theAbysmal 52~Week Year

Calendar Reform to simplify  our lives and enrichen our culture.

The 52~Weeks of the Year can be divided into 13 Months of 4 weeks each, or 4 Quarters of 13 Weeks. It doesn’t retain the Months~to~Quarters symmetry that the Gregorian CE Calendar has, however, the above illustrates other, more pervasive symmetries that make this a more regular means of arranging the Days.

Calendar Reform is meant to simplify and enrichen our lives. The regular ratio of Weeks~to~Months~to~Quarters creates a perpetual Year.

The advantages include:

• clearly defined periods Months = 4 Weeks = 28 Days, Quarters = 13 Weeks = 91 Days
• people will be able to schedule ahead without having to consult a calendar
• makes accounting easier, which will make commerce smoother, creating a solid foundation of steady progression upon which to build.
• numbered Weeks, Months, Quarters and Years allows every community of Calendar Users to name them as they will, which encourages a richer cultural diversity, while still allowing us to communicate dates clearly.
• These arrangements of 52 Weeks repeat themselves annually, whereas with the Gregorian Calendar, the cycles of Weekdays and Months repeats themselves every 400 Years (due to the Leap Year rule).

Year 9~XIX Lunation 0

The Moon augurs the New Year to come

24 Days until the New Year from 8~XIV to 9~XIX. The new year has a total of 13 Lunations numbered 0~12.

Human Gestation, Time and the stages of becoming

Gestation: counting by the calendar, daylight, moonlight

Chronobiology, the study of periodicity in living things, points towards human association with sunlight, and what is healthiest for the greatest majority of us. Sunlight is best at around dusk and dawn, and can be too harsh during the middle of the day (depends on where you live). Likewise, our bodies calibrate themselves to the seasons near the vernal equinox, in the twilight. Often there are festivals scheduled at this time, so that entire communities spend these hours outside together, synchonizing themselves not only with the seasons, but with one another. The Full Moon also sees its share of celebrants, and in days before electric lighting, it provided enough light for us to gather outside together.

In any case, our bodies are tied to the rhythm of the day, the moon (lunar month) and the seasons, regardless of where we live. These three characteristics define our understanding of time: the rotation of the Earth around its axis, the orbit of the Moon around the Earth: the orbit of the Earth~Moon around the Sun.

During our earliest moments of existence, just after the egg and sperm come together, we are under the influence of two different times: the time according to our mother’s body, which is tied to the day, moon and season, and; the time according to the development of ourselves from a single cell to an entire person in under 270 days.

The presumption is that midday, when the Sun is highest in the sky, and the Full Moon, and the Summer Solstice are all equivalent, in that they are the time at which we receive the most sunlight, and therefore the most energy from the Sun. In looking at the development in utero against the phases of the Moon, keep in mind that the waxing Moon is growing and getting brighter, therefore day~to~day, we receive more energy from it. Same as we approach the Summer Solstice and the Days grow longer.

Ideally, women menstruate at the New Moon, and ovulate at the Full Moon. Therefore, conception occurs at the Full Moon in all of the examples below. People are most fertile in the spring. The model pregnancy in this case takes place from the Full Moon at the Vernal Equinox (as occurred in 2008) to the birth just prior to the Winter Solstice.

the Moon and Fertility:

from New Moon, when its gravitational pull is in the same direction as the Sun’s. It appears dark to us.

as First Quarter, the Moon’s gravity has now drawn away from the Sun’s so that it has become noticeably distinct. We see half of its surface illuminated by the Sun.

at the Full Moon, the draw of the Moon’s gravity is opposite that of the Sun’s. It’s entire face is illuminated.

at the Last Quarter, the Moon’s gravity returns towards that of the Sun, lessing. Half of its face is illuminated.

The Seasons and Fertility

The Seasons and Lunations

Here we have Year 8~XIV (dec 21st 2007 to dec 20th 2008) with the 12 lunations and when they occur relative to the months of the year. Following, we have the lunar cycle according to gestation beginning with the Full Moon at the Vernal Equinox.

