For the Mayan world the planet Venus has been one of the most predominant Celestial phenomena as well as one which entire centuries of observation have been dedicated to. It can almost be said that the ancestral Mayan Wise men had an obsession with Venus. The earliest written accounts on this subject are found in the first pages of the sacred book of the Maya-Quiche nation, the POPOL WUJ, it describes how Wukub Kaquix (one of the original names for Venus) tried to take over the place of the Father Sun. This happened in a previous humanity, and relates cataclysms and destruction caused by Wukub Kaquix as by his sons Cabracan and Zipacna. This destruction included the predominant incarnation of humanity of that time, the “Men of Wood”.
In the same way the oral tradition of the Elders describes to us: “millions of years ago Venus suffered the crash of another celestial body that provoked the destruction of the latter (perhaps an asteroid?), at the same time taking Venus out of its orbit. This provoked a series of cataclysms and readjustments in the planetary system, on the way to its current orbit and due to its proximity to the terrestrial orbit. It changed the rectitude of the Mother Earth (the terrestrial axis?). It also tried to take over the Sun’s position, since it seemed bigger than any other celestial body in the skies and it outshone the Sun and the Moon. Furthermore they where no longer visible, and its pride and vanity grew to a point that it demanded the humanity of that time to worship it and pay tribute to its children, who could raise the mountains in one night (Zipacna) and destroy them on the next day (Cabracan) . This is how this humanity, that of the Men of Wood, lived mistakenly in their end, until the Great HUN AB KU intervened and set it on its place. This way the Great Father Sun got its power back and the Moon appeared at night. Now when Venus is seen it is only announcing that the Father Sun is coming and its power had been reduced to being the first star to be seen at night”. In few words, this is the story of Venus told in the year 1987 by Don Pascual , who was one of the highest Wise men of the Eagle Clan of the MAM nation, the most ancient next to Qanjobal in the great Mayan civilization.
Aside from predictions based on the Sacred calendar (TZOLKIN or CHOLKIJ), the MAYAN CODEX ,the KUMATZIN WUJ JUN (better known as the Dresden codex) contains descriptions of the rituals for some of the Mayan Deities, as well as calculations for a few thousand years for Solar and Lunar eclipses. The codex especially contains the charts for the calculations of the cycles of Venus, its transit over its apparent path over the face of the Father Sun. This codex is proof of the amazing astronomical knowledge, mathematics as well as Mayan writing.
The fascination of scientists and mystics has been limited, because few of them know the real meaning of the context of this extraordinary document. Regarding the sinodic phases, cycles and transit of Venus, they only confirm the close attention (almost obsessive) that the Mayan world has had over this planet.The apparent Path of Venus over the face of the Father Sun (an ecliptic transit in relation to the Sun) has announced drastic changes in the Earth, from cataclysms, wars, destruction (lack of food, plagues, etc.) to historical changes regarding the evolutionary development of both human beings and the Mother Earth (a destiny that is connected although not intertwined).
Now that we are at the gates of a New Path of Venus over the Face of the Sun on June 7-8 2004, the least we can do is expect a new change in the outcome of humanity. Death is knocking at our doors. The drums of war can be heard. Intransigence, the destruction of our Mother Earth, pollution, new diseases, the resurging of old plagues, global warming, the fear of world conflict, intolerance and fundamentalism in any of its manifestations, negligence, apathy, the confusion or worst still the extreme estrangement of drug abuse. All of this is a reaction to the fear caused by the thought that the world as we know it can be destroyed, and to the poor answers that materialism gives, having reached its limit and offering no other direction, because it is based in distractions, in momentary satisfactions. While reason and logic tell us that we have to stop all this madness, we are living in the age of prophecies, and the responsibility of balancing things is ours. There is no more time to play; it is know time to act.
Venus is for the Mayan world the messenger; it brings its share of events that do not happen from one day to the other, those that are irreversible. It is the announcement of change. The movements that are being organized for this date (ceremonies, meditation, fasting, etc.) are important and are aimed towards a new path for as we know them. We can minimize Pluto’s energy and especially Orion’s energy, both of which provoke violence and destruction, because they move the rest of the planets towards chaos.
The Mayan Cross for this day tells us that this day’s energy is preceded by the hidden magic of the Aj Itz (Black Magicians) to create chaos. The heart manifests power over the mind, and a powerful and psychic energy which carries violence. Destiny shows that great authorities reveal themselves and uncover their sins, and a new authority will come that will change the path of things. However, this can be painful (unless we are prepared and willing). In the material hemisphere, forgiveness and sin surge in their highest expression. A balance in the spiritual hemisphere starts to surge from duality (this is if we are prepared and willing). Conditions to plant a new destiny are created. The Great Ajaw, the Father Sun, goes hunting. This means that in the hope of making a balance between the forces of the positive and the negative, we can count upon that magnificent assistance.
There are payments, but the net is willing to contain the destruction of the manifestation of the material reality. The regent carrier is the one of wisdom. The other part carries an energy with a great deal of strength (violent).
The pyramid of forgiveness and sin that rules the material world; that has ruled for all these years, has the law in its heart, authority of the beginning (hope), its crest (head) has the energy of the number seven (this number gives access the knowledge of magic within the material) and its bases give us the winal the twenty that is the number of purity and at the same time it manifests the human being.
The great guardian brings the energy of a new beginning, the beginning of a new era (it will begin after the change of attitude and the action of the beings of light). Here we can make a relation with the beginning of FIVE AJAW, the FIFTH SUN. This is the cycle of a new humanity: of peace, harmony, balance, knowledge and the kingdom of wisdom, the return to the Original Law, to the basic, to the harmony with Mother Earth, the encounter with ourselves. This cycle begins on December 21 of 2012.
Carlos Barrios is a Mayan Ajq’ij, who originates from and resides in Guatemala. Carlos has been given the mission by his elders to begin sharing the prophecies and teachings of the Mayan peoples with the rest of the world. Carlos travels internationally to share these teachings and to generate awareness and support for the rescue and preservation of the ancient Mayan tradition in his homeland. Carlos is also the author of “Kam Wuj: El Libro del Destino”, and out of print book on the astrology and prophecies of the Mayan peoples.
Saq’ Be’: Organization for Mayan and Indigenous Spiritual Studies is a non profit organization based in New Mexico, US. Saq’ Be’ works to bring people, especially young adults, together with ancient traditions for the purpose of cultural and spiritual preservation and to open the doors of opportunity for those traditions to share their teachings with the rest of the world. Preservation programs include Radio broadcast capacity for the Native community in Chichicastenango, Guatemala and support for filmed documentation efforts of elders and guides of the Mayan tradition. Meetings programs include trips to Native communities in Guatemala and arranging for travel and teachings for the keepers of this ancient wisdom to the US and abroad. More information can be found at: http://sacredroad.org, or by email at: saqbe[at]sacredroad[dot]org.
Below are the notes from a recent discussion with Mayan Ajq’ij Carlos Barrios in Guatemala in preparation for an interview on earthchangestv.com. The projections were made by Carlos, Carlos Alvorado and Mayan elder Don Julian Aq’ab’al. Further and more detailed projections expanding upon those below will be released in the near future. The projections are broken down by category of effect: Economy, Environment, War, Transit of Venus – June 6th, and Yellowstone
Economy –
We’re going to begin to witness the start of a retraction in the economy. It won’t be drastic, rather a gradual process that will begin in May. It will change slowly, but in a negative manner. The time around November/ December will perhaps be more dangerous. Europe, however, will begin to see some realizations towards economic and social development in a more balanced way, one that expresses greater equality. We may also see a lot of manifestations – social protests during this time.
Environment –
All nations need to put their attention towards the environment. There will be a change in the oceanic currents, in the form that the cold currents will move south. This will affect the weather. It can get very cold, and this will affect agriculture in the United States. This will happen at some point in the next 2 or 3 years, but it can happen at any moment during this time. We need to take an active role in preventing this. We need to work to curtail the pollution and put special attention towards the Amazon. There are energy groups that can destroy up to 30% of the forest in the next year or two, and this will have a great effect on the climate. We need to reach those in the extractive industries – timber companies, oil, etc so that they can elevate their consciousness and become aware of what they are doing. We must also do this for the chemical companies.
War –
We must encourage the world leaders to promote a dialogue of peace rather than confrontation with other countries. Israel and Palestine need to develop an energy of peace, as well as a conversation with developing nations must begin.
Transit of Venus – June 6th
This is a significant event. It will affect us more on the psychological and emotional levels than physical. We are in a special moment for humanity. Pluto is the force that makes confrontations and this is in complete opposition with Venus. This can create emotional problems for humanity and the problems in the Amazon may be amplified because of this. We need to send our energy, prayers and support to the Amazon. We are pretending on the surface that there is nothing that is going to happen, but in the deeper parts of ourselves we know that there are changes. If we don’t create unity we are in trouble. This is why we are working towards a gathering of spiritual leaders for this purpose, to come together to demonstrate the unity that we share at this time. We need this gathering so these leaders can take the torch of the light to create balance. This may take place in New Mexico, maybe Sweeden (note: this is a project Saq’ Be’ will be working to help coordinate).
Yellowstone –
This needs to serve as a warning for humanity. Of course there are movements and there is a good chance of explosions. This is the way that mother earth is saying we need to work harder to take care of her. This is the beginning of a warning and similar manifestations could well follow shortly after in other places. May 8th is an important date, as there are special ceremonies happening in the US around the Yellowstone region. This was called for by a Shoshone elder from the Yellowstone area. The Mayan elders are calling for prayers and ceremonies around the world to support this effort and to hopefully stop the destruction that is possible from Yellowstone. Meditation and prayer is the least we can do on that day, and we should focus on being in harmony around the world. In particular, people can light green candles to support this effort. There will be ceremonies in Guatemala at this time.
Carlos Barrios is a Mayan Ajq’ij, who originates from and resides in Guatemala. Carlos has been given the mission by his elders to begin sharing the prophecies and teachings of the Mayan peoples with the rest of the world. Carlos travels internationally to share these teachings and to generate awareness and support for the rescue and preservation of the ancient Mayan tradition in his homeland. Carlos is also the author of “Kam Wuj: El Libro del Destino”, and out of print book on the astrology and prophecies of the Mayan peoples.
Saq’ Be’: Organization for Mayan and Indigenous Spiritual Studies is a non profit organization based in New Mexico, US. Saq’ Be’ works to bring people, especially young adults, together with ancient traditions for the purpose of cultural and spiritual preservation and to open the doors of opportunity for those traditions to share their teachings with the rest of the world. Preservation programs include Radio broadcast capacity for the Native community in Chichicastenango, Guatemala and support for filmed documentation efforts of elders and guides of the Mayan tradition. Meetings programs include trips to Native communities in Guatemala and arranging for travel and teachings for the keepers of this ancient wisdom to the US and abroad. More information can be found at: http://sacredroad.org, or by email at: saqbe[at]sacredroad[dot]org.
