Mayan Calendar
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
Introduction
Review Of Literature
Brief History Of Maya Civilization
Mayan Time & Cyclic Periodicity
Mayan Mythology: Numbers & Signs As Gods
Thirteen Mayan Numbers
Twenty Sacred Signs Or Kin-Gods
20 Sacred Signs (Characteristics & Correspondences)
5 Mayan Directions
Historical Analysis And Prophecy: Discussion
Glossary Of Mayan Words
Bibliography
Written by Balthazar Seferiades
Introduction
The Maya, unlike any other civilization in recorded history, created an entire philosophy based on the concept of time. Their mathematical achievements surpassed those of all other ancient civilizations of whom we are aware. Though most of the Mayan writings were destroyed by Spanish invaders, a more durable record of this ancient culture's knowledge remains in the form of ideographs etched into stone. With the help of a few surviving codices, or books written in one or another of the Mayan codes, many of the stone inscriptions have been deciphered. These transliterations have allowed us to rediscover the Mayan calendar system, which the following course will explore in some depth. Use of this calendar system has again become popular in recent years, especially in southern Mexico where the Mayan civilization once flourished. The work you now hold in your hands will provide you with the necessary information to begin using this mystical calendar system in your everyday life.
Why should we learn to use the Mayan calendar system when the Gregorian calendar works just fine for us? What's it good for? As you may have guessed, the Mayan calendar measures time in relation to metaphysical factors rather than strictly material ones. Thus, while you will likely need to continue using the ordinary calendar for organizing your time in relation to society, the Mayan calendar will allow you to get in sync with the cosmic cycles of the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, and the planets of our solar system. Anyone familiar with agriculture or tidal patterns knows that the Sun and Moon have very tangible effects on the world we live in. Use of the Mayan calendar system allows us to reconnect mentally with these powerful magnetic and radiant forces, and thereby bring our lives back into harmony with natural cycles. In fact, the counting of the Tzolkin, or Mayan sacred year, may be the cure for what has come to be known in postmodern times as "industrial disease." To illustrate this possibility, the Mayan calendar web site, www.tortuga.com (2005), poetically informs us, "As the air is the atmosphere of the body, so time is the atmosphere of the mind. If the time that we live consists of irregular months and days, regulated by mechanized minutes and hours, then this is what our mind becomes: a mechanized irregularity. Since everything comes from the mind, it's no surprise that the atmosphere in which we live daily becomes more contaminated. Yet the biggest complaint is: 'I don't have enough time.' Whoever owns your time, owns your mind. Possess your own time and you will know your own mind." By counting the 260 days in the Tzolkin cycle, you will learn how to repossess the time that none of us ever seem to have enough of.
Review Of Literature
The most important book for students taking this course will be The Mayan Factor (1987) by JoseArguelles. Those who wish to make practical use of the Mayan calendar may wish to read this book in its entirety,or even study it at length. According to the Bear & Company editors who published this book, "Jose Arguellesannounces that human history has been shaped during the time framed by the Mayan Calendar Great Cycle—3113 B.C. to A.D. 2012—by a galactic beam through which the Earth and Sun have been passing. We are informedthat the cycles of Earth cultures follow "galactic seasons" which have been described mathematically andsymbolically by the Maya. And we learn that each person is empowered to connect directly—sensuously andelectromagnetically—with the energy-information of this beam emanating from the ‘galactic core.'"
Relevant information of a more speculative nature can be found in The Archaic Revival (1991) by TerenceMcKenna. Here the quintessential psychedelic shaman explores the mind-blowing possibilities of post-historicalexistence on Earth. McKenna covers an amazing range of topics related to the approaching paradigm shift in 2012A.D., the end of the Mayan Great Cycle mentioned above.
The Cycles Of Heaven (1979) by Guy L. Playfair and Scott Hill presents scientific evidence in support of thecyclical periodicity and interdependence of terrestrial and interplanetary events. The Earthly effects exerted by cyclicalevents in space such as solar flares, sunspots, and other electromagnetic phenomena are weighed and discussed.Scientific hypotheses are proposed to explain the existence of periodic fluctuations in all kinds of terrestrialphenomena. The book jacket asks the following provocative questions (to which Mayan astrology may help us find theanswers): "Does the solar cycle determine the composition of human blood? Can the orbits of distant planets predictearthquakes? Is the secret of all life to be found in electromagnetic waves?" For one final question we might also ask:Wouldn't it be interesting if all of the above questions could be answered in the affirmative?
The web site www.tortuga.com (2005) contains a great deal of information on the Mayan calendar and theastrology associated with it. Unfortunately for those who read only English, much of the information to be foundon this web site has not yet been translated and must be read in Spanish. This website makes it easy to correlatethe Mayan Sacred Year or Tzolkin with our own Gregorian year. However, "tortuga" departs from tradition insome important respects. For example, the color corresponding to the West is given as blue, while the ancientMaya associated the West with the color black. The 364-day "lunar year" used on the website also bears norelation to the traditional Mayan Calendar; nor do its 28-day "months" reflect the actual cycles of the Moon.Those wishing to utililize the Mayan Long Count, or 360 day year, can find the information they need in TheMayan Factor (1987).
Maya Cosmos (1993) by David Freidel, Linda Schele, and Joy Parker, discusses the traditional shamanicpractices of the Maya from an archeological perspective. This mammoth volume provides the backgroundnecessary for understanding Maya civilization, culture, and philosophy. The book underscores the importance ofancient astronomy and its relevance to modern life.
The Shaman's Secret (1997) by Douglas Gillette explores the Maya Underworld and the magical energycalled ch'ulel that emanates from it. This spiritual study shows how the "dark side of oneself and the world" mustbe embraced in order for it to be overcome. Mayan astrology takes on a new depth when we realize that unluckytime periods may be fate's way of challenging us to become "masters of our own destinies."
Many of the other books from which the information in this course has been drawn could not be locatedin English language editions. The title of the most important of these could be roughly translated as "The ThirteenMayan Prophecies" The quotes from such works that appear in the following pages have been translated intoEnglish for the convenience of our readers. More works relating to the Mayan calendar can be found in theBibliography section.
Brief History Of Maya Civilization
The Maya occupied a vast territory in Central America that included the present Mexican states ofYucatan, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and eastern Chiapas, as well as parts of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.Theirs was a "stone age" type of agricultural civilization based on the raising of crops such as corn, cocoa beans,avocados, tobacco, and papayas, among others. They were skilled in the working of materials such as obsidian,copper, turquoise, and bone. They produced synthetic materials such as ceramics, paper, cotton cloth, and rubber.Their wealth consisted of cocoa beans, which were used as cash, as well as jade, copper, crystals, shells, and gold.They domesticated such animals as the chicken, pigeon, and dog, and hunted many other animals for skins andmeat. Jaguar and puma skins were the most highly prized, while deer and rabbit provided the hunter with aregular source of game. In the large cities, whose populations reached as high as 90,000 individuals, the Mayanpeople were divided into distinct social classes. These ranged from slaves and laborers at the bottom, tomerchants and bureaucrats in the middle, and at the top of the social ladder were the armed classes of nobles,priests, and sorcerers. Many of the foods prepared by the Maya, including tortillas and tamales, still predominatethe streets of Mexico's cities today.
Mayan architecture has also withstood the test of time, and tourists flock to the many ruins that dot thelandscape of Central America. In Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, near Cancun, ruins can be found at Chichen Itza,Mayapan, Uxmal, Tulum, and Coba. In Chiapas, the ruins of Palenque, Yaxchilan, and Bonampak stand in mutetestimony to the architectural prowess of the ancient Maya. In Guatemala, the highland sites of Tikal and Uaxactunawait the intrepid adventurer, and in Honduras Quirigua and Copan offer a glimpse of life in ancient times. At theTikal site can be found the stele on which a date was carved registering a point in time that passed four hundredmillion years ago. Besides being a unique mathematical achievement among ancient peoples, the recording of thisdate in stone constitutes a mystery in itself. Why were the Maya interested in calculating dates so far into the past?
The "classical period" of Mayan culture, as historians call it, lasted from about 300 A.D. to 900 A.D. Thesesix hundred years or so gave rise to the science of Mayan calendar mathematics that interests so many mysticstoday. Some time after 830 A.D., the Mayan cities and ceremonial centers built during the classical period wereabandoned. The exact reasons for this abandonment remain obscure. Historians have speculated that acombination of factors including crop failures, foreign invasions, civil unrest, and the rise of new religious cultsmay have all contributed to the mysterious Mayan exodus. The bearded cult leader Kukulcan who founded a newMayan religion between 947 and 999 A.D., and the Toltecs who invaded the Yucatan peninsula at around thesame time, may have been more than partly responsible for the end of the classical Mayan civilization.
Speculations aside however, we do know that the later Maya-Toltecs who built new cities in the northernYucatan, and even the Aztecs, continued to use the ancient Mayan calendar right up until the time of the Spanishconquest. Indeed, the arrival of Hernan Cortez on the exact date that Kukulcan prophesied his own returnconstituted a fatal coincidence for the Aztecs, who believed wholeheartedly in the cyclic repetition of cosmic andEarthly events. The Mayan Factor (1987) informs us, "The tenth century 1 Reed, Quetzalcoatl, presumed founder ofthe City of Tula and revitalizer of Chichen Itza in Yucatan, having prophesied his return on the day 1 Reed, in theyear 1 Reed, was vindicated by the arrival of Cortez on that very day, Good Friday on the Christian calendar,A.D. 1519. This fact alone seems to have been sufficient to unstring the already nervous Montezuma II, emperorof the ill-fated Aztec empire." In connection with this point we read as well in Los Senores Del Tiempo (1994), "TheMayan cross of Palenque, symbol of the sacred tree in whose greenery the quetzal bird nested, became identifiedwith the Christian cross; the bearded Spaniards with the Toltec invaders guided by a bearded chief; and the cultof [the bearded] Kukulkan with the cult of Christ, [who was] also bearded like the Spaniards." As we shall see,the idea of the cyclic return of events plays a central role in Mayan calendar mathematics.
