John
Major Jenkins
(The original working Introduction as of early 1996)
Charting time was a
central concern of ancient Mesoamerican
skywatchers. Many cultures in Mexico and Central America
shared this common
fascination, and were making detailed astronomical observations well over 2000 years ago. These
groups included the Olmec, Zapotec and Aztec peoples, but especially the
Maya. Closely related to Mesoamerican ideas about time is the
concept of World Ages, which envisions distinct epochs in the
history of the human race. Naturally, there was a great interest in
when the next World Age shift would take place.
According to the Mayan Long Count calendar, this much
anticipated event occurs in 2012 A.D.[1]
The premise of
this book is that the astronomical basis of the World Age doctrine is a
phenomenon known as the precession of the equinoxes. In general, this is not a
novel proposition, and was explored thoroughly in Giorgio de Santillana
and Hertha von Dechend's groundbreaking Hamlet's Mill (1969).[2]
However, Hamlet's Mill and other more recent books on the topic have
focused on Old World traditions. The possibility that
precession was understood in ancient Mesoamerica has received
little attention, and little concrete evidence for it has yet been
put forward. I have assembled my own research toward this end, and
am prepared to demonstrate how precession was at the foundation of
cosmological and calendric science in Mesoamerica.
Ever since
Hamlet's Mill resurrected the idea that ancient astronomy and mythology
were closely related, precession has been a recurring leit motif in many books
insightfully reconstructing the
esoteric facets of ancient knowledge. Jane B. Sellers' The
Death of Gods in Ancient Egypt (1992) carefully outlined a compelling
argument that certain astronomical phenomena including the
precession of the equinoxes were understood by ancient Egyptian
skywatchers. The Orion Mystery burst onto the scene in 1994 and showed
how one of the Great Pyramid's sight tubes (commonly called
"air shafts") aligned with the stars of Orion's Belt
in the era 2600 B.C.[3] The authors, Robert Bauval and Adrian
Gilbert, explained their
realization that the Great Pyramid serves as a precessional
star-clock, in that its orientation defines certain eras in the
precessional cycle. A time some 12,500 years ago is indicated by
the Great Pyramid as an era the early Egyptians were especially
interested in.[4] Although the authors do not mention it,
12,500 years ago identifies the last time a solstice
sun coincided with the Milky Way. The next time this
happens, and central to my World Age premise, is the Mayan calendar
end-date in A.D. 2012. In The Orion Mystery
Bauval also shares his discovery that the three
main pyramids of Cheops mirror the three
stars of Orion's Belt in relative size and orientation.
As such, the Nile represents the Milky Way. This is a type of
sky-earth hierophany that we also find in Mayan pyramids, which were
cosmograms (images of the cosmos) in stone. In
Fingerprints of the Gods (1995), sleuth-scholar Graham
Hancock added to this by showing that the constellation Leo the Lion
was rising on the vernal equinox at the "Zero Time" of
10,500 B.C. The importance here is that the Sphinx, now thought to
date back much further than previously thought, faces the eastern skies.
In other words, Hancock suggests that the Sphinx may have been built during the
astrological age of Leo, which occurred around 10,500 B.C. This date
supports Bauval's findings and, as Bauval himself mentions, recalls
Edgar Cayce's channelled information about Atlantean
cataclysm.
These writers have
all focused on precession as a greatly unrecognized
foundation-concept in the development of Old World religion
and science. In compelling and original work published in the
1940s and 50s, much of it stemming from field observations,
French researcher R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz defined Egypt as the great
parent culture from which Old World wisdom emanated. In his book Sacred
Science (1961 [1982]), de Lubicz shares the data which helped him
conclude that the ancient Egyptians were aware of the
precession of the equinoxes. More recent authors have for the most
part followed this lead.
The evidence for
precessional knowledge in the Old World is substantial and covers a
wide spectrum of myth, tradition, science and religion. Much
of this evidence is ultimately deemed "circumstantial"
by hard-core empiricists but,
altogether, provides a strong case for a deep interest in the
precession of the equinoxes going back beyond the dim
origins of recorded history. Various types of
alignments that wax and wane in the cycle of precession are
what concerned the ancient astronomer-priests, and the Old
World doctrine of twelve astrological ages was only one way of
mapping this Great Cycle. My interest is in how the Great Cycle of the
stars was mapped and calibrated among the ancient
civilizations of the New World, specifically, in
Mesoamerica.
In this book
I will describe two different methods with which the ancient
skywatchers of Mesoamerica marked alignments in the Great Cycle of precession.
Naturally, becoming aware of this astronomical cycle gives rise to ideas
about World Ages, eternally recurring celestial alignments with attendant
transformations of cyclic renewal. Epigrapher, art historian, and Mayan
scholar Linda Schele has shown in recent books that, as in the Old World,
astronomy and mythology were closely related in
Mesoamerica. Mayan creation mythology describes ages of time
that typically end in cataclysm and transformation.