Year 8~XIV, Months & Moons

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gestation from Vernal Equinox to Winter Solstice by the Moon

Gestation, Time and Becoming

The duration from conception to birth varies from person to person, however, it tends to falls within range of 9 months. 9 Lunar Months comes to 266 Days. The Maya tzolkin Calendar counts 260 Days, which also stands for the duration of gestation. The Lunar 266 Days lasts from Full Moon to Full Moon, the tzolkin follows its own metre based on 13 numbers and 20 glyphs.

Here is a breakdown of some of the occurrences in the first 60 days of gestation, which is about 2 lunar months, from full moon to fulll moon. 13 x 5 = 65 days, which is close to this on the 13~XX Calendar

Day	Development
0	Conception
1	1 cell (zygote) fetilisation – polar bodies form
2	2 cells (blastomeres) (30 hours), 4 cells (40 hours).
3	16-32 cells (morula) – morula passes out of fallopian tubes
4	64 cells (blastocyst) – inner cavity (blastocele)cell mass inside blastocele (embryoblast)
5-6	the blastocyst implants itself in the blood-rich uteran wallcirculation between mother & blastocyst begins
7-12	trophoblast cells begin to form placenta with uterine wallembryoblast differentiates into upper, dark blue (epiblast – becomes embryo) & lower, yellow layers of cells (hypoblast – becomes yolk sac)
13	embryo anchored to the uterus via placentaembryo anchored to placenta by precursor to umbilical cord yolk sac produces blood cells (without nuclei)
14	(gastrula) 2-layer embryonic disc forms the primitive streakthe outer layer of cells folds into the primitive streak
15	Mesoderm – middle layer – muscles, bones, lymphatic tissue, spleen, blood cells, heart, lungs, reproductive & excratory systems
16	Ectoderm – top layer – skin, hair, lenses of eyes, lining of internal & external ear, nose, sinuses, mouth, anus, tooth enamel, pituitary and mammary glands & all parts of the nervous systemneural crest cells differentiate into neurons, glial cells, epidermis pigment cells, various skeletal & connective tissues of the head Endoderm – inner layer – lining of lungs, tongue, tonsils, urethra & associated glands, bladder & digestive tract
17-19	ectoderm thickens to form neural plateconcave groove forms in neural plate (neural groove – precursor to nervous system – one of the first organs to develop) blood cells develop & forming channels along epithelial cells
19-21	mesoderm forms somites on either side of the neural groovefirst 3-pair somites appear at tail, forming towards head head fold rises on either side of primitive streak secondary blood vessels in placenta & chorion (2-layer membrane) muscle cells begin to fuse forming into 2 heart tubes
21-23	4-12-pair somiteseye & ear cells appear beside neural fold 2 heart tubes fuse together into an S-shape, and cardiac muscle contraction begins
23-25	13-20 pairs somitesprimitive heart beating, major vessels along neural system peristalsis begins with 20 somites, the forebrain is completely closed
25-27	face & neck arches evident under developing forebrainblood system develops on surface of yolk sac, move to maternal blood system valves & septa appear in heart liver cells appear (beginning of digestive system)
26-30	digestive epithelium layer differentiates into locations for liver, lung, stomach & pancreas
31-35	mandibular & hyoid arches evident in headspinal cord wall in 3 zones (ventricular, mantle & marginal) ventricular – neurons, glial, & ependymal cells mantle – neuron clusters marginal – processes of neurons pituitary precusor defined lens vesicle nestled in optic cup opens to surface nasal plate evident digestive tube differentiates into esophagus & trachea semilunar valves form in heart – 4 major subdivisions right & left lung sacs lie on either side of esophagus ureteric bud appears metanephros – precursor to kidney, develops upper limbs elongate & innervation begins
35-38	stomodeum (ectodermic precursor to mouth & oral cavity)swelling of external ear begin lens pit has closed, retinal pigment may appear, lens fibres form depressions in nasal disc form into nasal pits esophagus lengthens blood flows through left & right streams lobar buds appear in bronchial tree intestines lengthen (in umbilicus) ureteric bud lengthens, tip lengthening towards kidney lower limb buds lengthen & innervate
37-42	cerebral hemispheres evidenthindbrain develops (responsible for heart, breath & muscle) future mandible visible nasal pits rotate to face ventrally cardiac tube divides into aortic & pulmonary channels mammary tissues begin to mature mesentery defined hand region differentiates lower limb sections evident
42-44	jaw & facial muscles developingolfactory bulb forms teeth buds begin forms pituitary forms trachea, larynx & bronchi system forms heart separates into 4 chambers diaphragm forms intestines develop in umbilical cord primitive germ cells forms at genital area hand region forming digital plate digital rays appear in foot plates
44-48	intersections of nerve networks (plexuses) develop in scalp regioneyes pigmented eyelids developing trunk of pulmonary artery separates from trunk of aorta nipples appear kidneys produce first urine urogenital & anal membranes appear arms at proper location, hand plates finish in another 2 days. ossification of the skeleton begins
48-51	first detectable brain wavessemicircular canals form in inner ear septum primum fuses with septum intermedium in the heart gonads form legs now at proper location, toes almost completed bone cartilage solidifies muscles develop & strengthen
51-53	Brain connected by nerves & muscles – spontaneous movementnasal openings & tip of nose fully formed anal membrane perforated urogenital membranes differentiate skin folds between future toes
53-54	tongue development finishesintestines migrate from umbilical cord to embryo
54-56	upper lip fully formedbrain can move muscles clitoris begins to form primary ossification in long bones (upper limbs first)
56-60	External ear completely developedeyes cosed, retina fully pigmented taste buds form primary teeth at cap stage bones of palate fuse scalp plexus reaches head vertex intestines migrate into body cavity toes no longer webbed all digits fully distinct thin precursor to skin covers ectoderm of embryo tail has disappeared