Mayan Time & Cyclic Periodicity
Today's astronomers, though skilled in the calculation of the immense distances in time and space thatseparate us from the fixed stars, have not shown equal enthusiasm for the relatively local equations relating to theplanets in our own solar system. For example, how many college astronomy students know that the Venusianyear lasts 584 days? Doesn't this fact seem more relevant to human existence than, say, the distance from Earth toAlpha Centauri in light years? Mayan astronomers had a more practical bent than do those of our day, and theircalculations were applied to the daily lives of everyone in the community. As we read in El Cosmos Maya (1999),"The ancient Maya were experts in discerning complex and intricate patterns of repetition and symmetry inhuman and cosmological time. They codified the movements of the planets through the sky in dozens of calendarcycles. The days in which these overlapped would form a matrix of complex rites in which were represented therhythms of the life of the people, political contests, wars between communities, commerce and interactions withbeings from the Otherworld." Taking into account what we now know about the effects of gravity and radiationon the human organism, we must begin to seriously consider the possibility that the ancient Maya knew moreabout the effect of astronomical cycles on human affairs than we do today. The present course represents one ofthe first steps in the rediscovery of this ancient, yet arguably superior, science of the stars.
The most visible and palpable of the stars, at least for us here on Earth, is obviously the Sun. The Mayaconsidered the Sun a god and attributed many powers to it. We read in Los Senores Del Tiempo (1994), "One of themost important Mayan deities was Kin, the Sun... Kin is, among other things: Sun, day, and time." Sinceeverything that happens, occurs within "time," the deity Kin became something of a universal god for the Maya.As the same book tells us, "Kin, the Sun, the day, time, was for the Maya a divine reality without limits." Kin notonly encompassed infinity, but also changed according to the elements present in each passing day. Yet in spite ofeach day's differences, the Sun always returns to the same place in the sky at the same time of day or during thesame part of the year. Hence, the Maya developed the idea that time is not linear but rather cyclical. To quoteagain from Los Senores Del Tiempo (1994), "[Kin] did not refer to one day, but rather to all the days past and to come;it encompassed all the ages or 'Suns' that had existed for the Maya and which had felt the influence of the gods:of the Earth, the rain, death, corn, sacrifices, hunting and fishing, the moon, and the morning star or evening starwhich we call Venus. In each day, and in the sum of the days, these gods defined the events, favorable orunfavorable, of life. Like the shells used by hermit crabs, each day had its own contents, and when it had beenemptied, another day would begin, with other contents. But the same 'contents,' tendencies determined by thegrouping of the same aggregate of gods, could present themselves again, a long time afterwards, or had presentedthemselves already, a long time before, which implied the cyclic, periodic repetition, of the awaited events. Thisbrings us to understand another thing: for the Maya, time is not something that flows eternally only in one line,from the past to the future, but rather something that flows eternally in a cyclic manner, presenting in some futuremoment the same 'divine charge' that presented itself in certain moment of the past." In other words, when theSun, Moon, and planets arrive back at the same relative position that they once occupied in the past, the samekind of events will occur again on Earth.
It makes sense that events tend to repeat themselves when similar circumstances arise. We know thatrains and freezes often occur at certain times of the year, that birds migrate seasonally, and so on. The Maya,however, knew how to calculate more than just yearly cycles. Their calendar science took into account themovements of the Moon, Venus, and other planets, as well as the Sun. By analyzing the events of their own pasthistory, and correlating these events with astronomical data, Mayan astronomers felt capable of predicting thefuture with surprising accuracy. This may be how the 10th century Kukulcan was able to predict the arrival ofHernan Cortez in 1519 A.D. We read again in Los Senores Del Tiempo (1994), "With their mastery of arithmetic,their records and their ingenious discovery of the zero, they were able, just as you could also, if you had enoughpatience, to represent the wheels of time to come, that is to say, of the future." Though the idea of freewill haslargely supplanted the fatalistic philosophy to which the Maya ascribed, it may be that they understood theeffects of cosmic cycles that we have only begun to measure with the methods available to modern science. Forexample, in The Cycles Of Heaven (1979) we read of scientist Giorgio Piccardi's tantalizingly vague, "'solarhypothesis,' according to which chemical events on Earth correspond not only to short and long term solarevents, but also to the position of the Earth on its helicoidal path across the galaxy." Since human perceptiondepends on chemical reactions in the brain, it follows that the position of the Earth in relation to the rest of thegalaxy would also affect the way that we respond to the world. Thus, cosmic cycles, at least according to modernscience, might indeed have a very real effect on events in human history. The Maya, with their ability to calculatecycles taking place over vast amounts of time, likely had a better understanding of these cosmic effects than wedo today.
Mayan Mythology: Numbers & Signs As Gods
The Maya believed in and worshipped an astoundingly diverse array of deities. They acknowledgedplanetary gods; rain, mountain, and river gods; corn gods and bean gods; animal gods, including lizard, serpent,jaguar, bat, dog, and bird divinities; and gods of time periods such as those of the 13 moons comprising the lunaryear. It is with this last type of deity that we will be most concerned here. As we mentioned before, in Mayancosmology the solar deity named Kin comes the closest to the Christian or Egyptian concept of an all-powerful,universal, omnipotent God. However, Kin also refers to each individual day, with all of the divinities containedin that day. Remember, Kin means "day" as well as "Sun." This fact tells us that, according to the Maya, everyday was divine. In Los Senores Del Tiempo (1994) we read on this point, "Each day is not simply under theinfluence of some god: it is a god in itself, or, more accurately, a pair of gods, since each day is made from acombination of a number and a name... and both components are deities." The author here refers to the 13 divinenumbers and the twenty signs that together make up the 260 day sacred calendar called the Tzolkin. (Note that 13x 20 = 260). The 260 day Tzolkin cycle is the simplest and most accessible Mayan calendar system, and it is the onewe will be learning how to use in the pages that follow. The 360 day solar cycle, called a Tun, has 18 divinitiesassociated with the 20 day cycles known as Uinals. (Note in this case that 18 x 20 = 360). The Tun serves as a moreuseful unit for measuring large periods of time than the Gregorian 365-day year, as we will see later on. For now,though, let's concentrate on learning the meanings behind the 13 numbers and the 20 signs. Once thesepreliminary symbols have been mastered, the Tzolkin becomes a powerful tool for organizing time.
Thirteen Mayan Numbers
The web site www.tortuga.com (2005) has become the popular source for those seeking to use the Mayancalendar system as an alternative to Western astrology. The present course will not be concerned with the casting ofnatal horoscopes, since Mayan astrology lends itself more to divinatory uses. (In this way, it resembles the horaryastrology of the West as utilized by prophets like Nostradamus). However, the "tortuga" web site does containsome good information, and so we will be quoting from it here. On the subject of the thirteen Mayan numbers,www.tortuga.com (2005) tells us, "The thirteen numbers in Mayan notation represent thirteen principles or functionsthat appear in nature. They are the unfolding of thirteen levels of a process. To represent these tones we use the codeof point and bar: the system of Mayan notation where each point equals ‘1' and each bar equals ‘5.'"
At the end of each thirteen day cycle, the count returns to the beginning again. Remember that eachnumber is a deity, and therefore lays a divine or metaphysical "charge" on the day corresponding to it. Thus,certain kinds of events or factors will return or recur at thirteen day intervals. When you learn to perceive thesereturning elements or "charges" in the events of your own life, you will have taken the first step toward gettinginto the rhythm of the Tzolkin. Jose Arguelles has a very apt description of the characteristics pertaining to thesethirteen divine numbers in his book, The Mayan Factor (1987):
"If 1 represents the inherent unifying principle in all manifestations, 13 represents the dynamic ofmovement present in everything and by which everything is ever-changing and at the same time vivified by theuniversal force of Hunab Ku. The numbers 1 through 9 represent the nonmaterial principles of coherenceimmanent in and governing all phenomenal experience. While 10 represents the principle allowing manifestationto occur, based on the coherence of the preceding nine numbers, 11 represents the dynamic dissonanceaccounting for randomness and non-stability. 12, on the other hand, represents the principle of complex stabilitywhich accounts for the conservative organizational force in nature.
"If we look at the numbers in their mirror symmetry, we see an intimate set of reciprocal relations, thelower order number presenting the constituent principle of the larger order number. Thus, while 1, the principleof unity, is balanced by 13, the ray of universal movement, 2 the principle of polarity, is balanced by 12, theprinciple of complex stability. Reflection shows that any order of complex stability is held together—or tornapart—by a subtle balance of polar forces.
"With no mirror number to complement it, 7 has its unique symmetry relation to 1 and 13, the alpha andthe omega, as it were, of the Mayan number harmonic. At the center of the pattern, 7 represents the magic bywhich the whole holds together."
At this point it might be useful to introduce the first of our matrix tables. It relates to the number 13, andlists the associations corresponding to each of the thirteen divine numbers described above.
| Number | Mayan Name | Signifies | Quality | Power | Action | Essence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hun | Unity | Magnetic | Unify | Attract | Purpose |
| 2 | Ka | Polarity | Lunar | Polarize | Stabilize | Challenge |
| 3 | Ox | Rhythm | Electric | Activate | Sustain | Advantage |
| 4 | Kan | Measure | Independent | Define | Compare | Form |
| 5 | Ho | Center | Harmonious | Empower | Command | Radiance |
| 6 | Uac | Organic Balance |
Rhythmic | Organize | Level, Adjust |
Equality |
| 7 | Uuc | Mystic Power | Resonant | Channel,Invoke | Inspire | Tuning, Frequency |
| 8 | Uaxac | Harmonic Resonance |
Galactic | Harmonize | Sculpt, Form |
Integrity |
| 9 | Bolon | CyclicPeriodicity | Solar | Sound, Touch |
Realize | Intention |
| 10 | Lahun | Earthly Existence |
Planetary | Manifest | Produce | Material |
| 11 | Buluc | Dissonant Structure |
Spectral, Phantasmal |
Melt, Dissolve |
Publish, Reveal |
Liberation |
| 12 | Lahca | Complex Stability |
Crystal | Dedicate, Consecrate |
Universalize Bless |
Cooperation |
| 13 | Oxlahun | Universal Movement |
Cosmic | Continue, Perpetuate |
Transcend | Presence, Serenity |
Notes for Table 1:
1st Column - Number: The Arabic numerals have been placed here for the convenience of modernreaders. Mayan point and bar notation can be inserted here by the more advanced student.
