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The Mayan Prophecies
BJ Moyer
In this last millennium, a great civilization of scientists,
artists and warriors, more than 12 million strong, abruptly
abandoned their world. They were the Mayan , a people of
great vision, whose cities and temples along the present day
Yucatan Peninsula, were swallowed up by the jungle. They
left behind great civic centers, temples of worship, houses
and apartment buildings. They buried great works of art,
pottery and plows. The crowning achievement of their entire
civilization is the Mayan calendar. To this day it is a
puzzle to modern scholars. It may also serve as a warning to
us about the destruction of our own civilization
According to anthropologist, Dr. Arlen Chase, " The Mayan
calendar is one of the wonders of the world. It is so
accurate in terms of its counting ability, that it puts our
calendar to shame. To the Mayan, time was cyclical. So, you
return and cycle back. They have one major cycle that
started in 3113 B.C. that is going to come to an end on
December 12, 2012." At this time they believed that there
would be a sudden reversal in the earth's magnetic field.
The Mayan feared that the sun, which they had nourished with
their human sacrifices, would one day no longer send its
life force. They believed this would end the last age of
man.
Mayans counted the days according to two calendars, one a
"vague" year of 365 days and the other a shorter cycle of
260 days. Every day had two names, one according to each
calendar, so that the same combination of names would not
recur for 52 years. When one of these 52 year time periods
came to an end, they would leave their cities and go to the
surrounding hills and anxiously watch the stars. The sign
they were looking for was the Pleiades star-group." The
appearance of these stars meant that the heavens had not
stopped turning and the sun would rise again. They "
celebrated the birth of this new 'century' with rejoicing
and the lighting of fires, symbolizing the rebirth of the
world."
Many ancient Mayan documents were destroyed in the early
years of the Spanish occupation. The Spanish were both
fascinated and horrified by what they found in this "New
World." They looked on the Mayan religion, which included
human sacrifice, as barbarous and satanic. " They set about
to destroy it without a trace. Whole libraries of colorful
bark-books were burnt and the Mayans who did not die from
disease, hunger and over-work were forcibly converted to
Catholicism."
Fortunately, not all the Spanish were unsympathetic towards
the Mayans. A few, such as "friar Bernadino Sahagun, made
friends with the natives and attempted to record for
posterity their traditional beliefs and ideas. Also, a few
priceless books and relics did survive the destruction,
either having been hidden by the Mayans or exported back to
Europe as presents for the Spanish king. The most important
of these was a book called the Dresden Codex, named after
the town in whose library it was found. This strange book,
inscribed with hieroglyphs, was written by Mayan Indians.
In 1880, a brilliant German scholar read the Dresden Codex
and cracked the code of the Mayan calendar, making it
possible to translate the many dated inscriptions that were
found etched on buildings and ancient Mayan artifacts. This
ancient Mayan book was concerned with astronomy, providing
detailed tables of lunar eclipses and other phenomenon.
In 1986, Maurice Cotterell put forth a revolutionary theory
concerning astrology and sun cycles." He had for some years
suspected that the sun's magnetic field had consequence for
life on earth." As he studied the Dresden Codex, he
discovered that the Mayan calendar was not arbitrary but
based on a knowledge of sunspots. This explained the Mayan
obsession for long cycles of time and their belief in the
rise and fall of the four previous ages of man.
"Because Mayan time was cyclical, effects were thought to
eventually, and potentially, repeat themselves. So you have
all these various cycles that fit together. Certain days
were considered unlucky, others days were considered very
good. It's like looking at your horoscope. To the Mayans,
certain years were good and certain years were bad. Also
certain blocks of 20 years, called katuns, were considered
good or bad. Each block of time, and its so-called
'personality' for good or bad, feast or famine, were the
teeth on the cogs of the calendar."
By looking at the calendar, the Mayan could not only see
what day it was, or year, but also what 20 year period it
was in relation to. They could also see what was to come. So
that the demise of the Mayan may have been foretold or a
self-fulfilling prophecy. To some extent, you could argue
that the Mayan collapse was a process of their view of
time." They were foretold that there was going to be a major
problem that they couldn't survive, and they didn't.
The Mayan collapse is tied into a katun of change and is
related to earth changes by earth events , fire or water.
According to the book, The Mayan Prophecies, there is
evidence that links the Mayan civilization with the mythical
lost continent of Atlantis, which was believed destroyed in
a series of earth catastrophes. The Mayans believed that the
world had been destroyed four times before. First by water,
the second by wind and the third by fire and earth changes.
They believed that at the end of each age there is a time of
chaos, and then a period of rebuilding as a new age begins.
However, if we are to believe the Mayans they believed that
in 2012 , it would be the fifth and final age of man. In
other words, our days are numbered.
However, most scholars don't believe that we are in a final
days, however, they do believe that in the days up to the
new millennium, the earth will be in for a bumpy ride. We
are experiencing many of the same problems of the Mayans.
Our population is rising and our demands on our environment
is depleting our resources. Many believe that we can't carry
on the way we are. Dr. Chase urges us to learn from the
Mayan so that history does not repeat itself. " The Mayans
were living on their ecological edge in terms of exploiting
their environment and having a huge population base. All it
would have taken is a sudden, little imbalance in the system
for the entire system to fall apart. You throw in warfare
and you have a dangerous mix that could have led to their
rapid decline and to the collapse of their civilization."
Although the date 2012 is literally etched in ancient stone,
most modern scholars suggest the Mayans were offering a
warning not a prophecy. It's not too late to change the
course of history, but, time is running out.
The Mayan Prophecies
BJ Moyer
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Bibliography
Gilbert, Adrian, and Maurice Cotterell, The Mayan
Prophecies, Published 1995.
"Mayan Prophecies," Sightings, April 30, 1997.
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