that’s a human embryo folks.

theAbysmal Calendar vs the Gregorian

A Calendar Challenger, one calendar at a time.

This challenge, of putting up theAbysmal vs all of the rest of proposed and existing calendars is strictly in its role as the world’s calendar. theAbysmal was designed to facilitate the translation of dates between calendars, so that people following the Moon can more easily figure out what a day on a solar calendar may be.

note: that Common Era Calendar refers to the Gregorian Calendar using CE & BCE instead of AD & BC, but otherwise identical. Here I’ll just call it the Gregorian CE.

from the Calendars Wikia

First: Reasons for retaining the Gregorian CE calendar:

1. The calendar year stays in sync fairly well with the seasonal year. More exactly, the vernal equinox always occurs during a 51-hour period spread over March 19, 20 and 21.
2. Everyone is familiar with it.
3. The rules of the calendar are already embedded in innumerable computer programs.
4. The calendar is an integral part of the vernacular of many cultures.
5. It maintains an uninterrupted seven-day week, which is important to religious groups.
6. It may be difficult to promulgate changes to the calendar because all countries that use it would need to agree to make a change. The Gregorian calendar took nearly 350 years to be adopted by all countries that previously used the Julian calendar.

Addressing these points in kind, allow me to retort:

1. theAbysmal Calendar is more affixed to the seasons throughout the year. Each quarter starts and ends on or about either Solstice or Equinox.
2. theAbysmal uses the 7-Day Market Week, as the world is scheduled most broadly by the week. There will be no disruption in the flow of weekdays in the implementation of theAbysmal Calendar on Saturday December 22nd, 2012 CE.
3. theAbysmal Calendar begins a linear count of seconds, minutes and days as of its implementation, which is a simple arithmetic step away from the Unix Time Code and Julian Date already used in many cases. Also, the Internet broadcasts a standardized time, such that it would be a relatively easy modification to one’s operating system.
4. theAbysmal Calendar allows for the naming of days, months and so on as suits each culture,  and the observation of religious and secular calendars may go on with no disruption to any of the vernacular. (On a side note, the progression of days in September align with the numbers in Month 9 of theAbysmal Calendar. Thus, 9/11 becomes Month 9 Day 11.)
5. theAbysmal Calendar has two days that are not weekdays, but again, as it doesn’t intend to replace any religious calendars, each may continue the uninterrupted week as they will.
6. theAbysmal Calendar is using the Internet to promote itself, and is free for download, printing and spreading around free of charge (although the owner of theAbysmal’s images reserves the rights to make a living off of them). It was designed for all of the people of the world. It will allow the varied calendars of the world to continue being used, while translating between one and the other with greater ease.