2nd Column - Mayan Name: The Mayan word for each number
3rd Column - Significance: These are mnemonic reductions of the metaphysical ideas that each numberrepresents.
4th Column - Quality: Mayan numbers denote qualities as well as quantities. For this reason they are alsoreferred to as "tones." Note that, in Western music theory, there are thirteen tones in a chromatic scale.
5th Column - Power: The magically inclined student will find these associations most useful.
6th Column - Action: These are the activities that will find the greatest success during the day bearing thenumber in question.
7th Column - Essence: Here are subjects for meditation that will allow you to contact the metaphysicalideas behind the numbers.
(Note that this table does not include the Mayan number "0," since this number has no qualities. In Mayannotation, the zero resembles the shell of a hermit crab. It represents an empty set.)
Unless you happen to be an exceptionally talented psychic, a brief glance at the above table that explainsthem probably will not put you into immediate contact with the Mayan deities or archetypical forces behind thethirteen numbers. However, don't let this discourage you. It takes time and patience to understand what theTzolkin is all about. As www.tortuga.com (2005) tells us, "The best way to get to know the properties of the tones isthrough the thirteen day cycle or Enchanted Wave, which is the conjunction of the thirteen tones with a group ofthirteen signs of the twenty that exist. In a given sequence of twenty signs, only thirteen will be inside of eachEnchanted Wave. This sequence maintains itself and moves through the sequence of the signs, in the order of thetones, until all of the signs have passed through each of the tones. This total of combinations (260 Tzolkin) isequivalent to twenty Enchanted Waves."
In other words, the thirteen numbers reveal their qualities best when combined with one of the twentysigns, just as various spices bring out the flavor of different foods. Rice by itself might taste bland, but rice withcinnamon or curry will be more memorable, and each combination will be distinct from the others. There are 260possible combinations of the 13 Numbers and twenty Signs, and the best way to get to know them will be bykeeping a journal of the events that occur on any given day and relating these events to the corresponding deities.Like cooking, this gets easier over time. You might even find yourself having more time, since you can look aheadon the calendar to get a better idea of what will be happening in the near future and organize your time to fit therhythm of events before they occur. Since the Moon takes about thirteen days to wax, and another thirteen daysto wane, you can easily keep track of thirteen day cycles. Just make a point of looking for the Moon on the firstday that it appears in the night sky. You will find it near the horizon, just after sunset. From that day, keep trackof the thirteen day cycle by watching the moon wax full. From the first crescent to the full Moon will be onethirteen day cycle. From the waxing half-Moon to the waning half-Moon another, staggered 13-day cycle passes.A thirteen day cycle can also be observed from full Moon to dark Moon, and so on. Now let's take a look at thetwenty signs and their characteristics.
Twenty Sacred Signs Or Kin-Gods
The Sacred Signs are like cartoon characters that can be drawn inside little boxes. They have funnyexpressions that may evoke laughter and amusement. The Signs are ideographs, not hieroglyphs. What's thedifference? Hieroglyphs are symbolic images used to represent words or sounds. Ideographs are abstract imagesthat represent ideas. An ideograph has a complex meaning that can change according to the context in which it isfound. The Mayan Factor (1987) has the following thoughts for us on the Signs: "As ideographic symbols, there aremany different ways in which these signs can be read. Dense with meanings, the Signs demand an analogicalunderstanding. Analogical thinking randomly floats and leaps to a conclusion by like association linkingseemingly dissimilar things. Analogical thinking is also that which creates form on the the basis of likeproportions."
Lists of associations for the twenty signs will be found below. At this point, though it may seem like arandom leap, we need to learn a bit more about the Mayan number system. As we mentioned before, the point inMayan notation equals "1," while the bar equals "5." However, this is only true in the first position, or Order, ofMayan notation. Consider for a moment how, in the Arabic notation that we use, the number "1" can signify avalue of "one" if it appears in the first position, a value of "ten" in the second position, and so on into thehundreds and thousands. In our notation, the numerical Orders proceed by the power of ten. The lowest Ordernumber appears at the right, and the highest Order number appears at the left. Mayan numbers also can berepresented in this fashion. However, the Orders proceed by the power of 20 rather than 10. Thus, a "1" in thefirst position indicates "one," in the second position, "twenty." A "5" in the first position means "five," in thesecond position, "one hundred."
To distinguish Mayan numbers from ordinary numbers in Arabic notation, we use a period to separatethe Orders. Thus, the Mayan number "20," in Arabic notation, can be written as "1.0." Oddly enough, the number"385" would be written as "1.1.5." This inconsistency occurs only in the third Order, which corresponds to the360-day Long Count or solar year, called a Tun. The third Order advances by a factor of 18 rather than 20:18x20=360. The higher orders advance once again by a factor of 20. Twenty Tun (or one Katun) would thereforebe represented by the number 1.0.0.0. If we apply the idea of Orders to the 20 Signs, the fact that there are twentyof them begins to take on deeper significance. By analogy, a "1" in the first position might represent one Kin-godor one day, while a "1" in the second position could signify all 20 of the kin-gods or the twenty days (1 Uinal)corresponding to them. Here is a chart showing the relation between the nine Orders of Mayan Time.
| TABLE 2: NINE ORDERS (OR "LORDS") OF TIME | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ORDER | NAME | # OF DAYS | # OF TUN |
| FIRST | KIN | 1 | 1/360 |
| SECOND | VINAL (UINAL) | 20 | 1/18 |
| THIRD | TUN | 360 | 1 |
| FOURTH | KATUN | 7200 | 20 |
| FIFTH | BAKTUN | 144,000 | 400 |
| SIXTH | PICTUN | 2,880,000 | 8000 |
| SEVENTH | CALABTUN | 57,600,000 | 160,000 |
| EIGHTH | KINCHILTUN | 115,200,000 | 3,200,000 |
| NINTH | ALUATUN | 2,304,000,000 | 64,000,000 |
Notice how the Orders have a proportional relationship to one another, beginning with the 3rd. The thirdOrder, or Tun, consists of 18 periods of twenty days each. However, the following Orders proceed by the powerof 20. Twenty Tun make one Katun, twenty Katun make a Baktun, etcetera. A proportional or analogicalrelationship therefore exists between the various Orders: i.e., a Tun is to a Katun as a Katun is to a Baktun.Likewise, by extension, a Katun is to Baktun as a Baktun is to Pictun. And furthermore, a day is to a Vinal what aTun is to a Katun. Thus, the Kin-gods can imprint their divine charge onto, and therefore rule, years and Katun,as well as days. Keep this idea in mind while you take a look at the ideographs that represent the 20 Sacred Signs.
20 Sacred Signs (Characteristics & Correspondences)
These lists of associations should be copied into your workbook so you can refer to them on a daily basis andexpand them as you find out more about the Signs through direct experience. Note that the planetary attributions arelisted as either "solar" or "galactic." These terms indicate an interaction of the planet in question with two of the Earth'smagnetic fields. "Solar" refers to the solar field, while "galactic" refers to the lunar field. We will return to this point.
- IMIX: God of the Earth. Root that precedes all material existence. Source of life. Dragon. Primal water.Blood. Nurturance. Breast. Mother energy. Power of birthing. Solar Neptune.
- IK: God of the wind, and of life. Spirit. Breath. Wind. Cosmic energy. Inspiration. Vital principle.Respiratory system. Solar Uranus.
- AKBAL: God of darkness and the underworld. The jaguar-god associated with the nocturnal Sun thatmoves through this underworld. House. Enclosing darkness. Night. The body. Place of mystery. Heart andinternal organs. Solar Saturn.
- KAN: Youthful god of corn who brings abundance. Seed. Idea. Ordering power of growth.Generative principle. Sex and reproduction. Solar Jupiter.
- CHICCHAN: Celestial serpent. Present in the four corners of the world. Makes rainfall. Nervoussystem. Reptilian brain. Integration and attainment of autonomic functions. Solar Asteroid Belt.
- CIMI: God of death. Revelation. Realization of mortality of physical body. Solar Mars.
- MANIK: God of the hunt, depicted as a hand. Grasping. Closure. Knowledge of power ofcompletion. Realization of finiteness of physical being. Solar Earth.
- LAMAT: Sky god, incarnated in the planet Venus. Star. Harmony. The octave. Intuitive realizationof pattern of higher life. Love. Star Seed. Solar Venus.
- MULUC: God represented by jade and water, related to gods of rain. Raindrop. Cosmic seed in gateof awakened consciousness. Principle of communication. Expansion of higher life. Solar Mercury.
- OC: God represented by the head of a dog. Guides the solar deity through the dark regions of theunderworld. Mammalian brain. Emotional life. Guide. Principle of loyalty. Faithfulness that gives strength in thespiritual journey. Galactic Mercury.
- CHUEN: Patron deity of wisdom and the arts. Represented by the face of a monkey. Artist. Trickster.Principle of intelligent co-creation of higher life. Galactic Venus.
- EB: God who, along with Cauac, brings rain. Human as vessel for penetration of higher mind. Galactic Earth.
- BEN: God who stimulates the growth of corn. Sky-walker. Pillars of Heaven and Earth. Aspirationfor uniting Heaven and Earth. Principle of growth of higher mind. Galactic Mars.
- IX: Jaguar-god. Associated with the Earth and the underworld. Sorcerer. Jaguar. Feline Energy. Thenight-seer. Attainment of magical powers. Highest level of individual conscious development. Galactic Asteroid Belt.
- MEN: Lunar goddess. Eagle. Higher collective mind. Planetary mind and consciousness. Galactic Jupiter.
- CIB: God depicted as a shell and also with jaguar features. Associated with the four bacabes, spiritswho hold up the corners of the world. Cosmic force. Ability to contact and commune with galactic consciousness.Galactic Saturn.
