Art of Divination

[gardener]

Thanks Puddin Outlaw, Kris and Hermes for suggesting this.



Wikipedia:

* astrology: by celestial bodies.
* augury: by the flight of birds.
* bibliomancy: by books (frequently, but not always, religious texts).
* cartomancy: by cards.
* cheiromancy/palmistry: by palms.
* cybermancy: by computers.
* gastromancy: by crystal ball.
* extispicy: by the entrails of animals.
* feng Shui: by earthen harmony.
* I Ching divination: by the I Ching; a form of bibliomancy.
* numerology: by numbers.
* oneiromancy: by dreams.
* onomancy: by names.
* Ouija: board divination.
* rhabdomancy: divination by rods
* runecasting/Runic divination: by runes.
* scrying: by reflective objects.
* taromancy: by Tarot; a form of cartomancy.
* necromancy: by the dead, or spirits/souls of the dead/recently dead

Wings4Wheels: All 78 Thoth Card images like this:



http://www.thothweb.com/thoth-gallery.html


MORE TAROT SITES:

http://www.biddytarot.com/cards.html

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/learn/meanings/

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/project/1/index.shtml

http://www.learntarot.com/cards.htm

http://www.tarotteachings.com/tarot-card-meanings-of-the-major-arcana.html (MAJOR ARCANA ONLY)

http://astrology.indianetzone.com/1/tarot_cards.htm (MAJOR ARCANA ONLY)

http://zodiacarts.com/gallery/TarotCards/TarotGallery.shtml ( Rider-Waite repainted with better color)

http://ivy-rose.co.uk/Tarot/Major_Arcana/0_The_Fool.htm (NO IMAGES, JUST INTERPRETATIONS)



Its Tet - Lunar New Year Now. We're entering the year of the Rat.



Looks like Year of the Rat only happens every 12 years. I was born in 1960, making me a Cat born in Year of the Rat. Must be my lucky year.

[Lady]

What about divination?


Harner:
Work in shamanism also involves divination. A person can journey for themselves or have somebody who's a shamanic practitioner journey for them to get an answer to a question. What's really interesting is when somebody who's a complete stranger-about whom the shaman knows nothing-asks for an answer to a question, and the shaman then journeys or uses other techniques and gets the exact information that's valid for that person's life. This can happen because these things are known by the spirits. The shaman doesn't need to know anything except the methods, and to have his or her own spirit helpers.

[Lady]

I'll do a free interactive astrology chart for anyone who wants one.

Just send me your birth info, and I'll PM you a link to your chart.

Or you can do your own charts if you go here:

INTERACTIVE CHART: http://abacusastrology.co.uk/ahelper.html (The 3rd technical "Astro Helper" chart is the best.)

FIND CHART RULER: http://www.lunarliving.org/moon/chartrulers.

I can try and help you interpret your chart. I'm an armchair astrologer.

[Guest]

The Golden Tractate of Hermes Trismegistus.
What he had to say about this unearthly potion? I have some more info I have commented on but here is what I was researching.

Know that this matter I call the stone; but it is also named the feminine of magnesia or the hen, or the white spittle, or the volatile milk, the incombustible oil in order that it may be hidden from the inept and ignorant who are deficient in goodness and self-control; which I have nevertheless signified to the wise by one only epithet, viz., the Philosopher's Stone.
At first I was thinking an hallucogen or Spirit Plant. But then the advanced civilizations back then would have had otherworldly things they used, is this concoction something that makes one fully and always aware of their Spirit. And perhaps become a Spirit while still in the body, something like the trinity?
But these things, and how they attained to the knowledge of this secret, are given by our ancestors in figures and types; behold, they are dead; I have opened the riddle, and the book of knowledge is revealed, the hidden things I have uncovered, and have brought together the scattered truths within their boundary, and have conjoined many various forms -even I have associated the spirit. Take it as the gift of God.
Too bad we are not allowed to know.
Know ye then, O Sons of Science, there are seven bodies, of which gold is the first, the most perfect, the king of them, and their head, which neither the earth can corrupt nor fire devastate, nor the water change, for its complexion is equalised, and its nature regulated with respect to heat, cold, and moisture; nor is there anything in it which is superfluous, therefore the philosophers do buoy up and magnify themselves init saying that this gold, in relation of other bodies. is, as the sun amongst the stars, more splendid in Light; and as, by the power of God, every vegetable and all the fruits of the earth are perfected, so gold by the same power sustainneth all.
I found some neat info on monoatomic minerals such as gold that I posted on before. Seems like a similar? alchemical process is done to it and it does good things in the body and it sustains it as well.
For as dough without a ferment cannot be fermented so when thou sublimest the body and purifiest it, separating the uncleanness from it, thou wilt then conjoin and mix them together, and put in the ferment confecting the earth and water. Then will the Ixir ferment even as dough doth ferment. Think of this, and see how the ferment in this case doth change the former natures to another thing. Observe, also, that there is no ferment otherwise than from the dough itself.
Observe, moreover, that the ferment whitens the confection and hinders it from turning, and holds the tincture lest it should fly, and rejoice the bodies, and makes them intimately to join and to enter one into another, and this is the key of the philosophers and the end of their work: and by this science, bodies are meliorated, and the operation of them, God assisting, is consummate.
But, through negligence and a false opinion of the matter, the operation may be perverted, as a mass of leaven growing corrupt, or milk turned with rennet for cheese, and musk among aromatics.

The sure colour of the golden matter for the red, and the nature thereof, is not sweetness; therefore we make of them sericum - ie Ixir; and of them we make the enamel of which we have already without and with the king's seal we have tinged the clay, and in that have set the colour of heaven, which augments the sight of them that see.
The Stone, therefore is the most precious gold without spots, evenly tempered, which neither fire nor air, nor water, nor earth is able to corrupt for it is the Universal Ferment rectifying all things in a medium composition, whose complexion is yellow and a true citrine colour.

The gold of the wise, boiled and well digested with a fiery water, makes Ixir; for the gold of the wise is more heavy than lead, which in a temperate composition is a ferment Ixir, and contrariwise, in our intemperate composition, is the confusion of the whole. For the work begins from the vegetable, next from the animal, as in a hen's egg, in which is the greatest help, and our earth is gold, of all which we make sericum, which is the ferment Ixir.

Know, my Son, that the fatness of our earth is sulphur, the auripigment sirety, and colcothar, which are also sulphur, of which auripigments, sulphur, and such like, some are more vile than others, in which there is a diversity, of which kind also) is the fat of gluey matters, such as are hair, nails, hoofs, and sulphur itself, and of the brain, which too is auripigment; of the like kind also are the lions' and cats' claws, which is sirety; the fat of white bodies, and the fat of the two oriental quicksilvers, which sulphurs are hunted and retained by the bodies.Haven't had a chance to delve into this bit of info and the ferment Ixir.
Know, therefore, that in the hen's egg is the greatest help with respect to the proximity and relationship of the matter in nature, for in it there is a spirituality and conjunction of elements, and an earth which is golden in its tincture. But the Son, enquiring or Hermes, saith, The sulphurs which are fit for our work, whether are they celestial or terrestrial ? To whom the Father answers, Certain of them are heavenly, and some are of the earth.

Then the Son saith, Father, I imagine the heart in the superiors to be heaven, and in the inferiors earth. But saith Hermes, It is not so; the masculine truly is the Heaven of the feminine, and the feminine is the earth of the masculine.
I'm not sure what sulphers they are talking of, but sulpher is the most abundant mineral in our tissues. We're we made out of this so we can work, like some kind of slaves? Hmm, the masculine ungrounds the feminine and feminine grounds the masculine. We are getting these postive and negative battery theories again?
The Son then asks, Father, which of these is more worthy than the other; whether is it the heaven or the earth? Hermes replies, Both need the help one of the other; for the precepts demand a medium. But, saith the Son, if thou shalt say that a wise man governs all mankind? But ordinary men, replies Hermes, are better for them, because every nature delights in society of its own kind, and so we find it to be in the life of Wisdom where equals are conjoined. But what, rejoins the Son, is the mean betwixt them ?
To whom Hermes replies, In everything In nature there are three from two: the beginning, the middle, and the end. First the needful water, then the oily tincture, and lastly, the faeces, or earth, which remains below But the Dragon inhabits in all these, and his houses are the darkness and blackness that is in them and by them he ascends into the air, from his rising, which is their heaven. But whilst the fume remains in them, they are not immortal. Take away, therefore, the vapour from the water, and the blackness from the oily tincture, and death from the faeces; and by dissolution thou shalt possess a triumphant reward, even that in and by which the possessors live.

Know then, my Son, that the temperate unguent, which is fire, is the medium between the faeces and the water and is the Perscrutinator of the water. For the unguents are called sulphurs, because between fire and oil and this sulphur there is such a chose proximity, that even as fire burns so does the sulphur also.
Any comments on this one?

[Dice]

Sulfur is one of the three heavenly substances (sulfur, mercury & salt)

From the Sanskrit word "sulvere"

A symbol for the alchemical element Sulfur, which is analogous to the
human soul. Alchemically, sulfur has the qualities of masculine, hot and
dry- combined with Mercury (feminine, cool and moist), the pair were
considered the parents of all metals.


The alchemical/magical symbol for water is an inverted triangle,
symbolizing downward flow. Water has the properties cold and
moist, and symbolizes intuition, the unconscious mind, and the
enclosing, generating forces.

The upward pointing triangle is the alchemical symbol for fire and
stands for the conscious mind and has the properties of heat and
dryness, and symbolizes the upward-pointing triangle symbolises
rising energy.