Eschatology has to do
with the belief in temporal end-points or culmination as a historical
process.[5] In this sense, Mesoamerican cosmology is essentially
eschatological. A deeper reading of Mesoamerican traditions, however, reveals
that time ends only to begin anew. Thus, there are indeed end-times
in Mesoamerican thinking, but, ultimately, time is cyclic. The
period of transformation at the end-beginning nexus is unavoidably
frought with a chaotic and apocalyptic spirit. This seems
to describe our current age and, in fact, both of the
Mesoamerican methods for tracking precession that we will
explore point to our immediate future. It is greatly ironic, and perhaps
indicative of something stranger going on, that these Mayan end-times
happen to correspond with the millennial shift of the western
Christian calendar.[6]
The two
precession-tracking methods of the Maya are very
straightforward and are based upon the most studied and
best known aspects of Mesoamerican cosmology and
calendrics. One involves the end-date of the 13-Baktun cycle
of the Mayan Long Count calendar, while the other involves
the New Fire ceremony, the Sun, the Pleiades, and the Pyramid
of Kukulcan at Chichen Itza. The evidence is overwhelming, but not
readily recognized in academic circles. Why? Probably because the implications
of what I present are beyond the scope of what scholars
consider safe ground. However, and I must emphasize this, the
evidence I present is not speculative or vague at all. I
trust that even the most careful reader will find this to be true.
I have synthesized information found primarily in academic sources, as my notes
and bibliography attest. The conclusions I draw result from a careful and
pointed course of study in Mesoamerican
archaeoastronomy, calendrics, culture and cosmology. As we will see, the
possibility that precession was understood by ancient New World astronomers
has, in fact, been discussed by Mayanists, but commitment in looking for
concrete methods has been either
lagging or off the mark. Overall, the conclusion
that precessional knowledge provides the
astronomical basis of eschatological thought in
Mesoamerica is certainly worthy of scientific study. In comparison, the
astounding implications that unavoidably arise, which I will also address
in this book (Chapter VI), probably belong more to a type of esoteric New
World metaphysics than to "pure" science. In my opinion, both
metaphysics and science must be used to interpret this material and do it
justice. Consequently, we find that Mesoamerican genius partakes of
the great universal wisdom recent writers have been decoding in the
esoteric cosmologies of ancient Old World civilizations. De
Santillana, von Dechend, Bauval and Gilbert, Sellers,
Schwaller de Lubicz, John Anthony West, Graham Hancock and
the Flem-Aths have all contributed to elucidating the
Old World inflection of the Mystery of the
Ages.[7] And the New World evidence is just as striking, perhaps more
so. These findings are, frankly, astounding, but I
don't feel compelled to invoke Atlantean ghosts or extraterrestrials to
explain any of this. At Chichen Itza in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico,
we find a cosmic Pyramid-Myth defining a precessional
alignment just as Bauval proposes for the Great Pyramid in Egypt. We also
find that the Mayan Long Count calendar, which ends in 2012 A.D.,
highlights a precession-related alignment between the solstice Sun
and the Milky Way. This is a no-nonsense calendric artifact that is
more compelling than anything discussed in the Old World material.
In other words, the two simple facts of the Long Count
end-date and the concurrent galactic alignment are
indisputable.
The methods for marking
and tracking precession in Mesoamerica are different than those proposed for
Old World cosmology,and sometimes involve concepts that are not
readily appreciated by those geared to Old World thought
patterns. For example,
tropical astronomy must be understood to appreciate Mesoamerican
cosmology, but is almost completely unnecessary for
studying Egyptian star-knowledge. As pioneer
archaeoastronomer Anthony Aveni writes, "In ancient societies,
the sky and its contents lay at the very foundation of human cognition"
(1984:255), and:
"...judged by
the Western cultural yardstick, astronomical systems developed by
indigenous civilizations of the tropical latitudes are found to be
both complex and fundamentally different from those
originating in civilizations of the temperate latitudes. One
explanation for this is the radically contrasting sky orientations that
are viewed from different parts of the globe, a determinative
environmental factor in the development of cosmological systems
that should not be neglected..."[8]
I hope that
this book will open up new directions in the study of New World
cosmology, and preserve for the appreciation of future generations the
amazing genius of a civilization which we must humbly bow to and honor.
We are just beginning to understand what they knew. The importance of
the foundation-principle of this ancient cosmovision - the precession of
the equinoxes - has no place in our short-sighted technocracy. Perhaps
this will be our undoing.
We know about precession
today, but, as the authors of Hamlet's Mill write,
"The space-time continuum does not effect it. It is by now
only a boring complication" (67). To the ancients it
had the most profound of implications. Like saying
that the moon is the same size as the sun - which sounds absurd
to the modern mind but is, from the native understanding that
the moon is Woman and the sun is Man, perfectly
true - precession may be more relevant than we think.