- CABAN: Youthful goddess of the earth and of corn. In dual aspect, ancient goddess of the moon.Earth. Earth force. Synchronicity and. Power of intelligent synchronization. Galactic Uranus.
- ETZ'NAB: God of sacrifices, whose emblem is the obsidian dagger. Hall of mirrors. Ritual patternof "no time." Ritual stroke. Ritual knife. Sword of wisdom and purification. Galactic Neptune.
- CAUAC: Celestial dragon. Deity of storms and torrential rains. Hurricane. Thundercloud andthunder-being. Transformation that precedes full realization. Galactic Pluto.
- AHAU: Sun god. Closer of time cycles. Solar mind. Solar lord. Mastery. Realization of solar body.Wisdom. Ability to focus galactic whole. Power to encompass and generate entire cycle. Solar Pluto.
You might not understand all of these associations at first. We will be explaining many of the ideascontained in these lists as the course continues. Understand, however, that the Mayan gods can be contacteddirectly by means of the imagination. The words used to describe, and the ideographic drawings that represent,the Kin-gods, have been created as a bridge between your imagination and the metaphysical entities or forces thatexist beyond the symbols. Meditation and reflection will therefore allow you to fill these thirteen numbers andtwenty ideographs with a personal significance in harmony with the ideas from which they originated. Here's atable for the twenty ideographs that you have just been introduced to.
| TABLE 3: THE 20 SIGNS OF THE TZOLKIN | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Numeral | Name | Meaning | Color | Action | Power | Essence |
| I | Imix | Dragon | Red | Feed | Birth | Initiation |
| II | Ik | Wind | White | Talk | Inspiration | Breath |
| III | Akbal | Night | Black | Dream | Intuition | Mystery |
| IV | Kan | Seed | Yellow | Discover | Growth | Thought |
| V | Chicchan | Serpent | Red | Survive | Vitality | Instinct |
| VI | Cimi | Ghost | White | Adjust | Death | Luck |
| VII | Manik | Hand | Black | Grasp | Realization | Knowledge |
| VIII | Lamat | Star | Yellow | Charm | Elegance | Art |
| IX | Muluc | Moon | Red | Purify | Flux | Reflection |
| X | Oc | Dog | White | Love | Courage | Loyalty |
| XI | Chuen | Monkey | Black | Play | Magic | Illusion |
| XII | Eb | Human | Yellow | Influence | Will | Wisdom |
| XIII | Ben | Skywalker | Red | Explore | Navigation | Awakening |
| XIV | IX | Jaguar | White | Enchant | Sorcery | Power |
| XV | Men | Eagle | Black | Create | Vision | Mind |
| XVI | Cib | Warrior | Yellow | Question | Intelligence | Boldness |
| XVII | Caban | Earth | Red | Evolve | Timing | Gravity |
| XVIII | Etznab | Mirror | White | Reflect | Order | Infinity |
| XIX | Cauac | Storm | Black | Catalyze | Sovereignty | Energy |
| XX | Ahau | Sun | Yellow | Illumine | Cosmic Fire | Life |
Notes for Table 3:
1st Column - Numerals: Lower case Roman numerals have been used to designate the Signs in theircyclic order. Note however that these numerals are used here only for convenience (to distinguish the Signs fromthe Numbers) and are not traditionally associated with the Mayan ideographs.
2nd Column - Mayan Names: These are transliterations of the god-names in question, and their exactpronunciation probably cannot be determined without more extensive research on the part of the student.
3rd Column - Meanings: Here an attempt has been made to translate the Mayan god-names into English.However, since the gods are represented mainly by ideographs which symbolize entire ideas instead of singlewords, such translations must perforce be considered incomplete approximations. They serve a mnemonicpurpose, to remind the student of the deeper meanings behind each ideograph.
4th Column - Colors: See Table 4.
5th Column - Action: This indicates the kind of activity appropriate to a day designated by the god in question.
6th Column - Power: Here we find the metaphysical abilities granted by the respective gods to thosewhom they favor. Such abilities will be most accessible to the student on the days ruled by the deity associatedwith the desired power.
7th Column - Essence: Qualities associated with each deity are listed here. These concepts can serve assubjects for meditations leading to a deeper understanding of the various Kin-gods.
5 Mayan Directions
You may have noticed that in column 4 of the above Table 3 there are four colors listed in rotatingsequence for each group of four Signs. The Maya believed that the four corners of the world were sustained byfour deities known as "bacabes." Much like Norse mythology, each direction had a Place or World associatedwith it. These worlds had characteristics determined by the movements of the Sun. Thus, the East was consideredthe birthplace of light since the Sun rises from there. Red was its color, for obvious reasons. The West wasassociated with death and transformation because the Sun goes there to rest at the end of each day. Its color,Black, matches that of the sky once the Sun has set. From the North came the cold winds and storms whichpurified the land of the Maya and made the people wise in the ways of preparing for bad weather. The sky full ofclouds looks White, and so this color matches the North. The South was called the right hand of the Sun since thelands became hotter as one traveled in that direction, and because the Sun tends to favor the Southern part of thesky when one lives in the Northern Hemisphere. Yellow approximates the color of the Sun at its brightest, as itappears in the hot lands in the Southern part of Central America.
We read in Los Senores Del Tiempo (1994) concerning the Mayan sense of direction, "The observation of theapparent movement of Kin, the Sun, not only gave the Maya their sense of time; it also permitted them to situatethemselves, orient themselves, in space. They believed that the sky was held up by four gods (the fifth part of 20)whom they called bacabes, each one situated in one of the four regions or directions of space, and with which theyassociated a certain color: the North corresponded to white; the South, to yellow; red was associated with the Eastand black with the West. To each direction were entailed deities, animals, and plants of the corresponding color...With the central region, being the fifth considered, they associated the color green."
The common people among the Maya may have believed in the literal existence of the four Sacred Landsthat are said to embody the characteristics of each Direction, and these mythical places may have served asexplanations for what happened to the Sun, as the scientific materialist who reads this work will doubtless insist.However, the Initiate, whether ancient or modern, knows that the Directions and the ideas associated with themserve an analogical purpose. The four cardinal Directions provided the Maya with a convenient means ofclassifying the 20 Signs into four groups of five Signs each. Notice how this makes perfect sense from a humanpoint of view, since we have four limbs that each terminate in a group of five digits. The base-20 or vigesimalnumber system that the Maya used also makes more sense when we consider the fact that humans have tenfingers and ten toes, for a total of twenty digits. (We could infer that since Central America's warm climate makesit more comfortable to wear sandals, the people living there centuries ago must have found it easy to count withtheir toes as well as with their fingers.)
So what about the fifth direction? Notice how the four cardinal Directions seem to revolve in a circularfashion, just as the Signs and Numbers do. First comes East, then North, then West, then South, and finally Eastagain. If we visualize the circle and put the four Directions in their places outside of it, we will see the center thatthese Directions revolve around. This center is the fifth direction, called YAXKIN. The Maya believed that out ofthis mythical center grew the World Tree, called Wacah Chan, the source of all life. The highest branches of theWorld Tree stretched to the center of the galaxy, known to the Maya as Hunab Ku. The roots of this Treedescended into the depths of the Underworld, also called Xibalba, the "place of fright."
We read in Las 13 Profecias Mayas (2004), "This [Mayan] conception of the world was quadrangular: thefour cardinal points were related with the center—whose color was blue-green—and each direction had its owngod, bird, and tree associated with it. Inside that center, the Maya saw an axis or tree called Wakah Chan (SixthSky or Elevated Sky). This tree coexisted in the three vertical kingdoms. Its trunk stretched from one side of theintermediate world to the other. Its roots sank to the bottom of the watery region of the underworld, while itsbranches rose up to the zenith, in the highest layer of the celestial region. Wakah Chan was the King andoccupied the center of Mayan existence, the supremely divine shaman-priest, he whom they summoned to thisreality in order to fall into ecstatic visions..." The center, as this quote shows us, actually consists of threedirections: in, up, and down. These three directions in one correspond to the three Kingdoms of which the Mayanworld was composed: the Earth, the Sky, and the Underworld.
These three worlds are described in Las 13 Profecias Mayas (2004): "The Mayan world consisted of threekingdoms superimposed: the celestial vault full of stars; the dry, intermediate world of the Earth, which wasmade to flower by the blood of the kings, and to give its fruits; and the black waters of the underworld. Thesethree dimensions of existence were closely intertwined. In fact, they believed that these three kingdoms werealive and imbued with a sacred force. The sky was depicted as a great dragon, which created the rain when itspilled its blood, like a counterpoint to the sacrifices performed below, on Earth. The underworld, sometimescalled Xibalba, was thought to be an invisible, parallel world into which the Mayan kings and also shamans couldenter by means of an ecstatic trance. Much like the intermediate world, the underworld contained animals, plants,and inhabitants of various kinds, as well as a landscape very similar to that of Earth. When the Sun becamehidden, Xibalba rotated over the Earth to become the night sky."
From the preceding passage we can see that the Sky and the Underworld were somewhatinterchangeable, unlike the Heaven and Hell of Christian cosmology. In spite of this very important difference,the Maya had no trouble using the Cross of the Spanish conquistadors as a substitute for Wacah Chan, and in thisway they continued to practice their own religion inside the Christian churches. The four points of the Crosscorrespond very neatly to the four Mayan Directions, and the place where the four arms of the Cross meettherefore symbolizes the Sacred Center out of which the World Tree grows. Interestingly enough, the Mayanastronomers used wooden crosses to sight on stars at night. The cross had always been carried by Mayan priests,and so the Spanish Christians who also used the cross were recognized by natives of the New World aspractitioners of the Mayan religion. Here is the table of the five Directions or Colors.