Second: Reasons for replacing the Gregorian CE (as the global calendar only):

1. The structure of the months is irregular, with month lengths ranging arbitrarily from 28 days to 31 days.
2. The leap year rule is hard for many people to understand: “An extra day is added at the end of the second month every four years, except in years whose number is divisible by 100 except in years whose number is divisible by 400.”
3. The conventional 7-day-week cycle does not fit exactly into a Common Era year (there are always one or two days left over). This means that it is difficult to know which day of the week a CE date falls on.
4. The irregularity of the structure of the CE Calendar makes it difficult to formulate schedules of events occurring on certain days of the week which can be re‑used from year to year.
5. That irregularity also makes it very difficult to design schedules which can be used in any quarter (of three months), term (of four months) or semester (of six months).
6. Despite the existence of a proposed standard way of writing CE dates (the ISO 8601 date format) such dates are currently expressed mainly either as month-day-year (in the U.S.) or day-month-year (in Europe and most of the rest of the world). This creates major confusion for people in one part of the world reading dates written by and for people in another part of the world.
7. The months of the CE Calendar, although called “months”, have no relation to the lunar cycles. The sequence of months and the sequence of lunations are completely unrelated, and a new moon or a full moon can occur on any day of the CE month.
8. The leap year rules cause the timing of the equinoxes and solstices to vary by about 51 hours, which can be reduced if alternative leap year rules were adopted.
9. The intercalary day is inserted at the end of the second month instead of at the end of the year, which adds complexity to various date calculations. In particular, the number of days between a particular date in January or February and a particular date after the end of February is not constant.

Once again, theAbysmal retort:

1. theAbysmal months are 4 Weeks of 28 Days each.
2. The Leap Year Day isn’t a weekday, so its observation doesn’t disrupt the perpetual 52 Weeks. The rule is a little easier than the Gregorian CE’s and more accurate. Observe a Leap Year Day every 4 Years with an exception every 128 Years.
3. Each Year, Quarter, Month and Week begin on Saturday and end on Friday. This makes future scheduling easier, and allows people to think ahead without having to consult an external calendar.
4. See point 3 above.
5. theAbysmal 52~Week Year divides evenly into Months of 4 Weeks, Quarters of 13 Weeks, and Semesters of 26 Weeks.
6. theAbysmal Date format can be introduced with set, universal rules, which will prevent such difference of standards.
7. theAbysmal Calendar follows both Lunations and Months
8. theAbysmal 52~Weeks observes a Friday and Saturday on or about each of the Cardinal Dates. theAbysmal Lunar Calendar serves as the observational Calendar, recording actual dates of astronomical phenomena.
9. theAbysmal Leap Year Day falls on the Day before New Year’s Day. Neither are a Weekday, and occur after the last Friday of one Year, and the first Saturday of the next (Leap Year on dec 20th, New Year on dec 21st).

It appears that theAbysmal has addressed all of the above issues in some capacity. The one concern is that it may appear too complex, when truly its usage can be quite simple. One doesn’t need to observe all of theAbysmal Calendar’s cycles and time periods, but simply the ones that are relevant. One doesn’t need to observe the Lunation and the Month, or the 260~Day Calendar at all. They are simply options for consideration.

