Q & A with Mayan Ajq’ij, Carlos Barrios
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.
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