When paired, the triangles, the Hindu Shatkona is created.
(aka as Solomons Seal) In the Hindu religion, the hexagram
is called the Shatkona, and is the combination of the Shiva
kona (trikona, triangle), the symbol of the God Shiva,
representing the element of fire, and the Shakti kona,
representing the element of water, the union of male
and female, and the heart chakra.

[feish]

Very intersting ocelotl. I'll have to read it over a few times to get enough to comment.

Lady, I'd love to have my chart read. I'll send you the info by PM. What all do you need?

[Guest]

Dice, wow turning sulpher into a metal! Will they ever tell us the secrets! Thanks for the info.
Feish,
Yeah, so much to investigate.
Here is a website where you can get information on your chart.
http://www.astro.com/horoscopes/ahor.asp?xrn=12048740230.356647406079905
http://www.astronlp.com/
Anyone recommend anything on vedic astrology?

[Guest]

Anyone heard of Stuart Wilde? I can't seem to find more info on the morph, he stopped using his website and is not updated. Guess I'll have to look into the book.

The Concept

The idea is that you will be in the Club for three years and thereafter you will have the knowing and the method, and you will go quietly and form your own group of students and carry them across, but they have to come to you in a disciplined way, following the rules laid out, so you are not troubled by ghoulish influences and trouble makers, or those that seek the knowing for personal gain or power.
This is the art of a few special people operating in their Silent Power, helping small groups of students that are ready. Its not a razzmatazz, high-profile, look-at-me type of thing. Its a form of unconditional love expressed as a reconciliation offered quietly and humbly to others. That is not to say that you cant charge people, its just that the Redeemers Club will always be a small esoteric society not a high-profile thing.

No one can offer you eternity or the kingdom of heaven. If they say they can, they are not being truthful. Its not theirs to dish out. No one can bestow extraordinary powers upon you. If they say they can, its a callous trick. No one can show you the other worlds, you have to go and see for yourself. No one can redeem you; you redeem yourself. Then you can teach the trick to others.
But first there are five, black tulip-shaped bottles behind the bar at the Redeemers Club. Once you get past those you wont need the Redeemers Club or Stuie Wilde.
For more information about the Redeemers Club

The Morph Door
Stuart Wilde

Ive written a lot about the Morph at www.stuartwilde.com (click search: Morph Worlds), so I wont go over it all again, save to say the Morph is an ambience that descends in room; It is a phenomena that seems to be all over the world. At least, I can say that Ive seen it in many countries, in more than one hundred different locations, so my guess is that it is everywhere. Briefly it looks like dry rain with fast-moving swirls and vortexes in it.
The Morph acts as a lens; it is a vast body of information, in it you can see mini-video clips and pictures that offer you a teaching. The Morph displays a special intelligence. I marvel at it. It can read your mind, sometimes it shows you things you want to see when you ask mentally.
The Morph is for everyone. Its not an elite thing or exclusively for adepts and the spiritually elevated, in fact probably the more elevated you are the less you will see. It evokes a sense of spirituality and humility. There is a trick to seeing it, you need to be in a darken room with no direct light and you have to be relaxed then you put your attention on the opposite wall and a second or so later bring your attention back towards you so you are focusing on the middle distance between the wall and you, and gradually you will see it.
Your best chance is when you have not eaten or taken any alcohol; once you learn to see the Morph then eventually a door opens within it.

Sometimes in the Morph we get electric shocks. The shocks are almost always accompanied by a major vision. Some the shocks are so powerful they can contort your body and knock you off the bed or the chair you are on
The Mystery of The Morph and The Mirror World ...
http://www.nightingale.com/prod_detail~product~Journey_Beyond_Enlightenment.aspx

[Dice]

Dice, wow turning sulpher into a metal! Will they ever tell us the secrets! Thanks for the info.

Not if you don't join the bandwagon, but hey, who needs heavy metal

Just joking...the symbolisms are interesting and one can see from it
that there is a system within...that's all I was pointing at.

I never heard of Wilde, but his Concept sounds familiar to me.

[Lady]

Lady, I'd love to have my chart read. I'll send you the info by PM. What all do you need?

Feish, Send City, Country, date and time of birth, and I'll send you a link to an interactive chart.

Ocelotl, I tried to enter the Morph world, but the page wouldn't display. I'll install flash player, but first I need to download AVG and get rid of Norton. Wilde sounds wild. Love hearing your take. I liked the Myan Moon Calendar you posted on PP.

[Guest]

Lady,
I think Mr. Wilde hasn't updated that website, because he started something new, see:
http://redeemersclub.com/site/users/public/club/club.php?

[Guest]

This song is all about the Spirit
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-9aBAMnIUi8Y/sade_cherish_the_day_video/
like a tatoo
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nwOHxHrwM1U
pearls........What Mother Earth would be saying............
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qULEC462rp4

[Guest]

any and all feedback, questions, comments, networkin etc that can come out of this paper please contact me., thank you


2012 and the Mayan Calendar
By Asher Underwood
May 8th, 2008
© Ninth Trybe Studies 2008


Contact info:
My original email was hacked and taken over by unknown assailants., if you need contact me about this paper with any questions, comments, feedback (i can't believe so many people have viewed this post but nobody has responded)? ., anyway email me at:
myspace.com/ninthtrybe
www.ninthtrybe.com

Introduction

The year 2012 has increasingly gained attention and controversy for its auspicious associations with the so-called ending of the Mayan calendar. To be clear, it is not an actual ‘end’ to the Mayan (Long Count) calendar, but rather the end of thirteen baktuns (or 13 cycles of 144,000 days). It should be noted that this writer views the ending of this large cycle in accord with the Maya scholars and words of contemporary Mayans themselves- who are very clear in expressing that 2012 will be the end (and beginning) of another great cycle, and not ‘the end of the world’ as it has been commonly misrepresented. In this paper I will layout what I have come to see as significant facts related to this much anticipated day in the very near future, in an effort to better learn, prepare, and act.

The information provided here has come from several months of research into the subject of 2012 and the Mayan calendar. It has also motivated political and educational projects of which I am a part. Therefore on an intellectual level, any feedback or disagreement with the facts as they are presented is open invitation for dialog on the matter. It is my personal belief that 2012 (or the ‘galactic alignment zone’ with which we currently live) is in fact auspicious and signifying of tremendous change to come.

A ‘Scientific’ Perspective

I will begin by looking at the research of a writer who approached the 2012 phenomenon/question from a different background than me. Unlike myself, Lawrence E. Joseph (author of Apocalypse 2012: A Scientific Investigation into Civilization’s End), did not (as he says) have any of what he believed to be ‘divine revelations’ or ‘numerological epiphanies’ that inspired his work. Joseph also claims to represent ‘no religious or political ideology’, something I cannot say about my own agenda.

What makes this alleged objectivity more credible is Lawrence Joseph’s experience as a professional working for the Aerospace Consulting Corporation in New Mexico. Particularly notable is Joseph’s background writing with ‘expertise from more than twenty years as an author of nonfiction books and as a journalist covering science, nature, religion, and politics for a variety of publications…’ (Joseph 14).

Concluding in his introductory remarks, Joseph warns that ‘the prospect of an apocalypse in 2012 should be treated with respect and fear… [, because it] has the mark of destiny upon it. Judging from the facts… there is at least an even chance of some massive tragedy and/or great awakening occurring or commencing in that year’ (Joseph 15). In order to proceed with his investigation and learn first-hand what the contemporary Maya believe, Joseph took a trip to Guatemala ‘to evaluate the beliefs and predictions attached to [2012] and concluded, in a nutshell, that the Maya have a track record that is impossible to ignore.’ He assures those who are not ‘New Agey’ that ‘Ancient Mayan astronomy is anything but oojie-boojie’ (Joseph 12).

In truth Maya astronomy really ‘is a staggering intellectual achievement’ and ‘the two-thousand year old Mayan calendar is believed by many to be more accurate than the five hundred year old Gregorian calendar we use today.’ Joseph elaborates that ‘the Maya were obsessed with time…[and that] over the centuries…[they] devised at least twenty calendars, attuned to the cycles of everything from pregnancy to the harvest, from the moon to Venus, whose orbit they calculated accurately to 1 day every 1,000 years.’ Joseph also reminds us that ‘without telescopes… Mayan astronomers calculated the length of the lunar month to be… within 34 seconds of what we now know to be its actual length’ (Joseph 12).

Much of this information is not lost on those who have even vaguely studied or from personal experience know of Mesoamerican intellectual and cultural achievements. Nowadays, one can come across many History or Discovery Channel documentaries educating on these matters. However, after presenting his data from this objective and scientific perspective, Joseph then goes on to describe the astronomical significance of December 21, 2012, and the reason this date is not just an arbitrary calendrical effect such as the Y2K phenomenon:

“The date 12/21/12 has significance beyond numerical happenstance. It is the annual winter solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is farthest away from the Sun, and when therefore there is the least daylight and the longest night. On that date our Solar System will eclipse- interpose itself so as to block the view from Earth- the center of the Milky Way. The dark hole at the center of the galaxy spiral was considered the Milky Way’s womb by the ancients and now also by contemporary astronomers, who believe that that’s the spot where our galaxy’s stars are created. Indeed, there’s a vast black hole right at the center, making for a nice navel motif” (Joseph 13).

It is this above quote from ‘Apocalypse 2012’ that I have found very intriguing and the reason I began this paper on 2012 with a brief examination of Lawrence Joseph’s research. When in Guatemala, Joseph consulted a group of Mayan shamans known as the Barrios brothers. In the explication of his dialogue with the Barrios brothers, Joseph comments on a contemporary Maya/shaman’s irritation with the ‘cultural imperialists.’ By the term ‘cultural imperialists,’ he means the ‘self-imposed scholars [who] elbow their way past native elders filled with the wisdom of the ages to foist their own interpretations on ruins and hieroglyphs’ (Joseph 39).

