Soulkin started with a very simple experiment. I noticed that when the 260-day Tzolkin is arranged in a particular way, a pentagram can keep pointing to the guide kin while moving through a 13-step cycle. I wanted to see that movement visually, so I started building it. I wasn't trying to solve a particular problem. I was simply curious about what else could be done with the mathematical structure of the Tzolkin. That gradually led much further than I expected. During development, I found ways to represent essentially every layer of the system as fractal visual structures. Patterns such as the original pentagram expansion emerged from experimenting with the fixed cycles rather than being planned in advance. Along the way, Soulkin also began offering possible ways to explore questions I had encountered in existing calendar models — for example, why extended Long Count layers can repeatedly end at 4 Ahau rather than 13 Ahau. Those ideas are now built directly into the visualization, where people can explore them for themselves. My approach throughout has basically remained the same: what interesting things can we do with the structure of the Maya Tzolkin if we keep following it and see where it leads? Soulkin is the result so far.

Soulkin

Explore cycles through an interactive framework.

Explore cycles through an interactive framework.