The Mayan Lord of Creation and 2012

[Myriel RAouine]

The Mayan Lord of Creation and 2012

August 3, 2006 By davidjones

2012 Creation Date on Tortuguero Monument 6

BY JOHN MAJOR JENKINS

—

Twentytwelvology. You won’t find it in Webster’s dictionary. Not yet. But believe me, before this decade is out, we’ll have that as well as plenty of 2012 -isms and -ographies.

“The 2012 Phenomenon” was recently the subject of a paper written by anthropologist Robert K. Sitler.1 The sub-title of his paper brings focus to his approach: “New Age Appropriation of an Ancient Mayan Calendar.” In his assessment of the writings and statements of popular writers, New Age teachers, and independent researchers (including myself), he sorts the wheat from the chaff and exposes “merely tangential connections to the realities of the Mayan world.” To his credit, he distinguishes the serious work done by myself and Geoff Stray2 from the wild and unfounded speculations of other writers.

Sitler’s area of focus is the Long Count calendar and its 2012 end-date, which is the subject of growing interest and controversy – not so much among academicians, who dismiss it as irrelevant, but among spiritual seekers and people interested in the wisdom attained by ancient civilisations. So, what’s all the clamour and confusion about? What is the Long Count calendar?

The Long Count Calendar

An archeological site that’s been known about for decades preserves an open secret about the culture that invented the Long Count calendar. Izapa, in southern Mexico a few miles from the Guatemala border, was the chief ceremonial observatory of “the Izapan civilisation.”3 It was the transitional culture between the older Olmec civilisation and the emerging Maya, and enjoyed its heyday between 400 BCE and 50 CE. My investigation of Izapa’s carved monuments and the site’s astronomical orientations have revealed a great deal about how they understood the Long Count calendar.4

The earliest monuments carved with Long Count dates were found in the region of Izapa and have been dated to the 1st century BCE. The Long Count notation uses bars to represent 5 and dots to represent 1. Five place values are almost always used, representing the following periods of days:

Kin = 1 day
Uinal = 20 days
Tun = 360 days
Katun = 7,200 days
Baktun = 144,000 days

Thirteen Baktuns equal 5,125 years, which is one World Age in the Maya Creation mythology. The Long Count calendar was recorded on monuments and ceramic vessels for almost a thousand years. Most of the dates refer to local mundane events, like king crowning ceremonies. Some of the Long Count monuments, however, refer to mythological events that occurred at the beginning of the current World Age. Scholars have figured out how the Long Count calendar correlates with our own, so we know that the fabled dawn time – when all the place values were set to zero – occurred on August 11, 3114 BCE. This should be written 0.0.0.0.0 in the Long Count, but the monuments that speak of this date call it 13.0.0.0.0. This is less confusing than it appears, because the two accountings are equivalent. In the same way that 1300 hours (military time) equals 1:00 p.m. (civil time), the Long Count resets to 0 when 13 Baktuns are completed.

This tells us something important about the structure of the Long Count calendar and its chronology of World Ages. Every 13 Baktuns (5,125 years), the Long Count resets to zero. Thus, we should expect that when the Long Count again reaches 13.0.0.0.0, it will reset to zero, the cycle of time will begin anew, and a new World Age will commence. As mentioned, several so-called Creation monuments describe events that occurred in 3114 BCE, during the end-beginning nexus of the previous World Age turnover. The texts associated with these Creation monuments state that “Creation happens at the Black Hole,” at “the Crossroads,” and “the image” will appear in the sky. At that time, a new Solar Age begins and the Sun Lord gets reborn. Creation Lord deities are often portrayed attending the rebirth of the world, including one called Bolon Yokte K’u who is closely associated with God L of the Mayan pantheon.

He is portrayed on the ceramic Vessel of the Seven Lords which contains the date 3114 BCE.5 This doesn’t mean the vessel is 5,120 years old; it simply means that the Classic Period Maya were documenting, around 700 CE, their thoughts about the fabled dawn time.

Mayan Time Philosophy and 2012

Although the philosophy of cycle endings that we find on these Creation monuments refers to past events in 3114 BCE, it can also be applied to the next 13-Baktun cycle ending, which falls on December 21, 2012. Some scholars have been unwilling to accept this analogy, asserting there are no Long Count monuments that refer explicitly to 2012. As we will see, this position can no longer be maintained. Moreover, one scholar understands quite clearly the analogical relationship between the period ending of the previous World Age (in 3114 BCE) and other period endings, great and small, throughout Mayan history: “Zoomorph P and Altar P’ [at Quirigua] were commissioned by Sky Xul as the primary commemorative monuments for his third period ending festival on 9.18.5.0.0 [September 13, 795 CE]. As a celebration of cosmic renewal, the period-ending was considered to be a replay of the events of cosmogenesis, which occurred on 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk’u [13.0.0.0.0 in 3114 BCE].”6 This means that we can identify a generalised principle of the Mayan concept of period endings: each period ending in the Long Count, including all the various place value levels, were seen to be like-in-kind replays of the great period-ending event that occurs at the end of the 13-Baktun period. As such, the next 13-Baktun period-ending (in 2012) should be a big replay of the events described for 3114 BCE. That scenario involves the rebirth of the Sun Lord from the sky-earth cleft.