As an example of one of these ‘cultural imperialists,’ Joseph gives up the name ‘John Major Jenkins’, who he describes as ‘a dogged freelancer who, by sheer dint of will, has thrust himself into the debate over Mayan history and culture.’ Joseph goes on to explain that John Major Jenkins ‘believes that Izapa, a little-known ruin just across the Mexican border, was the center of an empire that eventually gave rise to the Maya. Jenkins deploys page after page of complex and frequently far-fetched calculations using maps, calendars, and sky charts to bolster Izapa’s prehistoric legacy. The Barrios brothers politely acknowledge the scholarly interest but strain with ennui when told by outsiders that Izapa is their true Vatican’ (Joseph40).

At this point I am confused, and ultimately more questions arise than are answered. I would like to really hear how this conversation about Jenkins unfolded between Joseph and the Barrios brothers, and really quiz Joseph on what he actually read (rather than skimmed past) in Maya Cosmogenesis. Regardless, despite Joseph’s attempt at ‘scientific objectivity,’ here he has made a mistake. Either to simplify for the sake of his writing style, or simply because he hasn’t done his homework, Joseph reveals his subjectivity while being contradictory and misrepresenting the work of John Major Jenkins. Still, there is hope to learn from both of these writers.

John Major Jenkins: Cultural Imperialist or Revolutionary Scholar?

To begin with, nobody (not even Jenkins) refers to the ancient Maya as an ‘empire’ (as Joseph did in the above quote), rather- the Maya were several groups of complexly overlapping confederacies of city states and priesthoods. Sometimes these states were warring, but more often than not there was a collaboration and interchange of ideas (evidenced by their astronomical and architectural achievements), including direct influence by way of Central Mexico. Regardless (in acknowledgement of Joseph’s effort), Jenkins does believe the Pre-Classic site of Izapa to be the birth place of the Maya Long Count (what he refers to as the 2012 calendar).

However, to say ‘Izapa is [the Maya’s] true Vatican’ is not only a bad metaphor, but an inaccurate portrayal of Jenkin’s ideas. A better analogy might be to compare Izapa with Mount Sinai (the mountain Moses retrieved the Ten Commandments), which laid the foundation for Judaic law and the history upon which (a still functioning political body like) the Vatican does exist. While this may seem like a petty argument in semantics, I believe it is necessary and relevant. I see it this way because although Jenkin’s work may have some errors, it is at the very least outlined clearly. Therefore, it is not progressing for the debate on this subject by distorting the facts of his ideas so heavily.
Particularly (because ‘secondly’), ‘Izapa’s prehistoric legacy’ in Jenkin’s work is really a side note. While it’s true Izapa factors significantly in Jenkin’s hieroglyphic interpretations, it is not the main point of his research (or claim to fame). This leads to a paradox I’m immediately trying to understand for clarification and knowledge’s sake. While one might find Jenkin’s use of ‘maps, calendars, and sky charts’ as ‘frequently far-fetched calculations,’ it is a misrepresentation to say he uses these with the primary aim being to ‘bolster Izapa’s prehistoric legacy.’ Rather, Jenkin’s uses ‘Izapa’s prehistoric legacy’ as a case study in hieroglyph and ballgame interpretation in order to support his real theory that: that the galactic alignment caused by precession of the equinoxes may have ‘empirical effects’ on our world… [And that] the Mayan Long Count calendar was positioned as such to forecast the alignment, via knowledge of the event. This is what Jenkin’s scholarship is all about which the titles of his last two books clearly signify (‘Maya Cosmogenesis’ and ‘Galactic Alignment.’)

Now, this is precisely where the irony lies. For one, Joseph misrepresents the main thesis of Jenkin’s work (and in the process offers a uniformed metaphor comparing Izapa to the Vatican). And second, Joseph contradicts his own facts by saying that part of the importance with the 2012 date is the fact of this rare astronomical alignment between the sun, earth, and center of the Milky Way. Joseph summarizes and confirms this contradiction again in the below paragraph:

“On 12/21/12 our Solar System, with the Sun at its center, will, as the Maya have for millennia maintained, eclipse the view from Earth of the center of the Milky Way. This happens only once every 26,000 years. Ancient Mayan astronomers considered this center spot to be the Milky Way’s womb, a belief now supported by voluminous evidence that that’s where the galaxy’s stars are created…” (Joseph 32-33)

Again, Joseph’s explanation of the above theory promoting the ‘galactic alignment’ is ironic considering this is the main idea behind John Major Jenkin’s books ‘Maya Cosmogenesis’ and ‘Galactic Alignment,’ and not ‘Izapa’s prehistoric legacy.’ What is significant however is the fact that a supposedly skeptical and objective science writer confirms that this belief in the ‘galactic alignment’ is apparently supported by at least the contemporary Maya shamans in Guatemala Joseph spoke with. Ironically however, he attempts to discredit the research and leading non-Maya proponent in the Western world of such a theory. So my question is: what does it all mean?

Precession of the Equinoxes

For those who are unaware, precession of the equinoxes is an astronomical, or what I like to call ‘geodynamic’ phenomenon caused by the Earth’s wobble on its axis. The Earth does not just spin straight up and down on its axis everyday from west to east, but also the north and south poles wobble similar to a top. A full precessional wobble takes almost 26,000 years to complete, thus changing the orientation of the North Star every couple of thousand years. For example, today the North Star is Polaris, as it has been for all recent history, and will remain for many more years to come. However, several thousand years ago Vega was the North Star.

Now at this critical junction the debate takes several turns. For one, there is the argument of whether the Maya (and other ancient cultures) knew of and ‘documented’ their knowledge of precession (embedded in mythology). Two, while it appears the Maya and others definitely may have been aware that the orientation of the north pole shifted along with celestial focal points (such as the Milky Way) and star rise azimuths (over time)- but however, they may not have had (and wouldn’t necessarily have needed) knowledge of the complete cycle and full mechanics of the wobble. The third point (which has generated so much controversy), is particularly whether the Maya had this knowledge and factored it into their Long Count calendar inscriptions and mythology such as the Popol Vuh. We will now deal with this directly.

As was said previously, there is a certain irony in Lawrence Joseph’s discrediting of John Major Jenkin’s theory of Izapa, all the while supporting (yet not acknowledging) Jenkin’s main and most prominent argument concerning the ‘galactic alignment’ (caused by precession of the equinoxes). Notable Mayan scholar and archaeologist Susan Milbrath has also issued rebuttals of John Major Jenkin’s thesis. In a USA today article concerning all the 2012 hoopla, Milbrath stated that ‘astronomers generally agree that it would be impossible for the Maya themselves to have known that [the sun will be aligned with the galactic equator on Dec. 21, 2012].’ Her main reasoning of this belief is that ‘[the Maya] left no precise records of calculations involving such observations.’

However, as I will attempt to show, there are problems with this statement and Milbrath herself shows a less obvious (but still apparent) contradiction with her own beliefs. To begin with, just for starters it is important to realize two things: One) the idea that there are no precise records or calculations of such observations is not the final word, considering thousands upon thousands of indigenous texts were destroyed during the conquest and subsequent inquisitions of Native culture. Interesting to note however, Lawrence Joseph’s research actually breaks open Pandora’s Box on this matter, stating that:

‘It is widely written that only four Mayan codices survived the Spanish book-burning. What that means is that only four such codices are today known to be in Anglo-European hands. Many more sacred texts were saved by record-keepers and elders from different tribes who hid out in the mountains and remote areas. For more than twenty years, Gerardo Barrios visited villages in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico, searching out the descendants of these elders, some of whom still lived in the same caves in which their ancestors escaped the conquistadors’ (Joseph 32).

So here you have somebody who supports the ‘galactic alignment’ theory based on his conversations with contemporary Maya shamans. And not only that, but this statement claims that texts are actually still existing today (hidden away from European and/or ‘cultural imperialists’ hands).

Two) while John Jenkin’s work has upset and been rejected by many of the more conservative academics, time will only tell whether it can further stand the test of professional scrutiny. If this can happen then this is exactly what will be evident: precise records and calculated observations encoded into previously un-deciphered hieroglyphs and Indigenous mythology/prophecies. I will now show what appears to me to be a contradiction and/or oversight in Susan Milbrath’s rebuttals of John Jenkin’s (and apparently also Lawrence Joseph via The Barrios Brothers) ‘galactic alignment’ theories.

[Guest]

continued.....
Milbrath vs. Jenkins

First, it should be noted that Milbrath does believe possibly the Maya were working out precession and noted that ‘the Dresden Codex and certain Classic monuments record pictuns (8,000 x 360 days) [as well as] records of much longer cycles of time.’ Milbrath is disgruntled by Jenkin’s belief in such ancient astronomical precession claiming this ‘implies the Maya were able to calculate the precession cycle with exact precission… [thus emphasizing] astronomical precision by saying that the Maya were able to predict the exact location of the sun in the background of stars on December 21, 2012.’

Again, from my understanding of Milbrath, it is not so much the idea that the Maya worked out the knowledge of precession that is the problem. The problem she has is the idea that the Maya had this knowledge at the time of the earliest Long Count inscriptions (almost 2,000 years ago). She makes this clear when reminding us that ‘the cycle [of precession] was not known in the West as such until the Renaissance.’ Going further, Milbrath explains that ‘[Jenkins] tying of the 2012 galactic event to the end of the baktun cycle implies that the Maya had precisely calculated precession of the equinox by around AD 300, more than 1000 years before this was achieved in Western science.’ Although she is very clear here, Milbrath may be exhibiting her own cultural bias and limitations, which we will return to in a minute.

