Join us on a one-week retreat to one of the most ancient Maya cities!
We are very excited to invite you this October to a 7-day retreat of immersion to the Traditional Maya Knowledge that will take place in Petén, Guatemala.
This trip will be led by Denise Barrios, daughter of renowned Maya Elder Carlos Barrios. She accompanied him for over 30 years throughout all of Guatemala in Ceremonies and met many Elders along the way. Her intention in this journey is to share the wisdom she obtained from him together with his last disciple, Andy Rocca. Don’t miss this opportunity to receive the wisdom of Tata Carlos Barrios directly from his closest disciples, together with other wisdom keepers, including one of the last Elders who holds the knowledge and language of the Itza people.
We firmly believe that healing and spirituality is something that should be available to every single being. In this trip we have tried our best to make it as affordable as possible, and hopefully give the opportunity to all of those who want to accompany us in this powerful journey.
Ready for a journey to the Heart of the Maya World?
Don’t miss this opportunity, visit our website https://www.mayaukux.com/retreats to check the itinerary, for more information and to book your space, or contact us at denise@mayaukux.com or mayaukux.com
You can also watch a recording of our previous retreat, as well as a review from one of the wonderful participants, Susan Hess, in order to see if this resounds with you.
Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ikaTZP3-gM
Our last journey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvvZV2hiUNs
In Maya Cosmovision, the Sun and the Moon exert a strong influence on the life of beings. Both stars are considered to be energies of creation, supernatural forces that are essential for life. They symbolize a manifestation of the Sacred.
We must have an awareness of certain cycles that exist for life to continue on Earth since we rely on nature to survive. This understanding, which has been gathered gradually through time since the dawn of civilization has evolved into a body of knowledge regarding the movement of specific stars and their relationship to human fate. For the Maya, understanding these natural events and their order was more than a scientific thought, it was a spiritual approach: the divine and human worlds were inextricably intertwined, and the actions of one reverted on the other. Astronomy was never an abstract science among the Maya; rather, it was the study of the relationships between celestial beings that influence human existence, allowing them to know, predict, and eventually change the effects of the universe on humans.
The vast majority of our knowledge regarding the astronomical calculations of the ancient Maya, which served as the foundation for their complex calendars, comes from writings carved on monuments or recorded in codices. Of all the people, the Maya were perhaps the most intrigued by time, having records of it written on nearly every stele, lintel, stairway, frieze, or panel. Every significant event, whether natural or human, was documented.
Since pre-Hispanic times, the wise sages calculated the dates of a solar eclipse with exceptional precision, although the telescope and all the equipment needed for closely observing had not yet been invented. Evidence of this can be found in the Codex found in Dresden in what is known as eclipse tables, which indicate that they knew when an eclipse would occur even if it was not visible in the Maya area. At the same time, they placed great importance on other cosmic phenomena such as the passage of the Sun through the Zenith, the Equinoxes and Solstices, and the movement of celestial bodies such as the Pleiades, Venus, and Mars, among others, as these events mark the beginning or end of a cycle, generating effects on the planet and our being. Thus, in addition to being a time marker, the Sacred Calendar was used by the sages to forecast health, births, harvests, life purpose, and marriages, among other things.
The ancient Maya viewed eclipses as the union of the Sun and Moon. The oral tradition relates that this is a moment when we celebrate the coming together of the Heroe Twins Jun Ajpu and Xb’alamke, who became the Sun and Moon upon overcoming the trials of Xib’alb’a. It is at this point that they come together, reminding us of the importance of remembering that we are all part of Uk’u’x Kaj and Uk’u’x Ulew, the Heart of the Universe and the Heart of Mother Earth, that we all share and are the convergence of these cosmic and telluric forces, that we are all in the process of walking our own cycles, of working with our dual nature, which is nothing more than our completeness, and that by letting go and integrating, we come closer becoming the being of light that each one of us is, thus developing our evolutionary potential.
Elder Isidro, one of the guides of our teacher, Carlos Barrios, shared through his stories that Eclipses are a space of union between the solar and the lunar in which the confluence of Grandfather Sun and Grandmother Moon generates a great force that opens energetic portals. Tata Isidro said that his teachers had transmitted to him the significance of a Solar Eclipse because this event, which is not frequently visible in the same location, creates a window of darkness that allows us to release those things that no longer strengthen us, enabling our light to shine brighter.
We can also find prophecies relating to eclipses in the Book of Chilam Balam: “… as the 13 Ahau is the time when the Sun and the Moon will meet and coincide; it will be the night and at the same time the dawn of the Oxlajuj Tiku’ (cycle of positive energy)…”
“Our attention must be focused on achieving our intentions, particularly those of humankind, as in these times we have reached the point of experiencing transcendent changes, hence, we must strive for this purpose. As Humanity and Mother Earth, this is a time for us to fulfill our purpose of existence, and this is precisely what we are witnessing, for this reason, meditating, concentrating, connecting with the great grandmother stars, lighting candles, and doing our own ritual is both an individual and a collective action. Consequently, we should focus our attention on doing a concentration exercise to balance the energies that may arise from this moment, any spiritual practice we undertake should include and be channeled towards this purpose.” -Tata Carlos Barrios
This scientific knowledge was once the sole realm of the wise sages. It is now our wish and mission as Ajq’ijab’ (wisdom keepers) to share it with people in the purest and most traditional way possible. We have been given the possibility of acquiring the knowledge of the customs and practices that were bequeathed to us by the ancestral Maya so that we can live more in connection and harmony with ourselves and care for our home planet, our Mother Earth. We also have the opportunity to visit the sacred sites that they carefully selected for their high energetic quality to establish their cities and ceremonial centers, such as Tikal, or their unique astronomical sites, such as Uaxactun, among many others, with the goal of recreating these ancient ritual practices in a respectful and traditional manner, so that these can help us improve our lives and relationships. We hold the possibility to reenact in a symbolic manner, as they taught us, the vision of a disappearing Sun and to assist the New Dawn as it emerges anew so that we, as humanity, can live in a better way with ourselves, others, and the planet.
May the guidance of the wise Elders inspire us to open ourselves to that communication with the Universe and the Earth, to reconnect with those important moments that mark a rebirth, that lead us to our care, personal growth, and evolutionary development.
Andy Rocca & Denise Barrios
- WUQUB’ KAME ~ Today’s Ch’umil - October 5, 2024
- WAQIB’ KAN ~ Today’s Ch’umil - October 4, 2024
- JOB’ K’AT ~ Today’s Ch’umil - October 3, 2024