TABLE 4: FIVE MAYAN DIRECTIONS
| DIRECTION | COLOR | DEITIES | SIGNIFICANCE |
|---|---|---|---|
| EAST | RED | IMIX,CHICCHAN,BEN, MULUC,KABAN | LIGHTGENERATION |
| NORTH | WHITE | IK, CIMI, OC, IX,ETZNAB | WISDOMPURIFICATION |
| WEST | BLACK | AKBAL, MANIK,CHUEN, MEN, AKBAL | DEATHCHANGE |
| SOUTH | YELLOW | KAN, LAMAT, EB,CIB, AHAU | LIFEEXPANSION |
| CENTER;(UP & DOWN) | BLUE-GREEN | YAXKIN,WAKAH CHAN | WORLD-TREESOURCE |
Here, in this simple scheme, we see the most basic of the Mayan calendar cycles. Just as a drummer mightplay a repetitive beat in 4/4 time, so the Mayan Directions repeat themselves in a four-day cycle. A look at thetable of 20 Signs shows that in any twenty day period the colors go through five complete cycles. The Signsbearing the same color have an analogical relationship to one another. They can be divided into "teams," so tospeak, and the color indicates to which team a given Sign belongs. To take the analogy further, we could say thateach Sign can score points for its team on the day that it rules. For example, a day ruled by Imix would be one inwhich the Red team would have a chance to score. This means, metaphorically, that Red days give the forces ofthe East a chance to influence the world. In the East we have Light and Generation, so we might say that Red daysare good for starting projects, making discoveries, making new friends, or whatever else we can generallyassociate with the color red. This allows us to organize our days according to different activities. For example, ifwe were monks living in a monastery, we might do gardening on Red days, meditate on White days, study onBlack days, and exercise on Yellow days. The ordinary person's preferred activities can be divided up in a similarfashion. You can use your imagination to think of other ways to use this idea of the four day color cycle. JoseArguelles, in his book The Mayan Factor (1987), has equated four of the Signs with states of consciousness ormental evolution in human beings. Here are the four "dimensions of consciousness":
- CHICCHAN: reptilian brain, autonomic limbic system; metabolic, vegetative, physical garment; East; Red.
- OC: emotional-conceptual, strategizing, horizontal intelligence; North; White.
- MEN: higher mind, analogical vertical intelligence resonant with the evolutionary purpose of theplanet; West; Black.
- AHAU: solar mind, mind of light, realm of evolutionary guides of the planet, called by Maya AHAUKINES, or Solar Lords; South; Yellow.
Using this scheme, we can dedicate one day out of each four-day cycle to the activities corresponding toone of the four states of consciousness. Or, better yet, we can watch ourselves switching automatically betweenthe various states of consciousness throughout the days, weeks, and months. Naturally occurring cycles willreveal themselves through this process of self-observation.
Now we have become acquainted with both the thirteen day-cycle and the four-day cycle. Put themtogether and we get a 52-day cycle. This means that it takes 52 days for the same number and color combinationto recur. For example, if we start with the day corresponding to the Number 1, and the Sign Imix, we could callthis day Red 1. The next Red 1 day would occur 52 days later, but this time the sign would be Ben instead of Imix.Same team, different Sign. This 52-day cycle consists of four 13-day cycles, as well as thirteen 4-day cycles. TheMoon shows its light for about 26 days, or two 13-day cycles, as we noted before. Since a complete lunarrevolution takes 29 1/2 days, the dark time of the Moon lasts for about 4 days. In order to equate the Mayan Timecycles with Lunar Time and Gregorian Time at a basic level, we simply add together two 13-day cycles and one 4-day cycle. This gives us 30 days, the rough equivalent of a month or Moon. The way events inside of one monthtend to repeat themselves in the next month ought to give you a rough idea of the way that the influences of theSigns and Numbers recur inside of these roughly 30 day-long periods. The same kind of idea can also be appliedto the 52 day cycle. In this case, though, we would be adding two four day cycles to the 52-day cycle in order toget two complete Moons or months (i.e., 60 days).
The next cycle can be found by taking five of these 52-day periods together, which gives us 260 days, thelength of the Mayan Sacred Year. The Tzolkin or Almanac gives us a picture of this Sacred Year, and shows howthe same Number and Sign combination repeats once every 260 days.
Historical Analysis And Prophecy: Discussion
The Mayan AH KINES, or solar priests, knew the numbers of days relating to many astronomical cycles. Furthermore, they knew how to correlate these cycles with events in their own history. Most interestingly of all,they had ways of calculating the cyclical recurrence of historical events in accordance with astronomical data. TheMayan prophecies therefore have a scientific, mathematical, and physical basis. If we accept the idea that theforce of gravitation exerts a tremendous influence on human life, then we must also acknowledge the power andrelevance of astronomical influences in our own lives. Indeed, to deny the effects of gravity would be to live inwillful ignorance of the facts concerning life on Earth. We all can see for ourselves that water falls from the skyperiodically. This rainfall amply demonstrates the Earthly law of gravity. Likewise, anyone who lives on the coastcan see the effects of the Moon on ocean swells and tides. Our bodies, being mostly made of water, are alsoaffected by the gravitational forces of the Earth and the Moon.
The spinning rotation of the Earth can be measured by the apparent movement of the Sun. Therefore theKin or day represents an Earthly gravitational cycle of approximately 24 hours in length. Many numbers ofsignificance to the Mayan solar priests are approximations of astronomical gravitation cycles. The effects of theseinterplanetary or cosmic cycles can be felt or perceived more clearly at night, when the Sun's rays do not interferewith the magnetic attractions of the Moon and the other planets in our solar system. However, such cosmic effectsare also cyclical in nature, and thus their influence becomes apparent on Earth gradually, in stages.
We speak of change happening in society across generations. The Maya also examined generations, butthey called them Katuns. A Katun, as you will doubtless recall, lasts twenty Tun (about 19.7 Gregorian years), justas a Vinal lasts 20 Kin. By analogy, a Tun can be under the influence of a specific Number and Sign combination,just like a day can be. Since the Signs and Numbers repeat themselves in all possible permutations every time theSacred Year of 260 days passes, it follows that Tun would repeat in a similar fashion.
Note on the Tzolkin table how not only the first day, but the entire cycle beginning with the first Vinalrepeats after 260 days. Notice how there are thirteen Vinal in the Sacred Year. If we now substitute Tun for Kin onthe Tzolkin table, it becomes clear how the same type of Katun will tend to repeat itself every 260 Tun. Thus, theMayan shaman-astronomers examined the records kept by their predecessors of 256 years (13 Katuns) in the pastin order to predict the major events of the coming generation. On this point we read in Los Senores Del Tiempo(1994), "The Maya had been registering in their steles, in a regular manner since the Early Classical Period, themost important events of each katun, and thus made possible the transmission of historical knowledge, fromgeneration to generation, through the Ah Kin." If we apply this kind of historical analysis to U.S. history from the2006 perspective, we might be interested to note that the current year corresponds to 1750 A.D. The coincidenceof two hereditary "Kings" named George existing at both ends of such far removed twenty year periods inhistory does seem to lend substance to the Mayan idea of cyclical recurrence in time.
The character of the first Katun in a 260 Tun cycle takes even more significance when we take intoaccount the Mayan idea that the first stage of a thirteen stage cycle determines the nature of the entire cycle. Aswe read online at www.tortuga.com (2005), "The characteristics of the sign with which each thirteen day cyclebegins prevail throughout the thirteen days of the cycle. Thus the sign located in the first tone defines the purposeand direction of the entire thirteen days. For this reason the first day of each thirteen day cycle gives us the nameof that cycle. If the cycle begins with the sign of the Seed, it would be called the Enchanted Wave of the Seed." Byanalogy, the first Vinal of a given Sacred Year determines the character of all thirteen Vinal in the entire 260 daycycle. Taking the analogy one step further, we can see how the first Katun in a 13 Katun cycle lays its particulardivine charge on all 260 Tun in that cycle. Therefore the first Katun of previous 260 Tun periods must beexamined in order for a prophetic picture of the coming centuries to be constructed.
In order for us to determine where we are in relation to the current 260 Tun cycle (also called an AHAUcycle), we must locate where the previous cycles of that length ended and count forward from those dates.According to The Mayan Factor (1987), "By 1927, what is cumbersomely known as the Goodman-MartinezHernandez-Thompson correlation of Mayan and Christian chronology was completed. This meant that the‘beginning' of the Mayan ‘Great Cycle' had been variously located between August 6 and August 13, 3113 B.C. onthe Christian calendar. In Mayan chronology, this date is written: 13.0.0.0.0. This date, 13.0.0.0.0., will occur again,December 21, 2012 A.D." If we count forward from 3113 B.C. to 2012 A.D., we find that about 5,125 years willhave passed between these two dates. Here we see how the Tunic year becomes more useful for measuring longerperiods of time. If we count the number of days in 5,125 years and divide them by 360 (the number of days in aTunic year), we find them equal to 5,200. Thus, the Mayan "Great Cycle" lasts 5,200 Tun. It consists of 13 Baktunsof 400 Tun each. The 5,200 Tun cycle can also be divided into 20 AHAU cycles of 260 Tun each. The 20th AHAUcycle ends in 2012 AD, and therefore began 256 years earlier, in 1756. The crucial Katun in the 260 Tun periodprevious to ours, therefore, must be the one beginning in 1756 and ending in 1776 A.D. Students of U.S. historycan confirm that this twenty year period defined the pattern that has prevailed in North America for the last 250years or so. By Mayan logic, the two decades beginning in 2012 and ending in 2032 A.D. will set the pattern forthe course of history until 2268 A.D. or so.
Lest this comparison seem isolated, let's roll the calendar back another 256 years from the beginning of thecurrent AHAU cycle and see what we come up with. If you do the math, you'll see that the previous AHAU cycle(being the 19th of the 20 that will pass during the 5,200 Tun great cycle) began in 1499. The crucial Katun of thatcycle, according to the Mayan "1st tone of 13 in the enchanted wave sets the pattern" idea, would have begun in1499 and ended in 1519 A.D. As we mentioned earlier, Hernan Cortez landed in Mexico on Good Friday in the year1519. Note how the Spanish empire rose to prominence in the centuries following the conquest of Mexico, or whatcame to be known as New Spain. This year, incidentally, is located 256 years away from the date of the U.S.Declaration of Independence in 1776 A.D. In the centuries following the Revolutionary War, the United States hasalso risen to prominence as a world empire. The eerie correspondence of these two significant historical dates withknown Mayan calendar patterns seems to confirm the possibility that the future can be at least partially predicted bymathematical means. The next significant turning point in history, by Mayan logic, will be remembered as havingtaken place in 2032 A.D. The twenty years previous to this date, beginning in 2012 A.D., will determine the nature ofthat historical turning point, and define the character of world history for the next 250 years. What we do for thenext 20 years between 2012 and 2032 AD will be important for setting a positive "tone" for the future.