But let’s first deal head on with this idea that precession ‘was not known in the West as such until the Renaissance.’ The key words here in fine print are ‘as such.’ The reason this is so significant is because a renowned scholar of the Pre-Columbian Americas and ancient astronomy, Anthony Aveni illustrates how Milbrath’s statement above is ambiguous. Aveni explains that ‘astronomers generally agree that…precession was known in the west since the time of Hipparchus, [although] there is no evidence the Western astronomers accurately computed the full cycle until the renaissance’ (Aveni 348).

This is powerful and informative stuff. Specifically, it is important to note that Hipparchus, like many Greek philosophers, received their learning directly (or indirectly) via the Egyptians. Egypt, one of the oldest (if not the oldest) civilization on Earth, has been believed by many to have had the knowledge (of at least naked eye) precession. It is not just the Egyptians (and Maya) who are believed to have worked out and encoded precession into their mythologies. Jenkins expresses this in Maya Cosmogenesis, that his work is part of ‘an emerging trend of independent researchers decoding ancient precessional mysteries’ amongst ancient cultures around the globe. For examples, he mentions the likes of Graham Han*censored*, William Sullivan, and Robert Bauval. And let us not forget the groundbreaking work Hamlet’s Mill by Santillana and Deschend (1968), who are considered to be the scholars who spearheaded this ‘trend.’

Anthony Aveni says in Skywatchers that “ancient astronomers could detect the long-term precessional motion quite easily by witnessing changes in time of year, when the bright stars underwent helical rising. On the average, the helical rise date for a bright star shifts by about one day per calendar year per human lifetime. Through myth and legend the earliest skywatchers transmitted their consciousness of the passage of the vernal equinox along the zodiac from constellation to constellation” (Aveni 102). He says [that scholars of Maya studies], ‘wonder whether Mesoamerican astronomers might have detected this motion. Though [there] is no solid evidence on the question, we are at least aware that the Maya utilized a zodiac consisting of a band of constellations running along the ecliptic’ (Aveni 100). This quote is further qualified by the explanation that “though the computed alterations in declination owing to precession are scarcely perceptible in a human lifetime, over the course of hundreds of years they may amount to several degrees” (Aveni 101).

Milbrath even says that it ‘seems likely the Maya recognized that star rise azimuths and heliacal rise/set dates changed through time.’ But it is not clear during what era she is referring to them having this knowledge, and I think she is once again talking about the ‘Post’ Classic period. However, there is something here worthy to note and observe. Specifically (and revealingly), there is the irony that Milbrath (while rejecting the theory/claim that the Maya coordinated the Long Count in conjunction with the movement of the Milky Way), does support the original theory by Munro Edmonson that the ‘end of the calendar’ or 13th baktun was pre-calculated to end exactly on a winter solstice over 2000 years ago. Milbrath herself says that:

“The Maya purposely set the calendric odometer to “roll over” at end of the baktun cycle on the winter solstice in 2012. This date was predetermined when the first Long Count inscriptions were recorded in the third century A.D. in the Maya lowlands (even earlier in the areas of Veracruz and Chiapas). The end of the baktun on the winter solstice is not a coincidence, and this mathematical feat is certainly a sign of a sophisticated link between Maya astronomy and mathematics. The Maya must have set the baktun ‘end’ at the same time they back-calculated a starting point for the baktun around 3000 BC.”

Susan Milbrath is not the only respected scholar in the field who believes this, and as was mentioned, Edmonson is probably the original non-Mayan proponent of such a theory. To my knowledge, he is the first academic to promote the theory that the Maya ‘anchored’ the ending of their thirteenth baktun in order to coincide with a winter solstice. In Book of the Year, Edmonson expresses this by explaining that the calendar was ‘motivated by long term astronomical prediction, one that made a correct solsticial forecast 2,367 years into the future in 355 BC’ (Edmonson 199). Prudence Rice acknowledges this point as well, providing that ‘Edmonson’s proposal that the Long Count starting date was based on terminating the current creation on a winter solstice is attractive because it skirts the puzzlement of why the Long Count began on a late summer day in 3114 BC: the date was merely derivative from, or an artifact of, the intended ending date’ (Rice 176).

The confusion with this matter is regarding why Susan Milbrath knowingly supports a theory that the ending of the baktun was pre-calculated over 2000 years ago to ‘terminate’ on the Winter Solstice? All the while, she acknowledging this to be ‘a sophisticated link between Maya astronomy and mathematics,’ but then she completely rejects the ‘galactic alignment theory,’ supported by both Joseph, Jenkins, and the Barrios brothers. Let it be known however, she doesn’t reject or deny the fact that the ‘galactic alignment’ is occurring, only the idea that the Maya perceived it and recorded their knowledge of this coming alignment into their calendar (over 2000 years ago).

The problem with this however is that Milbrath seems to reject the theory on the basis that it seems to suggest the Maya were far more advanced (in astronomy and mathematics) then we were in the West for over 1,000 years prior. Also, it insenuates that they were/are more advanced in this realm than what modern archaeology up to this point has ceded as possible. Her rebuttals include scoffing at the notion the ancient Maya could have known the ‘galactic center’ so long ago without our modern telescopes and NASA technology. Then of course also Milbrath rejects the belief that the ancient Maya had knowledge of the full precessional cycle as we currently do. She does not clarify whether she believes the Pre-Classic/Classic Maya could have had ‘naked-eye’ knowledge of precessional ‘effects’ so as to pre-calculate such an alignment.

This is why the argument doesn’t seem to hold up because it overlooks the fact that the Maya would not necessarily need to have complete knowledge of the full precessional cycle in order to observe its movement down the ecliptic (toward the Winter Solstice sun) one degree every 72 years (or human lifetime). This is in fact the ‘naked eye’ astronomy mentioned, and similar to the technology Hipparchus did have in the West at approximately the same time the Maya would have needed it in order to factor it into their Long Count inscriptions. The movement of the Milky Way and galactic center (or Xibalba be) down the ecliptic has been constant and steady for at over 5,000 years toward its current position (at that rate of 1 degree every 72 years).

Mesoamerican history is ancient enough and evidence of generation after generation collecting and passing mathematical and astronomical data via mythology and cultural achievements is available. If she can agree the ending of the baktun was pre-calculated to finish on the winter solstice over 2,000 years in advance, why can she not cede the possibility they also factored the declining of the Milky Way on the ecliptic into the same equation? It really is not that far-fetched given what we know about Maya history and culture, particularly in these realms of math and astronomy.

The other argument Milbrath makes that doesn’t seem to hold up is her insistence that there is no way the Maya could have known ‘the true center of the galaxy’ without NASA photos and telescopes- thus trying to diminish the relevance of this significant focal point. There are two important responses to this argument: One) that they didn’t necessarily have to actually know it as the ‘true’ center of our galaxy for them to have noted its importance as a celestial focal point. Regardless of whether they had actual knowledge of the Milky Way’s center, the Maya apparently found great importance in this celestial intersection between the ecliptic and the Milky Way (in Sagittarius). This is in fact relevant and should be taken into consideration. Two) Apparently some (such as Jenkins and Joseph) do feel the Maya not only acknowledged the Milky Way’s brilliance in the night sky, but actually did have the knowledge of the Milky Way galaxy’s ‘true center,’ as controversial as that may be.
In the forward to Jenkin’s book Maya Cosmogenesis, Terrence Mckenna writes:

“…Modern astronomy is apparently not the first community of scholars to appreciate and study the structure of the greater cosmos. We can marvel over the ‘coincidence’ of our own physicists’ discovery of a black hole at the center of our galaxy and the Maya belief in a great black hole in the same spot, and thereby miss the point. This is no coincidence. Our minds and our mathematics are not so different from the ancient Maya that by different but convergent paths our science and theirs could not reach the same perspective. (Jenkins xxvii)”

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[Guest]

continued..............
Lawrence Joseph also writes in his Apocalypse 2012 that:
The Mayan prophecies concerning 2012 seem therefore to contain wisdom not necessarily beyond science, but most likely beyond anything contemporary scientific methodology could prove, or disprove, in the short time remaining before [2012]’ (Joseph 13).

The Importance of the Galactic Center to Contemporary Maya
My initial concerns to the questions raised about Jenkin’s scholarship changed when I listened to the three discs of Jenkin’s audio recording Unlocking the Secrets of 2012. In this recording he speaks of his early experiences and interactions with the Highland Maya of Guatemala. He describes how his work at that time had a political dimension. His first contact was when delivering relief supplies to a Quiche community who was in resistance to the Guatemalan government. This was during a time when Guatemalan death squads enacted well documented atrocities against traditional Mayan communities. Often times this took place with the support of the United States Government. He explains that the intent of his early journalistic pieces aimed at exposing these ‘heart wrenching’ injustices of the eighties Cold War. While this is only a blurb in Jenkin’s work, it was enough for me to see a new angle in his descent upon the academy and it ultimately made me more sympathetic with his pursuit (Jenkins, Disc 2, Track 4).

Learning the above information about Jenkins is also interesting when looking closer at Lawrence Joseph’s talk about ‘cultural imperialists’ after his conversation with the Barrios brothers in Guatemala. Joseph informs us that while the Barrios brothers are not so keen on Jenkin’s theory of Izapa (again, all the while supporting his theory of ‘galactic alignment), they are however ‘fond of Carl Calleman.’ Joseph explains that ‘Calleman, a cancer researcher associated with the World Health Organization who for years has dedicated himself to Mayan scholarship… believe[s] that the Mayans have miscalculated their own calendar’ (Joseph 40).

It is interesting that the Barrios brothers are fond of Calleman and reject Jenkins, due even more to the fact that Calleman has attacked and had politically charged debates with Jenkins. Also, peculiar to note is Joseph’s admittance that the Barrios brothers ‘by heritage, training, and sheer dedication… stand as the preeminent authorities currently writing and speaking to the outside world on Mayan culture, science, and prophecies… [but Joseph] gathers that, though [the Barrios brothers] have comparatively high-profile[s], [and] well-remunerated positions interfacing with outsiders and the press… within the Mayan spiritual hierarchy they are midlevel at best’ (Joseph 41).