There are other points of consideration with respect to theAbysmal:

10. theAbysmal Calendar has an innate 13~base symmetry between the 260~Day (13×20), the 52~Week Year (13×4), the Lunar (Leap Years have 13 Lunations), and the 13 Constellations through which the Sun travels.
11. theAbysmal 260~Days weave an annual progression to each Day, so that with practice, we can think in terms of “this day next year, and this day last year.”
12. theAbysmal harmonises aspects from many of the world’s calendars including: Hebrew (weekdays with Latin~ and Teutonic~derived names), Buddhist Lunar (Lunar New Year at Winter Solstice), the Maya & Mexica (the 260~Days), Jose Arguelles & the law of time foundation (the 13~Moon Calendar), the Chinese (aligning the four directions with North at the bottom, the I~Ching, the tao), and the Mesopotamian (astrological & astronomical symbols).
13. theAbysmal Calendar begins each of its cycles (with the exception of the Year in the Southern Hemisphere) in darkness. Midnight for the Day, New Moon for the Lunation, Winter Solstice for the Year. As much as our universe and we ourselves developed and grew out of darkness (the unknown, the unknowable), so does the measures of time in this calendar.
0. theAbysmal Calendar has a Year 0 (as well as a Quarter 0, Lunation 0, Month 0, Week 0 and Day 0), which the Gregorian CE lacks altogether. This changes our system from a chronology (first, second, third day of the month) to a numbering, where the number indicates the amount of time completed, not that taking place. The Day, Month, Week etc… taking place includes “now” which is really when all time happens.

Month 12 Year 8~XIV

last Month of the Year ~ 208 Weeks until 2012.

Here’s looking forward to the Year shedding it’s skin to begin again.

Month 11 Day 4 coincides with the New Moon that begins Lunation 0 for the upcoming Year 9~XIX.

Day 27, the last Friday of the Year bears 9~XIX, the same as that for the upcoming Year.  The numbers progress from 1~13, and the glyphs between IV, IX, XIV, X.

Counting by Quarters

Annual Quarters of 13 Weeks and how they work well with 13 months.

TheAbysmal 13 Months for the Northern Year. Click on the image to get the Southern Hemisphere’s Year at the equivalent line of latitude. The 52~week year can also be divided into 4 Quarters of 91 days, or 13 weeks. A similar structure as the months are applied for the weeks of each quarter, staring with the Winter Solstice and through the year. clockwise for the North, Counter~clockwise for the South.

As with all of the numbering for the 52~Week Year, it begins with 0, and continues in increments of 1. Month 0, Day 0. Weeks are only counted relative to the Year, 0~51, to avoid confusion with weeks/month or weeks/quarter.

The Four Quarters of the Year

Quarter 0 runs from the Northern Winter Solstice to the Vernal Equinox. In the South, it’s the Summer Solstice to the Autumnal Equinox.

Quarter 1 runs from the Northern Vernal Equinox to the Summer Solstice. In the South, from the Autumnal Equinox to the Winter Solstice.

Quarter 2 begins the second half of the year with the Northern Summer Solstice and continues to the Autumnal Equinox. In the South, it begins with the Winter Solstice and continues to the Vernal Equinox.

Finally, Quarter 3 runs from the Northern Autumnal Equinox to the Winter Solstice. In the South, it runs from the Vernal Equinox to the Summer Solstice.

One argument in favour of the Gregorian Calendar is the division of the year into four quarters of 3 months each. The months have an irregular number of days 90/91, 91, 92, 92.  The weeks do not fit into the Gregorian Calendar neatly.

Measuring a 52~Week Year seems relatively easy, given the number of means by which the weeks can be divided. Two even halves of 26 Weeks (182 Days) from solstice to solstice, or Quarters of 13 Weeks (91 Days), or Months of 4 Weeks (28 Days), or Fortnights of 2 Weeks (14 Days).

This regulates the weekly, biweekly (fortnightly), montly, quarterly and annual activities. This would simplify banking, payroll, accounting, anything with a regular bill, typically monthly. It could all be scheduled by the week, in even measurements.

theAbysmal Calendar redefines the Month, Quarter and Year according to 52~Weeks, which standardizes their duration: every month is 28 days, every quarter 91, every year 364 +1.

