Maiden
What you need to sow
Set the first threads. A new pattern is chosen at the loom, one row at a time.
Maya / Mesoamerica
Ix Chel
Lady Rainbow of the Moon and Loom
Maya lowlands, Classic and Postclassic periods (c. 250–1550 CE) into living Maya communities
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Her story
Historical context
goddess · Maya lowlands, Classic and Postclassic periods (c. 250–1550 CE) into living Maya communities
Maya goddess of the moon, weaving, medicine and childbirth, honoured with pilgrimages across open water to Cozumel. She appears in the codices as both radiant young weaver and formidable elder with serpent and jaguar attributes — the whole moon in one figure.
Mythology & traditions
Women crossed open sea by canoe to her shrine on Cozumel to ask for safe birth and healthy children — one of the best-documented pilgrimages in the pre-Columbian Americas. The codices show her in two aspects, young weaver and fanged elder pouring out a water jar, so Maya thought held growth and destruction inside a single lunar cycle instead of splitting them.
Domains
- The moon
- Weaving
- Medicine
- Childbirth
- Water and rain
Symbols
- Backstrap loom
- Serpent headdress
- Jade ear flares
- Crescent moon
- Rabbit
- Overturned water jar
In the oracle
Her guidance
Mother
What you need to grow
Nurture your cycles. Match your effort to your waxing and waning instead of fighting it.
Crone
What you need to know
Know that you are weaving whether or not you look. Choose the pattern consciously now.