In May of 2003, we received a message from the Mayan Elders of the Eagle Clan in Guatemala, delivered by Carlos Barrios. This included a warning for the period of August 15 to December 16, 2003 and specific instructions for prayer and meditation for the period of December 4-7. While this larger period has not yet concluded, we write here an observation of this time as well as share words of guidance offered by Carlos.
Over the last several months, we have been witness to some extraordinary manifestations. From blackouts, fires, killer heat waves, unprecedented solar activity, unusual earthquakes, hurricanes out of season, asteroids passing extremely close to the earth and other strange geothermal activity such as that at Yellowstone, there has certainly been movement. In spite of various terrorist attacks and other causes of loss, we as humanity have been fortunate to have been spared from the potential destruction the elders recognized. So what happened? According to Carlos, the work of humanity to create balance has to some extent demonstrated success. The prayers, meditation, lighting candles, ceremonies and actions have moved humanity towards creating a new balance. There are many people that have been moving towards the positive, thus becoming a part of achieving that balance. Indeed, there were many positive things that were manifest during this period as well. In Guatemala, the will of the people overcame tyranny as 80% of eligible voters cast ballots to cast out a former dictator and give hope to a better future. With a peoples revolution in Bolivia, Sarayacu in the Amazon of Ecuador receiving a favorable ruling before the inter-American Commission on Human Rights to success by the SAGE Council and others in preventing a road being constructed through their sacred Petroglyph Monument, we’ve seen progress that holds great meaning for many people.
So as this small cycle draws to a close, where are we left and what have we to do? Carlos says we must continue to be vigilant. We need to deepen our connection to the earth, spirituality and ourselves. We should continue to light candles for a greater awareness and for the rebuilding of Mother Earth. While the energies began to move to the south and, we should continue to put attention towards the translation of this energy from the north to the south. And we must continue to create the balance between the positivity and the negativity. Carlos stated that there are not many positive energies aligned for next year, but we have the power to change that. He stated we should move from a dependence on materialistic things, especially those we use as a crutch for our self-esteem as there is a new possibility of economic imbalance. We have the power to create this harmony as we move towards 2012.
What are the most important things to focus on in this new period? There are two things: Clarity and Purification. Clarity in that we need to stop lying to ourselves and others. We must begin to truly know ourselves – what we really are and what we would like to change. We must develop this consciousness with a greater profundity. Purification upon the four planes which we exist: We must clean our bodies. Don’t eat too much meat, drink soda or take in chemicals and processed foods – we should return to a more natural diet. We should also return to more natural and preventive medicines. We can purify our minds. We must identify the problems inside of us then 1) accept the problem and 2) work to remedy it. We can purify our psychic selves: we can identify what is in our subconscious, then accept the problem and go deeper to remedy it, with meditation and working with the energies. We can look deep within ourselves and see what promises we’ve made that have been left unfulfilled. We can purify our spirit: We need to develop the awareness that we are all a part of the Great Spirit, that we are all divine beings. With this awareness, we can be free and heal ourselves and be free of desire. Spirit is manifest in each one of us in the vertebrae near the heart. If we put our attention to this part of the body, we can come into contact with our spirit. We can work to remove the armor we place there that we use to shield ourselves from the world. Then we come to realize that we are elders, masters, etc.
As we walk this path together as humanity, we are presented with great opportunity in the face of adversity. Our steps are taken with the choices we make. May we choose these steps with wisdom and may they lead us down a road of greater harmony, balance and justice as we approach 2012.
Adam Rubel is Co-Director of Saq’ Be’: Organization for Mayan and Indigenous Spiritual Studies, a non profit organization based in New Mexico, US. Saq’ Be’ works to bring people, especially young adults, together with ancient traditions for the purpose of cultural and spiritual preservation and to open the doors of opportunity for those traditions to share their teachings with the rest of the world. Preservation programs include Radio broadcast capacity for the Native community in Chichicastenango, Guatemala and support for filmed documentation efforts of elders and guides of the Mayan tradition. Meetings programs include trips to Native communities in Guatemala (next trip is for the Mayan New Year, June, 2004) and arranging for travel and teachings for the keepers of this ancient wisdom to the US and abroad. More information can be found at: http://sacredroad.org, or by email at: saqbe[at]sacredroad[dot]org.
It is not our possessions, nor our actions that determine who we are. It is our decisions that make us. And if in this reality, with the divine power of life we have been given which is not defined, the destiny of our life is marked by its transience.
Throughout thousands of years, the traditional Mayan world has preserved the ancestral knowledge. This legend has been transmitted throughout different clans or groups that follow the highest Mayan spirituality – which is where the purity of the ancient wisdom has been maintained. Today we are living in prophetic times. Various prophecies of the Maya as well as other traditions point to these times. This transcendental time is where the changes are manifesting. Humanity needs to see these changes with respect to themselves and towards the whole of the sacred mother earth. We are at the doors of change for the structures of the system that we know both economically and socially, which need to be transformed towards something that is more just and balanced. The Mayan prophecies are a mixture of scientific/technological knowledge based on the sacred Tzolkin calendar and the visionary powers of the Chilanes Balanes (shamans/prophets). To date, all of the prophecies they made have been realized with a high degree of precision. The prophecies are the foundation of the Mayan world, which is based on the sacred calendar. In the Mayan world, this reality exists in the Najt (space-time), and is an infinite spiral in which cycles and events are repeated with a certain correlation to a previous/future time, corresponding to similar events. This is why each person has a sign inside of the cycles of the Winales (period of twenty days). This will mark their destiny regarding events that occur during different periods of their lives. Every human brings a certain energy and purpose to their life.
When a wise one speaks, it is not to convince the incredulous. They do it to guide and awaken the consciousness of those that follow the path towards consciousness. Their words are not only for intellectual debate or for the nourishment of the spirit. In actuality, the spirituality of these prophetic times are not limited to contemplation and meditation. Today spirituality is synonymous with action; and action is every act of your life, in harmony with Mother Nature, and most importantly the harmony within ourselves, and in relation to the way in which we live.
Don Pascual
Wise elder of the Mam Maya
This message begins from being with the elders and Aj’qij’ab (Mayan priests) of the Quiche Maya people on the Cerro Turkaj of Chichicastenango in the highlands of Guatemala on April 9th, 2002, at the start of the celebration for the beginning of the cycle of the sacred Tzolkin, known as the sacred Mayan calendar of 260 days. We received a phone call from a spiritual brother, Dr. Marco Cagastume G., that transmitted the words of the eldest wise one from the town of the Mam, member of the council of the grand confederation of Ajq’ij’ab, wise-ones, elders and Mayan principals. His call was of simple but very strong words. There was a tone of desperation, incredulousness; his strength and desire was to shake us from unconsciousness. He told us, “Enough is enough! Don’t you realize the damage that you are doing to your home? When did you loose your sense of reason? When did you loose the respect for our mother earth?” He would ask, “Why haven’t we taken action towards the implacable destruction we make every day, all the contamination? How is it that you can sleep at night, having this knowledge? Is it that perhaps we don’t feel a responsibility for what is happening? The reality is we do have a responsibility, a very big one. By our permitting a few others who have suspect economic interest to do what they want without our putting a stop to this action, we become equally responsible. Is it not enough to see how the climate has changed? How the earth is contaminated, as well as the air? How the rivers are poisoned, and without mentioning, the oceans as well? Where are our green Mountains? Where did the spiritual guardians run off to? Where will the jaguars, the birds and the flowers inhabit? And the rest of the brothers and sisters that gives joy and balance to life? Why have we let mother earth dry up? And then we become frightened of the floods, the plagues and the earthquakes? All of this, WHY? You know the answer. It seems we only live for the moment. We only live to obtain the material illusions, the uncontrollable consumerism of things that don’t serve us. Things that pacify us, distract us and make us feel as though we are somebody. What to say of the spiritual guides? This call is primarily for them, and for all the beings that are working for the light. Let’s take awareness – it is time to assume the role that they are responsible for. It can all be put into one simple word: UNITY! Let it bring us harmony and a return of consciousness. Harmony with mother earth, respect for each other, respect to our brothers and sisters the animals, towards the plants and most of all, toward ourselves. Ask your grandmother, your grandfather, the elders ? they have the peace and the wisdom, the awareness. Listen to the wind. Hug the ancient trees and ask them. Listen to the river or simply quiet your mind. You will see that the answer, the truth is within yourself, in the depth of your soul ? then you will know that you are a warrior of the light, of the peace, of love and of harmony. And then raise your voice ? without violence, but with strength. All of us united will reconstruct the wonder of life. Please, let’s return to be human beings!”
Today, one year after this phone call, after the prophetic warning, (about the war in Iraq and what this encompasses with this charge of violence and death. In spite of these unfortunate events, there was good fortune that the war began in March rather than April, because there could have been more tragic consequences. Before the start of the war, the visionaries and the prophets had begun to talk) we have received the messenger from Xibalbay, known as the underworld. This has nothing to do with the inferno of other traditions. It is a subterranean world where humanity lived for a long time, after a cataclysm that made it impossible to live upon the surface of the world. There are still some powerful magicians/beings of Xibalbay that live in the depth of this world and they have sent this messenger.
Cablicot is the name of this messenger. Its origin is as ancient as the night of time and has as its companion Camalzotz. Cablicot is the owl with two heads and Camalzotz is the bat with two heads. Today, Cablicot has come and its words are a warning; it is of the prophetic memory for these times during which various prophecies converge, be they from Mayan or other traditions. Because of its own dualistic nature, its words came with the war, like a preamble. This is a special messenger that looks towards the darkness. Its head turns three hundred-sixty degrees. Each of its faces looks with indifference towards the two polarities. Its words bring a call without charge, almost like a recording. Its own essence of polarity is the message.