Perspective is such a relative thing, based on experience
and observation.[9]
For human beings
on earth, the full moon and the sun do indeed appear to be the same
size (literally and symbolically). Science claims to take a larger view,
but scientific knowledge is limited by its materialistic criteria. It is
not "larger" in the right way. Unfortunately, today
we don't need the grand holistic perspective offered by
ancient cosmology; our sights have been reduced
to the task at hand. We are, literally, a very
short-sighted culture. We don't need big news.
It is not the goal of
this book to speculate so much on the
"effects" of the upcoming alignments.[10] I only hope to clearly
establish that ancient New World cultures were much more sophisticated
than we have been giving them credit for. More to the
point, we should come away with a clear respect for the prominent role
played by the precession of the equinoxes in ancient New
World astronomy. And yet, underlying this whole discussion is my firm
belief that precession is somehow related to the epic vicissitudes of the
human journey, defining the ebb and flow of galactic seasons on a vast
scale.
Much has been said of
this, in the books mentioned above, and much more might be suggested.[11]
We can only hope that one day we may fully understand the overarching
importance of this Great Year and the role it plays in the
unfolding of human culture and in the evolution of consciousness.
At the dawn of
agriculture in the Paleolithic, human beings began to understand the
nature and potential of the yearly cycle. Their time-concept was enhanced, they
planned for a future barely appreciated by their immediate
ancestors, and the resultant effects on human culture
were transformative.
The same might be
said for us in regard to our understanding of the larger Galactic Season of
precession; if we can enlarge our spacetime concept and appreciate the immanent
potential of this Great Year, the future of the human race might be
brighter than we can presently imagine. Suffice it to say that we are,
in fact, living in the Mayan end-times,
and something completely unprecedented does appear to be going on. This
book is primarily concerned with
showing that the ancient inhabitants of the New World were privy to
a cosmological knowledge that we are just beginning to understand. Mayan
Cosmogenesis 2012 is a "first reconnaissance" into this
profound knowledge as it flowered in Mesoamerica. According to this
ancient knowledge, a door into the heart of space and time opens
in A.D. 2012. May we all take a step forward.
NOTES
1. Linda Schele
(1996) indirectly challenged a basic premise of my work, the
position that the 13 baktun cycle end-date in 2012 A.D. was
considered by the Maya to be a World Age shift. For my response see
Appendix 7, "Response to Counter-Arguments."
2. See Appendix 1 for an
introductory commentary on Hamlet's Mill
and its authors.
3. This was originally
put forward by Badaway (1964) and Trimble
(1964).
4. Bauval
makes it clear that he doesn't believe the pyramids themselves were built that far back.
Nevertheless, Bauval writes that the
pyramids were designed to refer to that ancient era, as the primeval "First Time."
5. This
"historical" process has an astronomical basis: precession.
It would be misleading to call this astrology,
because precession is an earth rhythm, rather than a causative
influence impinging upon us from the stars. However, it's probably a
little of both, because precession does
change our relationship to the larger cosmos.
6. One might
speculate here that early Mithraic astrologers, following the
rediscovery of precession by Hipparchus in 127 B.C.,
projected forward to the alignment of the galaxy with the solstice
sun.
The reason for
suspecting this is the coincidence of the Christian year 2000
with the alignment. In this light, focus would be directed on
the early Christian theologians who set in place the Christian calendar.
However, the problem is that Christian dating is based upon the birth of
Jesus, a supposedly historical event. This implies other scenarios
which I have no space to address here, but at least
will state:
1) Historical
events (such as the birth of Jesus) do unfold in
numerological resonance to the end-date alignment;
2) Church
astrologers and theologians manipulated historical records and biblical
documents so that the future astronomical alignment would correspond to
a
year 2000.
Another angle:
Researchers have identified a Saturn-Jupiter conjunction in 6 B.C.
as the likely "sign in the heavens" that signalled
the birth of the Messiah. As explained in Santillana and
Dechend (1969) and Sullivan (1996), the trigons of Jupiter-Saturn
conjunctions were possibly used to track precession. Thus, the conjunction of 6
B.C. provides a connection between the "zero year" of the Christian calendar
and a method for tracking precession.
7. See the Bibliography
for complete source information.
8. Aveni (1981:161).
"Tropical Archaeoastronomy."
9. See Appendix 6,
"Caspar's Lesson." Regarding the scientific knowledge
that the sun is "really" much larger than the
moon (i.e., that Man is bigger than Woman), the fact that the development
of this conceptual doctrine parallels the denial of
the female (yin) principle in Western civilization is startling
food for thought.
10. For a
look at the bigger metaphysical picture, see Clow
(1995). Terence McKenna's thoughts on the upcoming
shift are central to his Timewave Zero theory (1993). Also
see McKenna's Hyperborea website.
11. I've
done a great deal of research along these lines, and
developed a visionary cosmology called "The Tree of Life cosmology."
I would direct the
interested reader to my books Mirror in the Sky (1991a) and Jaloj Kexoj
and PHI-64 (1994c).