When the king made a journey to the Otherworld he was accom-panied by his Wayob, companion spirit. The Wayob of Classic Maya imagery appeared in many guises including human like forms. To the Classic Maya clouds were a meta-phor for the heavens and wether rain-laden, celestial, or in the form of sweet incense smoke, they harbored ch’ulel, the soul stuff of the living universe. The powers conjured up in the clouds are spir-its called Way or Nawal and the serpent-footed god, K’awil, all beings that the king called upon in the exercise of his power.

The Maya thought that powerful humans had special soul-bonds with gods, and most of the major kingdoms depict a particular crea-ture who was the Way of their rul-ing lord. The glyph that reads Way or “companion spirit” derives from the words “to sleep” and ”to dream” Edited from Mayan Cosmos