The belief that we don’t have “direct statements” about 2012 in the archaeological record ignores the plethora of pictographic images at Izapa that portray a rare celestial alignment that appears in the skies in the years around 2012.7 This galactic alignment is the key to understanding 2012, and it involves the rebirth of the December solstice Sun Lord through the Dark Rift “cleft” in the Milky Way, located between Sagittarius and Scorpio.

It is “the image” that appears in the sky during cosmogenesis. My interpretation of the Mayan 2012 date comes from an interdisciplinary examination of the carvings of Izapa, laid out in my book Maya Cosmogenesis 2012. The theory has withstood eight years of debating with scholars, and the ideas are starting to seep into general acceptance. I say “seep” because the unaffiliated source of the breakthroughs will probably go unacknowledged.

The process will most likely follow the sequence mentioned by Thomas Kuhn, in his Structure of Scientific Revolutions. First, a radical new theory (often proposed by an independent thinker or outsider) will be ignored by the mainstream scholars. Then, as it starts to make inroads, status quo scholars will vehemently criticise and attack it. Finally, after the truth of the new breakthrough is recognised, they will embrace it as if they knew it all along. The three-stage process often takes decades, but may get turbocharged in respect to 2012, since that date looms so close in our future.

Understanding the New Discoveries

My theory about the 2012 end-date finds contextual support in two recent discoveries. One is a Pre-Classic mural depicting the Creation myth and the other is a hieroglyphic text pointing explicitly to the 13-Baktun cycle end date, December 21, 2012.

The Mayan civilisation rose to prominence some 2,000 years ago, in the jungle forests and mountains of Mesoamerica. The Classic Period stretched from 200 CE to 900 CE. However, archaeologists are finding older sites with all the hallmarks of the Classic Period, so the origins of Mayan civilisation are slowly getting pushed further back in time. One of these sites, San Bartolo in Guatemala’s Peten rainforest, preserves stunning murals of the Maya Creation Myth in what has been called “the New World’s Sistine Chapel.”8 They have now been given the early date of 250 BCE.

Realising that the murals were threatened by looters in the area, archaeologist Bill Saturno recorded the paintings by holding a flatbed scanner sideways against the walls and taking over 350 digital scans. They were digitally pieced together to reveal a very early rendition of the Maya Creation Myth, involving five trees of paradise.

The mural is incomplete in sections, having crumbled over the centuries, but two of the Sacred Trees preserve an interesting feature. Toward the base of the trees we can see a paw sticking out. This feature has been noticed on other portrayals of Mayan Sacred Trees, and has been identified as a jaguar paw, perhaps representing one of the Hero Twins, Xbalanque.

“Balan” means jaguar, similar to “Bolon” (“nine”) and the two terms are often used in word puns. In fact, they are sometimes interchangeable in hieroglyphic passages. The two meanings likewise reinforce each other, as jaguars were night creatures ruled by the nine Lords of the Night. We’ll come back to this in a moment.

Another important fact of the San Bartolo Creation Trees is how closely they resemble trees portrayed at Izapa, the origin place of the Long Count calendar. Upon close examination, we can see that the trees combine caiman and tree symbolism, and the caiman’s head is at the bottom, in the roots of the tree. Izapa Stela 25, 10, and 27 all contain this inverted caiman tree, and are widely acknowledged to represent the Milky Way. The caiman’s mouth represents the “Dark Rift” in the Milky Way – the “Black Hole” of Mayan Creation mythology. Likewise, the Bird Deity in the branches of the San Bartolo trees are often found in the Izapan trees, and represents the Big Dipper constellation.9 He must fall from his tree before the Sun Lord can be reborn at the end of the Age.

This simple comparison means the “Creation Myth” at San Bartolo utilises the same astronomical features the Izapan Creation Myth does. Those features are central to how the 2012 alignment of the solstice Sun and the Milky Way was encoded into Mayan myth.

Another new discovery involves the recent translation of a text from Tortuguero, a Classic Maya site north of Palenque, which explicitly points to December 21, 2012. Drawn by Sven Gronemeyer and translated by Mayan epigrapher David Stuart, the legible part of the text reads: “At the end of 13 Baktuns, on 4 Ahau 3 Kankin, 13.0.0.0.0; something occurs when Bolon Yokte descends.”10

Since the verb glyph describing what happens is effaced, scholars have stated that the text doesn’t really tell us much, but in fact it does.

First off, scholars now have to acknowledge we do have a hieroglyphic text which refers explicitly to the ending of the current 13-Baktun cycle, in 2012. Secondly, a usual suspect in Mayan creation narratives is present, Bolon Yokte. This means that 2012 was thought of as a cosmogenesis, a creation or recreation of the world.

