MATWIL AND THE GODS OF PALENQUE

NOTE:  The following is not to be viewed as a true piece of scholarship, in so far as a) I am not a Maya scholar and b) Maya scholars do not at all take seriously the notion that very ancient dates mentioned by the Maya actually relate true cosmological events.  Instead, they consider these non-historical dates to have been randomly selected - or selected for some reason not now apparent to us - and any celestial events ascribed to them are not a reflection of actual events which may have taken place on those dates.  What I have done is assume, for fun, that the Maya DID know what was happening during these remote dates, and have used my astronomy program to plot what I perceive as events that match what the Maya records describe.  What I've come up with will be of interest, then, only to those who do not object to speculative approaches to arcane subjects, yet who have some acquaintance with the dates and events I describe.  I would hasten to add that Geraldo Aldana (in The Apotheosis of Janaab’ Pakal: Science, History and Religion at Classic Maya Palenque, University Press of Colorado) makes a case for some of these mythological dates being merely a matter of numerology.  If this is so, any use of a sky program to shed light on such mysteries would be (pun intended) a waste of time.  

[All astronomical events were viewed from a recent CyberSky ‘observatory’ program positioned virtually at Palenque or Quirigua; dates/actions involving Palenque supernaturals courtesy the list compiled by Peter Matthews.  All dates given below are Julian and the correlation is 584283.  Several other constants were initially applied, but only the 584283 correlation provided the best results and so I have tentatively settled on this particular correlation as the correct one.]

Birth of GI on 10 November 2360.

On this day, the sun and Mercury are very close together at the intersection of the galactic equator and the ecliptic in the heart of the Milky Way.  Both planets are in Sagittarius, a location designated as Matwil by the Maya of Palenque (see below).  Mercury rises first at 6:11 a.m., while the sun rises at 6:13.  Mercury would thus not have been observable, but its position could certainly have been predicted.  Mercury sets at 5:45 p.m., and the sun at 5:50.

As the births of these gods are also called ‘arrivals’ or ‘earth-touchings’, I interpret the births as a moment when a heavenly body descends from the sky and “touches” the earth, immediately prior to setting.  While earth-touching could denote the appearance of a heavenly body on the horizon just after it rises up from the underworld, I think this interpretation is less convincing.   So, as Mercury “earth-touches” first in the evening, GI (for ‘God I’) = the planet Mercury.

Since Lounsbury’s time, it has been customary to equate GI with Venus.  A nice summary of the various scholars who have supported this idea can be found in Susan Milbrath’s ‘Star Gods of the Maya’ (p. 205).  But Venus does not rise or set first on the birth date of GI and we will see below that the otherwise inextricable “delay” in the birth of GII can only be accounted for by the birth of Venus on 28 November.  There I will also point out the ‘body double’ nature of Venus and Mercury, the two minor planets that also appear on the Creation date of 8 September 3114 B.C. as the Paddlers.  Venus and Mercury, the two minor planets, are unique among the planets in being viewable as Evening and Morning Stars and thus companions of the sun.

The birth of GIII on 14 November 2360 B.C.

On this day, both the sun and Mercury have advanced beyond the intersection of the ecliptic and the galactic equator.  Both still reside in Sagittarius, and are still in the heart of the Milky Way.  However, the rise and set order is reversed.  The sun now rises at 6:14 a.m., while Mercury rises at 6:23.  The set times are similarly reversed in order, with the sun setting at 5:48 p.m. and Mercury at 5:50.

The solar attributes of GIII have been noted before by several major Mayanists and I will not repeat their work here.  Suffice it to say that the second born of the Palenque Triad would appear to be the sun.

The Birth of GII on 28 November 2360 B.C.

David Stuart has said of the Palenque gods GI, GII and GII (_Palenque: Eternal City of the Maya_) “We do not know why their birth-order disagrees with the order in which they are always named…”  Or again “…He [GII] was the youngest of the three members of the Triad… even though he is always named and depicted as the middle member of the three gods.”

Why is this so?