So this is just further evidence to the complexity of this whole situation. Given that Jenkins has travelled to Guatemala not just researching and asking question, but at one point actually delivering relief supplies to a community in resistance. This lends credence to his objectives. Could it be that he has contacts and/or informants ‘within the Mayan spiritual hierarchy’ beyond ‘midlevel,’ or even possibly at odds with the Barrios brothers? This is just an after-thought.

My appreciation for Jenkins further strengthened when I read that he has apparently had a personal connection and conversation with Dennis Tedlock, the well-known translator of the Popol Vuh. Jenkins states in the introductions to Maya Cosmogenesis that upon approaching Tedlock with the question concerning the “compelling coincidence” that ‘the 13-baktun cycle of the Maya Long Count calendar ends on December 21, 2012 (within the ‘Galactic Alignment Zone’ of ‘era-2012’)- Tedlock allegedly replied that ‘he too had noticed this unusual situation… but did not know what to make of it’ (Jenkins xxxviii). While this does not necessarily show a sign of support from Tedlock of the galactic alignment theory, it does however suggest a somewhat mutual respect for the auspiciousness of this event. It also leads me to wonder how both of the Tedlocks might perceive the completion of Jenkin’s Maya Cosmogenesis, given they have spent considerable time in Guatemala with traditional Mayan communities.

Concerning Dennis Tedlock’s translation of the Popol Vuh, Gordon Brotherston in Book of the Fourth World points out the advantages of Tedlock’s translation (to Edmonson’s previous one) in that Tedlock “brings in a valuable new element insofar as his reading is informed by time spent among the Quiche who live in Guatemala today. In particular, Tedlock was alerted to the ritual logic in the text through study and conversation with Quiche shamans, who in many respects may fairly be considered to be definitive heirs of those who wrote the Popol vuh” (Brotherston 216). In addition to this line of inquiry, it should also be noted that Brotherston is a highly seasoned academic who supports the belief that the ancient Maya (as well as other ‘fourth world’ cultures) had/have and recorded knowledge of precession of the equinoxes.

Dennis Tedlock’s translation of the Popol vuh and accompanying commentary has become an important source for understanding the ways in which contemporary Maya (and possibly the ancient Maya) perceive the dark cleft of the Milky Way. Barbara Tedlock, who spent time with Dennis in Guatemala, also points out in her work that ‘the Milky Way [] has two separate designations, depending on which end is being indicated. The undivided segment is saki be (“white road”), while the other part with the dark cleft, or rift, is xibalba be (“underworld road”)’ (Tedlock, 181).

In truth, the Tedlock’s ‘time spent amongst the Highland Maya’ has become valuable sources for understanding the significance of this celestial focal point. It has been their learning of ‘Xibalba be’ and the translations of the Popol Vuh’s references to ‘Xibalba be’ that have helped make significant breakthroughs in the scholarship surrounding the galactic alignment and 2012 more tangible. Jenkin’s examination of ballgame iconography, and hieroglyph interpretation, have both relied heavily on correlating the contemporary views of the dark cleft with the galactic alignment theory.

Another thing about the Tedlocks (which again is something I appreciate about Jenkins) is how, they having lived and/or worked with traditional Mayans- and do not overlook the significance and relevance of recent history. In the preface to the revised edition of Barbara’s Time and the Highland Maya she immediately reminds the reader about the civil war Guatemala went through during the eighties. She informs us that “Guerilla takeovers of rural hamlets triggered massive levels of state violence, including death-squad executions and military counterinsurgency attacks.” Barbara demonstrates her awareness of the historical legacies and their roles in shaping Central American culture, pointing out that ‘the study of the Postclassic and Colonial periods [] explain the remarkable success and longevity of Mayan culture in the face of disease, invasion, war, and oppressive colonial policies’ (Tedlock xiii).

Why these notes are important of course are found in the political and social nature of the prophecies concerning 2012. This is something that Joseph examines briefly in his Apocalypse 2012, and Jenkins states directly in his most recent work Galactic Alignment. Here Jenkins ‘prophecies’ rather boldly:

“…that whether or not one believes in the urgent imperative of the alignment and its empirical effects (something we will deal with in the concluding section), one thing is for sure: 2012, as a long-anticipated calendrical shift, will be a rally cry for indigenous people throughout the Americas- perhaps the world- to rise up and reclaim their self-determination and power. However this occurs and whatever it entails for the ruling sectors, it must be about a fair redistribution of wealth” (Jenkins 256).

In support of this belief, as I have noted in previous writings, the ‘Declaration of Iximche’ that was delivered in Ximche, Guatemala at the end of March 2007 confirm these revolutionary ideals. The Declaration was drafted by the Third Continental Summit of Indigenous Nations and Pueblos of Abya Yala which affirmed a ratification of the ‘millennial principles of complementarity, reciprocity and duality, as well as the struggle for [the previously indigenous governed] territories in order to preserve our Mother Nature and the autonomy and self-determination of our Indigenous Peoples.’ Abya Yala is an indigenous name for the continents of South, Central, and North America, and this meeting was a self-governed alliance among Indigenous Nations and Pueblos of the continents. Here, they ‘announced the continental resurgence of the Pachacutic (the return) along with the closure of the Oxlajuj Baktun (long count of 5,200 years),’ and announced that ‘as we approach the door of the new Baq’tun, we journey together to make of Abya Yala a “land full of life.” This ‘Oxlajuj Baktun’ and its completion is what we have been talking about regarding the closing of the ‘thirteenth baktun’ (or ‘end’ of the Mayan calendar).

Significantly, more than just announcing the closure of the 13th baktun (for baktun’s sake) however, this summit has a serious political agenda, stating that:

“[After having] survived centuries of colonization [today’s Indigenous Peoples] now face the imposition of the policies of neo-liberalism that perpetuates the dispossession and sacking of our territories, the domination of all of social space and ways of life of the Indigenous Peoples, causing the degradation of our Mother Nature as well as poverty and migration by way of the systematic intervention in the sovereignty of our Nations by transnational companies in complicity with the government states” (http://www.cumbrecontinentalindigena.org).

[Guest]

continued.........
Linda Schele’s Influence on Maya Studies and John Jenkins

John Jenkin’s was heavily influenced by Linda Schele and the critical breakthrough in Maya studies with that the book Maya Cosmos made in 1992. At the Austin Hieroglyphic meeting, ‘Linda Schele revealed her interpretation of Maya Creation myth, in which she emphasized the relationship between myth and astronomy’ (Jenkins xxxiii). Jenkins has been persistent to not let go of the fact Schele emphasized the importance of the Milky Way crossing the ecliptic (in Gemini), while overlooking the obvious (and super-relevant) opposing intersection of the Milky Way on the ecliptic (in Sagittarius).

This does not say anything bad about Schele, and in fact Jenkins has been very inspired by her work. But Jenkins is right in my opinion by reminding us that it is here along the ecliptic (in Sagittarius) where the galactic center does in fact reside. It is here that this dark rift resides, known by contemporary Mayan communities as ‘Xibalba be (the Road to the Underworld).’ Jenkins follows this by illustrating and highlighting several potential ways of interpreting what could be Popol vuh and other iconographic descriptions of the sacredness and importance with this celestial area. Considering that it has shifted 30 degrees in the last two thousand years to now meet the Winter Solstice sun, during a ‘zone’ when the Maya Long Count 13th baktun ends- should not be so easily dismissed as mere coincidence. This is the stuff scientific breakthroughs are made of.

Another aspect of Schele’s work which influenced and/or is similar to Jenkins, and something I personally respect, is the empathetic approach to shamanism (and culture) through personal subjectivity. Terrence Mckenna, the psychedelics guru, was also influential on Jenkins work (and actually wrote the forward for his book Maya Cosmogenesis), was quoted earlier. Jenkin’s deals often with the psychedelic significance of Classic (and contemporary) Maya shamanism, as is attested by mushroom statuettes and hieroglyphic ‘vision scrolls’ depicting a particular frog that secretes a hallucinogenic substance known as DMT. The Maya shamans are known to extract the DMT and smoke it in order to induce psychedelic trances.

With this mindset, the origins of ‘divine revelations’ and/or ‘visions’ explains why what Jenkins identifies the shamans to possessing understanding of an intimate knowledge in how the universe and cosmos are ‘structured and operate,’ by looking within (as well as outward). He confesses to seeing (metaphorically or literally?) ‘Maya king-shamans journeying along sky ropes, passing between worlds, and communicating with other times and places’ (Jenkins xxxii). Continuing in this vein likewise reminds us of when Linda Schele, along with Freidel and Parker, expressed how in order for them to write their groundbreaking Maya Cosmos:

“[they] had to reach inside [themselves] to find both empathy for [the Mayan] way of being and a method to communicate this worldview to others. Because [the Mayan] way is pervasively spiritual, [they] had to discover [their] real feelings about spirituality and faith in the shared wisdom that guides daily life and conduct. To write about the Maya cosmos, [they] had to accept the significance of its supernatural reality and learn to play by the rules of its own internal logic (Maya Cosmos, 11).

…At [the heart of the Maya way of seeing] is the experience of a spiritual and magical world. It is a world in which ancestors affect the fate of the living, where human beings can transform into their animal counterparts, where ritual transforms space and objects into powerful energy carriers” (Maya Cosmos, 10).