I’ve been arguing this for years, debating doomsayers as well as scholars who would like to think that 2012 is irrelevant within Mayan time philosophy.11 But, as expected, we can now see that 2012 is to be thought of as a world renewal.

We can also determine something very intriguing about the name of the Creation Deity who is present in both 3114 BCE and in 2012 CE. Bolon Yokte means bolon (nine), y- (plural), ok (foot), -te (tree). Although bolon means “nine,” the word is a homophonous pun for balan (jaguar). Mayan folklore and hieroglyphic texts often combine the two designations, for dramatic effect or for emphasising how the Jaguar God is one of the nine Lords of the Night (the Underworld).12 Thus, we have an alternate identification for the Creation Lord Bolon Yokte which means something like “jaguar at the foot/feet of the tree.”

Perhaps the plural “feet” refers to two feet: the foot of the jaguar and the foot of the tree. Thus, the jaguar foot or paw at the foot of the Creation tree likely represents the Creation Lord Bolon Yokte. He was present at the last World Age creation in 3114 BCE and he will be present at the next one, in 2012.

But why is he there? Probably because the spotted jaguar pelt symbolises the stars of night, and the mouth of the jaguar represents the Underworld Portal, which is seen in the sky as the Dark Rift in the Milky Way. This “Black Hole” in which Creation happens also represents the birth cleft of the Great Mother, the Milky Way.

In 2012 the December solstice Sun Lord will have shifted into alignment with the Dark Rift, after making a centuries-long precessional journey though the stars of the night sky. The Sun Lord, and the Age, will be reborn.

Twentytwelvologists, Unite!

We now have a Mayan inscription, from the Classic Period site of Tortuguero, that refers directly to the end of the current World Age of the Long Count calendar. The text indicates the event is to be thought of as a world renewal.

The deity attending the world renewal, Bolon Yokte, was present during the previous World Age shift, in 3114 BCE, and he is a guardian of the portal of rebirth at the Dark Rift “Black Hole” in the Milky Way’s “nuclear bulge” – the Galactic Centre. He waves to us, as the jaguar paw, from behind the base of the Creation Tree on the recently discovered Creation murals from San Bartolo.

These are exciting times as we recover the lost knowledge of the ancient Maya skywatchers. Especially so, since the world-transforming renewal date in the Maya Long Count calendar is right around the corner. That ancient wisdom speaks for a grand precessional paradigm, of how we on Earth experience galactic seasons of change, of how our Sun moves into rebirth at the celestial Black Hole at the base of the Creation Tree.

December 21, 2012 signals the commencement of a new World Age, one that has successfully transformed, purified, and renewed the previous cycle of time. An essential component of this is conscious human participation, a willing openness to the process.

As we pay attention to the changes going on around us and tune into our own evolving journey through the 2012 experience of renewal, we all become twentytwelvologists. Not only by having studied it in the primary sources of Maya Creation texts, but by living it.

Let’s convene in 2013 and share what we’ve learned.

Footnotes:

1. Robert Sitler, “The 2012 Phenomenon: New Age Appropriation of an Ancient Mayan Calendar” in Nova Religio, Vol. 9, Issue 3 (www.ucpress.edu/journals/nr/).
2. Geoff Stray, Beyond 2012: Catastrophe or Ecstasy? A Complete Guide to End-of-Time Predictions, Vital Signs Publishing, 2005. See also his extensive Diagnosis 2012 website www.diagnosis2012.co.uk
3. Michael Coe, Mexico, Thames & Hudson, 1962, pp. 99-101.
4. John Major Jenkins, Maya Cosmogenesis 2012, Bear & Company, 1998.
5. Michael Coe, “The Hero Twins: Myth and Image” in The Maya Vase Book, ed. Justin Kerr, Kerr Associates, 1989.
6. Matthew G. Looper, “Quirigua Zoomorph P: A Water Throne and Mountain of Creation” in Heart of Creation: The Mesoamerican World and the Legacy of Linda Schele, ed. Andrea Stone, University of Alabama Press, 2002, p. 199.
7. See http://alignment2012.com/mayan2012statements.html.
8. William Saturno, “The Dawn of Maya Gods and Kings” in National Geographic, January 2006.
9. Freidel David, Linda Schele, and Joy Parker, Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman’s Path, William Morrow and Company, 1993; David Kelley, “Mesoamerican Astronomy and the Maya Calendar Correlation Problem” in Memorias del Segundo Coloquio Internacional de Mayistas 1:65-95, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1989; Barbara Tedlock, Time and the Highland Maya, University of New Mexico Press, 1982.
10. See the “Tortuguero” thread at http://groups.google.com/group/utmesoamerica; Sven Gronemeyer’s website www.sven-gronemeyer.de/
11. The argument that a 20-Baktun period has precedence over a 13-Baktun period is faulty. Seehttp://alignment2012.com/app5.htm
12. In fact, Bolon Yokte is associated with one of the three primary gods of the Mayan pantheon, called the Triad Gods. At Izapa, the three primary monument groups are associated with three cosmic centres (zenith, polar, and galactic) presided over by three avatars or deities. For more on the triad cosmology pioneered at Izapa, see chapter 21 in Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 and http://Alignment2012.com/bolon-yokte.html.