On GI’s birthday, Jupiter has just entered the same end (or “head”) of the Milky Way wherein the sun and Mercury reside.  We find Jupiter in Ophiuchus very near Antares, the very bright star of the constellation Scorpius.  On GIII’s birthday, Jupiter is pretty much in identically the same spot in the sky.  These three planets, then, occupy this “head” of the Milky Way/Cosmic Monster at the same time.  No other planets are present in this head of the Milky Way.  In each case, Jupiter rises before both Mercury and the sun.

On the birthdate of GII, something rather unusual happens.  Mercury has left the Milky Way and is residing in Capricorn.  The sun is still in Sagittarius, but on the very edge of the Milky Way.  Jupiter is still stubbornly hanging out in Ophiuchus.  Venus, however, has just entered this head of the Cosmic Monster and is also in Ophiuchus.

So what has happened is that Venus has replaced Mercury within the confines of this head of the Cosmic Monster.  What are we to make of this substitution, and how does it help with our identification of GII?

Milbrath (in her ‘Star Gods of the Maya’) mentions how Mercury and Venus, being the two inferior planets, could act as ‘body doubles’ for one another.  The fact that the Palenque Maya held off allowing GII to be born until 28 November tells us with a fair degree of certainty that Venus is the one being born on this day.  According to my CyberSky program, Venus reaches the edge of the Milky Way on November 25.  The 28th is the first day the planet is actually completely within the Milky Way.

Thus the evidence for viewing GII as Venus is rather overwhelming - if we go merely from what was happening on this day on the sky.  That Jupiter was present in the same end of the Milky Way as was Mercury (GI) and the Sun (GIII) and rose and set before both, yet was not given a birth date prior to these two planets, also argues forcefully for seeing Venus as the planet being born on 28 November.

The Location of Matwil

David Stuart has rendered Matwil, the location of the births of GI, GII and GIII, as the “Place of Cormorants”.  As such this was a watery place, and may have been the heavenly model for part or all of Palenque itself.  We know the Maya could conceive of the Milky Way as a heavenly body of water (see the famous Tikal bones, for example, which depict the deceased king and other planets passing through the Milky Way water on the ‘ecliptic canoe’).  The fact that all three planets – Mercury, Sun and Venus – are all born within the Milky Way strongly suggests that the Scorpius-Sagittarius head of the Cosmic Monster is Matwil.

Muwaan Mat’s Birth on 2 January 3120 B.C.

It was once believed that 2 January 3120 B.C. was the birthday of Sak Kuk, or “White Quetzal”, mother of the Palenque king Pacal, presumably an incarnation of the moon goddess. The name Muwaan Mat was taken as an epithet for Sac Kuk.  However, David Stuart has recently suggested that Muwaan Mat is a male figure and that the dates relating to him do not, therefore, have anything to do with Pacal’s mother.  Stuart does concede, however, that Muwaan Mat may be the ‘Mother-Father’of the Palenque Triad.  The concept of the Mother-Father is well known in contemporary Maya belief.

Another reading for Muwaan Mat’s name may be ‘Lady of Split Place’ (see Dennis Tedlock, ‘2000 Years of Mayan Literature’). Michael Grofe of the Maya Exploration Center, equates Matwil with Tamoanchan, ‘Land of Rain and Mist’.  While I would not go as far as Grofe in identifying ‘Lady of Split Place’ with the tree from which the gods were born, we CAN place her birth in the Great Rift of the Milky Way.  I would then say there is a fair degree of probability that the Great Rift was designated by the Maya as the ‘Split Place’.  

As the Triad gods are clearly born at Matwil, i.e. the Sagittarius-Scorpius head of the Milky Way monster, and Muwaan Mat is termed the ‘Lord of Matwil’, the presence of the moon near the center of the Milky Way in Ophiuchus on 2 January 3120 B.C. should be noted.  The moon is the only visible planet in this head of the Cosmic Monster.   