It is empathy with these realms of the subtle consciousness (when subjectively appreciated) which may create (or bridge) the gap between indigenous philosophy/shamanism and modern archeology/anthropology. It is Jenkins (and Schele’s) respect for these world or cultural differences that resonate with me personally. I also agree with Jenkin’s intuition that ‘the knowledge of the ancient Maya [is] going to play a significant role in the future development of Western philosophy and culture’ and that the ‘Maya were advanced in ways that [our] own world [still can] barely appreciate or understand’ (Jenkins xxxii). Looking at theories concerning the galactic alignment, and ‘ending’ of the Maya (Long Count) calendar is a great introduction to the possibilities (and opportunities) that exist.

Conclusion: Galactic Alignment, Subtle Effects and the Physical Realm

In conclusion, I would like to exit this subject by thinking with an open mind about Jenkin’s theory that the galactic alignment may have subtle effects in the physical world. This is what he refers to as the ‘empirical effects’ mentioned in the quote earlier. There are two aspects of this specifically we will deal with. The first one is the psychological or massive ‘revelation’ that could come out of a collective appreciation and learning about the greater cosmos with which we live. From this theory, comes the idea that our understanding (of the galactic alignment and ‘great year’ of the precessional cycle) will influence and effect the social and political climate of the known world. The second aspect of this theory is the gravitational (or other) effects on our solar system and planet, the push and/or pull from the galactic center (our celestial birthplace) might facilitate.

With regards to the first aspect, in the introductions to Maya Cosmogenesis Jenkins informs us that:

‘At the dawn of agriculture in the Paleolithic Age, human beings began to understand the nature and potential of the yearly cycle. They discovered planting and harvesting. As 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 space-time concept and appreciate the immanent potential of this Great Year, the future of the human race might be brighter than we can presently imagine’ (Jenkins, xlvi).

To me this is brilliant as it is revealing of the effects of ‘cognition,’ and a hypothesis of what could follow a collective ‘revelation’ in understanding how the cosmos and our immediate solar system is structured. Jenkins pushes the envelope by asking ‘[if it’s possible that] the “field effects” of our changing relationship to the Milky Way [could] stimulate genetic or spiritual evolution on Earth? [and] if so, why are these possibilities not recognized by our supposedly superior Western science’ (Jenkins, xl)? Let me add a twist to this and restate it for the atheists and blunt rationalists who might miss the point: ‘could the “field effects,” simply of our understanding, (or “collective cognition/perception”) of our changing relationship to the Milky Way (if in fact it was understood and predicted by ancient astronomers),’ – could this alone -- stimulate an intellectual and academic revolution with profound repercussions socially, politically, and economically?’ Meaning, the advancement of our ‘space-time’ concept, and acceptance of Native cultural achievements on a collective level in and of itself, could usher in a new ‘era-2012.’

Regarding the second aspect, Jenkins has begun to look at and examine the possibility of a real gravitational (or other) force emanating from the galactic center having physical effects on our world. This stuff, like ancient Maya astronomy (referred to by Lawrence Joseph) is not oojie-boojie. We are talking about the possibility of very real (yet subtle) physical effects, no different from solar storms knocking out satellites, or the gravitation of the moon effecting our psychology, the cells in plants, and the tides of the ocean. Put this with an agenda of widespread Indigenous rights and social reform- and you have a very real revolution at hand.

Jenkins has put this into a simple method for understanding, which is by comparing this movement of our orientation with the galactic equator from the Northern Hemisphere to the southern (with that of the planetary equator). Think about this. All hurricanes and tornadoes north of the equator spin clockwise. Also, all water goes down the drain in a clockwise manner. However, as soon as you cross the equator to the south, tornadoes, hurricanes, and water start spinning in the opposite direction. This is not flimsy stuff but the reality our world and universe is made of.

Now Jenkins has simultaneously pointed out a curious fact that the galactic center is approximately 26,000 light years away, the same amount of time it takes for one complete precessional cycle. He then ask if it’s possible that some subtle gravitation exchanged (or emanating) between our solar system, the rest of the Milky Way galaxy, and our common galactic center could be in part responsible for precession. In his recent work, Galactic Alignment, Jenkins educates us to a small unknown group of obscure scientists and philosophers who have proposed just such a similar theory. Rather than delving into their work directly, he cites their material and challenges us to find the connections. Still, when you think of it this way and utilize our planetary equator as a comparison with the larger galactic equator (and our orientation toward or from it) you find there is an intriguing idea at work.

Picture it this way, for many thousands of years now our ancestors from the northern hemisphere have gazed at the Milky Way floating from north to south across the ecliptic in the sky. Utilizing the winter solstice as the marking point (on that date), they have also watched as every lifetime (72 years) this celestial focal point drops one degree along the ecliptic. After many thousands of years our center of gravity (the center of the earth) is lining up almost directly with our galaxies center, due to precession of the equinoxes. This is similar to the analogy of approaching the planetary equator with a water hose and drain, watching the spin direction shift as you would cross the equator. Now, in the next coming thousands of years, the Milky Way in the sky will be leaving the northern hemisphere on the winter solstice and at the same rate of precession gradually start making its way upward along the ‘southern’ ecliptic (from the perspective of the Southern Hemisphere). The question is: will this shift in orientation effect us physically, mentally, spiritually, socially, politically?

Only time will tell, but it is worth considering especially since the ending of the Maya Long Count 13th baktun corresponds directly with this auspicious celestial phenomenon. Verified by contemporary Maya shamans, as well as NASA and modern astronomers, we are not talking about a random set of distant stars or meteorites- but the black hole at the center of the galaxy from which our entire planetary history has been dependent. Literally, (as the Maya say) we are talking about our celestial womb, our birth place and cosmic origin. If even the more conservative scholars are correct, that the Maya Long Count was structured to forecast the Winter Solstice as a terminating date (2000 years in the future), then obviously the possibilities of galactic alignment (and its effects) should contemplated with an open mind. It is the intrigue into these matters that has prompted my own investigation and questions. Any insight or feedback you might be able to share is appreciated.




Bibliography


Aveni, Anthony F. Skywatchers: University of Texas Press, Austin, 2001.

Brotherston, Gordon. Book of the Fourth World: Reading the Native Americas through their Literature: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Edmonson, Munroe. Book of the Year: Middle American Calendrical Systems. 1988

Freidel, Schele, Parker. Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman’s Path: Quill, William, Morrow, New York, 1993.

Jenkins, John Major. Galactic Alignment: The Transformation of Consciousness According to Mayan, Egyptian, and Vedic Traditions: Bear and Company, Rochester, Vermont, 2002.

Jenkins, John Major. Maya Cosmogenesis 2012: The True Meaning of the Maya Calendar End-Date: Bear and Company, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1998.

Jenkins, John Major. Unlocking the Secrets of 2012: Galactic Wisdom from the Ancient Skywatchers: Sounds True Recording (Audio), 2007.

Joseph, Lawrence E. Apocalypse 2012: A Scientific Investigation into Civilization’s End: Morgan Road Books: New York: 2007.

Rice, Prudence. Maya Calendar Origins: Monuments, Mythistory, and the Materialization of Time: … 2007

Tedlock, Barbara. Time and the Highland Maya: University of New Mexico Press, 1982.

Tedlcok, Dennis. Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings: Simon and Schuster, New York, 1985

[Guest]

SO the Mayans predicted what the NWO was going to do!!!
Damn, I hope the Mayans were not taken over by the PTB.
This was written in 2006..........so the Yellowstone blow out is due anytime.........looks like everything they predicted came true.......
This was already predicted by the Prophets and visionary Mayans, as well as the attack to Iraq (with a precise date, two years before it happened), and the Terrorist Attacks (the one of the Twin Towers, the ones of France and Spain, and the ones to come).
The Mayan Elders are expecting that in the laps of the next two years there will be a great explosion of magma in the Yellowstone Park, this explosion would have the effect equivalent to the destruction that several atomic bombs would cause, giving as a result a great matter of contamination and pollution.

We are also expecting the imminent attack to Syria and the possibility of an attack to Iran, as well as the trying of overthrowing and putting a stop to the Socialist Democratic Movements that are rising in Latin America, specially the one of President Chavez in Venezuela. The last predictions, we can still put a stop to, but we have to use our powerful weapons, the inner magic in each of us, our fire ceremonies, meditations and any other techniques. It is URGENT to stop the madness of war.


http://mytwobeadsworth.com/MayanEldersMessage.html

[Guest]

Before the start of the Iraq 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 the 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.
http://mytwobeadsworth.com/MayanEldersMessage.html

All of what the Mayan say, confirms of higher civilizations like Atlantis. They also confirm the alien/lizards/higher being/magicians that live underground and were in control before the destruction. Be it in the actual Earth or in the lower astral realms.

[Guest]

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.



THE PATH OF VENUS OVER THE FACE OF THE SUN

By Carlos Barrios, Mayan Ajq'ij





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. 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 were 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 now 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.


I'll have to check out what Velikovsy wrote about Venus...........

[Guest]

We need a thread on the Sun or all things solar, we don't want to disgrace you know who.
---------------------------------------
I wrote about him and the sexual energy last year. Wow, didn't know he was into the brother's work. He is talking about the Sun, DNA and sexual energy.........
According to Dan Winter.........
ANy wave that imbeds in the Sun has a possibility of fusion.

The Egyption god and Queztlcoatl (who later became Jesus) taught of the solar calendar (from the ancient solar cult?). Magnetic fields is the symmetry necessary to ignite DNA, which is the I Ching or Mayan calendar or codon of DNA. Maps how the sun ignites DNA and maps sun flares. The Sun igniting DNA.

Fusion
Hydrogen or spectral emmision lines, being the physics of fusion. And the law and function of golden ratio.
The Sun's wavelengths are embedibility. Teach fusion, keep a solar calendar, it is the physics of how you embed in the sun.