JOHN MAJOR JENKINS is a leading independent investigator of Mayan sacred sciences and the origins and meaning of the 2012 calendar. John has authored dozens of articles and many books, including Journey to the Mayan Underworld, Mirror in the Sky, Tzolkin: Visionary Perspectives and Calendar Studies,Mayan Sacred Science, Maya Cosmogenesis 2012, Galactic Alignment: The Transformation of Consciousness According to Mayan, Egyptian, and Vedic Traditions, and Pyramid of Fire (co-authored with Marty Matz). John’s Website is an extensive resource for studying the lost Galactic Cosmology of the Maya: www.Alignment2012.com

The above article appeared in New Dawn 97 (July-August 2006).

© New Dawn Magazine and the respective author.
For our reproduction notice, click here.

[Myriel RAouine]

The Maya, Archaeology and 2012

Posted by: "seventhapostle" [e-mail]   seventhapostle

Tue Jan 24, 2012 2:18 pm (PST)

http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/the-maya-archaeology-and-2012

The Maya, Archaeology and 2012
February 10, 2010 By davidjones
By JIM REED

—

"All was mystery, dark, impenetrable mystery, and every circumstance increased it." So wrote 19th century explorer John Lloyd Stephens after journeying through the rainforests of Mesoamerica in search of cities long shrouded under a dense canopy of vegetation. Today, some of the mystery has been dispelled. Their great cities, their architecture and their art challenged the splendour of the ancient capitals of Asia and Africa.While Europe languished in the Dark Ages, the Maya devised sophisticated mathematical and astronomical concepts, wrote books and developed trade routes that spanned much of Mesoamerica. They derived many cultural forms from the north, but also devised many cultural innovations that profoundly influenced all subsequent cultures in the area. Much of Maya culture, particularly the religious reckoning of time, is still a vital aspect of Native American life in Guatemala and Honduras.

All that the ancient Maya accomplished is truly awe-inspiring! With a difficult life in the Tropics, with heat and humidity that would melt the hardiest person, and with a very sparse population, the Maya built incredibly sophisticated ceremonial centres, an astronomical science and mathematics among the most sophisticated in the pre-modern world, and the most developed and complex system of writing in the Americas. In recent years, new archaeological and investigative breakthroughs – including the deciphering of Maya glyphic writing – have revealed a much better idea of how the ancient Maya lived their lives.

A Personal Connection

For me, the Maya are my passion. Somehow, I sense a deep inner connection from my soul to this marvellous culture. And in these times, I am able to experience my life from what some may describe as a unique position and perspective. I have lived in the Mayalands for 8 years; I maintain close contact with researchers and archaeologists who investigate the ancient Maya; and I interact with some of the modern Maya Spiritual Elders. I produce an informative monthly 8-page newsletter covering ongoing archaeology and research of the ancient Maya for the Institute of Maya Studies. I also lead group adventures to the Mayalands. Lately, I've emerged as one in only a handful of Maya researchers who share their insights about the current 2012 phenomena.

As you know, there is much to read elsewhere about Maya prophesies, but there is only one real Maya prophesy that I am aware of. According to Yukatek Maya Elder Hunbatz Men, the message says that, "In these times, the people of the `north' will come back and help to revitalise the Maya's own culture." Yes, I was born in North America this time around, but I am a reincarnated Maya and I'm back to educate and motivate those who I encounter along the way – to communicate positively and realistically about the ancient Maya.

In the mid-1970s, after I had completed my regular schooling, I was invited by some good friends who had bought some land in Belize, to help them with their dream of creating a yoga retreat.

Located in the western Cayo District, their piece of land was on a hilltop above the small Maya village of Sokutz, right along the Mopan River, across from and in view of the ancient Maya site of Xunantunich. The sun would set each evening behind the silhouette of its massive great acropolis pyramid. I loved living outside of the United States at such a young age, even though it was a challenge in numerous ways. We had a Maya family helping and teaching us. We learned how to build structures of wood poles and thatch, how to plant corn and beans, how to grow a garden in the Tropics, what to eat, what not to eat, how to cook, how to survive. The Godoy family taught us how to live, to slow down and move with the cycles of nature around us, day and night.

Some of my best memories are of when my Maya friends and I would cross the river in their dugout canoe and make our own trail (with machetes) up to the top of the pyramid to spend the night on full moons. With the ancient stone and earth below me and the crisp, clear starry nights above me, I was immersed in a new world. I was between worlds. I believe it was here that I first felt the rhythm of the mysterious Maya.