Eight years after Muwaan Mat is born, this personage undergoes a blood-letting rite (private communication from Dr. Michael Carrasco of The University of Texas at Austin).  This happens on 1 March, 3112 B.C.   The day before, on February 28, the moon was in Sagittarius within the Milky Way.  On the 1st of March, the moon leaves the Milky Way.

Muwaan Mat is said to accede to power on 27 September 2325. On this day, the moon is 3.3 days before New Moon (13.1% illuminated) and resides in Virgo.  The action attendant upon this event consists of the tying of white paper bark onto the head of Muwaan Mat.  Such a white paper bark headband was the Palenque equivalent of a crown, and thus denoted kingship.    Could such white bark have represented the crescent moon?

I would remind readers of the iconographic motif known to Mayanists as the moon’s “theft” of the God L’s regalia. Typically, either the moon goddess or her rabbit is shown with the regalia of God L, who is often depicted in abject prostration before her, as if imploring the goddess to give back his usurped possessions.  His regalia includes a muwaan bird or muwaan bird cloak. Sometimes God L pleads with the Sun for his owl hat, robes and staff.  We have also seen the muwaan bird as the constellation of Gemini. 

It has been theorized that the motif records a conjunction of Venus (or Mercury; see Milbrath) and the moon.  Perhaps the moon dressed as the Muwaan bird might help explain why Muwaan Mat is, apparently, designated as male, rather than as female?  Or why the moon might be best interpreted as “Mother-Father”?

Given the strictly astronomical evidence, I would have to say that Muwaan Mat is the moon.

Creation Day (8 September 3114 B.C.; viewed from Quirigua via CyberSky):

The following translation of the Creation story from Quirigua Stela C is taken from

“Unaahil B’aak: The Temples of Palenque” at http://learningobjects.wesleyan.edu/palenque/history/mythology02.php (All material © 2004 Michael Carrasco & Wesleyan University):

1. The hearth was changed,

2. three stones were tied.

3. The Jaguar and Stingray paddlers planted a stone

4. it happened at the House of the Five Skies.

5. This was the Ocelot Throne Stone.

6. The Black House God planted a stone

7. it happened at Earth Town.

8. This was the Serpent Throne Stone.

9. And then came the Naah Itzamnaj stone binding.

10. This was the Water Throne Stone.

11. [These stone settings] happened at the Mouth of the Sky,

12. At the First Heated Place.

13. Thus, he finished the thirteen B'aktuns,

14. He oversaw it, the Wak Chan Ajaw.

It is been customary to identify these three stones with the hearth stones of the contemporary Quiche Maya, namely Rigel, Saiph and Alnitak in Orion. David Stuart (most recently in his “The Order of Days”) has expressed concern over identifying the Classical period ‘First Hearth Place” with the modern Orion hearth.  Still, I think a good case can be made for retaining the hearth stones for the Classical period.

It has been observed that the sun is at zenith on this day (at 12:02 p.m.), with Orion of the hearth-stones being at or near nadir.  This is extremely significant, given that the sun is flanked by Mercury and Venus in near conjunction to the west and by Saturn to the east.  All four of these planets are situated in the constellation of Virgo. 

                        Rise                  transit               set

Mercury           5:03 a.m.          11:29 a.m.        5:54 p.m.

Venus               5:05 a.m.          11:29 a.m.        5:53 p.m.

Sun                  5:42 a.m.          12:02 p.m.        6:22 p.m.

Saturn              6:06 a.m.          12:25 p.m.        6:44 p.m.

Here, the Paddlers are definitely designated by Venus and Mercury.  This notion is confirmed by the statement from the Tila panel (see “Understanding Maya Inscriptions”) to the effect that the Jaguar Paddler and Stingray Paddler “were companioned” on the day of Creation.

If we follow the order of the planets for the laying of the stones on the Quirigua Stela C, then we have Mercury and Venus = the Paddlers, the Sun = Black House First and Saturn = Itzamnaaj.  However, we should remember that Itzamnaaj was a very important god who in the Colonial period could be identified with Kinich Ahau the sun god.