Because the Sun is the only being that has the gravity to get out of here or inertial escape velocity out of here you can use it to escape.
Souls don't pass the Van Allen belt, so if you want to escape.
If you get enough bliss, or do the (eminty principle??), in your soul group, the UV/tantric, excitement becomes navigable through the Sun.
Accelerate group bliss to the Sun!
Use your landscape which is the zodiac starmap like a magnetic lens, for accelerating your group bliss through the Sun.
Winter got this info from King Tut prophecy book by
Maurice Cotterail.
It explains solar physics on the planet.

Geometry of magnetism to make the possibility of ignition based on the phase map of the heart of the Sun. That is harmonic theory. Getting a wave in the symmetry necessary to create that compression that can accelerate soul group.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5974127020506969588&ei=&hl=en

[Guest]

Okay so we all know how important eclipses and the like were important for our ancestors, especially for indigenous people.
And how they selected their sacred places according to these energy fields, even animals and insects are attracted to these places.

And how these vortex or energy fields affect us.............
At sunrise in many parts of the world there is a unique electromagnetic transmission. For twenty minutes the earth along the sun line is blanketed by a wave with a frequency of ten cycles per second. Later this fades and falls back to the three or four cycle hum that forms a constant background to our daily lives.

The morning after a partial eclipse of the moon or the time of these events and the waves can affect us the most at these special places on earth. The honorable Lyall Watson, had this energy affect him the morning after the eclipse, when he walked to the sacred site at sunrise.

[Guest]

WHAT IS THAT UP THERE?

I've been thinking about the power of the moon and how it controls

a human females reproductive cycle

. I'm sure other female animals are influenced as well, but not every month following the moon's rhythm to the T. This hints on human manipulation buy a somebody. Their would be no humans born at all without the moon, but I'm sure other animals can.

I can relate why some people say you get psychic while on your monthly during the full moon. Oh no can't let those females know that they will go on a power trip!

[Guest]

I quote a few things from Watson’s book, because it is important, besides you have to pay money to read any good article by these great people, and I’m only showing a little bit not everything, and it’s not as if the author needs the money because they are no longer living.
On Healing……….

"Robert Becker at the State University of New York has produced a series of experiments that demonstrate a clear relationship between regeneration and electrical energy. He cut the forelimbs off rats right at the shoulder. Then he introduced sliver wire electrode and applied a delicately controlled current to the stump, giving it a negative electrical charge. This immediately put an end to restrictive practices and induced the specialized cells in the area to become unspecialized. They reverted to their primitive state, available once again for the replacement of damaged or missing parts, and all the rats regrew their limbs. (The older forms of life, like salamanders (which is impossible to give cancer to) etc have these unspecialized cells, we have lost this facility because our cells have become unionized, or each have their special function.)"

"In other experiments, ulcers have been healed by the introduction of electrodes into the stomach. Bone fractures, which mend slowly or not at all in old people, have been stimulated to rapid regeneration when a small portable power pack is strapped to that region of the injury. The body’s own charge, short-circuited by labor disputes or dissipated by tension and old age, has been given a boost by an outside source of electricity. All healthy bodies have the ability to heal themselves, and external sources of help become necessary only when the normal resources break down."

On Schizophrenia……..(hope the 2012 frequency change don’t make us more susceptible to this)
"A Schizophrenic has abnormal sleep patterns, an inability to estimate time accurately, unusual brain waves, low blood sugar, a deficiency of vitamin B12 (which causes moodiness etc, all vegans know this), and an abundance of exotic substances in the urine which produce hallucinations when given to normal subjects. Schizophrenics also have abnormally high levels of copper in their blood. This trace mineral is important in hormone production, but if the body has an excess, then an enzyme is activated which produces hyperactivity. And copper can be absorbed through the sin."

"Schizophrenics have a high concentration of alpha-2-globulin molecules. We all have some, and we need them to control a chemical reaction that is vital to the transmission of signals along the nerve pathways. But schizophrenics have too many, and this may be why they sometimes experience sensory flooding and occasional psychotic states. The abundance of the guilty molecules is apparently due to failure of an enzyme, but the shattering part of this study as far as I am concerned is the discovery that the enzyme can best be replenished, and this is the method in use………by feeding patients an extract of beef brain."

What Lyall Watson learned through all his scientific observations and through his physicist friends……….
"The objective world in space and time does not exist, we are forced to deal now not in facts, but in possibilities. Breaking the rules does not worry me anymore now that I can see that only one principle matters. And that is rightness. If it fits, if it feels good, if it seems appropriate and meaningful, then it does not matter how absurd it is in the light of the established explanation of how things work. Establishments are no longer as stable as they used to be. They are having to make way for another kind of knowing which is concerned only with harmony, with keeping in touch with Earth’s tune."

"I believe it is only through Earth awareness that we can reach higher levels of consciousness. Without a deep and full appreciation and understanding of your environment, there is no possibility of extending yourself beyond it to a place with meaning and relevance. You need to pick up the pulse and learn to flow with it; otherwise you end up taking a bad trip. You have to be grounded before you can fly.

"
Books recommended by Lyall Watson………….

The Immense Journey by Loren Eiseley
The Invisible Pyramid by Loren Eiseley

The View over Atlantis by John Michell
(the best introduction to Earthing and the notion of power points and places)

Mind in the Waters by Joan McIntyre

[Guest]

In the second volume, Massey conducted a searching examination of the Hebrew legends of the Old Testament and in revealing their Afro-Egyptian or Kamite origins, inaugurated a seismic shift in Hebraic and Old Testament studies. Of especial importance is the remarkable chapter The Egyptian Origin of the Jews Traced from the Monuments. His research convinced him that the Five Books of Moses represented Egyptian astronomical allegories that had been literalized, historicized, and humanized. The Book of Exodus especially seemed to abound with Kamite astronomical types that were reconfigured to form Hebrew ‘history.’ As Massey writes:

The Hebrew Books of the Genesis, Exodus, Numbers Joshua, and Judges are invaluable as a virgin mine of mythology; they are of utmost importance as an aid in recovering the primeval types of Egyptian thought…For the Hebrews, who collected and preserved so much, have explained nothing. There is evidence enough to prove the types are Egyptian and the people brought them out of Egypt must have been more or less Egyptian in race, and of a religion that was Egyptian of the earliest and oldest kind.

Undoubtedly there is some very slight historic nucleus in the Hebrew narrative, but it has been so mixed with myth that it is far easier to recover the celestial allegory with the aids of its correlatives than it is to restore the human history.[

Egyptians, though conscientious recorders of their own history, never mentioned a group or nation that could be remotely identified with the Hebrews of the Exodus. Even the lone historical reference to Israel in Egyptian annals does not presuppose the veracity of the events narrated in the Book of Exodus. Massey connects Moses to the Egyptian lion-god Ma-Shu, though another possible etymology is derivable from Mu (‘pool’) Sha (‘reeds’) for Mu-Sha, ‘pool of reeds,’ the place where the infant Moses was found. The name Moses is not Hebrew in origin and pharaoh’s daughter is made to say that she gives the foundling infant this name because ‘I drew him from the water.’

Egyptian word sah means ‘to draw from,’ so that Mu-Sah, an additional etymology, would mean ‘to draw from the (pool of) water’. The only identifiable historical figure in Massey’s view that can be linked to the Biblical Moses is Osarsiph, an Egyptian priest of Ra mentioned by the Jewish apologist Josephus in his polemic against the Egyptian historian Apion entitled Against Apion. Osarsiph, according to this report (which Josephus recounts but vehemently repudiates), became a dissenter from the established priestly religion and organized a large group of disaffected people in Egypt, inciting them to rebellion then subsequently leading them out of Egypt into Canaan. Apion claimed (after Josephus) that Osarsiph the Egyptian subsequently changed his name to Moses. Sigmund Freud in Moses and Monotheism, though himself Jewish and having read Josephus’ Against Apion, clearly takes the side of Apion by asserting that Moses must have been an Egyptian priest who took the part of the downtrodden in Egypt, led them into Sinai, taught them the worship of one god, and gave them their laws. The date of the Exodus remains a contentious issue though the weight of opinion favors the reign of Mereneptah (1230 – 1215 BC) as the time period for this seminal event. If so, Osarsiph would have lived 100 years after Akhenaton, the king who instituted the brief period of pharaonic monotheism in Egypt under the aegis of Aton. That being said, Massey forcefully set forth the argument that the Hebrews, originally the worshippers of the divine Mother and Son who later renounced them for the all-exclusive Father, brought their religion and language out of Africa, their original home.

http://gerald-massey.org.uk/massey/cmc_nile_genesis.htm

[Guest]

The Universe as a Hologram
"Author unknown"
Michael Talbot

Does Objective Reality Exist, or is the Universe a Phantasm?

In 1982 a remarkable event took place. At the University of Paris a
research team led by physicist Alain Aspect performed what may turn
out to be one of the most important experiments of the 20th century.
You did not hear about it on the evening news. In fact, unless you
are in the habit of reading scientific journals you probably have
never even heard Aspect's name, though there are some who believe
his discovery may change the face of science.

Aspect and his team discovered that under certain circumstances
subatomic particles such as electrons are able to instantaneously
communicate with each other regardless of the distance separating
them. It doesn't matter whether they are 10 feet or 10 billion miles
apart.

Somehow each particle always seems to know what the other is doing. The problem with this feat is that it violates Einstein's long-held
tenet that no communication can travel faster than the speed of
light. Since traveling faster than the speed of light is tantamount
to breaking the time barrier, this daunting prospect has caused some
physicists to try to come up with elaborate ways to explain away
Aspect's findings. But it has inspired others to offer even more
radical explanations.

University of London physicist David Bohm, for example, believes
Aspect's findings imply that objective reality does not exist, that
despite its apparent solidity the universe is at heart a phantasm, a
gigantic and splendidly detailed hologram.