The Mayan prophecies speak to us of the changes towards the fifth Ajaw (fifth sun), on the famous date of December 21, 2012. This date begins the period of 5,200 years. This is a cycle of wisdom, harmony, peace, love, of consciousness and the return of the natural order. It is not the end of the world as many from outside of the Mayan tradition have misinterpreted it to be. The first cycle (Ajaw/sun) was a feminine energy and its element was fire. The second cycle (Ajaw/sun) was of masculine energy, and its element was earth. The third cycle (Ajaw/sun) was a feminine energy and its element was air. The fourth cycle (Ajaw/sun) is a masculine energy and its element is water. The fifth cycle (Ajaw/sun) will be a fusion of both feminine and masculine energies. It will be a transition where there won’t be any more confrontations between the polarities. It will bring balance and there won’t be hierarchy of one over the other. Both energies will support each other. It is why this period is called one of harmony, the kingdom of love and the return of consciousness. Its element will be the ether. This fifth Ajaw/sun comes with the power of transmutation. To reach this state of supreme harmony, it will be necessary to create the balance of the forces of the light and the dark. This is where the importance of the call of the Mam elder comes into place ? the quest for the unity, the return of the natural order. This call is urgent in the face of the prophetic times in which we are living ? principally for the spiritual guides and conscious people. At this time, we need to unite and create a belt of light that will contrast with the negativity.
Those working with the negativity are clear in their purpose. They are the owners and lovers of the material world. They govern with their power and with the illusions that they create. They have most of humanity half asleep. A human being has become an object for the purpose of production, to generate certain output during their lives. Today, s/he is a number, and object which creates necessities and useless gratifications that fills the void of their unconsciousness. Those working with the negativity are clear in their roles ? they don’t discuss hierarchy, they know who the boss is in the different levels of power and they do their job with precision. The contrary exists in the side of the light. Here there is no idea of hierarchies ? every person goes off on their own, each one with their own ego. They believe they are the owners of the truth, the wisdom and in their egoism scream to the four winds that they are the path of salvation. Many don’t have a sense of what is happening. They have sold the knowledge that has been given to them. One of the gravest situations is that many cults and “new age” movements have emerged. Let it be clear that we are not against their work, but we are suggesting they return to the origin where their techniques came from. Many of them were taken from ancestral traditions ? but only in bits and pieces, not in their entirety. Although it may work for specific aspects, the most essential elements have been left aside – the integral and harmonious development. We know that they are necessary steps for development and are a bridge or a path towards the essence of the great traditions, but it is important to recognize the origin of their techniques and to guide the persons towards the depth of the highest spirituality. The call is for unity, to leave aside all differences, to find respect and tolerance, to create the balance. It is true that when a white magician is born, a dark magician is born as well. The ones that are being born now are not wasting any time and they are clear on their mission.
They prefer to destroy the planet (something which we can not deny nor close our eyes to) before the moment of the fusion arrives, rather than relinquish their position of power as owners of the material world. “We are living in dangerous times, my son” my teacher don Pascual would tell me. “If there is no clarity, if there is no unity, if we do not return to the natural order, if we do not reach harmony amongst ourselves we are condemned as a species to disappear as a result of our own madness.”
This is the call to spread, the cry of hope, of returning to the brothers and sisters to create balance based on consciousness, love, the surrender and above all the clarity that we don’t have time to play around anymore. This is the time of action! When we talk about not having any more time left, I am referring to the prophetic projections of the ancestral science of the Mayan world, and of our own intuitions in conjunction with our work with the visionaries, the diviners. This has given us the message of Cablicot. This makes us see a close future of great danger. This is a cycle that starts in mid August and lasts until mid-December of this year (2003). This period is of instability, destruction and confrontation and natural catastrophes can emerge: droughts, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes ? like we have never before seen ? bringing the consequences of death’s appetite. The most difficult confrontations are with intolerance as well as the economic interests. The most delicate confrontation is of the religious fundamentalists, guided by the negative forces that can provoke great conflicts. This is a tendency, an energy that is gestating, which does not mean that we can not change or minimize it on the level on which we are affected. At this moment, the elders and the shamans of the Mayan world are making fire ceremonies daily, without end, in a manner similar to the Native Americans who are working hard with their own ceremonies. This is true of our brothers the Hopi, the Huichol elders, the powerful Taitas throughout the Amazon, the great wise ones of the eternal snows of the Andes, the Ayamaras, our brothers in the Sierra Nevada, the great Tibetan wise ones and all others that don’t have a visible form. Each one with their own tradition and mystical knowledge and sciences, are working to create this balance that has been denominated “El K’uxaaj Saq’ Be'” – the path of the positive energy / the white path of the good heart. This is where the two poles intersect over the west coast of the American continent, touching the continent’s energetic centers simultaneously reactivating the positive flow of energy.
The call is so that we may all work together ? the elders, the shamans, the wise ones and all of the people that have the awareness in order to change the negative force. It is about reaching all of the people with an urgency, to counteract the events that are juxtaposed to this period of August to December. The elders are making a call for the balance that needs to exist, with the intention of calling all leaders as well as all of the people that have the desire to achieve the balance.
As an immediate action, it is important to meditate at sunset (if this is not possible i.e. work, then as close as possible), placing the focus on harmony, reconnecting with Mother Earth, asking for forgiveness for the damage we have done to her, for our own personal responsibility and for other peoples and institutions that are repeatedly destroying her. Then we can place the intention on sending a message to the negativity to let it know that we are active, that there is an awakening, that there is unity and that we will no longer permit the destruction of mother earth or of humanity and that we are conscious of the importance of this moment and to project to the transition of the date of Dec. 21 2012. For this, it is suggested that you light two candles ? one white, that represent peace, harmony, the positive thought – one red that represents the force, the light, the energy of a new dawn and the action. The reason for doing this at sunset is because this is the time of transition from day into night and it is the moment to create the balance and to send positive energy. As inheritors of an ancient civilization, the Mayan elders make us reflect upon the need and the urgency for creating this path of positive energy. The events of the cycle between August and Dec of this year can be extreme expecting plagues, natural phenomena, (such as hurricanes, earthquakes, drought and floods, overheating and the melting of the glaciers), if we don’t create that strength of peace , harmony and balance with mother earth and between human beings. There is also a possibility of creating a major warlike conflict. Theses cycles have occurred in the past with other humans (civilizations) and also at the end of cycles of the Ajaw, cycles of 5,200 years. We are now at the end of the fourth cycle Ajaw that will end Dec 20, 2012, and the fifth Ajaw enters Dec 21, 2012, a date that is known to be catastrophic by people outside of the Mayan tradition- which in reality marks the beginning of changes in the way we see and live life, focusing more on harmony, the key word for existence in this reality.
FROM DECEMBER 4- TO DECEMBER 7 OF 2003
Inside the charge of these cycles of changes, there are vortexes that open up a space. After the red planet distances its charge, there is a subtle convergence between the cosmic and telluric forces, a time that lasts four days. This openness gives us the opportunity to create the force and balance. It is a sublime space that will allow us access to Jun’ab’ku, heart of the heavens. This is a good time to ask for the internal strength, strength for the community, for the consciousness and to synthesize balance. This is the moment when the strength of all those beings of light, are needed. If possible, it is asked to fast, perhaps on fruit, to remain abstinent for at least four days prior and to do ceremonies at sunrise and sunset. It is important to work from sunup to sunset on both the 4th and the 7th, because this is the opening and the closing. The point of focus is to create the longing desire to awaken the south. Beginning from the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, to the Amazons, to the mountain range of the eternal snows of the Andes and carry that energy to the most ancient mountains on this part of the world in Cordova, Argentina. The transcendence of this moment is of much importance for our beloved mother, PACHAMAMA. It is also the survival of this “fourth humanity”.
The day of the 4th brings to us the energy of the Nawal Tzikin, the great intermediary between the heaven and the earth. It is the messenger and the eagle-quetzal-condor that will create the unity between the north and the south. This will permit us willingly if we joined our forces together throughout the continent and around the world to awaken the Saq’ Be’, the white path. On this day we focus on the divine messenger that carries our prayers, our feelings and the drumming of our hearts. Let it be that on this day there is only one heartbeat, one sound of drumming calling to the four corners of the universe and at last finding Great Spirit. In the north it is the Eagle, in the center it is the Quetzal and in the south it is the Condor, (the ancestral messengers between the human and the divine). So, lets have just one heartbeat, one fire, a simple ceremony but very majestic. Let’s travel to the sacred places and reclaim the harmony.
The day of the 5th brings to us the energy of the Nawal Ajmaq, the keeper of the sin and forgiveness. This is a day to reflect upon our lives, to be in silence and to go within, to look at the damage we may have caused consciously or unconsciously, to forgive and be forgiven, to forgive ourselves, but most of all to ask forgiveness for the damage we have caused mother earth. We also need to ask for forgiveness for those that destroy without conscience but only for the madness or for riches. This is an internal ceremony we do. The elders will be having their fires and ceremonies, but our connection (be it through ceremony or meditation) will be channeled towards the south to awaken the force and the return of the wisdom of the condor. This is the moment of the return of the kingdom of TIHUANTISUYO, the giant panther. As of now it is called the kingdom of INCARI. As a day of duality, the energy gives way to balance between the polarities, so this is what we need to focus on.
The day of the 6th, brings us the energy of the Nawal No’j. This is the keeper of the wisdom, the harmony, the balance and the understanding, the power of the mind and of the imagination. This is a day to use the energy of the mind to create the power of balance. On this day we need to practice internal peace as well as peace with the community. The polarization based on religious fundamentalism is reaching its unsustainable limits and it depends on beings that are committed to the essence of the real spirituality and the survival of the human race and of mother earth, to help stop this energy. Let’s not forget that this thing we call reality is mental, the “great illusion”, and the one that commands this force is the Nawal No’j. It is recommended to light white candles, to create chains of meditation and raise our words to the heart of the heavens and to the Great Spirit. We need to purify internally and check our own existence so we can do away with that which no longer serves us; to be free of antagonizing forces so we can then create the force that needs to govern now, which is harmony.
The day of the 7th brings us the energy of the Nawal Tijaax. This day is the culmination of this cycle that opens with the intermediary between the earth and the sky, followed by the forgiveness and the sin, then followed by the purification of the mind (creator of all illusions). Tijaax is the double bladed knife. It is the energy that opens up dimensions and the vortex on this day, creating a space extremely subtle and only perceptive to sensitive spirits. To us humans it gives us the opportunity to cut the negativity, to let go of that which holds us back to the vain illusions, to open up our hearts, to awaken and be able to create the balance between the polarities. We need to ask for all the spiritual guides, so they can leave behind their personal importance, so they may know how to guide us without competition and to be united and so they may not forget they are not the keepers of the truth. Each and every one of us brings a force and internal power and that all the truths are part of one manifestation of reality and this is how we’ll be able to face the changes we are about to encounter. This will allow us to reach the date of Dec. 21, 2012, with much harmony. This is the purpose of Tzacol, the planet being alive, to then be able to transcend to the 5th Ajaw.
