MODULE 1 · Two kinds of time
Why the calendar on your wall feels so tiring, and what the 13 Moon count offers instead.
- Artificial time and natural time
- T(E) = Art
- Where this way of counting comes from
Most of us live by a calendar we never chose.
Months of 28, 30 and 31 days. Weeks that land on different dates every year.
José Argüelles called it 12:60 time.
12 uneven months and 60 minute hours: a rhythm made for machines and money.
Two kinds of time
12:60: The clock, the bill, the deadline.
13:20: The moon, the body, the seasons, the 260 day count.
"Time is money" is usually credited to Benjamin Franklin, in 1748.
Argüelles answered with a formula: T(E) = Art.
Time, filled with your energy, becomes art.
The 13 Moon calendar
13 moons: Each one exactly 28 days long.
364 + 1: 13 moons make 364 days, plus one Day Out of Time.
4 weeks: Every moon has exactly four weeks.
Same weekday: A date falls on the same day of the week every year.
This calendar is modern. Argüelles released the Dreamspell, with its 13 Moon count, in 1990, building on the Maya 260 day count. The Maya themselves never used a 13 by 28 year.
For one week, write down when your energy is high and when it is low, and the date next to it.
Sources
José and Lloydine Argüelles, Dreamspell (1990)
José Argüelles, Time and the Technosphere (2002)
Benjamin Franklin, Advice to a Young Tradesman (1748)