To understand why Bohm makes this startling assertion, one must
first understand a little about holograms. A hologram is a three-
dimensional photograph made with the aid of a laser. To make a
hologram, the object to be photographed is first bathed in the light
of a laser beam. Then a second laser beam is bounced off the
reflected light of the first and the resulting interference pattern
(the area where the two laser beams commingle) is captured on film.
When the film is developed, it looks like a meaningless swirl of
light and dark lines. But as soon as the developed film is
illuminated by another laser beam, a three-dimensional image of the
original object appears. The three-dimensionality of such images is
not the only remarkable characteristic of holograms. If a hologram
of a rose is cut in half and then illuminated by a laser, each half
will still be found to contain the entire image of the rose. Indeed,
even if the halves are divided again, each snippet of film will
always be found to contain a smaller but intact version of the
original image. Unlike normal photographs, every part of a hologram
contains all the information possessed by the whole. The "whole in
every part" nature of a hologram provides us with an entirely new
way of understanding organization and order. For most of its
history, Western science has labored under the bias that the best
way to understand a physical phenomenon, whether a frog or an atom,
is to dissect it and study its respective parts.

A hologram teaches us that some things in the universe may not lend
themselves to this approach. If we try to take apart something
constructed holographically, we will not get the pieces of which it
is made, we will only get smaller wholes. This insight suggested to
Bohm another way of understanding Aspect's discovery. Bohm believes the reason subatomic particles are able to remain in contact with one another regardless of the distance separating them is not
because they are sending some sort of mysterious signal back and
forth, but because their separateness is an illusion. He argues that
at some deeper level of reality such particles are not individual
entities, but are actually extensions of the same fundamental
something.

To enable people to better visualize what he means, Bohm offers the
following illustration. Imagine an aquarium containing a fish. Imagine
also that you are unable to see the aquarium directly and your knowledge about it and what it contains comes from two television cameras, one directed to the aquarium's front and the other directed at its side. As you stare at the two television monitors, you might assume that the fish on each of the screens are separate entities. After all, because the cameras are set at different angles, each of the images will be slightly different. But as you continue to watch the two fish, you will eventually become aware that there is a certain relationship between them. When one turns, the other also makes a slightly different but corresponding turn; when one faces the front, the other always faces toward the side. If you remain unaware of the full scope of the situation, you might even conclude that the fish must be instantaneously communicating with one another, but this is clearly not the case.

This, says Bohm, is precisely what is going on between the subatomic
particles in Aspect's experiment. According to Bohm, the apparent
faster-than-light connection between subatomic particles is really
telling us that there is a deeper level of reality we are not privy
to, a more complex dimension beyond our own that is analogous
to the aquarium. And, he adds, we view objects such as subatomic particles as separate from one another because we are seeing only a portion of their reality.

Such particles are not separate "parts", but facets of a deeper and
more underlying unity that is ultimately as holographic and
indivisible as the previously mentioned rose. And since everything
in physical reality is comprised of these "eidolons", the universe
is itself a projection, a hologram.

In addition to its phantomlike nature, such a universe would possess
other rather startling features. If the apparent separateness of
subatomic particles is illusory, it means that at a deeper level of
reality all things in the universe are infinitely interconnected.
The electrons in a carbon atom in the human brain are connected to
the subatomic particles that comprise every salmon that swims, every
heart that beats, and every star that shimmers in the sky.
Everything interpenetrates everything, and although human nature
may seek to categorize and pigeonhole and subdivide, the various
phenomena of the universe, all apportionments are of necessity
artificial and all of nature is ultimately a seamless web.

In a holographic universe, even time and space could no longer be
viewed as fundamentals. Because concepts such as location break
down in a universe in which nothing is truly separate from anything
else, time and three-dimensional space, like the images of the fish
on the TV monitors, would also have to be viewed as projections of this deeper order. At its deeper level reality is a sort of superhologram
in which the past, present, and future all exist simultaneously.

This suggests that given the proper tools it might even be possible
to someday reach into the superholographic level of reality and
pluck out scenes from the long-forgotten past. What else the
superhologram contains is an open-ended question. Allowing, for the
sake of argument, that the superhologram is the matrix that has
given birth to everything in our universe, at the very least it
contains every subatomic particle that has been or will be -- every
configuration of matter and energy that is possible, from snowflakes
to quasars, from blue whales to gamma rays. It must be seen as a
sort of cosmic storehouse of "All That Is."


Although Bohm concedes that we have no way of knowing what else
might lie hidden in the superhologram, he does venture to say that
we have no reason to assume it does not contain more. Or as he puts
it, perhaps the superholographic level of reality is a "mere stage"
beyond which lies "an infinity of further development". Bohm is not
the only researcher who has found evidence that the universe is a
hologram. Working independently in the field of brain research,
Standford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram has also become persuaded
of the holographic nature of reality.

Pribram was drawn to the holographic model by the puzzle of how
and where memories are stored in the brain. For decades numerous studies have shown that rather than being confined to a specific location, memories are dispersed throughout the brain.

In a series of landmark experiments in the 1920s, brain scientist
Karl Lashley found that no matter what portion of a rat's brain he
removed he was unable to eradicate its memory of how to perform
complex tasks it had learned prior to surgery. The only problem was
that no one was able to come up with a mechanism that might explain
this curious "whole in every part" nature of memory storage. Then in
the 1960s Pribram encountered the concept of holography and realized he had found the explanation brain scientists had been looking for.

Pribram believes memories are encoded not in neurons, or small
groupings of neurons, but in patterns of nerve impulses that
crisscross the entire brain in the same way that patterns of laser
light interference crisscross the entire area of a piece of film
containing a holographic image. In other words, Pribram believes the
brain is itself a hologram. Pribram's theory also explains how the
human brain can store so many memories in so little space. It has
been estimated that the human brain has the capacity to memorize
something on the order of 10 billion bits of information during the
average human lifetime (or roughly the same amount of information
contained in five sets of the Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Similarly, it has been discovered that in addition to their other
capabilities, holograms possess an astounding capacity for
information storage--simply by changing the angle at which the two
lasers strike a piece of photographic film, it is possible to record
many different images on the same surface. It has been demonstrated
that one cubic centimeter of film can hold as many as 10 billion
bits of information. Our uncanny ability to quickly retrieve
whatever information we need from the enormous store of our memories becomes more understandable if the brain functions according to holographic principles. If a friend asks you to tell him what comes to mind when he says the word "zebra", you do not have to clumsily sort back through some gigantic and cerebral alphabetic file to arrive at an answer. Instead, associations
like "striped", "horselike", and "animal native to Africa" all pop
into your head instantly. Indeed, one of the most amazing things
about the human thinking process is that every piece of information
seems instantly cross- correlated with every other piece of
information--another feature intrinsic to the hologram. Because
every portion of a hologram is infinitely interconnected with every
other portion, it is perhaps nature's supreme example of a cross-
correlated system.

The storage of memory is not the only neurophysiological puzzle that
becomes more tractable in light of Pribram's holographic model of
the brain. Another is how the brain is able to translate the
avalanche of frequencies it receives via the senses (light
frequencies, sound frequencies, and so on) into the concrete world
of our perceptions. Encoding and decoding frequencies is precisely
what a hologram does best. Just as a hologram functions as a sort of
lens, a translating device able to convert an apparently meaningless
blur of frequencies into a coherent image, Pribram believes the
brain also comprises a lens and uses holographic principles to
mathematically convert the frequencies it receives through the
senses into the inner world of our perceptions. An impressive body
of evidence suggests that the brain uses holographic principles to
perform its operations. Pribram's theory, in fact, has gained
increasing support among neurophysiologists.

Argentinian-Italian researcher Hugo Zucarelli recently extended the
holographic model into the world of acoustic phenomena. Puzzled by
the fact that humans can locate the source of sounds without moving
their heads, even if they only possess hearing in one ear, Zucarelli
discovered that holographic principles can explain this ability.
Zucarelli has also developed the technology of holophonic sound, a
recording technique able to reproduce acoustic situations with an
almost uncanny realism.

Pribram's belief that our brains mathematically construct "hard"
reality by relying on input from a frequency domain has also
received a good deal of experimental support. It has been found that
each of our senses is sensitive to a much broader range of
frequencies than was previously suspected. Researchers have
discovered, for instance, that our visual systems are sensitive to
sound frequencies, that our sense of smell is in part dependent on
what are now called "osmic frequencies", and that even the cells in
our bodies are sensitive to a broad range of frequencies. Such
findings suggest that it is only in the holographic domain of
consciousness that such frequencies are sorted out and divided up
into conventional perceptions. But the most mind-boggling aspect of
Pribram's holographic model of the brain is what happens when it is
put together with Bohm's theory. For if the concreteness of the
world is but a secondary reality and what is "there" is actually a
holographic blur of frequencies, and if the brain is also a hologram
and only selects some of the frequencies out of this blur and
mathematically transforms them into sensory perceptions, what
becomes of objective reality?

Put quite simply, it ceases to exist. As the religions of the East
have long upheld, the material world is Maya, an illusion, and
although we may think we are physical beings moving through a
physical world, this too is an illusion.

We are really "receivers" floating through a kaleidoscopic sea of
frequency, and what we extract from this sea and transmogrify into
physical reality is but one channel from many extracted out of the
superhologram. This striking new picture of reality, the synthesis
of Bohm and Pribram's views, has come to be called the holographic
paradigm, and although many scientists have greeted it with
skepticism, it has galvanized others. A small but growing group of
researchers believe it may be the most accurate model of reality
science has arrived at thus far. More than that, some believe it may
solve some mysteries that have never before been explainable by
science and even establish the paranormal as a part of nature.

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