THE YEAR 2007
As of February or maybe sooner, according to the sacred books, the sacred Tzi’te and the projections of the wise visionaries, this seems to be an extremely delicate year. Again this has to do with us reaching peace and harmony. As of now the economies can start to deteriorate, we can see that it is based on an illusion. We have seen the real value of things have disappeared many years ago. Today the economic value, money as we know it, is an electronic fantasy and if the socio-economic systems doesn’t return to being human and to the real value, the actual system is condemned to extinction. This is the unconsciousness, the senseless race in the world that continues without stopping, without going anywhere. It is escapism to live an experience in such an accelerated manner. The fear of destruction and the instant gratifications we experience on a daily basis either help us to carry out our existence or to live alienated.
This year will be hard and bring us natural disasters, warlike confrontations and disaster in the world economy. Like with all prophecies and visions of the future, there is the ability to minimize things and in some cases even change them. Although this year is of much concern, we must focus on the present which is where we will define the balance. The period of now to the end of 2007 is of much importance to maintain the balance. We will be living in a very dangerous time that this humanity has not lived before. It is within each and every one of us to reach balance and change. The focus must be on the energy that got stuck in Panama, which, because of the canal, didn’t allow the energy to reach south. This is where the work will be the most revealing, which doesn’t consist only of these four days. It is urgent to activate the base of the spinal cord of the continent of the mountain range of the Andes and the ancient mountains of Cordova. To bring on the change and as the wise Mam elder said: “PLEASE LET’S RETURN TO BEING HUMANS!”
Carlos Barrios is a Mayan Ajq’ij, who originates from and resides in Guatemala. Carlos has been given the mission by his elders to begin sharing the prophecies and teachings of the Mayan peoples with the rest of the world. Carlos travels internationally to share these teachings and to generate awareness and support for the rescue and preservation of the ancient Mayan tradition in his homeland. Carlos is also the author of “Kam Wuj: El Libro del Destino”, and out of print book on the astrology and prophecies of the Mayan peoples. Carlos is presently working on a revised edition which is to be translated to English.
Saq’ Be’: Organization for Mayan and Indigenous Spiritual Studies is a non profit organization based in New Mexico, US. Saq’ Be’ works to bring people, especially young adults, together with ancient traditions for the purpose of cultural and spiritual preservation and to open the doors of opportunity for those traditions to share their teachings with the rest of the world. Preservation programs include Radio broadcast capacity for the Native community in Chichicastenango, Guatemala and support for filmed documentation efforts of elders and guides of the Mayan tradition. Meetings programs include trips to Native communities in Guatemala (next trip is for the Mayan New Year, June, 2004) and arranging for travel and teachings for the keepers of this ancient wisdom to the US and abroad. More information can be found at: http://sacredroad.org, or by email at: saqbe[at]sacredroad[dot]org.
Birds are dropping from the hot tarnished sky onto the congested streets of Mexico City. Treetop nests empty of baby birds plunging to their deaths as chainsaws and bulldozers terrorize the Amazon Rainforest trailblazing an insatiable path to feed the hunger for oil and fast food beef. When the World Trade Center was hit, thousands of birds fell to the ground, their wings burned off and their bodies still on fire joining the other trapped spirits in debris that extended for blocks.
Indigenous peoples throughout the world recognize birds as our spiritual messengers and as our relatives through clanships and stories. Occupying the world that links the Earth and sky, birds tell us what our lives have become and of our destiny. Just as the miner’s canary indicates the shift from fresh air to poisoned gas, so does the array of signs we have witnessed over the decades from the birds, other living things, as well as from ourselves. 9-11 was a human event with repercussions for the rest of the world. The messengers are dying. As an indicator species, the birds warn us that all of life is threatened by the terror perpetuated on the Natural World by unrestrained human voracity.
The events of 9-11 occurred during a time of World Renewal among the tribal communities of northwestern California, my husband’s people, who belong to a land rich in ancient redwood forests and cool, salmon filled rivers. Each year, with woodpecker red headrolls, the echo of songs, and the vibration of continued focused thought and movement, the world is realigned and made new again. Here they say that your behavior – – thoughts, actions and character – – during this time of ceremony, when the world is being fixed and re-made, determines how life will be for the coming year. Rash decisions and violence should not occur. Relationships are reaffirmed, not broken. Not abiding by these principles may not impact you personally, but may visit those you love. Spiritual justice. Probably because of this timing, my impression of “ground zero” where the World Trade Center was hit and the resulting actions is set within this metaphysical backdrop. So that I imagine the devastation of “ground zero” is something like standing in the middle of a clearcut where 1000-year-old families of trees used to live and support a vibrant ecosystem. Now it is a place consumed by violence. The bodies of the dead are unrecoverable, crushed under the debris.
As a pueblo Indian whose people are of the desert southwest, it is even easier to imagine “ground zero” as an open pit mine similar to the one run by Peabody at Black Mesa in Arizona, with massive gaping holes leaking out the Earth’s energy and from where pristine water is used to slurry coal hundreds of miles away, further draining a fragile area of a precious life resource. Perhaps it is more a reminder of the uranium mines that left sores, and cancer all over Acoma and Laguna pueblos and surrounding communities. Maybe that bleeding hole in the Earth is more like what the coal strip mine slated by the Phoenix-based Salt River Project for our sacred Zuni Salt Lake would look like if allowed to go forward. Salt Lake, where our Salt Mother dwells, is a cherished site rich in stories and a rainbow of memories for Zuni people and for so many other desert tribes reliant on the gifts of that sacred place for physical and cultural viability, but some others hunger for the coal underneath.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas live on intimate terms with the shadow of terrorism.
It has fed on us with a ravenous appetite for our peoples and lands for centuries. It is a shapeshifter, taking the form of the Scorched Earth policy that rips apart Maya communities and that war which has lain to waste over 60 million of the buffalo people on the Great Plains during Westward Expansion, and 3000 more bison since 1995. There was that same hunger for blood in Montana where the Gros Ventre sacred Little Rocky Mountain was scraped red, down to the Earth by Pegasus Goldmine’s cyanide heap leach method, leaving only a pile of rubble where a mountain once stood. And, we know of this violence in the forced sterilization that thousands of Native women have survived. We recognize signs of terrorism in the mutilated bodies at Sand Creek and Indian Island, and on the blood-soaked snow at Wounded Knee. The vampire was there in the boarding schools where Indian children as young as four were raped and tortured, laced inside by barbed wire and fear, their mouths bleeding from being scrubbed with wire brushes when they spoke their tribal languages, and those who fled for home, their dark eyes vacant.
Terrorism is nothing new and it did not begin at the World Trade Center on 9-11. Through the lens of time and in the collective consciousness of peoples on every continent are the memories of the disappeared, the displaced and the dismembered. Terrorism has long been perpetuated in the name of God, Gross National Product, and globalization and such destruction continues unrelenting against the Natural World and each other every day. In the essence of our being Pueblo people can easily remember Onate, Coronado and De Guzman. Salmon from the Columbia River near the Hanford Nuclear Facility are covered in tumors and glow in the dark. The School of the Americas trains killers in Georgia. The Vatican put a telescope on Mt. Graham, a sacred site. An Afro-American man is dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas.
Considering this urgent social and environmental crisis, flags should be hanging half-mast and upside down.
Let this not be a war against memory. Whether it is drilling for oil in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge or in U’wa territory in Colombia, dumping toxic waste in Yucca Mountain, the strip mining of a sacred salt lake, or bombing Hiroshima, Nevada or Kabul, it is clear the birds have been reminding us that the world is out of balance. What was once a lush world is becoming a dry landscape, which only tears soften now. We can refer to the deaths at Camp Mauthausen or Manzanar, lynchings at Mankato, or the desecration of Medicine Lake, all in the same breath because the impetus of their destruction is the same and the results are so similar.
The rain burns. Whole plant, animal and human societies have vanished and others continue to be threatened with extinction at an ever-increasing rate. Terrorism is nothing new. This is not a time to celebrate violence in the name of patriotism but a time to mourn and act with compassion and vision for our collective survival. A third of the world’s birds are threatened with extinction due to habitat depletion, pollution, corporate invasion and other human threats. And birds in Afghanistan are dropping dead from the burning sky.
Tia Oros c. 2001
Tia Oros (Zuni) serves as the program director of the Seventh Generation Fund, an Indigenous peoples’ nonprofit organization.
They can be reached at:
Seventh Generation Fund
PO Box 4569
Arcata, CA 95518 www.7genfund.org
From the depths of the Andes, From the heart of the Quechua, Aymara, Amazonian nation of Peru, I send this message to you, children of the north, of the United States.Greetings, from one of the many natural representatives that are here in the region of the south. Together, with our communities, we are working on the small things and the big things that need to get done on a daily basis.
How much good will inspires me to express, through words, this message of solidarity and respect to you citizens of the north. And my heart flourishes to think that today, I’m sure you are more able to listen to the murmurs of brotherhood and reflection that the fresh winds of the south carry with them.
Who else but us, the Indigenous, know of the precious drops of blood that have been spilled so absurdly. Drops that can later on turn into rivers.
Who else but us the Indigenous, know of the bitter taste of impotency, of pain and tears. We also know well of the irresistible desire to hate and find vengeance.
But how beautifully and gracefully the natural world reveals itself to us. At the end of serene reflections, the towns that have wisdom, still, at the other side of the holocausts, end up understanding the real meaning of our precious lives here on earth, in this cosmic mother.
Our fear, if not controlled by us, could convert our existence into an accumulation of wrong knowledge and insanity. Uncertainty is given when the enemy lies.
Uncertainty governs and grows only when communities or individuals don’t know who they are and what they are doing in a world full of possibilities.
Perhaps this may be a good or appropriate time to make some reflections, with respect to some concepts and beliefs that, sometimes, we adopt as individuals.
By the mere way of living in a certain order of things, which could be looked at as being irreplaceable, and the only way, as well as a way of living in which one could be willing to sacrifice even our own spiritual, ethic and moral principles.
The Indigenous communities have a very heart felt worry regarding who it is that makes the politics, the economy and other rules of the game in the so called “modern” societies. For example, within the political directors of the modern world, the discourse on the disarmament and the fight against drugs are currently the trend.
But who is at the head of the big factories and laboratories of arms that supply the military arsenal to the countries in the world?
Is it not true that the value that weapons have are for horror and death?
Where do these un-superior chemists come from for the elaboration of the hard drugs?…And who are the owners of the banks that protect and wash the dirty money, for the protection of the laws of a secret bank?
If we search for the responsible ones, surely it would end up being the same ones that are satisfied with and benefit daily from the millions of cadavers, the victims of the drugs. And these may be the same ones that provide the scenarios for the next war or war related conflicts in the world.
And maybe this can explain why the mortal hate between the communities called “of God” and the others “the chosen ones.”
In our case, about 509 years ago, invaders arrived from Spain who justified their genocide with the argument of Christianizing the Indians. This is how they took over our lands and almost exterminated us for good.
