the mayan time lords
The ancient Mayans -- who lived in an area around southern Mexico, Guatemala and Belize -- had an amazing civilization between 200 AD to 900 AD, most of which they inherited from their predecessors, the ancient Olmec who go back much, much further in time and about whom very little is known.
Long before the Spanish arrived on the scene the Mayans had gone into decline, and most didn't know about the great cities of their ancient civilization in the jungles, but of course they still spoke the Mayan language and maintained parts of their former culture as 3 million of them still do today, especially in relation to counting the days and watching the skies.
The ancient Mayans are acclaimed for advanced writing, mathematics and astronomy, and are popularly known today as time worshippers or time lords. Their understanding of time and space was phenomenal. It is difficult to imagine how the Mayans managed to calculate a solar year of 365.2420 days -- more accurate than the Julian calendar we use day -- without any instrumentation.
It was only as recently as 1880 that the Mayan hieroglyphs were finally deciphered by a German scholar, and scientists were astounded by the accuracy of their calculations of solstices and equinoxes, planetary paths, the cycles of Venus and Mars and other heavenly events.
Time was the essence for the Mayans, everything in their lives revolved around it and they had three main calendars -- a sacred calendar that works like our weekly system; an agricultural calendar that works like our year (18 months of 20 days); and a 'long count' calendar of 5,125 years, the fourth and last of which began August 11th 3114 BC and will end December 21st 2012.
According to Mayan mythology, the first Long Count saw the creation of the Earth, with vegetation and living beings. The second and third Long Counts saw two imperfect creations of human beings, and in the current fourth and final Long Count, the modern, fully functional human being was formed.
This more or less follows Darwin's evolutionary theory and makes one wonder what, if anything, the Mayans had in mind for what happens after the Long Count cycle finishes. Because they did not leave this final knowledge for us, speculation is rife. The common belief is that it presages the end of the world -- there is going to be an apocalypse. Others believe there will a restoration of natural balance or a change in the nature of consciousness, but in all likelihood the Mayans were providing a construct that had such a long time line on it that they presumed others would add to it when the time came.
Nevertheless, in view of the current concern about climate change, it is worth considering the impact of December 21st 2012. On that day of the winter solstice the sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years. So, energy which typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way will undoubtedly be disrupted when this conjunction happens.
The Mayans called the crossing point of the Galactic Equator and the ecliptic (the sun's path) the Sacred Tree. When a planet, the sun, or the moon enters the 'dark cleft' of the Milky Way in Sagittarius (the exact center of the Milky Way, the Galactic Equator), they believed that an entrance was possible for travelers to be taken to the Heart of Sky.
Considering the precession of the equinoxes -- slow wobbling of the earth's polar axis --it is amazing how these calculations were made so accurately. Right now, the winter solstice position is in the constellation of Sagittarius. But 2000 years ago it was in Capricorn and since then it has precessed backward 30 degrees. That the Mayans calculated December 21st 2012 to be the day the winter solstice sun conjuncts with the center of the Milky Way is thus astonishing.
If the great flood of so many oral histories actually took place, then maybe it happened 26,000 years ago when the winter solstice sun last conjuncted with the center of the Milky Way.
Long before the Spanish arrived on the scene the Mayans had gone into decline, and most didn't know about the great cities of their ancient civilization in the jungles, but of course they still spoke the Mayan language and maintained parts of their former culture as 3 million of them still do today, especially in relation to counting the days and watching the skies.
The ancient Mayans are acclaimed for advanced writing, mathematics and astronomy, and are popularly known today as time worshippers or time lords. Their understanding of time and space was phenomenal. It is difficult to imagine how the Mayans managed to calculate a solar year of 365.2420 days -- more accurate than the Julian calendar we use day -- without any instrumentation.
It was only as recently as 1880 that the Mayan hieroglyphs were finally deciphered by a German scholar, and scientists were astounded by the accuracy of their calculations of solstices and equinoxes, planetary paths, the cycles of Venus and Mars and other heavenly events.
Time was the essence for the Mayans, everything in their lives revolved around it and they had three main calendars -- a sacred calendar that works like our weekly system; an agricultural calendar that works like our year (18 months of 20 days); and a 'long count' calendar of 5,125 years, the fourth and last of which began August 11th 3114 BC and will end December 21st 2012.
According to Mayan mythology, the first Long Count saw the creation of the Earth, with vegetation and living beings. The second and third Long Counts saw two imperfect creations of human beings, and in the current fourth and final Long Count, the modern, fully functional human being was formed.
This more or less follows Darwin's evolutionary theory and makes one wonder what, if anything, the Mayans had in mind for what happens after the Long Count cycle finishes. Because they did not leave this final knowledge for us, speculation is rife. The common belief is that it presages the end of the world -- there is going to be an apocalypse. Others believe there will a restoration of natural balance or a change in the nature of consciousness, but in all likelihood the Mayans were providing a construct that had such a long time line on it that they presumed others would add to it when the time came.
Nevertheless, in view of the current concern about climate change, it is worth considering the impact of December 21st 2012. On that day of the winter solstice the sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years. So, energy which typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way will undoubtedly be disrupted when this conjunction happens.
The Mayans called the crossing point of the Galactic Equator and the ecliptic (the sun's path) the Sacred Tree. When a planet, the sun, or the moon enters the 'dark cleft' of the Milky Way in Sagittarius (the exact center of the Milky Way, the Galactic Equator), they believed that an entrance was possible for travelers to be taken to the Heart of Sky.
Considering the precession of the equinoxes -- slow wobbling of the earth's polar axis --it is amazing how these calculations were made so accurately. Right now, the winter solstice position is in the constellation of Sagittarius. But 2000 years ago it was in Capricorn and since then it has precessed backward 30 degrees. That the Mayans calculated December 21st 2012 to be the day the winter solstice sun conjuncts with the center of the Milky Way is thus astonishing.
If the great flood of so many oral histories actually took place, then maybe it happened 26,000 years ago when the winter solstice sun last conjuncted with the center of the Milky Way.
Labels: astronomy, belize, civilizations, climate change, guatemala, maya, mayans, mexico, olmec, sacred tree, time worship
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