We could only stay in this paradise for a year and a half, but it was a very memorable experience. When funds ran out before the government of Belize could bulldoze an access road to the centre we had created, we had to abandon the project and return to the US. They drove back and I decided to hitchhike and ride buses into Guatemala, then up though Mexico, to California and back to Florida. A three-month wild adventure of a lifetime.

When I arrived in the highlands of Guatemala, I sensed a very intense dejavú… I felt that this was my territory, this was my home. My most memorable experience was the night a Guatemalan friend took me to the top of the active Pacaya volcano. At that time you could struggle to make your way to the uppermost peak and then witness ecstatic eruptions in front and below. The ground would shake with intense tremors. This would lead to eruptions that created multi-coloured clouds and its own lightning. I had never felt so much natural energy.

It was the night of the full moon in Gemini (and I'm a Gemini), a time when in India, they celebrate the Wesak Festival, their most spiritual celebration of the year. On top of that, we witnessed a full eclipse of the moon! It was then that I made a pact with myself to return to Guatemala to live. A few years later, I did return to the land of eternal springtime and was able to stay for six years. It was the best time of my life. The ancient and the modern Maya had touched my heart and soul. It is a feeling of an intense connection that I enjoy sharing.

The Ancient Maya in Space and Time

Ancient Mesoamerica was one of the great independent hearths of civilisation. Out of varied landscapes grew some of the richest cultures of the early historic world of the Americas – Olmec, Zapotec, Izapan, Maya, Toltec and Aztec.

The beginning of civilisation in Mesoamerica dates to about 2000 BCE with the rise of the Olmecs in the Gulf Coast Lowlands of Mexico. Although the Olmecs have traditionally been viewed as the first of a series of civilisations that culminated in the Aztecs just prior to the Spanish Conquest nearly three millennia later, some researchers have argued that it is preferable to consider the cultural developments from 1500 BCE to the sixteenth century CE as one complex system with various flowerings through time and space. Such a view is more than mere semantic fiddling: it indicates how impressed scholars are with the interconnectedness of ancient Mesoamerican cultures, a process that was present from the very beginning, especially in respects to the magnificent culture we have come to know as the Maya.

The Maya lived in the area of Central America that now consists of Guatemala, Belize, the northern parts of Honduras and El Salvador, all of the Yucatán Peninsula and southern Mexico (the Chiapas and Tabasco states). This whole area lies south of the tropic of Cancer and north of the equator, and is about 900 kilometres from north to south and 550 kilometres in the east-west direction.

It is believed the first humans reached Central America about 15,000 years ago. The first identifiable culture, Clovis, existed around 10,000 BCE. Some stone tools dating back to 9,000 BCE have been found in Guatemala. Around this time, the Fourth Ice Age was drawing to a close and the climate was gradually warming up enabling humans to begin eating more plants and less meat. This change was underway around 8,000 BCE.

From 8,000 BCE to 2,000 BCE the inhabitants of Central America gradually became more agrarian and they domesticated beans, corn, peppers, squash and other plants. During this time there was still no jungle, just savannah and grassland and some trees. Evidence indicates that a tropical jungle climate appeared in Central America only quite recently, after the Maya civilisation was well underway. Towards the end of this period, some recognisably Maya villages appeared and pottery and ceramics appeared. Some villages would construct simple ceremonial platforms and temples.

The period from 1500 BCE to 300 CE is called the "Pre-Classic" period of Maya culture. During this period the diversity of Mayan languages developed. The Maya experienced population growth and larger towns were constructed. This was the period when more intense agriculture began (especially corn cultivation). Monochrome ceramics, stone carving and the construction of the first buildings in places like Kaminal Juyú, Izapa, El Baúl, Tikal, Uaxactún and Dzibilchaltún are part of this period as well. Archaeological evidence suggests the construction of ceremonial architecture in the Maya area by approximately 1000 BCE.

The earliest configurations of such architecture consist of simple burial mounds, which would be the precursors to the stepped pyramids subsequently erected in the Late Pre-Classic. Prominent Middle and Late Pre-Classic settlement zones are located in the southern Maya lowlands, specifically in the Mirador and Petén Basins. Important sites in the southern Maya lowlands include Nakbe, El Mirador, Cival, and San Bartolo. In the Guatemalan Highlands, Kaminal Juyú emerges around 800 BCE. For many centuries it controlled the jade and obsidian sources for the Petén and Pacific Lowlands.

The important early sites of Izapa, Tak'alik Ab'aj and Chocolá that appeared around 600 BCE were the main producers of cacao (chocolate). Mid-sized Maya communities also began to develop in the northern Maya lowlands during the Middle and Late Pre-Classic, though these lacked the size, scale and influence of the large centres of the southern lowlands. Two important Pre-Classic northern sites include Komchen and Dzibilchaltún.