Today the intentions are the same, although the methods have changed a great deal. Now, the transnational and economic corporations are the ones that act as the extended arm of the rich countries, where the small groups of power that have control over the towns benefit in the shadows of money and are protected by organizations of control and blackmail, such as the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank.
In this way, they will attempt to strip the last piece of metal out of our mountains, the last tree out of our forests and contaminate or dry the last drop of water from our fountains.
Once we start to demand respect for our land, we are blamed for being separatists.
If we defend our identity, our culture and our original languages, they accuse us of being ignorant and wanting to go into the past.
When it comes to our spiritual practices, they become frightened, at which time they start to penetrate us systematically, with religious occults, with alcohol, with programs for “help”, even with terrorism that is occult.
Surely, the politics of control over us, the Indigenous, may be more direct. But it is undeniable that the towns of the world today, in one way or another, suffer from manipulation, exploitation or dependence.
This message carries the purpose to manifest our solidarity; inviting you to reflect together with respect to how many more are willing to help transform and re-focus things towards a system of life that is more natural, equal and of permanence.
Our only wish is for our children to live in a world that is diverse. A place in which all colors may share and work together. Without “powerful ones” that try to conform life, for the benefit of their greedy interests.
It is true that our Mother Earth is ill and is in great pain.
A lot of the time we don’t question who the hangman is. It does not heal to reproach.
It would be more precise at these times, to re-learn, to remember and understand again the language of our mother earth.
Let us all meditate profoundly on all of this, brothers and sisters of the North.
The communities and the individualism are but simply the projection of the cosmic intelligence and of it’s laws.
We still have time to re-learn the forgotten language of Pacha Mama.
Tenth Pachakuti-fifth sun of the Andean era.
This is a message delivered to the people of North America from Juan Santos in Peru. Juan Santos is a chacaruna, a “bridge person”, one who is a vehicle for the interim infrastructure of the present Indigenous movement. His work is to fulfill the social, moral and legal needs of the people according to their spiritual values and tradtions. He is one of the many people working with the Indigenous communities of the Andes. In the region of Cuzco he is committed as a dignitary dancer with the nations who make the pilgrimage to the sacred mountain of Qoyllor-Ritti. He is Quechua.
Mayan Ajq’ij Carlos Barrios talks with Joshua Samuelson about his first contact with the Mayan tradition, the meaning of Ajq’ij, his teachers and the dangers and climate in Guatemala during the civil war. We are greatful to Joshua for authoring and sharing this article.
Carlos, what is an Ajq’ij?
Ajq means lord and ‘ij the sun. The Lord of the Sun. Sounds great huh? But it’s just a simple man working with the energies in the tradition of the ancient people.
When was your first contact with a Mayan priest?
The Mayan culture had always interested me and I studied their culture at school and by myself. Some history people told me that the Mayans disappeared and the present day indigenous people are just a not what the Mayans are just a degenerative version of what they used to be. At University, there was an opportunity to go to a small town called Todos Santos to work with a famous sociologist called Dr Nelson Alan. One morning I got up at 5.30, and I went for a walk in the mist. On this walk I saw a mysterious light and I walked through the mist to it. Once I got there I saw it was indigenous people who had created this fire and were putting these candles in the front of a type of altar, called a stella, a stone inscribed with the characters of the Mayan rite and the figure of a monkey. I saw a man and said good morning to him. He turned to look at me and then turned back and continued to make his prayers. At this moment I smiled and I said, “Why are you making your prayer to this stone, don’t you know there is only one God in the Mayan world, why a praying to this stone, this is primitive!” Again he turned to look at me and look deep into me, and he said, “Oh, you are with these people who came with the University, and you are the ones with the knowledge. It is such a pleasure to meet you. Good morning, my name is Pascual and I’m just a poor Indian. Would you do me the honor of telling me your name?” I felt stupid and replied, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to be rude, my name is Carlos, and I came with the group from the university. My intention was not to disturb your prayers. I just wanted to ask why if you have a principal god why you are making a ceremony to this stone. He smiled and he said, “This stone that you see here is the representation of the Great Father, and this stone has the energy of the Great Father and when I make a prayer the presence of the Great Father is here. Do you have a picture of your mother?” “Yes.” “Could you show me please?” So I showed him the picture and he said, “Is this your mother?” “Yes, it’s my mother.” “Are you sure?” “Yes, of course” and he said, “No stupid man, this is a picture of your mother.” When you see this picture there is a feeling there, a connection, and that is the same thing that happens here. Here in this stone is the energy of the Great Father, of the Great Spirit, and you can be sure that he will protect our crops and us. I have this year the best crops I have in my entire life. I have extra money and I am so happy and I come here to say thanks to God. And I said, “Yes you are right, I?m going to leave and let you continue making your prayers.” He said, “Come back here, take these candles and talk into them and put them in the fire. You can’t come to the fire and leave like an animal. Say thanks to the representation of the divinity.” And so I took the candles and I prayed that we remain safe in that place, because at that moment there was unrest in the area, with guerillas etc. The next day I went back to the work we were doing with the sociologist, but in the next days I became more curious about this man I had met; I was impressed by his eyes. When he looked at me, he saw deep inside me, and I felt that this man knew me, more than I knew myself. I tried to find him again, and I forgot his name. I searched and searched but all the faces of the indigenous people looked the same to me in the marketplace and I thought, “How am I going to find this man.” But I felt that if I could find him, something important would happen. One month later, a young indigenous came to me and said, “Don Pasqual invites you to have dinner at his home.” When I went to his house we began to talk and then he took my hand and he looked for my pulse and closed his eyes for a few minutes then he began to tell me the history of my life. Events that I forgot, promises I made and never fulfilled. It was a complete history of my life, and I was very impressed. I asked him how he did that and said, “In your blood is the memory of your life, and your blood talked to me and I just repeated what it said to me.” “Why are you doing this for me”, I asked and he replied, “Because you have a big problem. When you were young you had the gift of divination, and you asked spirit to cut this gift from you, and now you are trying to recover this gift, to be a visionary. That’s the reason I called for you. I can invite you to work with us, in my tradition, and I can teach you. I don’t promise you will recover your vision, but you will learn a lot of things.”
During these times traveling was difficult. I went when I could and studied with him. I was the only disciple who wasn’t indigenous, and the others saw me as stupid, and as interrupting the group. They made me feel alone. I thought, well this is the price we non-indigenous people have to pay if we want to have access to this knowledge. I was impressed by the power that this man had but I knew nothing of the tradition. Don Pasqual was the leader of one of the most ancient clans, the Clan of the Eagles. The problems with the guerrillas made it hard to travel. The Army viewed sociologists and anthropologists as military objectives as since they believed they were putting bad ideas in the heads of the indigenous people. So I couldn’t go there for five years, but we would still find ways to meet up for him to teach me. When it came time for me to walk the Mayan path to become an Ajq’ij, Don Pasqual said, “Carlos, you can’t continue with me”, and I said, “Why not! I am ready. You are my Elder, you are my teacher.””No it’s impossible for you to continue with me, because you need to walk the path for one year and then work for me for 9 months.” “That not a problem, because if I am close to you I’m going to learn a lot” I replied. This is not the problem, the problem is that during this time you need to take a vow of abstinence.” And I replied, “that’s not a problem, I don’t eat meat, I am a vegetarian, and I can fast for 10 to 14 days with only water.” “No, the abstinence I’m talking of is a vow of sexual abstinence, and you can’t do it?”(laughs) “Of course I can’t do it.” So he sent me to Elder in another more flexible tradition that didn’t have these restrictions. But he taught me to work with the wind, the mist and the water, and how to bring rain (and it work with good success I suppose (rained in SF that day)). It seems that now the clouds and the rain follow me.
Was it a different clan that you went to, after Don Pasqual?In these times about 30 or so years ago, there were the clans of the jaguars, eagles, bees, and bats. But now with the evangelical and fundamentalist Christians, globalization, many clans have been destroyed. In the 50’s, McCarthy made a plan for Latin America, designed to make the indigenous people into consumers. Part of the plan involved destroying indigenous traditions by giving money to different evangelical churches that then sent ministers to Latin America and especially Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Colombia and Peru to convert the indigenous people to Christianity. The CIA sold weapons to our governments, paid off the generals, and fostered corruption. They also gave out a lot of loans. We were not a poor country before these events. Nobody used to be interested in the dollar before, because one dollar was only worth ninety cents of our currency. Our economy was destroyed during the Cold War. Guerillas and the Army would set up camp on different sides of the most traditional Mayan villages. The first step was to kill all the Elders of the village so that the village was left without leaders. The guerillas would go into town asking for food, and of course if you have a weapon and you ask for food you get it. The next day the Army would come and say, “Who was the bastard that gave the guerillas food?” They would take these people and they would kill them, and then they’d ask for food for themselves. The next day the guerillas would come into town saying, “Who was the bastard who gave the Army food”, and so on. It was a game; the guerillas and the Army would never have confrontations. Then the fundamentalist priests from the Evangelical church North America would step into the picture. They were in on this whole game. They would make badges that say that a person is a member of the Evangelical church. The guerillas and the Army didn’t torture or kill these people. Of course, the people in the village see, “Oh if I have one of these cards and go to church and clap for two hours they won?t kill me.” This caused many indigenous people to accept Jesus, and this how things changed. They killed many of the Mayan elders and destroyed much of the tradition. There were some Elders who kept their mouths shut and survived, but people were scared to talk to them. It was too dangerous. This is how many of the big Mayan clans were destroyed. Only now is some of the tradition and knowledge coming back. However a lot of the tradition was lost. The Elders who did survive were often in the deeper part of the country, and they preserved the traditions. Now the Elders want to share this knowledge with all humanity because this is time for unity in the human race. All those walking in the path of light need to be united. We need to work together because otherwise humanity may destroy itself. The Mayan prophecies about the Dec 21 of the year 2012 don’t necessarily mean the world is going to end. It says that the kind of life we live, the economy and the society is going to change to a new type of humanity. Humanity with more conscience, more respect for the Mother Earth. This doesn’t happen instantly. This is going to take time. We hope that around the time of 2046 that there will be a new vision in place. At this moment we, as Mayans believe that a lot of humanity is going to disappear during this shift.