Las 13 Profecias Mayas (2004) lists the following prophecies for the years 2012 to 2032 A.D.: "Prophecy #2—Which tells of hunger and misery. By half will their bread be reduced, by half will their water be reduced in thistime of the Katun 2 AHAU... It is the will of God that his temple will be reduced by half during his empire... Thiswill be the crown of God's word." These prophecies come from the Book Of The Books Of Chilam Balam, an ancientbook written in the Mayan language of the Yucatan which was discovered in 1868 and subsequently translated.
While these revelations may be capable of fulfilling themselves under the auspices of tomorrow'sNapoleonic leaders, the idea of the all-important Katun takes on an even more sobering significance when weconsider that the cycle of thirteen Baktuns also begins again in 2012. Again, if we accept that the evidence ofhistory tends to favor the Mayan ideas so far presented, it will be evident that the first Baktun of a 13 Baktun cycledetermines the nature of the entire cycle of 13 Baktuns, or 5,200 Tun (5,125 years). Therefore the first Katun of thecoming AHAU cycle, the years 2012 to 2032, will also determine the nature of the first 256 years of the mostcrucial Baktun of the next 13 Baktuns. By extension, the historical events occurring in the twenty years from 2012to 2032 A.D. will set the majority of the historical pattern that will prevail on Earth for the next 5 millennia! Atsuch a crucial time, the seekers of Wisdom on Earth might look for the arrival of a new prophet. The Book Of TheBooks Of Chumayel predicts just such an occurrence for the years 1993 to 2012 A.D., also called Katun 4 AHAU(from Las 13 Profecias Mayas (2004)): "The quetzal will arrive, the green bird of Yaxum will arrive, Ah Kantenalwill arrive, he of the Yellow Tree; the bloody vomit will arrive for the fourth time. Kukulcan will arrive, QuetzalSerpent, in pursuit of the ‘Itzaes'; Wizards of the Water. The fourth time that the Katun speaks, the fourth timethat he comes to ‘Itza,' Wizard of the Water." Concerning this prophecy, Las 13 Profecias Mayas (2004) tells us that"the people identified as seekers of the conscience, the new wizards of the present, those who have not conformedto the official religious traditions, those who inquire into themselves, those who navigate in the dark sea of theconscience, these will be the first to identify with the beautiful prophet of the Feathered Serpent."
Who will determine what happens in the years from 2012 to 2032 A.D.? If we followed the thinking of theMayan astronomer priests, we would look to the "gods" for this determination. However, today as rationalists wetend to see such divinities as metaphors. A metaphor serves a useful purpose: it helps us to make comparisonsbetween similar things of different orders. In the language of the scientific materialist point of view in which weare now entrenched, we would call these powerful influences "gravitational forces" rather than gods. Anastronomical analysis of how the solar system will appear during the next 26 years might yield a rich harvest ofprophecies for the coming Great Age. Skilled analysts of history would need to team up with talented archeoastronomersin order to perfect the new science of astronomical prophecy that could soon be reborn from theashes of Mayan thought. A computer program that charted the movements of planets and stars in accordancewith Mayan calendar cycles might make the prophetic powers of a Nostradamus, or his modern equivalent,available to everyone on Earth.
This speculative scenario begs the question: will we like the things we see coming round the bend? Also:by seeing things before they occur, will we be able to affect the nature and outcome of the things we see? Theconscious interplay of fate and freewill may give rise to a new art of living in this new millennium. Since MayanTime also flows backwards, the cosmic computer containing the entire system of Mayan astronomical cycles mayalready exist in some future dimension. Such a computer might have the ability to project objects made of lightbackwards in time. This hypothesis could explain the appearance of UFO's in the 20th century. As TerenceMcKenna tells us in The Archaic Revival (1991), "I take the flying saucer to be an image of the future state ofhumanity. It is a kind of millenarian transformation of the human where the soul is exteriorized as the apotheosisof technology. It is that eschatological event that is casting enormous shadows backward through time over thehistorical landscape."
On the other hand, it seems unlikely that modern computer scientists will follow the Mayan lead. Eventhe most advanced gravitational and electromagnetic theorists may be unable to swallow the idea of Fate, in spiteof the evidence supporting cyclic periodicity and astronomical predetermination. On this point we read in TheMayan Factor (1987): "Ever since the triumph of rationalism and the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenthcentury, it has been an institutionalized truism that modern science represents the pinnacle of humanachievement. This belief is the cornerstone of the doctrine of material, technological progress. The notion thatthere could have been a science more advanced than the prevailing one which, after all, underlies every aspect ofglobal industrial civilization, has been virtually unthinkable. Yet the moment has come when the rationallyunthinkable may be the only solution remaining in order to allow safe passage beyond the treacherous onslaughtof nuclear militarism and environmental poisoning which now threatens the existence of this planet." In otherwords, the idea of the Great Cycle's end in 2012, however irrational it may seem to today's hideboundmaterialists, may be our best tool for preventing the immanent destruction of human life on Earth. As warscontinue to escalate and uranium bombs fall with increasing frequency, it becomes more and more difficult todismiss the idea that nuclear and environmental destruction have reached catastrophic levels. As McKenna notesin The Archaic Revival (1991), "The old metaphor of psyche as the caterpillar transformed by metamorphosis isspecies wide analogy. We must undergo a metamorphosis in order to survive the momentum of the historicalforces already in motion."
Fortunately we have discovered a science of history that allows us to put the current nightmare scenarioof world catastrophe into a larger perspective. According to the Maya, 2012 A.D. also marks the end of a 400 Tuncycle known as a Baktun. Each Baktun has a prevailing philosophical paradigm imprinted onto it by astronomicalforces, just as the divine charge carried by an AHAU cycle of 260 Tun determines the political events that willtake place in those centuries. The current Baktun, which began in 1618 A.D., has been characterized by thedevelopment of technology and materialist science. During this cycle we have lost our connection with thespiritual, life-affirming forces of the cosmos. Indeed, as a society we have come to believe and act as if technologyalone can sustain us, and that life has no intrinsic value. Ecosystems, classes of poor people, and less advancednations can all be ruthlessly sacrificed in our day and age to feed the almighty god of profit. The logic of profitjustifies the destruction of forests, rivers, animals, and human beings, since these things can most easily bereduced to money when they are dead or dying. We read in The Mayan Factor (1987), "Mythically, the Faustiandevelopment of global industrialization represents a turning away from the light—our guiding inner ‘soullight'—to pursue the immediate power gains of a facile technological mastery over our material means. In truth,this turning away is a surrender to the forces of darkness, called by the ancient Mexicans, Tezcatlipoca, the DarkLord of Time. It is Tezcatlipoca, the trickster counterpart of Quetzalcoatl, who, disguised as Cortez, arrived inMexico in A.D. 1519 announcing the entry into the present 468-year ‘hell-cycle.' Emboldened by the example ofmen like Cortez, aided and abetted by the raw might which technological mastery has brought certain of us—wehave endeavored to build an entire civilization in ignorance of the principles of light and solar rulership." Ourhope for a more harmonious way of life on Earth lies in the idea that the next Baktun, beginning in 2012 A.D., willgive rise to a new philosophical paradigm.
This new paradigm, or dominant myth if you will, has already begun to make its presence felt. Theecology movement, the New Age or higher consciousness movement, and the peace movement are all partialforeshadowings of this new paradigm. The prevailing myth of the coming Great Age or Aeon could be describedas an awakening of the collective, or planetary, consciousness. According to The Mayan Factor (1987), "The tensionbetween the qualities—the one of material transformation, the other of a planetary consciousness harmonicallyattuned—actually represents the climax of the entire 5,125-year historical process. While the tendency towardmaterial transformation functions as the outer morphogenetic sheath producing the current, dominant paradigmof scientific materialism, the counterpointing tendency accounts for the actual paradigm which emerges throughthe tension—the paradigm of a resonant unified field of planetary consciousness."
Interestingly enough, such morphogenetic memory fields have been associated with the phenomena ofspirits, which in turn tend to manifest in the vicinity of ruins like those the Maya left in Central America. In aninterview with Terence McKenna in The Archaic Revival (1991) we read: Question, "Rupert Sheldrake has recentlyrefined the theory of the morphogenetic field—a nonmaterial organizing collective memory field that affects allbiological systems. This field can be envisioned as a hyperspatial information reservoir that brims and spills overinto a much larger region of influence when critical mass is reached—a point referred to as morphic resonance.Do you think this morphic resonance could be regarded as a possible explanation for the phenomena of spirits?"Answer, "Spirits are the presence of the past, specifically expressed. When you go to ruins like Anghor Wat, orTikal, the presence is there."
The key to unlocking the memories that relate to the ancient Mayan mysteries therefore lies within thevicinity of the stone ruins that they left behind. Similar ruins in such places as the South of England, Stonehenge,have been associated with spirits and also with UFO's. The Earth's magnetic memory fields may be the mosttangible basis for the planetary mind that we have yet to discover, and the ‘phenomena' associated with thesefields may represent the entering of that larger mind into the field of human consciousness. We read in TheArchaic Revival (1991), "There is a belief that there is a hyperobject called the Overmind, or God, that casts ashadow into time. History is our group experience of this shadow. As one draws closer and closer to the source ofthe shadow, the paradoxes intensify, the rate of change intensifies. What is happening is that the hyperobject isbeginning to ingress into three-dimensional space. One way of thinking of this is to suppose that the wakingworld and the world of the dream have begun to merge so that the laws that operate in hyperspace, can at timesoperate in three-dimensional space when the barrier between the two modes becomes weak."
