Anyone who died in childbirth or sacrificed themselves would not have been sent to this horrible underworld. “The Maya understand the supernatural levels not as heaven and hell, but as the upper world, the intermediate world and the underworld. The upper world is composed of thirteen levels, the middle world is one level, and the underworld is composed of nine levels”2. The Mayans believe in the Ceiba tree that grows in all realms, this tree grows from the highest level of the upper world to the lowest level of the underworld. This tree is very important to the Mayan world because it demonstrates the importance of the cardinal directions. The Mayan gods are related to the cardinal directions, they believed that there were five elements in the four cardinal directions. The most significant direction to the Mayans was east, this was ultimately because sunrise was associated with birth as the Mayans believed the sun was created daily from the east. Human sacrifice was used when the Mayans fought in war. Mayan war priests also known as nacoms often helped plan war strategies.