At this moment in time, what are the most important teachings the Mayan world can offer us?There is a lot of interest in ancient cultures and spiritual traditions. It is important that people go deeply into these traditions. Many of these traditions, philosophies and ways of life are similar because they came from ancient mother honoring traditions, which in the Mayan world call Tula culture. Many people think their religion, their tradition or their project is the one truth, the only truth, when it is a just a part of the Universe, a part of a great truth. This is one of the most important messages of unity. They are all different manifestations of the same great truth. The problem is that many of these traditions are fighting. The leaders of these different ways need to go to deeper into their traditions and focus on humility and harmony. The Mayan tradition focuses on harmony, with ourselves, with our neighbors, and with the Mother Earth. We in the light need to come to a union against the darker forces. At this time the balance is with the other side, they are destroying the Mother Earth; they are making wars and propagating consumerism. We need a balance. A few people have millions of dollars and then millions are dying because they have nothing to eat. We need to respect each other as humans so we can in turn respect the animals, the trees and Mother Earth. This is the call of the Mayan elders. It is a simple message.
What’s your part in this mission?When I was a kid I had a dream. I saw many people from different nations, Native American nations, with feathers and pipes. When I got a little older I told my father what I saw. He showed me some pictures of Tikal, and I said, “Yes, this is the place.” Then I knew my purpose of life, my mission was to be vehicle of the knowledge of the Elders. When we had a gathering of the Elders in December of 1995, and at that moment I thought, “I have finished my mission for this life and I’m going to go to the lake, and I’m going to write and heal people and do divination and I’m going to be so happy.” But the Elders had other plans, they sent me out to the world because they think I understand Western Civilization, and the indigenous people, and they sent me out to be a spokesman for the tradition. Each of the Ajq’ij has a specialty, some of them are healers, and others can cut the bad energies, are diviners or work with the sacred calendar. My specialty is to work with the sacred calendar, the Tzolkin. The Tzolkin is a very good tool for understanding our own energies in relation to other energies around us. The elders feel this is a crucial time, if we don’t change our ways and respect our environment and Mother Earth we will destroy ourselves. We are living in the times that many prophets from different cultures have talked about with all the sickness, earthquakes, floods, drought, global warming and holes in the ozone. The Elders are trying to show people that it is time to change our ways, respect Mother Earth and the each other’s traditions. In the richer countries we see the faces of many people and they are empty and unhappy because they just a number, a card, a machine, and they don’t use the experience of the Elders. The Elders get put into a nursing home. This is big mistake because these people have a lot of experience and knowledge. The famous American dream is turning into a nightmare. This is why the eyes of humanity are looking to the ancient cultures to teach us how to preserve our world.
What else would you like to tell me about the life of a Mayan Priest?When I tell people where I went last month and I tell them Colombia, Paris or Italy, they say, “What a nice life you have!” They think that travel is happiness, but the life of a shaman is tiring, we are always in the role of service for humanity. We invest a lot of time and energy and there are moments when we feel tired, empty. We don’t have time to go sightseeing. We just go to a place and work and work. There are a lot of people who are angry with us because we are coming to awaken the people. But this is part of my destiny and I accept it. The best life for a Mayan priest is one where the priest lives in his/her community and heals people. I would love to do this, but my destiny is to travel and travel and travel. On the positive side we get to share with people and help people.
Who else, apart from Don Pasqual, taught you the ways of a Mayan priest?Don Pasqual is an Elder who really taught me and who helped me to develop my power. There was another important Elder who taught me called Don Isidro. He was really different than Don Pasqual because he was an academic man with a doctorate in international laws. He spoke 14 different languages. His house was a labyrinth of books and if you picked up a book and looked in it you would find notes relating to other books in the house.
Manuel Pan Ju Lux is a Mayan Ajq’ij, or priest that comes from the village of Chichicastenango in Guatemala. Saq’ Be’ sat with Manuel while he spoke of his life and struggles upon his path that led him to becom an Ajq’ij and member of the Cofradia.
(Dictated to Saq’ Be’ by Manuel, Translated from Spanish to English by Saq’ Be’)
Born on September 15, 1974
Under the Mayan calendar, my personal sign is, Keb A’ka’bal; the darkness, with three special carriers. One which dictates me becoming an Ajq’ij.
I was born in a barrio named, Chitima. I am Indigenous, as were my parents. My parents were illiterate, as am I, but I am trying to take myself forward.
My father died in 1982, he was kidnapped. I was 7 years old. I had to start work at the age of 7 to get clothes, medicine and food. I did not go to school because I had to take care of my mother. We are four brothers and one younger sister.
Between the age of 12 and 15 I began to hang out with some youngsters that enjoyed drinking a lot. Then I met other young people that were catholic. I was with them for about four years. My body became ill around this time. I had no money. I went to the doctors and they said that there was no cure and that I was to die. My mother took me to an elder, Ajq’ij, to see if I was really to die. They began to say that I needed to become an Ajq’ij. My mother said this is why I was getting sick and that I must become an Ajq’ij. So, what I did was to gather with other Ajq’ij to perform ceremonies. Since that date, I was to serve only one god. When the elder Ajq’ij would see me carrying materials up to the altars, they would ask if I was an Ajq’ij or if I was making fun of their spirituality. I would say no, I am an Ajq’ij. “But at this age”, they would say, “this is not convenient for you”. What I had to do was think if it was better I was Ajq’ij now or if I should hide it until I was 45, 50 years of age? I began to talk with others that were conscious of my reality, other Ajq’ij. They said I had the carriers and there was the elders and that I needed to ask them for the strength and power, I needed to communicate with them, talk and ask them.
I felt the richness of the Mayan spirituality. It would be best if I go with the elders. I started to work more with them and they started to enjoy having me around. They told me I needed to hurry in getting my vara (medicine bag). They said with the age I had, I had a lot of power and strength plus that I liked working with people. They said that if they were to give it (the vara) to an older person, that it would be more difficult for them, that they would not have so much power and strength. I thought that once I became an Ajq’ij that people would come, but to the contrary, they did not. Here in Chichi there are many, many Ajq’ij.
Since I was a catholic I had a hard time believing in all of this. There was a confrontation, a meeting, between the catholic leaders and the Ajq’ij, to talk about me being an Ajq’ij and my dying. The catholic priest wanted me to choose a path, so, I surrendered to the road. I still needed age and experience and strength.
At the age of 20, I got married. Once I got married I became ill again. The doctors said that I didn’t have anything and the elders said that it time for me to receive the vara. At the age of 20 I became an Ajq’ij. I got together with a lot of Ajq’ij around the area. They helped me find my strength and force. I had to do/perform many ceremonies for the strength After I waited and I did feel the energy and strength. The elders told me to communicate with all the energies of the Mayan calendar. That on the day EE, I would do a ceremony to bring in the people. I did four ceremonies and the people started to come from all over the place. People of different religions and spiritualities. I am trying to preserve and maintain our spirituality. Slowly the other Ajq’ij that did not want me to be an Ajq’ij, saw for themselves, I did not have to convince them. I would go to all the places they would go to do ceremonies, I was able to get closer and talk with them and they also gave me the strength.
If I would of accepted the catholic path and not of the Ajq’ij, now I probably would be a catholic leader or an evangelist. But thanks to the Ajq’ij now I am completely surrendered to being an Ajq’ij. This is my job now, mostly. It was hard in a way becoming an Ajq’ij because some elders would think that you need to start competing, but this is not the case. People go where they are called, they search.
I don’t want to be only an Ajq’ij. I am aspiring to be more. The elders before did not like me but now they have full trust in me, along with two other friends. We want to take forward our spirituality, so that it won’t die. There are a lot of evangelical groups that want to do away with our traditions.
This is a story dictated to Saq’ Be’ directly from Mayan Ajq’ij Manuel Pan Ju Lux concerning the history and traditions of his home town of Chichicastenango in the Homelands of Guatemala
The story of the Church of Santo Thomas in Chichicastenango, Guatemala; Pascual Abaj; the story of the town of Chichicastenango and the Cofradia
As told by Manuel Pan Ju Lux
Translated from Spanish to English by Saq’ Be’
Church of Santo Thomas
The church bell is more than 500 years old and is made of gold. The Church of Santo Thomas is different from others in Guatemala. There are twenty steps that lead to the entrance of the church. The twenty steps signify the twenty days of the Mayan Calendar. Starting with the first step leading out of the church is the Ajaw (nawal/spirit/energy) Bat’z (the first of the 20 signs of the Mayan calendar) towards the last step, Ajaw Tz’i (the last of the 20 signs of the Mayan Calendar). The ancient ones left these steps here. It is a Catholic church at the same time it is a Mayan church. Why? Because before the Spanish invasion, where there is now an altar, there was a Mayan altar, where the ancestors would celebrate their ceremonies for the dead ones. In the middle of the church, where there was another altar, this one was to remember the principles of the town. At the entrance of the church was another altar to remember the entire town. It was there that the elders would perform ceremonies to ask for whatever it was they wanted. When the Spaniards came, they wanted to do away with these altars. The Ajq’ij (Mayan spiritual guides) and the principles said that this was a Mayan church as well as a Catholic church. That is why nowadays we still burn incense outside and inside the church.
The Evangelical people want to do away with this church as do the Catholic people. They do not like it because the Ajq’ij comes to perform ceremonies, to burn candles for the dead ones, to remember all the years. For example, the Catholic priests do not like it when they are performing a mass and the Ajq’ij also come to perform their ceremonies. But these ceremonies have been happening since long before the time the Spaniards arrived.
Nearby there is also a “flying pole” where there used to be a cemetery. Recently they have found bones that are a thousand years old. So the Ajq’ij are also doing ceremonies there.
Pascual Abaj
According to my elders, the people that made this church had the force. It was made by important people. When the elders began [the work] they searched for people [to build the church]. The church is made out of adobe. They started to bring the adobe to build the church, but [whenever they started to build] it would always come down on them. Some of the people would say this was happening because of a lack of ceremonies. Others would say “We’ve done ceremonies, what else is missing?” The elders would say, “You know that, in this place, where there are three altars there were the nawales (spirits) of the altars and they do not want to be removed. This is why the church can not be built.” A big, heavy man would come here with the principals saying his name was Pascual. They would say “he must have a Mayan name.”
Pascual went to speak with the principles and told them that he knew the church could not be built – but if they left it up to him, the church would be built. So they left it in Pascual’s hands. He then started, with others working with him.
The principles did not know who this man Pascual was. They say that he would finish his job and walk on the path towards the current site of “Pascual Abaj (located a short walk from the church)” and then he would disappear. He would also be able to do a lot of work; he would be able to lift things that would be too heavy for anybody else to do. So the principles would say “Well, what is he? Is he human? Could he be something else?” One day, they said “let’s find out who this man is; he is a man of value.” So, they followed him on the path. He would disappear. “Where is it that he lives? Where is his home and where is his family?? they would ask. In those times, the path to Pascual Abaj was more lush, with more trees around, so they could not find his house.