Meanwhile, the Olmec culture was developing in southern Mexico. They developed a system of writing and a complex religion. The Olmecs had a considerable influence on the fledgling Maya culture. The Maya adopted many of the Olmec skills and practices and developed them further. It seems that the mixture of the Olmec and Maya cultures touched off an explosion of cultural development. The Izapan culture, in the area of the present-day border between Mexico and Guatemala also flourished during this time. Archaeologists are not sure of the cause, but from 300 BCE to 300 CE, tremendous development occurred in architecture, writing and calendrics throughout the Mayalands and the population increased.

The Classic Period of Maya development is the 650 years from 250 CE to 900 CE. The Maya refined the Long Count calendar and developed a more advanced written language that they apparently inherited from the Izpapans and Olmecs. (The 5,125-year, 13-Baktun cycle of the Long Count ends and restarts on 21/12/2012). The Maya had a tendency to tear down buildings and temples and rebuild new ones over the rubble of the old. Some buildings are built on several layers of previous buildings. Most of the great Maya cities as they appear today were built during the Classic Period, over the remains of previous construction. Architecture and culture blossomed during the Classic Period. The Maya began to accurately record important events on carved stelae. Excellent examples of Maya carved stelae and dramatic stucco art can be seen at Quirigua, Palenque and Copán.

Early in the Classic Period, around 400 CE, the Maya became heavily influenced by the civilisation of Teotihuacan to the north. Teotihuacan was the most powerful culture in Central Mexico. Much about this relationship is unclear, but it appears to have been beneficial to both civilisations because both prospered and developed at this time.

Around the year 650 CE the civilisation of Teotihuacan collapsed. This collapse triggered an upset in the Maya civilisation. Apparently there was a struggle to fill the power-vacuum left by the collapse of Teotihuacan. Now free of its relationship to Teotihuacan, the Maya reached their highest levels of sophistication. Art, astronomy and religion reached new heights. The population grew and cities expanded in this era of greatest Maya prosperity. Astronomy and arithmetic advanced and the Maya were able to measure the orbits of celestial bodies with unprecedented accuracy. The Maya predicted the motions of Venus to a degree of precision only equalled in recent times. Maya cities were much larger and more populous than any city in Europe. The Maya's greatest artistic works in pottery and jade were made during this pinnacle of Maya development.

However, this peak of Maya development was to be short lived. By 750 CE problems arose and the "collapse" was underway. By this time, the climate was certainly changing from grassland and savannah into the tropical climate we now associate with Guatemala. In any event, the population dropped and the cities were gradually abandoned. By 830 CE construction and development had come to a halt. Some cities in Belize and the Yucatán survived longer, but in Guatemala the population abandoned the cities and redistributed itself into the farming villages of the highlands that we see today.

For reasons that are still debated, the Maya centres of the southern lowlands went into decline during the 8th and 9th centuries and were abandoned shortly thereafter. This decline was coupled with a cessation of monumental inscriptions and large-scale architectural construction. Although there is no universally accepted theory to explain this collapse, current theories fall into two categories: non-ecological and ecological.

Non-ecological theories of the Maya decline are divided into several subcategories, such as overpopulation, foreign invasion, peasant revolt, and the collapse of key trade routes. Ecological hypotheses include environmental disaster, epidemic disease, and climate change. There is evidence that the Maya population exceeded the carrying capacity of the environment including exhaustion of agricultural potential and over-hunting of megafauna. Some scholars have recently theorised that an intense 200-year drought led to the collapse of Maya civilisation. The drought theory originated from research performed by physical scientists studying lake beds, ancient pollen and other data, not from the archaeological community.

The cities the Maya built were ceremonial centres. A priestly class lived in the cities, but for the most part the Maya population lived in small farming villages. The priestly class would carry out daily religious duties, that sometimes included sacrifices, and the commoners would periodically gather for religious ceremonies and festivals.

Around the time of the collapse, there is evidence of invasion from the outside and it's possible that economic difficulties led them to abandon the cities, but the greatest change seems to be the disappearance of the priestly class; with this disappearance, the Maya stopped working on their cities. The power of the king's blood no longer was able to overcome the difficulties they encountered and the people quit believing in and supporting the idea of divine kingship. Some people seem to have continued to use their cities for a time, but that eventually came to a halt as well.

Life for the Maya did not really change drastically after the decline of their cities, for the cities were central only in their ceremonial life. Their "Classic" experience came to a halt, but the Maya did not disappear, they returned to their villages and plots of corn, or perhaps relocated far away, but they still survived. Today, there are over 8 million Maya living in Mesoamerica and more than 23 Maya dialects are still spoken.

Understanding 2012

I have long recognised the significance of the up-and-coming December 21, 2012 Maya Long Count Calendar end date and the increasing public interest surrounding the possible effects of the impending alignment involving the earth, the sun and the area looking towards the Galactic Centre of our galaxy.

