K'an, seed, is fourth of the twenty, following Ak'b'al the night: what the dark incubated is now held in the hand. K'an is also 'maize' and 'ripe, yellow, precious' — for the Maya maize wasn't merely food; people were made from it (the Popol Vuh), so K'an is the raw material of life.
So K'an's mechanism is potential and abundance: a whole tree compressed into one grain, not yet unfolded. Its power is density — a great deal in something small; its difficulty is density too — a seed could be anything, so it isn't anything yet, and held too long it dries out.
Where you'll recognise it: many ideas, excitement at possibility, a slight resistance to picking one, many plans not yet started, unusual sensitivity to both plenty and want. Running well, you're the most productive source around: once planted, you grow more than most. Stuck, you hold and don't plant — collecting possibilities, refusing to decide, or planting so many they fight for soil. In the sequence K'an is followed by Chikchan, the serpent: after the seed goes in, the force that pushes up through the body. Your next step isn't taking another seed. It's choosing one, letting go, and putting it in the ground.
