Hilda Resch
Hilda Resch born in 1973 in Austria studied art in Vienna and Amsterdam. Getting in contact with the Mayan Culture she first was spellbound by their amazing artistic expression, but soon wanted to know the meaning behind the aesthetics.
She lives among the Maya in the Guatemalan highlands since 2005 and is in contact with Maya spiritual guides whose ceremonies she attends on regular basis. She works as a facilitator and translator for outsiders who are interested in the culture, offers Mayan horoscope readings one on one or over skype.
During her visits in Austria she teaches the wisdom of the 20 Nawales in different workshops and seminars.
Nana Feliciana Ujpan
Nana Feliciana Ujpan is a Mayan spiritual guide, who works in the Mayan tradition in her home village San Juan la Laguna. Moreover she studied psychology at the university in Quetzaltenango (Xela) and was trained to be a social worker as well. She is a member of the organisation “Kaqla”, a social project led by women. She offers healing work in Mayan ceremonies or provides answers through the Tzité, the Mayan oracle.
Hilda Resch offers to connect foreigners with Nana Feliciana and her work and I translate her sessions, if needed.
Hilda works with other Mayan shamans and healers too, but not all of them want their photo to be published.
What is real?
There might be many intelligent answers to this question, but fact is that we know when something is real to us, when something feels right. It´s beyond our rational comprehension, but as it touches us deep inside it creates a certainty that can´t be put in words.
Getting to know the Mayan Culture and their calendar system touched me in this profound way and everything about it felt right. It felt like coming home to what – for me – is real.
A month in the Mayan Calendar system has 20 days and each day carries a specific quality. The 20 “Nawales”, as they call the spiritual entities that represent these 20 qualities, are spiritual guides and teachers and provide their profound wisdom on a daily basis.
A wonderful key to open the door to the understanding of the Mayan Calendar is the Mayan Cross. It is the Mayan type of horoscope that traditionally has been calculated at a child´s birth by the midwife. She then would explain the Mayan Cross to the parents right after birth and to the child some times later in life.
If that had happened at my birth… man, that would have saved my parents and me a lot of trouble…!
But well, better late then never…
The 6 months I had planned at Lake Atitlan turned into 13 years living among the fascinating Maya of Guatemala and the reason why my stay has been extended like this was getting to know my Mayan Cross and becoming a student of the Mayan Calendar and the Mayan Cosmovision.
The spiritual leaders in a Mayan community are called Aj Q´iij, which means the day keepers, the ones keeping track of what day quality we are in.
Even though that the majority of the indigenous population in Guatemala is Christian, there are Aj Q´iijs in every village offering their services in the old tradition.
In order to understand and benefit from their work as an outsider one needs to have some basic knowledge of the Mayan Calendar, one´s birth Nawal and how the 20 Nawales are honored in Mayan ceremonies.
Tulan Kan:
“Tulan” can mean origin and birthplace, but also means home or feeling at home.
“Kan” means snake and is one of the 20 Nawales. Kan represents the Mayan idea that time is cyclic and the snake stands for the spiral of time.
The mythological creature Kukulkan – the feathered serpent – came from the spiritual realm to bring the knowledge of the calendar to earth. So the Nawal Kan represents everything that has to do with the calendar system.
But Kan represents as well everything that has to do with healing and transformation. The Maya believe that we too shed skin like snakes and constantly transform ourselves.
“Tulan Kan” means therefor the home of the snake and the home of the calendar knowledge.
Tulan Kan could also be your home in the calendar system and your home in healing and transformation.
The Mayan people and their culture have touched and transformed me deeply and I feel honored to be accepted among them. I consider myself a student of the culture who is humbly passing on some Mayan knowledge to the outside world.
Maltiox!
Hilda