Cipactli's patron in the twenty day sign count is Tonacatecuhtli, lord of sustenance, one half of the creator pair Sahagun places at the origin of the Mexica pantheon, dwelling with his consort Tonacacihuatl in Omeyocan, the place of duality atop the highest of the thirteen heavens, a fittingly foundational patron for the sign that opens the whole count. Its direction is east, the quarter of sunrise and of light, the first of a four direction rotation, east, north, west and south, that repeats every four day signs across the full twenty, so that Cipactli shares its eastward association with Coatl, Atl, Acatl and Ollin, the signs standing five places apart from it in the cycle.
Cipactli is not among the four year bearer signs, the select group of Calli, Tochtli, Acatl and Tecpatl spaced five places apart that alone could open a solar year in the separate 365 day xiuhpohualli, since 365 divided by 20 leaves a remainder of five and only signs sharing that particular spacing recur as year openers; Cipactli's role stays confined to the 260 day divinatory count rather than extending into the civic calendar of years. As the trecena patron of its own opening week, Tonacatecuhtli governs identically in both roles, a rare case where a day sign's own patron and its trecena's patron are the same deity.