A different face of time

Jacek Yerka‘s take on the issue.

This particular creature is hereby nominated as theAbysmal’s official ambassador to the realms of the surreal. I see an innate tension in this image, between the stress to be on time and live by the clock against the maternal instinct in taking all the time necessary to do a million things.

Western Standard Time

comparing the days as organised by Astronomy, Astrology, and two Calendars.

The small circles in the following diagrams are the 365 days of the year. The darkest of these circles is the Winter Solstice, the longest night, and the lightest of these circles is the Summer Solstice, the longest day. The others are shades of grey corresponding to the amount of daylight they receive at 49 degrees N Latitude.

but first, the KEY to the symbols:

The image below compares the four different dating systems. The first is the astronomical boundaries for the thirteen constellations of the Zodiac. The number of Days in each period corresponds to the number of days the Sun appears to pass through the constellation. It begins on April 19th. The second image has the astrological boundaries for the 12 signs of the zodiac, which begins on March 21st.

The zodiac really differs greatly. the Astronomical boundaries are greatly varied. The Sun takes 45 days to pass through Virgo, and only 7 to pass through Scorpio. The 12 astrological periods are closer to even, but remain varied from 29 to 32 days. With respect to daylight, the astrological model uses the cardinal points, such that Aries begins on the Vernal Equinox.  The astronomical boundaries shift back by one day every 72~3 years. Thus what was announced as April 19th in 1937 has likely now shifted to April 20th.

The first column are the 12 months of the Gregorian calendar, begins January 1st. Finally, the 13 months of theAbysmal Calendar, which begins on December 21st.

Here we see the relative length of the months in either case. The daylight is very similar, as the new year in both these cases only differs by 10 days.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Because of the cyclical nature of the year, a circular analysis might be helpful In each case, the Winter Solstice is at the bottom, the Equinoxes to either side, and the Summer Solstice towards the top.

Astronomical Boundaries

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Astrological Boundaries

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gregorian Months

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theAbysmal Months

theAbysmal calendar’s coincidence

How the commeasure of the year with our gestation period makes for a better calendar.

theAbysmal Calendar has two components in particular that work together well. The first 365~Day Year, the second the 260~Day tzolkin. Each Calendar Month has 4 Weeks, as well as a number 0~27. The Date would thus be Year 0 Month 0 Day 0 Saturday 1~I.

The 365 Days of the Year, and the 13~XX number~glyphs

The combination of 365 Days, regardless of how they are arranged, and the 13~XX calendar, creates a series of progression that give added meaning to any given day, and a wider context. It would serve us better in using these other patterns, in measuring our longer term goals. Like those we seek as groups, or nations.

The Table below describes the progression of days. the columns progress day to day, the rows progress year to year for any given day.

	Year 0	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4
Day 0 Sat	1-I	2-VI	3-XI	4-XVI	5-I
Day 1 Sun	2-II	3-VII	4-XII	5-XVII	6-II
Day 2 Mon	3-III	4-VIII	5-XIII	6-XVIII	7-III
Day 3 Tue	4-IV	5-IX	6-XIV	7-XIX	8-IV
Day 4 Wed	5-V	6-X	7-XV	8-XX	9-V
Day 5 Thu	6-VI	7-XI	8-XVI	9-I	10-VI
Day 6 Fri	7-VII	8-XII	9-XVII	10-II	11-VII
Day 7 Sat	8-VIII	9-XIII	10-XVIII	11-III	12-VIII
Day 8 Sun	9-IX	10-XIV	11-XIX	12-IV	13-IX
Day 9 Mon	10-X	11-XV	12-XX	13-V	1-X
Day 10 Tue	11-XI	12-XVI	13-I	1-VI	2-XI
Day 11 Wed	12-XII	13-XVII	1-II	2-VII	3-XII
Day 12 Thu	13-XIII	1-XVIII	2-III	3-VIII	4-XIII
Day 13 Fri	1-XIV	1-XIX	3-IV	4-IX	5-XIV