I enjoy a great friendship with independent Maya researcher John Major Jenkins, who has penned various articles in New Dawn magazine over the past few years. I consider him the Godfather of 2012. John is one of the original investigators who figured out the alignment that the ancient Maya were anticipating, but it was he who put 2012 on the map with the release of Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 in 1994. Since then, a scholarly debate has slowly gained momentum, but it is only recently that a small number of established Maya scholars have begun to voice their opinions. It demands that we all investigate the realities behind the 2012 alignment concept a little more closely.

The Long Count end date that we are concerned with culminates one of the Maya's 5,200 tun (5,125 year) 13-Baktun Great Cycle calendar "ages" and is the "seating" of the next Great Cycle. As much as it is significant as the ending of one Great Cycle, at the same time, it is the creation of a new sun, a new world age. It is not the end of the world.

Scholars disagree over some of the specific aspects of this alignment as it relates to the ancient Maya stargazers and calendar formulators. Were the ancient Maya really aware of the exact location of the centre of our galaxy? Were the ancient Maya astronomer priests aware of the +/-26,000 year cycle of the precession of the equinoxes? Why did the Maya choose this time, the time that we live in, as the "end" of their Long Count calendar, when their Classic culture played out more than a thousand years ago (around 950 CE)? And why did they "initiate" this calendar cycle in 3114 BCE, more than five thousand years ago, two thousand years or so before their culture ever really began to flourish?

Scholars are now beginning to agree that it is apparent that the ancient Izapan skywatchers and the early Maya did consciously choose the 21/12/2012 date, significant because it is a winter solstice, first as the end date of this Great Cycle and then back-calculated to determine the start date. And very significantly, they started the calendar on a day when the sun was at zenith at Izapa. And even if they weren't aware of the cycle of the precession of the equinoxes nor even aware of where the "centre" of our galaxy is located, amazingly they did "anchor" this cycle's end date to a day when viewed from earth, our sun will rise on a winter solstice directly in front of the area of the bright band (bulge) of the Milky Way galaxy where the Galactic Centre is located.

What cycle are we in, which cycle number is ending?

All Mesoamerican cultures and some North American indigenous cultures believe that the evolutional history of mankind here on earth is tied into cycles of creation and transformation. Is it the end of the fourth Great Cycle and the beginning of the fifth or is it the end of the fifth Great Cycle and the beginning of the sixth? And if the latter, would it be referred to as the beginning of the sixth Long Count, or the beginning of a new first cycle in the Grand Cycle of five ages divisible within the +/-26,000 year cycle of the precession?

In my research, I have uncovered the fact that there is a difference among the beliefs of various surviving indigenous cultures, but only recently are researchers uncovering and collecting these beliefs from numerous and varied sources to get a glimpse of the whole situation.

Through a reading of the Popul Vuh, the surviving Quiché Maya Creation Myth, we find that they record four previous ages of creation and destruction (transformation) and we, like the ancient Maya, are living in the fifth cycle. The five separate creation attempts were the mountains and rivers, the animals and birds, the mud persons, the wooden persons, and now humankind (made of maize [corn]). They record that mankind first faced starvation and were eaten by jaguars and other animals. Then we faced cycle endings with transformations by wind, by a rain of fire, and more recently as most ancient cultural traditions around the world record, by floods. The end of this fifth cycle is in the calendar sign of Olin in the Nahuatl language, Caban in Yucatek Maya, and Noj in Quiché Maya, and it involves movement, vibration and earthquake. Plus, not so quite incidentally, my birthday in the sacred Tzolk'in calendar is 7 Caban – another major connection for me.

The Tz'utujil Maya creation myth confirms that we are in the fifth of a series of five eras, and also suggests an evolution through the eras, culminating in the "fruiting." In addition, it also suggests the need for a conscious evolution during this fifth era lifetime to become the ripe fruits we are designed to be, and that there is a Creation beyond the fifth if only we continue to honour the gods. Aztec, Zuni and Navajo peoples also say we are living in the fifth era, and approaching the sixth.

Do modern Maya use the Long Count calendar?

The Maya discontinued their use of the Long Count calendar long before the Spanish arrived. The Maya living today do not use it. They now only utilise the 260-day sacred Tzolk'in calendar. The use of the Long Count calendar was glyphically carved in stone on ancient Maya stelae to indicate precise days when important rituals or activities occurred, especially period endings. This practice died out around 980 CE. There are no modern Maya predictions or prophecies for this Great Cycle ending, as much as a few confused book writers would have you believe.

And be aware, if any living Maya comes out with some prophesies nowadays, it seems they are just repeating some of the same "new-agey"-type comments that they think we want to hear. They are apparently not voyaging into the cosmic centre to retrieve wisdom and learning from the gods as their ancient royal Maya counterparts were capable of. As carved in stone with images and hieroglyphic writings, ancient Maya kings were required to undertake powerful shamanic rituals culminating in journeys to "the centre of the sky" to commune, invoke and channel the power resident in the cosmic centre. It was the basis behind the ancient Maya belief system that celebrated the power of the king's blood, evolving into kingship by "divine rule." It served the Maya well, for more than two thousand years, as the cohesive force that governed their cultural evolution.