It is likely the placement of the Ocelot Throne Stone refers to a particular Orion hearthstone that corresponded to the Paddler’s position while at zenith, i.e. a hearthstone which itself could be found at zenith when the Paddlers were at nadir.  The same would be true, of course, of the other planets and hearth-stones.

Which stones belong to which planets can be determined by comparing the rise, transit and set times of the hearth-stones with those of the planets:

                        Rise                  transit               set

Rigel                 10:13 p.m.        3:48 a.m.          9:18 a.m.

Alnitak             10:19 p.m.        4:04 a.m.          9:45 a.m.

Saiph                10:47 p.m.        4:24 a.m.          9:57 a.m.

Rigel would then belong to the Paddlers, Alnitak to the Black House First and Saiph to Itzamnaaj (unless, as noted above, Itzamnaaj should be the sun and not Saturn). 

The Crosses of Palenque and the Identities of the Gods GI, GII and GIII [historical dates are Julian]:

The Temples of the Sun, Cross and Foliated Cross were all dedicated on 20 July 690 A.D. (or 21 or 23; going by Peter Matthews’ Julian date list).  This was not long before the completion of the thirteenth k’atun on 15 March 692.  Two other dates may be important when it comes to interpreting the iconography of the tablets in these temples: the two figures flanking the crosses and the sun-shield with two crossed spears are now known to represent K’inich Kan Bahlam as a child being designated heir to the throne on 14 June 641 A.D. and as a king being inaugurated on 7 January 684.   In 7 January 692,  the anniversary of the earlier 684 date, in the year of the period ending, K’inich underwent another ritual which Matthews’ refers to as ‘Sanct. Dedication’

Temple of the Sun

The crossed spears of the Temple of the Sun, which was sacred to GIII/sun, may be the easiest to interpret.  If we go with dates in the 7th century A.D. and bring up the Spring and Fall Equinoxes, we immediately see that the celestial equator and the ecliptic intersect at the center of the sky, forming on both occasions a perfect “crossed spears” pattern.  Of course, this occurs only at exactly 12 noon with the sun present at the intersection point of the equator and the ecliptic.  The sun cannot be shown in this context as a bird atop a tree, because on neither of the equinoxes is it on/within the Milky Way.

The two figures holding up the spears and shield on a serpent bar are standing on the cab or earth band, which is here symbolic of the horizon.  The serpent bar bearer on the left has been identified (see, for example, Justin and Barbara Kerr’s _The Way of God L: The Princeton Vase Revisited_) with God L, wearing his Muwaan bird headdress and his chevron cloak.  The muwaan bird was Bird 2 of the Maya Zodiac (see Susan Milbrath’s _Star Gods of the Maya_) and this sign has been identified with Gemini.  The other bearer of the serpent bar – on the right – is God N as turtle, here Orion.  We have representations of this heavenly turtle with the three hearth-stones on his carapace.

When viewed as if the sun at equinox point is at the “top” of the image, and Gemini and Orion are “standing” on the eastern horizon, the ecliptic (one of the spears) goes straight through Gemini, while the celestial equator (the other spear) goes right through Orion.  On the Spring Equinox at around noon, Gemini is on the left and Orion is on the right.  On the Fall Equinox around 10:30 a.m., Orion is on the left and Gemini is on the right.  Thus the only match to the Temple of the Sun configuration is the Spring Equinox.

As Gemini and Orion are on the earth band, they have just appeared above the eastern horizon.  The horizontal serpent bar here represents the sky they appear to be holding up, and this serpent bar/sky is the platform upon which stand the ecliptic and celestial equator spears.  It is unlikely the serpent bar here stands for the Milky Way, as that stands vertically, not horizontally, in relationship to Gemini and Orion.

GIII the sun god is, in the temple of the sun, the sun god of the Spring Equinox. 

The katun ending on March 15, 692, fell a couple of days short of the Spring Equinox on the 18th , and as the whole Cross Group was aimed at a celebration of the ka’tun ending, and as no other Spring Equinox dates are supplied on the temple texts, I would argue that it is the March 15, 692 date close to the Spring Equinox that is depicted on the Temple of the Sun’s tablet.

