About Me

I grew up in northern Michigan playing in the woods along streams and swamps and climbing trees. I played both by myself and in large groups a lot, walking in the woods and pretending to be an Indian. I don’t remember what my first exposure to Native American culture was, if it was a story I heard, a classroom lesson, or if it was just always in my blood, but I loved playing Indians. I’d make twig tea and pretend herbal tinctures (though I didn’t know that word then) and had a beautiful life in the woods. When my family went camping on vacation every year, I’d get all the kids in the campground to play Indians with me.

Later, in my twenties, I was invited to go on a retreat with some Native American elders who were sharing their wisdom, their medicine, and I studied with them for several years. The spirituality of honoring and respecting all life, including the earth and the stones and the water is very natural to me, even though I am a white person with northern european ancestry. During that time I started to discover various oracle card decks in the Native American tradition: the Animal Medicine Cards and Sacred Path Cards written by Jamie Sams, and finally The Mayan Oracle, co-written by Spilsbury & Bryner. This quickly led to my discovery of Jose Arguelles and his books, namely The Mayan Factor, which I studied in depth.

Then, in 1997 or ’98, two things happened. At a party during a transformational weekend in Edmonton Canada the hostess brought out her key to figuring out your Mayan Birthday, and, on a separate occasion about six months later, a friend shared a copy of Arguelles’ 13 Moon Calendar with me. Arguelles had taken the Mayan Tzolkin calendar and mapped it onto the Western Gregorian calendar. 13 months of 28 days in length, and one day out of time at the transition between years for rest and renewal. I worked with Arguelles’ 13 Moon calendar, or codex, and the in-depth descriptions of each solar seal and each tone for many years, breathing and meditating on the quality of the day. I was very excited to discover all that this meant to me on a very deep soul level.

Finally, in the Autumn of 2007, a friend invited me to go hear Barbara Hand Clow speak about her new book, The Mayan Code, and a whole new chapter opened in this work for me, namely the discovery of Carl Johan Calleman and his codex, his map of the Tzolkin on the Gregorian calendar and his many books about the Maya which are wonderful. At that time I switched over from Arguelles’ codex to Calleman’s for two reasons: 1. Calleman’s codex has been accepted and adopted by the Mayan Council of Elders as being the most accurate; and 2. Because when I re-calculated my own Tzolkin signature birthday, it fit more deeply with me, and my spiritual purpose. I was born on 12 Kan, Yellow Coordinating Seed.

So, I share these pages with you because it is part and parcel of my purpose on the planet and my desire to help others create a life that radiates with beauty, harmony, and respect for all life.

If you are interested in learning about your Tzolkin signature birthday, or if you’d like a Mayan Oracle reading to help you with your path and unfoldment, please contact me at: aliess@ameritech.net. If you’d like to visit me in the online Gaia Community, you can find my page at http://earthjoy.gaia.com

Walk in the beauty and grace of life unfolding now. Be present to the love flowering here and in your heart, now.