One day they followed him to exactly where he would disappear and right there was a stone. The principles then went back to tell the rest of the people that Pascual was converted into a stone. Once the church was finished, Pascual never returned to being a human. From then on, the elders say that the stone would be called “Pascual Abaj” (Abaj means stone in Quiche). Ever since then, elders and others have been doing ceremonies at that site.
History of Chichicastenango
Chichicastenango is made up of 76 communities with more than 120,000 inhabitants, 99 percent of which are Mayan. The language spoken is Quiche. During the Spanish invasion, the Spaniards wanted to do away with our traditions. The ancestors had “Camawuiles” – the images of some Ajaw made of jade. The Spaniards told them these idols needed to be done away with, that they needed to be thrown out. Well, the Spaniards did not destroy them; they took them back with them. In exchange, they brought back the images of saints for them. “Your idols are the devil,” they would say, “here our images are from Jesus.” Some elders refused to accept this and said “This is not ours.” These elders died because of saying this.
Others began to say “We need to accept these, but what do we do?” Along with the Spaniards came the priests. In the Mayan spirituality, there is a baptism, only it is mentioned differently. The priests would ask the Indigenous if they had been baptized. Then the priests and the Spaniards would say, “The ones that get baptized with water will be allowed to live and those that do not [get baptized with water] will have to die.” The elders say that the priests brought the cross and bible with them in the right hand and a sword in the left hand. Those that did not receive the baptism would be killed. Then the Spaniards said, “Those that accept these images will be allowed to live, those that do not will be killed.” They said the ceremonies are ‘devil work’ (‘brujeria’), and that they can no longer be performed. “You must now do processions now, go to church, go to the priest in mass.” The elders didn’t know what to do. They had to accept a strategy.
Saint Thomas is the patron (jefe) of Chichicastenango. Here, we have the image of Saint Thomas, this we left in place of the carrier of the day. Underneath [Saint Thomas] the image was marked ‘Job Tzi’kin (the day carrier for Chichicastenango). This was to hide our culture, our traditions. When the Spaniards would come around and ask where Saint Thomas was, the people would reply: “Here he is.” The Spaniards would ask, “What have you done with him?” The people would respond, “Did processions, went to mass.” In reality they would do ceremonies with these images knowing that they were really honoring the Nawales.
This kept happening throughout the years, this is how our traditions were preserved, our culture, with these images.
The Spaniards formed the Cofradias. You can keep your customs, they would say. But come to these images, come to these festivities. They did not like seeing ceremonies being done. If they saw any elder performing any ceremonies, they would kill them, so they had to go to these festivities. We accepted these images.
“We must do ceremonies,” the elders would say. Sure enough, even though they were forced to accept these ways, they also did not stop participating in their own ceremonies. So again, when the Spaniards would come around and ask what they were doing, the people would tell them what they wanted to hear. “We are worshipping these images.” The Spaniards would say, “Well done!” Meanwhile, they had just finished their own ceremonies. This is how they had to preserve a lot of the richness of the Mayan spirituality. A lot of people died in those times, especially many Ajq’ij.
In the Cofradia some Ajq’ij took part in this and accepting the images so that our spirituality would not die. This way our spirituality would be disguised. They felt as though this was not enough. “There are twenty carriers [in Mayan spirituality], one for each day. We have to worship them as well. We will ask for twenty saint images. Each one will hold a corner for each of the twenty days.” They would perform ceremonies on special days, they would light candles for certain images (saints), but they would know that underneath the images were the signs of the days.
So this came with us and now this culture is accepted. It is like inside the Mayan there are two cultures living, the Mayan and the ‘Roman’, we’ll call it. It is a tradition. Every ceremony that is performed, the Ajq’ij needs to go to these images. Why with the images? The elders say that it is because of the images that we now still have our tradition. If it wasn’t for the images and the Cofradia, we would no longer have our tradition.
Cofradia
In each community, there is a principle that is directed by the community. The principles of the communities select a principle for the town. He is in charge of finding the first group of Cofradias (Cofradias consist of six men and six women). When there is a problem in the community, this is the group the people would go to. They are the authority of the town, like a judge. They are the final word. They seek for the rest of the Cofradias. They perform ceremonies. For thirty years, a lot of people wanted to play this important role, to maintain the tradition.
Since there is a lot of Evangelic influence nowadays, a lot of the tradition has been lost. So the people do not want to take part in a Cofradia. To do so would mean that they would have to practice Mayan spirituality, and that they would have to be a part of the principles of the community for the town. They are Evangelist people that do not want to practice Mayan spirituality. Instead, they want to do away with this.
A Cofradia consists of six men and six women. They need to be husbands and wives. The men play the marimba, the drum and make preparations for activities. The women make the atole (a drink made from corn) and prepare the alcohol. They take out the images on the procession.
I realize that if the Cofradia ends, the Mayan Spirituality will be affected. There are a lot of Evangelist churches and radios. Myself and others are trying to organize the elders so that there are more activities happening. For example, a radio show with talks about medicinal herbs, about the sacred Mayan calendar, and we could speak in our own language (Quiche). We know that this is not a traditional part of our culture, but thanks to this we still have our culture. In Chichicastenango, people want to do away with the culture and the traditional language. Fortunately, there are others that do want it around. We want to bring together elders with the youth, so they know about the tradition. But what to do to rescue our tradition.
Right now there is only one Mayan program broadcast on a Catholic radio station. They charge the Indigenous Q400 (approx. $55 US) for a half hour. They (Catholic) too now want to do away with our culture. It would be good to get donations for a frequency to have more Mayan programs. We could talk about:
Tradition
Education
Workshops with the Ancestors
Ancestral Teachings
Music
The elders can not participate now because they do not have money.
In April, 2003 we sat down with Mayan Ajq’ij Carlos Barrios in New Mexico for a question and answer session. The questions come from you, the Saq’ Be’ audience. This videotaped session was trasncribed with the help of Juliet Calabi and is very elucidating in the way Carlos helps to explain many aspects of the Mayan tradition and prophecies for this time.
In Steve McFadden’s article you are quoted as saying “a possible war in Iraq between November 2002 and March 2003 would be bad, but war between April and November of 2003 would be catastrophic.” The question is what factor in the timing difference would cause bad to turn to catastrophic?
That is because the elders made projections in the spiral of space and time, and they saw that if the war began before March of this year, the possibilities of something more catastrophic happening were not that great because the energies were really down. It wasn’t an aggressive time and there wasn?t alot of energy and not a lot of opposition. The work in that moment could be done more quickly and peacefully and not many people would die. If it started at a later time it would last longer and more people would die, and the people would become more conscious about what is really happening in the world. The importance of this is that the energy after April is an energy of confrontation, of violence. In March/April it is dangerous, but this is not as important as what could come in the months between 16th of August to 15th of December, 2003. This is a real moment of possible disaster, of catastrophe. War happening during this period would have serious repercussions for humanity.
We need to know that Mayan people, Mayan elders do not conceive of time and space as separate entities. We call it najt– one word meaning space and time. It’s like a spiral and we can check, we can make a projection in this spiral because history repeats itself in a period of time. In these times, humanity is in real danger. It’s not just the war. It’s epidemics, it’s mother earth who is going to make disasters, like hurricanes, earthquakes. For all the Mayans, for the elders, this is a moment for reflection. It’s a moment to say to humanity that we need to change the consciousness of the people, because the people who are in the dark side are clear about what they need to do. The people who work for the light are not together. For the elders the message for this moment is to call everybody to unity. All the people must work not just for peace, but to create a consciousness, in harmony, first with themselves, then with others, and of course with mother earth, mother nature, because we are destroying mother earth and nobody gives importance to this destruction.
What?s going to happen on this famous date of the 21st of December 2012 is not the end of humanity. It is the beginning of the Fifth Sun and that means also the fifth element. It’s going to happen that there is a fusion of polarities. The people of darkness are not interested in losing the power that they have at this time, and they would prefer to destroy humanity or even the entire planet like a being. They prefer to destroy this than go to the fusion created by ether, the new element arriving to this reality. The change won?t happen exactly on this day because it’s not changed like a flash of light. It will take years, but this is the awareness, this is the moment of peace, of real understanding, of comprehension, and tolerance, and all humanity can live really in harmony. That’s what the elders are saying, especially to the people who are at the forefront of the different religions and traditions or all these new age people who are working. They call to all these people to go into the real traditions, the deeper traditions, the oldest tradition which has not just a part of the knowledge, but all the knowledge to transform into wisdom.
Is there a relevance in the fact that we are moving into 20:13 cycle in 2013 the Mayan numbers, and do the Mayan teachers see a return to the 13 month cycle following the moon? And the third part is I would like to hear how the Mayan calendar can be used as a tool for personal transformation and development of the resurrection soul.
The sacred Mayan calendar is a cycle of 260 days and this calendar comes from the elders. Thousands of years ago they saw into the najt that this reality is the convergence of twenty different energies. Ten come from the cosmos and ten come from the telluric energy of the mother earth. This convergence makes this thing we call najt, space and time. What we call reality exists in the najt. The cycles of 20 and 13 are about this time. Of course we don’t pretend all of humanity uses this kind of calendar. This is a calendar we need to learn, because it’s a calendar which is in relationship with our energy. Each day of these 20 different energies has a special charge -positive and negative- which has an essential meaning. For example, there is a day for the law, a day for art, there is a day for the development of our consciousness, of our mind. All the relationships of the 260 days have a specialty, and it’s important to us to know what we are- what is our destiny, what is our purpose of life, and what we can move in ourselves with the different energies of each day. This is the purpose of the sacred Mayan calendar that we call Tzolkin or Cholq’ij. Of course, when the time arrives, at the end of this cycle of 5,200 years (which ends on this date of 21st of December 2012) it’s the beginning of the change, and of course all humanity is going to use the energies. They are going to learn to move themselves to work with their own energy in relation to the cosmic and telluric energy, and this relationship is what the elders are trying to share with humanity. We just need to say that this is important The elders are interested in the people going into the traditional calendars in the right way because there are now people making their own calendars with other influences from Chinese astrology or other things. And this is not the tradition of this special calendar of the energies.
There is talk that the Mayan calendar has become out of alignment with the Gregorian calendar and that the end date is actually at the end of 2003. There is also another question that says that there’s been some controversy and some of the dates have been compared to when the great cycle is prophesied to end and that that date is actually moving earlier and earlier. Can you respond to these questions?