If the shield and spears of the Temple of the Sun show the sun on the k’atun ending date, what does the iconography on the main tablets of the other two temples portray?

Temple of the Cross

The 14 June 641 date for the initiation rites of the heir apparent K’inich Kan Bahlam comes close to the summer solstice date for this year on the 19th.  On 14 June 641, Mercury is technically in Taurus, but is actually closer to Orion, and is almost upon the intersection point of the galactic equator and the ecliptic in the heart of the Milky Way.  Venus, the Sun and the moon (just past New Moon) are all in Gemini, also within the Milky Way.

Mercury is here to be viewed as the bird atop the Cross.  I will discuss the actual configuration of the Cross below.

The base of the Cross is the so-called Quadripartite Badge Monster, with the kin or ‘sun’ bowl atop its head.  This is the rear head of the Cosmic Monster, i.e. the part of the Milky Way that is crossed by the ecliptic at Scorpius-Sagittarius (see Milbrath).

A fire dedication took place on 15 June 692, and this may have been chosen because of the earlier 14 June date.  At this later time, Mercury was in Orion near the intersection of the galactic equator and the ecliptic, while the sun was in Gemini in the Milky Way and Venus was in Taurus just on the outer edge of the Milky Way.

Temple of the Foliated Cross

K’inich Kan Bahlam as a child stands on a shell that is described as the ‘precious shell of Matwiil’.  We have seen that Matwil, the watery “Place of Cormorants” (see above), was the Scorpius-Sagittarius head of the Milky Way.  The Foliated Cross itself sits atop a base which reads “precious pool or sea”.  The adult king stands on a Witz Mountain.

The two 7 January dates, one for the year 684 and the other for 692, also point to something happening in or near Matwil.  The Winter Solstice in both 684 and 692 occurred on 18 December, quite awhile before the dates in question.

On 7 January 684, Venus or GII is in Ophiuchus in the Milky Way.  On the same day in 692, Venus resides in almost exactly the same place in Ophiuchus.

The “house” or temple of GII/Venus, then, stands for Matwil, the Scorpius-Sagittarius head of the Cosmic Monster. 

By associating himself with these temples in this way, K'inich Kan Bahlam could essentially say that at the time of his initiation rites when he was 6 (14 June 641) and on nearly the same date in 692 (15 June) he was the human incarnation of Mercury/GI. He could also say that at the time he was inaugurated as king in 684 and on the same date in 692 he was the human incarnation of Venus/GII.  When in the Temple of the Sun, celebrating the k'atun ending of 692, he was, of course, the sun/GIII.

The Configuration of the Crosses 

On the day of the death of the great Pacal (August 28, 683 A.D.), Mars was in Gemini at the top of the Milky Way tree. Mars is here quite plainly being portrayed as the Principal Bird Deity for this particular scene.

The symbolic configuration of the Cross of Pacal’s sarcophagus (A) and that of the Temple of the Cross (B) and Foliated Cross (C) can now be described in detail according to the sky maps for the days in question.

A) On August 28, 683 A.D., Mars is at the top of the Milky Way tree in Gemini.  The “centipede” ecliptic arches slightly from east to west.  The celestial equator or arms of the cross hang under the ecliptic, the two intersecting on the eastern and western horizons.  The Milky Way is roughly perpendicular to both the ecliptic and the celestial equator running NW to SE.

B) On June 14 (or 15), Mercury is at the top of the tree in Taurus, but hard by Orion, in the Temple of the Cross.

C) The bird atop the Foliated cross is Venus, here in Ophiuchus.  Hence, the tree is a seasonal reversal of those found on Pacal’s tomb and in the Temple of the Cross.

NOTE: Some Maya scholars are choosing to see the vertical column of the cosmic tree not as the Milky Way, but as a metaphorical representation of a line drawn from nadir to zenith of any given celestial object.  I have not found this to be the case, but it is important to mention the possibility as we do not yet have a firm grip on some of the iconography employed by the ancient Maya.