: 88, note 59). [1]

The head numeral for 9 "has for its essential characteristic the dots on the lower cheek or around the mouth". Sometimes it also has a beard, but the dots are the constant feature and reappear in the head for 19 (Morley 1915: 100). [1]

Why the 9 head is so common

Morley explained why the head for 9 shows up so often. Most monumental dates fall in the ninth bak'tun (roughly 435–830 CE). So the opening Long Count of a typical Classic inscription, the Initial Series, starts with a 9: "9 is the coefficient attached to the cycle glyph in almost all Initial Series" (Morley 1915: 100). [1] This 9 is the bak'tun number in the Long Count, not the Tzolk'in day number, but it is the same numeral sign.

A separate cycle of nine also appears in the inscriptions. Kettunen and Helmke describe the Supplementary Series, which includes "a cycle of 9 days (glyph G)", probably tied to a ritual on the recorded date. [9] That nine-day cycle has nothing to do with the Tzolk'in's 1–13. We mention it because the two are often mixed up online.

A 9 Imix text: the first cacao tree

In his 2025 note on the day Imix, David Stuart points to a text on a jade vessel from Burial 116 at Tikal. It refers to the sprouting of a primordial cacao tree on the day 9 Imix. He calls it "probably a symbolic connection to the same idea of earthly abundance and sustenance" that he associates with Imix. [10] This is a scholar's reading of one mythological text. It is not a statement about what 9 or Imix means for people born on such days.

Nine in K'iche' names

The K'iche' chronicles give us the word b'elejeb':

• B'elejeb' Kej ("Nine Deer"). Christenson calls him "the first occurrence in the text of a historical figure whose name is derived from a day on the Highland Maya calendar", and adds that "it is likely the day on which he was born" (Christenson 2007: 246). [3]
• B'elejeb' Tz'i' ("Nine Dog"), described as "a day on the traditional 260 day calendar" (Christenson 2007: 276). [3]

In living practice

We have not found a published source that gives the number 9 on its own a fixed meaning in highland daykeeping. The Dreamspell "Solar" keywords (intention, pulse, realize) are modern.

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

This section describes the modern Dreamspell system (José & Lloydine Argüelles, from 1987; Dreamspell kit 1990), not the traditional Maya count. [11]

In Dreamspell, tone 9 is called "Solar". The Foundation for the Law of Time lists its essence as intention, its power as pulse and its action as realize. [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. [12][11] So a Dreamspell tone 9 day is usually not a traditional number 9 day. For example, 18 Oct 2026 is 9 Muluk in the traditional count but Kin 53, "Red Magnetic Skywalker" in Dreamspell. Our reports show the Dreamspell name as a labelled alias next to the traditional number. Is "Solar" a Maya term? How the two counts differ →

Number 9 with each of the 20 day signs

Each link opens the 9 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
9 Imix	9 Dec 2026	9 Chuwen	18 Apr 2027
9 Ik'	31 Oct 2026	9 Eb	10 Mar 2027
9 Ak'bal	9 Jun 2027	9 Ben	30 Jan 2027
9 K'an	1 May 2027	9 Ix	22 Dec 2026
9 Chikchan	23 Mar 2027	9 Men	13 Nov 2026
9 Kimi	12 Feb 2027	9 Kib	22 Jun 2027
9 Manik'	4 Jan 2027	9 Kaban	14 May 2027
9 Lamat	26 Nov 2026	9 Etz'nab	5 Apr 2027
9 Muluk	18 Oct 2026	9 Kawak	25 Feb 2027
9 Ok	27 May 2027	9 Ajaw	17 Jan 2027

← Number 8 · All 13 numbers · Number 10 →

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Questions about number 9

Is "galactic tone" a Maya term?
No. "Galactic tone", and "Solar" as the name for 9, come from the modern Dreamspell system (from 1987). [11][13] 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. [12][14] A few calculators also use the 584285 or 584286 correlation, which moves results by two or three days. [15]

Is 9 a good or bad number?
We have not found a traditional source that ranks the thirteen numbers, and we do not rank them.

Is the 9 in "9 bak'tuns" the same as a Tzolk'in 9?
It is the same numeral but a different count. Bak'tun 9 is a position in the Long Count. A Tzolk'in 9 is the ninth day of a thirteen-day run. [1]

Is the nine-day cycle in Maya inscriptions related to number 9?
No. The nine-day cycle (glyph G of the Supplementary Series) is a separate count. It is not the Tzolk'in number 9. [9]

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. 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
3. 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
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. Kettunen, Harri, and Christophe Helmke. Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs, 17th rev. ed. Wayeb, 2020, p. 50 (Supplementary Series). https://www.mesoweb.org/resources/handbook/IMH2020.pdf
10. Stuart, David. "Day Sign Notes: Imix / Imox." Maya Decipherment, 14 August 2025. https://mayadecipherment.com/2025/08/14/day-sign-notes-imix-imox/
11. "Dreamspell." Wikipedia (used for dates of the system and 13 Moon structure; cites Argüelles & Argüelles 1990). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamspell
12. 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
13. AtitlanVida. "Two Distinct Streams: The Traditional Cholq'ij and the Dreamspell." https://atitlanvida.com/culture/tzolkin/traditional-vs-dreamspell/
14. 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/
15. Van Stone, Mark. "2012 FAQ." FAMSI. https://www.famsi.org/research/vanstone/2012/faq.html