Ok, for the answer we need to know something about the different Mayan calendars. There are 20 different Mayan calendars. One of these one is cosmic. Another is galactic. Another has the faces of Venus, but in essence there is a calendar which is called the Long Count. This calendar is for 5,200 years, with 360 days each year. This calendar doesn’t have a mistake because the Mayan people never lost count of the days. What happened is the Gregorian calendar needed to make a lot of corrections, and this happened with the Pope Gregorio in 1200 A.D. something. He understood that it was not correct and it affected agriculture, and he ordered some people to make the corrections. Before this calendar was the Julian calendar. This calendar came from Roman times, and of course, this also had many mistakes. What happened with the Gregorian and Julian is not our problem. We know our dates. We know we are in the exact count and Mayans have the most perfect calendar of all the races, of all the civilizations, because we just need to add one day each 260,000 years. That’s the most amazing and incredible calendar, and we don’t have a mistake. The mistake is in the other calendars. And the story someone told about this time (that the date is incorrect) is because they aren’t using the real Mayan calendar. They are based in the Gregorian and the Julian. For us there is not a problem. We just take the base of the day exactly when the Long Count is finished for these times- the date of 21st of December of 2012- and there is not a mistake for us. The mistake is for the people who relate it to the Gregorian, but we are clear. We never lost our count. Ok?
I would be honored if you could please tell us more about the spirit of the white jaguar and what the Mayan prophesies say of the signs of white jaguar and what they mean in these times.
Ok, to understand the energy of the jaguars that we call Balaneb it’s necessary to know it’s not just one jaguar who is working because there are four human divinities that we call the Balaneb. The first one is in orientation to the east and this is the jaguar of the red race. It’s the jaguar that we call Balam Quitze and it’s the guardian of the fire. The second is in orientation to the west and the name is Balam Aq’ab, and it’s the guardian of the element earth. The third one is Majakutaj Balam. This is the white jaguar, or Balam, and he is the guardian of the white race and the guardian of the element air. The fourth one is Iq’i Balam. This is the guardian of the yellow race and this is the guardian of the element water. The four Balaneb arrived to the earth. They said they came from the Pleiades. They are like humans and they made civilization for the actual humanity. They went to the four corners of the world and they civilized all the people. So the importance of the white jaguar, or Majakutaj Balam, is that he is the one who makes our mind grow and he’s the guardian and the owner of the wind and that’s to make us clean. We can clean our mind, our body and he can make our spirit grow. The importance of this is because people are putting a lot of attention just on knowledge and they don’t transform it into wisdom.
The prophesy says this moment is the time of Iq’i Balam, the jaguar of the water. When they came he didn’t have his own children, but the sons of Balaam Quitze took the place of this divinity. But they say for these times, these prophetical times in the 12 Baktun, 13 Ahau, is the time when the sons of Iq’i Balam are coming to the Mayan world. And they say that their sons come from the four corners of the world. That’s the reason why most of the spiritual people in the humanity are interested now in the Mayan world.
So it’s important, too, to know that the year 2012, December 21st, is announced the arrival of the fifth Balam, who is Rax Balam, and this is the one who comes with the energy of peace, of love, of understanding, and this is the awareness of the fifth element, of the new humanity. They have no race- it’s the union of all the races.
What happened to the culture? We went to Mayan Indian villages and saw Mayan Indians, so why don’t they worship at the old temples any more? What happened?
During the invasion, when the conquerors arrived to America, (America, the continent,) when they arrived to the Mayan world they began to destroy all the temples and they persecuted and they killed the kings, the Mayan priests and what they needed to do was to have a low profile. They went to the church and they used the different saints and they matched them to their own divinities. Of course, it’s the western people who dominated, and they are the owners of everything in the Mayan countries like Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras. So the ones who have the power and have the access of the sacred places, the sacred temples are the governments of these countries as well as the anthropologists? institutes. They are the one who administer the sacred places. In Guatemala it?s easier than in other countries- easy in terms of if the Mayan priests go and ask for permission to make a ceremony, the government doesn’t create many obstacles because when they signed the peace agreement (ending a 36 year civil war in 1996) this is one of the regulations which is in the deal of the peace. But we Mayan people don’t have access to make temples because we don’t have the money. The money is in other hands. But that’s not meaning the tradition doesn’t work because it’s not the temples which were made by the ancient people that are the most important. In reality the most important are the natural altars which are in alignment with the cosmos and the mother earth. And in these altars, of course, there are ceremonies all the time, from thousands and thousands of years ago.
What training does one go through to be considered a Mayan priest?
People use the terminology of “Mayan priest” but this is a comparison because it is easier to understand for western people. In reality, the real name is Ajq’ij , which means the lord or the senor who has the relationship with the Father Sun in the culture of the Father Sun. There are two or three different ways. One is by the tradition of clans which exists as a heritage in families that carry the tradition and give birth to new Ajq’ij who are then prepared for the profession. The other way is when the elders make the symbol, the Mayan chart, for the person and they can see in the chart this person has the power to be an Ajq’ij. Some people have the power but don’t need to develop this power, but there are others who have an obligation. And the third way is when the elders know someone and there are signals. For example, they saw a rainbow or some bird flew around the person or some snake came, or different manifestations with animals of power, or just the elder has a vision that this is a power person or a medicine man or Mayan priest who can go into the tradition. That’s the three ways to know if someone has the power. Of course before going into the tradition the elders present these people to the sacred fire because the fire is the one to receive and accept these people or say no.
You were going to speak about the training also?
When the person is received by the fire, they need to learn about the Mayan calendar. They need to develop this internal power and that means working with the different altars when they visit and they make ceremony for the people who receive the power and they develop this internal power and they need to know how to be noticed. They learn about the sacred pouch of Tzi’te which is the oldest kind of divination of humanity. This is with the use of the famous sacred red beans which we call Tzi’te, and, of course, with the obsidians and the quartz. The story is people are preordained to be our medicine people, to be our healers, to be our diviners -the different professions which are possible to the Mayan Ajq’ij. That takes years for training and preparation. It’s not easy because of what we call the Toj, but in other traditions is called karma. It is to be accelerated and the people learn by themselves. But it’s the elder who sees when the disciple is ready to go out to humanity and that depends on the intention of the person, on the character and the development of their attention. It depends too on the surrender of the people into the mission they have.
Are there prophesies that go beyond 2012?
Yes, the most important prophesies are the prophesies of the cycles of Tiku and the other important prophesies are about the big cycle of the Long Count; the prophesies for this time of Cablicot, which is duality, the polarity which is going to have a fusion in the year 2012, 21 of December. But the prophesies go beyond these years because it is not like you turn on the light and the light is arriving on this day ;it is just the beginning and needs more than 13 years for its accommodation. In reality, it’s 52 years more from 2012- when the time of peace, the time of harmony is coming. But there are a lot more revelations for these times. It?s not only about peace, it?s a proposal to human beings to work together with mother earth, to go to a transition. The prophesy of the Rax Balam – the jaguar of blue-green is arriving in 2012, but that year is the beginning of the change and the new energy which will be working. Some people say this is purple or violet, but the reality is the mixing of the blue, green and baby blue. There are a lot more prophesies: there are prophesies for the cycles from Tiku because the cycles don’t end- it will be in a new dimension and more subtle, but confrontations will still happen in another way, more spiritual confrontations, not with the density of this moment, but there are more confrontations. It’s a storminess that’s unavoidable with the polarities and the coming of the fusion. And there are more, there are a lot of things, so we can talk.
Oh, I’m going to talk about the quartz skull prophesy because it?s important. Of course, of the prophesies of this awareness in humanity, one of the most important is the prophesy of the quartz schools. It is necessary that there be the union of no less than 52 quartz skulls which are going to develop all the information that is inside this quartz skull but for humanity it’s better if we can find the 260 by going to a sacred lake which is in the United States. When they are together each one of these has a hologram of information. And altogether it’s going to make possible the technology for rebuilding the mother earth and for realigning human beings. There are more prophesies because there will be a time when men and women, the male and female energy, are going to have a fusion and we will come back to be hermaphrodites but this will be in thousands and thousands more years?so there are a lot of prophesies.
Why have the Mayan people and elders decided to begin sharing their knowledge at this time?
This is the time of the prophesies. This is the time people need to know what is the purpose of their own lives. This is a dangerous time because we can go to the next step, to the transition, to the fusion of the polarities or it is a time when we can be destroyed. This materialistic way of life, all this business about economic and social position in the world, it needs to change and the people need to go inside themselves in order to know what they are and to find harmony with the mother earth, with human beings, with their brothers, with the animals, with the plants. It’s an important time because we are in the moment of the prophesies and humanity can be destroyed or we can be saved, all together. Of course, it’s the ancient traditions like the Mayan, like the Tibetan, like the Hindu, and the other traditions who preserved for thousands of years the real purpose, the real power, the real knowledge, not just the Mayan traditions are open in this moment. Many the ancient traditions are open and they are calling to humanity, to the unity, to come to learn because the elders need to share, because they know that this is a special moment we are living. We need more people to come to the side of the light to create a balance because the other side they are too strong and we need to create a balance because if not, we are going to be destroyed. And of course, this is an important moment for each one by himself to develop his internal power and the Mayan tradition has it’s own technology, like the other ones. Some people have a certain vibration and they like to go to the saints, to go the Tibetan people, or Hindus, but some people like to go into the Mayan tradition because it’s in harmony with the mother earth and with all the energies. The Mayans are something old, but it’s something new- it is an awareness- and the people are really interested. The elders are ready to open and they are teaching around the world and they are expecting many people, because the sons of Iq?i Balam who are all of humanity are arriving into my country and they are beginning to learn about the real Mayan tradition.
Carlos Barrios is a Mayan Ajq’ij, who originates from and resides in Guatemala. Carlos has been given the mission by his elders to begin sharing the prophecies and teachings of the Mayan peoples with the rest of the world. Carlos travels internationally to share these teachings and to generate awareness and support for the rescue and preservation of the ancient Mayan tradition in his homeland. Carlos is also the author of Kam Wuj: El Libro del Destino, and out of print book on the astrology and prophecies of the Mayan peoples. Carlos is presently working on a revised edition which is to be translated to English.
Saq’ Be’: Organization for Mayan and Indigenous Spiritual Studies is a non profit organization based in New Mexico, US. Saq’ Be’ works to bring people, especially young adults, together with ancient traditions for the purpose of cultural and spiritual preservation and to open the doors of opportunity for those traditions to share their teachings with the rest of the world. Preservation programs include Radio broadcast capacity for the Native community in Chichicastenango, Guatemala and support for filmed documentation efforts of elders and guides of the Mayan tradition. Meetings programs include trips to Native communities in Guatemala (next trip is for the Mayan New Year, June, 2004) and arranging for travel and teachings for the keepers of this ancient wisdom to the US and abroad. More information can be found at: http://sacredroad.org, or by email at: saqbe[at]sacredroad[dot]org.
Organization for Mayan and Indigenous Spiritual Studies