The process of mental transformation now taking place among those in tune with the dreamy vibrationsof the New Age or New Aeon can be partially accounted for by the changing nature of the Earth's magnetic fieldsor "morphogenetic sheaths." These fields act as mediators between the surface of this planet and the magneticforces of other planets. The Mayan Factor (1987) explains the nature of these magnetic fields: "As Tesla observed,the resonance of the Earth functions like oscillations of a giant electromagnetic battery. The key features of thisbattery are the two shells of the ionosphere, respectively 60 and 70 miles above the terrestrial bottom of theelectromagnetic ocean. It is the currents of the ionosphere in direct resonance with the solar and lunar fieldswhich moderate the wind and atmospheric currents of the lowest layers of the electromagnetic ocean. Oscillatingat approximately 7.8 cycles per second, the ionosphere is in direct resonance with the human brain, which—whenoscillating at 7.8 cycles per second—reflects a condition of samadhi or meditational absorption. This commonneural-ionic frequency is a prime key to unlocking the new technology. Far beyond the ionosphere lie the nexttwo components of the earth's electromagnetic battery, the radiation belts—the lower, positively charged, protonlunar-galactic belt, and the upper, negatively charged, electron solar belt. It is these belts, like a cellularmembrane, that mediate the larger electromagnetic currents connecting the Earth to the Sun and the othersystems of the galactic hub, Hunab Ku. In polar resonance with the outer radiation belts lies the Earth's memoryblanket: the PSI bank, the global brain, the noosphere, the realm of the archetypes of the evolutionary cycle, andthe mystic kingdom of Shambhala. Corresponding to the interaction of the higher collective mind, represented bythe sign MEN, with AHAU, the solar mind, the functioning of the planetary mind and memory field isinseparable from the planetary mediation of electromagnetic energy from the vast galactic ocean."
In light of this passage, the attribution of the Sacred Signs to "solar" and "galactic" aspects of the planetsin our solar system becomes clear. The planetary forces mediated by the electron solar belt are represented by thesigns with a "solar" planetary attribution. Likewise, the "galactic" Signs represent those planetary forcesmediated by the proton lunar galactic belt. Consciousness of the energies acting on us through these fields can bebuilt by use of the Tzolkin. The revival of Mayan calendar science can thus contribute to the creation of aplanetary consciousness.
We must not imagine, however, that a mere intellectual understanding of the global brain will suffice. Onthe contrary, we must learn to sense the invisible magnetic forces imprinted as information into the Earth's PSIBank with our bodily senses. We are connected to the Earth's magnetic field through our bodies. Consciousnessof this fact will enable us to become one with the planetary mind. The planet mind communes with the solarmind, which in turn focuses the cosmic energies emanating from the center of the galaxy, or Hunab Ku. TheMayan Factor (1987) tells us: "Within the context of the morphogenetic field, the 5,200 Tun Great Cycle can beviewed as a galactically activated field of a purposeful resonance divided into thirteen cyclical subfields. As atotal field of resonance, the purpose of the Great Cycle is to facilitate Earth's liftoff—the creation and realizationof the planetary light body. Through human instrumentation resulting in the transformation of matter and thesimultaneous creation of a species-transcending coordination of intelligence, a genuine planetary consciousness isattained. This acquisition of planetary intelligence, represented by the sign MEN, is the prerequisite for attainingconscious resonance with the central solar intelligence, represented by the sign AHAU."
This communication with the "solar intelligence" was performed in ancient times by the Mayan shamanastronomers,or AH KINES. Today, the rediscovery of these Mayan practices enables us to attain the same contactwith the solar mind that the ancients once enjoyed. As we read again in The Mayan Factor (1987), "The AH KINES,‘Servant-Warriors of the Sun,' are those humans who fully realize the dream light body within the physical bodyand—understanding the circuitry of the human organism—use the light body to navigate the electromagneticwaters which we call the universe. Through attunement of their sensory radar and skilled use of the KuxanSuum, the ‘galactic umbilical cord' that emerges from the solar plexus, the AH KINES, the realized ones of thepast and present, are able to become star-mediums, channeling galactic information directly into the terrestrialocean floor of the great electromagnetic sea. In this way, they hop Zuvuyas and keep the sacred count. Possessingthe same circuitry, we may do the same as the fabled AH KINES." The fledgling metaphysical sciences of todaythat utilize the chakras as centers for energy work have only begun to rediscover the electromagnetic ocean thatunites us all. Those with the wisdom to look forward in time will see the necessity of developing the humanenergy sciences to a planetary level. We must begin to consciously interact with the Earth's magnetic fields.
A modern Mayan shaman expresses this seemingly complicated concept of rediscovering the Mayanshamanic tradition with simple elegance in Las 13 Profecias Mayas (2004) when he said, "There is a flow of eventsthat you cannot dominate. We are all in a river, and who knows where it will take us? It's your decision what todo or not to do inside of this river: oppose yourself to its current, or flow with it, letting it carry you. We are in thebeginning of the rebirth of the Mayan civilization, and all of us can be Maya. To be Mayan is not a question ofrace but rather of spirituality. A Maya is someone who is in harmony with the Earth and with the Universe."
We all possess the equipment necessary to focus electromagnetic energy: our bodies. As The Mayan Factor(1987) informs us, "The elements of the circuitry connecting the third-dimensional physical garment to, andinclusive of, the fourth dimensional light body are well known. First, there is the sensory radar—the five senseorgans and "mind;" then, there are the neural canals which carry electrical impulses from the sense organs to thecentral computer, the brain, for processing; finally, there are the psychophysical centers associated with theglandular system called the chakras and their network of subtle energy flows. The circuit is completed by thesubtle currents that flow as resonant transmission from the chakra system directly through the Kuxan Suum, thegalactic fibers, to the main currents of the electromagnetic ocean which connect us to the plane of the solar lordsand guides and thence to the Sun and the galactic hub." Thus, we are all capable of channeling cosmic energiesand directing them into our Earthly environment.
If we are wise, we will attune ourselves to the cosmic forces acting on the Earth at this time and direct theenergies that we receive in such a way as to create a harmonious world in which human life can flourish forcenturies and millennia to come. If we take the time to visualize and construct "4th-dimensional light bodies" forourselves, we will find ourselves possessed of a host of new powers. Among these will be the power to send ourconsciousness to any corner of the universe in a single instant. As we read in The Archaic Revival (1991), "Theconventions of relativity say that time slows down as one approaches the speed of light, but if one tries to imaginethe point of view of a thing made of light, one must realize that what is never mentioned is that if one moves atthe speed of light there is no time whatsoever. There is an experience of time zero. So if one imagines for amoment oneself to be made of light, or in possession of a vehicle that can move at the speed of light, one cantraverse from any point in the universe to any other with a subjective experience of time zero." This means thatour journeys into outer space do not require high-tech spaceships, since our light bodies are the "warp-speed"vehicles of the future. Nor must we waste precious years en route to other planets and star systems, because lightspeedtravel occurs instantaneously.
The dawning of planetary consciousness could spell the end of militarized industrialism and mark thebeginning of the Earth's natural regeneration. Collective human awareness of cosmic forces could enable theplanetary mind, symbolized by the Sacred Sign MEN, to focus more power than technology could ever hope tocontrol. The result of such coordinated intelligence combined with an infinite source of energy can hardly bepredicted. As Terence McKenna tells us in The Archaic Revival (1991), "Our wish, our salvation, and our only hopeis to end the historical crisis by becoming the alien, by ending alienation, by recognizing the alien as an Overmindthat holds all the physical laws of the planet intact in the same way that one holds an idea intact in one'sthoughts." We can imagine that such a dramatic shift in human awareness, if it could be achieved, would redefinethe political and philosophical landscape of the Earth for many years to come.
In The Mayan Factor (1987) we read: "Though the present, scientifically materialistic power-holdersbelieve that the world is the way it is because they have made it so, in actuality they are playing out rolesspecified by the harmonic wave phase of which the present era is a function. The belief they hold about the world,the dominant belief subscribed to and accepted by the governing institutions of present world order, define theprevailing paradigm.
Belief in this paradigm, the scientific materialist world view, can be described as a mental house. By 1756the walls of the current mental house—belief in technological progress and industrial democracy—began to beerected. Between 1874 and 1953, the electromagnetic roof of the current mental house was emplaced. Finally,between 1953 and the present moment [i.e., 1987-ed.] the era of the launching of humankind and its artificialsensory intelligence probes into ‘outer space,' the mental house began its internal dissolution.
"…Rippling ever more deeply through the consciousness of an aroused minority of the human race willbe the realization of a larger, resonantly attractive force: a supersensible synthesis of mind and nature, hithertoundreamed of, will dawn. The experience of reality as a unifying matrix—a synaesthetic blending of the sensesbrought about through light-sound sensory experience—will provide the first vibratory layers of the foundationsof the new mental house."
"This internal experience of unification—synaesthesia—will be understood as the inseparability of mindand nature, and in the power generated by the indissoluble unity of this experience, the edifice of moderncivilization will disintegrate. As the climax and failure of the technology of the old mental house becomesincreasingly apparent...and amidst the chaotic backdrop of the collapsing old economic and political order, thetransit to post-history shall begin. At the same time that the new mental house will be laying its foundations, thecumbersome, inert, mechano-chemical structure of the old will have to be dismantled. This synchronousactivity—formulation of the new and cleansing and purification of the old—will be the single driving force as thefinal katun is entered, A.D. 1992 - 2012. Known as the Campaign for the Earth, the emergence of the psychicallyunified, media-connected, locally operative planetary society will slowly take form, emerging by A.D. 2012 as theevolutionary design plan of universally interactive intelligence."