Notice that the number~glyphs progress by 1~I from day to day, whereas it progresses by 1~V for any given day from year to year. Thus, any given day rotates between one of four glyphs from year to year. This arranges days in series of V as follows:

I) glyphs I, VI, XI, XVI
II) glyphs II, VII, XII, XVII
III) glyphs III, VIII, XIII, XVIII
IV) glyphs IV, IX, XIV, XIX
V) glyphs V, X, XV, XX

Month 12 Day 27 Friday is the last day of the year, and rotates through the glyphs IV, IX, XIV, XIX. The combination of number~glyph assigned to this day corresponds to that for the entire upcoming year.

The combination of the Month, Day, Weekday and Number~Glyph create a cycle of 52 years (13 numbers and V glyphs for any given day of the year, 13 x 5 = 52) before repeating themselves. This requires that no glyph~number is assigned to the Leap Year Day, nor a Weekday to the Leap Year nor the New Year’s Day.

The Week

The Week begins on a Saturday and ends on Friday.
The Month begins on a Saturday and ends on Friday.
The Quarter begins on a Saturday and ends on Friday.
The Half~Year begins on a Saturday and ends on a Friday.
The Year begins on a Saturday and ends on a Friday.
Same with every Decade, Generation (20 Years), Century, Millennia, and so on.

In the image above, if you begin with Saturn, and trace the star within the circle to the Sun, then so on, you will find the order of the Weekdays. If you assign one of the planets to each of the 24 hours of the day in the order around the circle beginning with Saturday, then the first Hour of each day will bear the same planet as that assigned to the day of the week as follows:

h	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
0	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus
1	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury
2	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon
3	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn
4	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter
5	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars
6	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun
7	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus
8	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury
9	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon
10	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn
11	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter
12	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars
13	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun
14	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus
15	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury
16	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon
17	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn
18	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter
19	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars
20	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun
21	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus
22	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury
23	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon

theAbysmal Calendar from theAbyss

How to build a better reform calendar for calendar reform.

Taking the Days from New Moon to New Moon as a given, this follows the steps in creating a civil calendar for as many of the world’s peoples as possible.

First, a visual representation of the relative amount of daylight. This applies to those North of the Tropic of Cancer and South of the Tropic of Capricorn. Those in the Tropics don’t see much change in daylight.

The amount of daylight varies according to the time of year. The closer to the poles, the longer the extremes of the length day and night become.

The following images use small circles to denote the days of the year by daylight at 49 degrees North. The circles are shaded according to the amount of daylight and night. The Winter Solstice, the longest night, is 100% black, the SUmmer Solstice 100% white and the rest shaded accordingly.

365 Days of the Year, in a circle to represent the Year and the Earth’s orbit around the sun. The darkest days are at the bottom, the lightest at the top.

With this as a starting point, we can organise the days in any manner we feel appropriate.

The image above represents the Gregorian Calendar, with January 1st at the bottom left, then continuing clockwise.

To address the irregularity in the calendar’s months and weeks, several reform proposals have found light. To create the best calendar for the world, let’s begin again with the circle of days.

The following circles use 364 days (because 52 weeks = 364 days, and the extra day isn’t a weekday)

The year divided into equal quarters of 91 days or 13 weeks. The quarters fall on or about one of the cardinal points: the Winter Solstice, the Vernal Equinox, the Summer Solstice, the Autumnal Equinox.

The Gregorian’s quarters have 90/91, 91, 92, 92 days.

midway through each 91 day quarter is a central day, with 45 days on either side of it. The diagonal lines join the 4 midway days of each Quarter. These denote the changes of season. The lowest arc is the time of the long nights and darkness. Proceeding clockwise, the left~hand arc is the time of the waxing days, and rising. The topmost arc is the time of long days and light. The fourth arc along the right stands for the season of waning days or waxing nights, or long shadows,  and it descends, once again, to the Season of Darkness.

