The twenty day signs of the Tzolk'in are a fixed sequence: each follows the one before, twenty to a round, and paired with the numbers one to thirteen they take 260 days to come full circle. The sign says what kind of force a day carries; its position says where that force comes from and where it goes. Imix, the crocodile, is first — before anything begins there has to be ground. In the Maya creation story the earth floats on the primordial water on the back of a crocodile (or great turtle), and Imix is that back: undifferentiated, nothing grown yet, but already holding.
So Imix's mechanism is bearing: it's the source, the womb, the floor the other nineteen signs stand on. Its imagery is also nourishment — the first waters, the breast, rain.
Where you'll recognise it: you catch people by habit, respond fast to others' needs and slowly to your own, and carry a deep sense that everything starts with you. Running well, you're a group's foundation: steady, containing, letting things begin. Stuck, you're crushed — holding too much, forgetting who holds you, or gripping everything out of a floor-level insecurity. In the sequence Imix is followed by Ik', wind: the ground exists, and next there has to be breath, and speech. Your next step isn't holding more. It's letting things grow out of you.