I would add here that the author of the above passage, Jose Arguelles, may have painted a somewhatoptimistic picture of the changes occurring during the final Katun of the passing Great Cycle. The development ofplanetary consciousness may indeed be complete by 2012, but the dismantling of the scientific materialistfoundations has hardly begun in 2006. It appears that perhaps the forces of nature have taken on theresponsibility for this process of deconstruction, as the recent string of hurricanes in the Western Hemispherewould seem to portend. Indeed, the Maya also recognized the portentous nature of dramatic events occurring justbefore a major transition from one cycle of time, such as a Baktun, to another such cycle. As The Mayan Factor(1987) tells us, "Any change in a morphic field is preceded by a morphogenetic subduction prior to the transition.A subduction is a sudden pulling down of energy that precedes a somewhat later upheaval or discharge of newenergy in the new morphic subfield. This subduction is usually occasioned by an event which presages what is tocome." Perhaps the collective mind of humanity has begun to unite with the destructive forces of nature. Thepowers of this collective mind, if they become fully conscious after 2012, might be capable of making theCategory 5 hurricanes of recent memory look like storms in a teacup. Should the planet mind decide that peacemust prevail on Earth, the warmongers of the world might indeed find themselves crawling on their knees beforethe equivalent of the wrath of God on Judgment Day.
On this note, it might be interesting to point out the parallels between the Mayan idea of the zero year in2012 and the prophecies in the Christian Book of Revelations. The Mayan Factor (1987) tells us, "The numbersymbolism of the Book of Revelations possesses a profoundly Mayan overtone. The fact that Christ is thethirteenth in a group numbering twelve disciples is paramount. Then there is the incessant emphasis on thenumber seven repeated in any number of ways as the mystical underpinning of the entire revelation. And finally,there are the 144,000 elect, the same number as there are days or kin in a baktun.
"Remembering that the baktun is a multidimensional harmonic term and that we are currently in thethirteenth cycle, Baktun 12, we may begin to wonder if there is not some deep bond between the ChristianRevelation and the Mayan Factor that has been ignored or avoided in the orthodox ruling circles of the neo-Christian West. Could the New Jerusalem, New Heaven, and New Earth be the same as the entry into theunimaginable realm of the new cycle, the post-galactic synchronization following A.D. 2012, Mayan calendar date13.0.0.0.0?"
Remember also that the Christian Cross was easily identified by the Maya as the equivalent of the WorldTree, Wacah Chan. The same kind of cross was also used by Mayan priests to pinpoint the locations of stars in thesky. Are these parallels mere coincidence? Or are they evidence of the cyclic periodicity of historic events that theMaya believed in and studied? An even more surprising parallel has yet to be pointed out: the Hebrew Qabalahon which the prophecies in the Christian Bible are based bears a striking resemblance to the elements of theMayan calendar system. Notice how the thirteen Sacred Numbers and the twenty Sacred Signs together make 33elements. The ten Sephiroth and twenty-two Hebrew letters add up to 32. However, the letter Shin refers to Spiritas well as Fire: this double attribution brings the number of Hebrew cabalistic elements up to 33. Can we dismissthis numerical correspondence as another coincidence? Or do we need to seriously consider the possibility thatthe Maya knew that a very real "Judgment Day" would arrive in 2012 A.D.?
To be fair and reasonable, we must acknowledge the possibility that no dramatic, cosmic, earth shatteringevent will occur on December 22, 2012. The events that will set the pattern for the following time cycles have atleast twenty years to unfold, according to Mayan calendar science. As we read in The Mayan Factor (1987),"Though the transitions between the fields are not always marked by anything obviously momentous, we maynonetheless distinguish in each of the subfields an overall marked change of character. As indicated, thesechanges of character are due to the generally unconscious discarding of certain symbolic/cognitive features andthe imprinting of new information, the sum of which comprises the quality of the new morphic subfield. Thus, atransition between cycles marks an information transfer and imprint that affects and seals the overall memorybearing quality of the new morphogenetic field." Therefore, waiting for the Mayan zero date is like waiting forChrist to return: both will only make us miserable. However, the changes taking place at the end of a 5,200 yearGreat Cycle are thought to be more significant than those attending the end of lesser cycles. The Mayan Factor(1987) informs us, "If the changes between Baktuns can be considered momentous, then the subduction andchange occasioned by the conclusion of the entire Great Cycle must be of unprecedented proportions."
The message of the Mayan prophecies, essentially, is that we must seize history now if we wish to remakeit closer to our heart's desire. If we fail to do so, we will have wasted our chance to raise the level of humanconsciousness on this planet. Our lack of spiritual ambition in the next twenty five years could condemn the Earthto five thousand more years of war and suffering. The human race might not even be capable of surviving on thisplanet for much longer if environmental destruction goes too far in the present century. We must take advantageof this opportunity to reconnect with the cosmic forces that can bring us back into harmony with our bodies, ournatural environment, and the planet on which we live, or face the doom of a slowly dying world.
The good news is that our cosmic connection lies right within the grasp of each of us as individuals. Weonly need to become aware of the energy flowing through our own bodies in order to begin communing with theplanetary, solar, and galactic levels of consciousness. In The Mayan Factor (1987) we read, "It is this notion thatbody is distinct from soul, externalized as the belief that man is distinct from and superior to nature, that is thecause of the primary blockage experienced by the collective light body during the current mental house.... Theimprovement of sensual enjoyment is inseparable from the capacity to realize our own electromagnetic potency.Through the circuitry of the light body we can directly hook up to the solar power house. The light body oretheric double, what Egyptians call the KA, is the fourth-dimensional electromagnetic probe that instruments thethird-dimension physical body. It corresponds to an outlet of MEN. Finally, there is AHAU, the solar mind,which is purely electromagnetic or fifth-dimensional and knows no time. It is activated by the galactic Zuvuyaand processes interdimensional information on behalf of the planet. On our planet, the realm of the solar lords orguides constitutes the etheric body of the planet and is resonant with both the planet's electromagnetic field andits inter-dimensional, gyroscopic control at the crystal core of the Earth."
So, in order to save the planet, we all need to loosen up and start enjoying ourselves! The time pressuresof the modern industrial world make it difficult for us to commit our time to attaining higher states ofconsciousness. Clearly, then, Mayan Time has been given to us at this historical moment so that we may discardthe mechanized time of war and destruction and make the transition to a more organic rhythm of life. Each of uscan be reborn into the Mayan cosmos by beginning to synchronize our lives with the cosmic cycles that theTzolkin describes. As we move deeper into the Mayan state of mind, we will find ourselves tuning in more andmore to the cosmic energies that sustain life on this planet.
Plants are the biological organisms that directly sustain human life on Earth. Plants grow under theinfluence of cosmic forces like sun, wind, and rain. According to The Archaic Revival (1991), "Our present globalcrisis is more profound than any previous historical crises; hence our solutions must be equally drastic. I proposethat we should adopt the plant as the organizational model for life in the twenty-first century, just as thecomputer seems to be the dominant mental/social model of the late twentieth century, and the steam engine wasthe guiding image of the nineteenth century." Life centered around the nurturing of food producing andmedicinal plants will become more pleasurable as pain recedes, and we will soon be able to appreciate the simplebeauty of human existence. When a critical mass of people have achieved this consciousness of cosmic botanicalharmony, we will have achieved the goal of one mind, one heart, one world, and one love.
Let us therefore follow the advice of Jose Arguelles when he writes in The Mayan Factor (1987): "If weunderstand that energy and information are no different from each other, then we take a tremendous step into thelight. The great streams of cosmic radiation that pour into the planetary field represent varieties of information.Encoded within the planet's memory bank and in resonance with the inter-dimensional chamber at the Earth'scrystal core, this energy may be released through creative acts of ritual and ecstatic mystic attunement."
We now have the potentially world transformative power of the Earth within our grasp as a consciousmovement of spiritually awakened people. The ecstatic rites of the coming years, designed according to thecosmic blueprint revealed by the Mayan calendar, can bring Heaven down to Earth, and redeem the Hell we havecreated for ourselves. The rediscovery of the Sacred Science known to the ancient Solar Priests of Mesoamericahas only just begun. The information presented here represents but a single stepping stone on the path to this fullrediscovery. May the light illumine us all.
Glossary Of Mayan Words
AHAU KINES (AH KINES, AH KIN): Solar Lords. Priests of the Sun. Seers.
CAAN: Heaven.
CAN: Fourfold serpent energy.
CANHEL: Self-transforming serpent. Dragon.
CHAN: Intellect.
CHANES: First children of the sun. Galactic messengers.
CHE, TE: Tree.
CHICCHAN: Reptile. Instinctual mind. Primary intelligence.
CH’ULEL: Life force. Mana.
D’ZAC: Medicine, poison.
ET P’IZ: "Our measure." Law of Karma. Compensation.
HEL: Egg, zero. Basis of transformation.
H’MENES: Sorcerers, magicians, healers. Those versed in MEN.
H’PULYAHES: Lancers of evil. Misusers of energy.
HUNAB KU: One Giver of Movement and Measure. Intelligent energy principle pervading entire universe, bothanimate and inanimate.
HUYAB CAAN (HURUCAAN): Heart of Heaven. Heavenly Builder. Principle of cosmic design.
ITZAES: First children of the water.
KIN: Sun. Day.
KINAN: Solar Force. Higher spiritual energy. Solar mind.
KINICH AHAU: Lord of the Sun. Galactic overseer. Realized solar mind.
LU’KAN TUMEN CAN: Bearers of the serpent. Initiates.
MEN: To believe, to create, to do. Higher mental force, expressing PIXAN (spirit energy) through KINAN (solar mind).
NAGUAL: Light body. Spirit double.
OL, OLAL: Will.
OL UOLAH: Spirit of will exercised in accord with the law of cause (TUMEN) and effect (ET’PIZ)
OXLAHUN: Thirteen. Movement.
PAX: Cosmic break or rupture. Power of music.
PIXAN: Spirit.
KUXAN SUUM: Road to the sky.
IN LAK’ECH: "I am another yourself." Principle of universal love, compassion.
THAN: Drop of water. Power of the word.
TUMEN: Cause and effect.
TZOLKIN: Count of days. Sacred calendar. Cosmic matrix.
YAX: Green. Power of renewal.
YAXKIN: The center. Sourceless source. Place of renewal.
YAXCHE: Primal tree. Axis of the universe. Mystic column. Human as channel.
ZUVUYA: Circuit by which all things return to themselves. Thirteenth or highest heaven.
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