These attributes: day and night, rising and falling reintroduces light and gravity into our calendar. The amount of relative daylight according to the season, as well as the amount of light reflected by the Moon and other planets. Gravity defines time as much as light does.

If we take these 364 days, create 52 weeks, each Quarter is 13 Weeks long. It also allows for 13 Months of 4 Weeks or  28 Days.

The Days of the Year arranged as 13 Months of 4 Weeks apiece at 49N Latitude. Begin on the Winter Solstice at the bottom, and move clockwise around the circle. This has a symmetrical structure lacking in the Gregorian, and a number of other world calendars.

the Days of the Year arranged by 13 Months of 4 Weeks at 49S Latitude. Begin on the Summer Solstice at the top, and move counterclockwise around the circle.

Imagine the Year as a circle of Days, but with a gap at one end. The gap connects the circle at the end of one Year with the beginning of the next. This creates a spiral of successive years. The Clockwise Northern hemishpere and counterclockwise Southern hemisphere, together, form a double helix of these circles of Days.

Now we have 13 Months arranged according to daylight, which brings our Calendar Year in line with the Seasonal Year.

Although this doesn’t really apply to the people who live in the Tropics in terms of daylight, they live under the path of the Sun, and so celebrate two Days a Year when the Sun is directly overhead.

This Calendar component, which has no name but we have taken to calling tzolkin, provides an organizing principle to the 52 Week structure described above. The tzolkin has two coincident cycles, the numbers 1 to 13, and twenty glyphs (here represented by the roman numerals I to XX). Begin from the top left and move downward, column to column. Read the Days as 1~I, 2~II, 3~III and so on…

This 260~Day calendar tracks the number of Days it takes humans to gestate (266 Days over 9 Months from Full Moon to Full Moon). This represents our development physically, and our perception of light, sound and time.

If this Calendar is overlaid over the 365 Days of the Year, assigning a number~glyph to each of these Days, it creates another series of progressions.

from Day~to~Day, the number~glyph increase by 1~I. From Year~to~Year for any given Day, the number~glyph increase by 1~V.

For example, if today happens to be 9~VI then tomorrow will be 10~VII, the next day 11~VIII and so on. If today happens to be 9~VI, next Year on this Day will be 10~XI, the next Year 11~XVI, the next 12~I and so on.

The number~glyph on the last Day of any given Year is assigned to the New Year. Thus, if the last Day of of one Year falls on 9~XIX, then the New Year becomes Year 9~IV. This represents the notion that the present and future have seeds in the past.

Thus, the last day of the Year cycles through the glyphs IV, IX, XIV, XIX, the New Year Day that is not a weekday falls on V, X, XV, XX, and the first Day of the Year falls on I, VI, XI, XVI.

This interrelation between the 52~Week Year and the 260~Day Calendar creates a cycle of 52 Years, where the Days of the Week and Month and number~glyphs begin to repeat themselves. So, if the first Day of the Year falls on 1~I, then it won’t happen again for another 52 Years.

IMPLEMENTATION

It’s one thing to imagine a calendar system, however, implementing something this widespread has such a potential for disruption.

No worries. theAbysmal Calendar begins December 21st 2012 CE. This is the Winter Solstice which isn’t a weekday. The first Saturday of theAbysmal Calendar falls on Saturday December 22nd 2012 CE. As such, the first Year of theAbysmal Calendar will not require any adjustment of the Week.

theAbysmal New Year falls 10 Days earlier than the current one. This may cause some disruption, but when in doubt, declare a holiday.

There are 13 Constellations that provide a backdrop for the Sun’s journey through our skies (that’s according to the International Astronomer’s Union).

13 days to go with XX glyphs
13 weeks per quarter year
13 months of the 52~Week Calendar
13 lunar months in a long lunar year
13 Constellations

The constellation of Ophiuchus was reintroduced. He falls after Scorpio but before Sagittarius. This puts Libra in the centre with six signs on either side, making it a true balance once again.