The ancient Maya were not coerced into working on building their king's massive construction projects - they willingly participated. The architecture built into all central ceremonial areas of Maya sites reflects their desire to create sacred space for the king. Their great central temples represented "symbolic sacred mountains" and were built directly on perceived earthly energy centres. The upper rooms were "symbolic sacred caves," portals for accessing the Maya Underworld, which at night was the Upperworld above them. The king's throne represented the inner nucleus of power, the hot seat and hotline of communion with the cosmic centre and source. In so many ways, the Maya manifested the saying: As above, so below. From what I can gather from some of the Maya spiritual elders whom I am aware of, the modern Maya are not voyaging into the cosmic centre this time around.

How might 2012 affect us?

There is an "alignment zone" for our sun's alignment over the Galactic Centre that is 20 or so years (1 Katun) on either side of 2012, due to the perceived "width" of our sun passing over the area of the creation place. The scheduled "movement" transition isn't going to happen all at once exactly on December 21, 2012. That particular day is only a "marker" for another age of transition, and taken by itself, it certainly isn't the cause of anything.

Take a good look around… you can't deny that we are experiencing worldwide transformation and change in many respects and this action will continue to accelerate. Not only is there an increase of powerful earthquakes and changes in climate around the world, but mankind is also being shaken down to the core of our most treasured beliefs. It isn't just the physical world, but also our mental, emotional and spiritual worlds that will get a big "shaking up." Current worldwide religious and political system divisiveness needs to transform into a global plan of mutual cohesiveness and sustenance.

Plus, scientists now know that 2012 will be the peak of a great solar cycle and we can expect to experience some major repercussions from increased solar activity. In its most drastic form, solar radiation in the short term could knock out the sensitive communication satellites that monitor and control our ever-increasing technology-dependent existence and also seriously affect our genetics in the long term.

I think you will agree that we are currently living in an age of a quickening transformation. Almost all cultures around the world record and warn in myths or legends and written texts of impending change during these times. With their multiple calendars, the Maya have only provided us with a point of reference in "time," a guiding "lighthouse" to show us that we're getting close. We are the ones living now who will experience this transition. It is a wonderful time to have reincarnated! We're ready to witness the birth of the Maya's sixth sun on Friday, December 21, 2012. And if one can gleam anything prophetic from the Popul Vuh, one finds that mankind is intrinsically intertwined with the cosmic and astronomical cycles that surround this planet we call home. We need to keep consciously evolving to have all of planet Earth support all of humankind equally. Either by cause and effect or by conscious transmutation, mankind will eventually transform into something completely different in order to survive. And through it all, remember to honour the gods!

The alignment in 2012 is very important astronomically. It involves our sun aligning with the arc of the Milky Way at a crossroads (a Maya creation place) where it hasn't been for +/-26,000 years. It is a marker of a period of transition and change that is worthy of recognition, understanding and celebration. It is not the end of the world… it is a planetary-wide opportunity to help re-create it. There will be an international push towards aligning human intent towards manifesting a better world for ourselves with a focus towards raising our collective consciousness.

We are all co-creators with the gods. Honour the divine within you; create your own cosmic connection. But be forewarned, no matter if you celebrate the Maya Long Count calendar end date at a Maya site or not, wherever you are on 21/12/2012, take along some strong UV sunglasses and use some strong sun-block. Future generations are depending on you! Have a great 2012!

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Above photo montage of Maya Elder Don Rigoberto, one of Jim Reed's connections. The printed version of this article includes extensive colour photos, montages and graphics that help explain concepts. Photo © and courtesy the author. Find out about tours to Maya sites by contacting Jim Reed at [e-mail].

John Major Jenkins' latest book is The 2012 Story. In a very matter-of-fact manner, John confronts his critics and lays it all on the line. Order your copy at www.the2012story.com.

No where can you get a DVD that tells the 2012 story with all colour images, including NASA photography. Understanding 2012 has its focus on Maya creation centres, the Popol Vuh, the amazing accomplishments of the ancient Izapan skywatchers, and the modern Maya Spiritual Elders. The meaning behind 2012 is told in a manner that you can grasp, then share it with your friends. Order your copy today by contacting Jim Reed at [e-mail].

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JIM REED is a Maya aficionado who has been involved with Maya studies for 40 years. He is currently editor of the IMS Explorer, an informative monthly newsletter by the Institute of Maya Studies (based in Miami, Florida). He was past President of the Institute in the year 2000. The IMS offers traditional postal mail subscriptions (printed in black and white) and a colourful online version. The IMS thanks our subscribers in Australia and New Zealand and we welcome more! Jim also leads group adventures to the Mayalands. Perhaps you will need to ground yourself soon in the land where time was born. Imagine the possibilities! Contact Jim Reed for more information at [e-mail]. You can also contact him by searching for him using his email address on FaceBook and MySpace.