|  Steep
Uphill Climb to 2012:
Messages from the Mayan Milieu
Published on 12/27/05 at 04:27:29
EST
The Mayan Calendar ends on December
21, 2012 ...
What does this mean?
© 2002 by Steven McFadden
reprinted here with permission of the author
In early Autumn 2002, Carlos Barrios journeyed
North from his home in Guatemala to the Eastern
edge of the Four Corners. In Santa Fe, NM, at
the tail of the Rocky Mountains, Mr. Barrios spoke
in a knowledgeable manner about the Mayan tradition
and the fabled Mayan calendars.
The Mayan calendars are an object of intense interest
for many thousands of people right now, because
they focus upon the watershed date of Dec. 21,
2012. Everything changes by then, it is said.
With a cultural heritage including thousands
of pyramids and temples, and a calendar that has
proven itself to be astronomically accurate over
millions of years, the Maya tradition is widely
considered to be a mystic key to the soul of Turtle
Island (North America).
In public talks and in a private interview, Mr.
Barrios laid out his account of the history and
future of the Americas, and the larger world,
based on his understanding of the Mayan tradition
as both an anthropologist and an initiate. He
spoke also about the path he sees ahead from now
until the Winter Solstice of 2012.
The range of teachings and insights offered by
Mr. Barrios must be considered in the context
of the realpolitik of his American homeland. The
Maya of Guatemala, their pyramids, and their calendar
have endured not in a new-age Shambhala of love
and light, but in a milieu of treachery, beatings,
torture, rape, and mass murder.
Decades of Darkness
For 30 long years right-wing Guatemalan governments
‹ supported both overtly and covertly by
the US government ‹ waged a terrorist war
against the people of the land, murdering over
200,000 citizens, many of them indigenous Mayan
people.
When the war finally wound down in the 1990s,
the United Nations Truth Commission conducted
an 18-month investigation.* The UN found massive
violations of human rights by the government of
Guatemala with the complicity of the US government.
The UN report stated that acts of "aggressive,
racist and extremely cruel" violence descended
to the level of genocide directed against the
country's indigenous Mayan population.
When Amnesty International studied the Guatemalan
situation in recent years, they came to an arresting
conclusion. They wrote that real peace could come
only through confronting Guatemala's "Corporate
Mafia State."* They described this corporate
Mafia state as an "unholy alliance"
of certain national and international economic
actors, who work alongside sectors of the police
and military and common criminals to control Œblack¹
industries such as drugs, arms trafficking, money
laundering, car theft rings, illegal adoptions,
and kidnapping for ransom."
About the great dark shadow that has hung over
the south-most part of Turtle Island, Mr. Barrios
observes: "These injustices began five hundred
years ago and continue to this very day in all
the Americas. The Indian Wars have never ended...I
think the power holders in the developed world
see it as necessary to destroy the indigenous
peoples, or at least to destroy their culture,
because they are not Œconsumers.¹ The
American Dream is built on the back of the Third
World...But that is a false distinction for there
is no Third World. There is only one world. We
are all part of that one world, and we are all
due respect."
While Guatemala has ostensibly been at peace
for the last eight years, it is a disturbed peace.
The war continues to have a residual impact on
the people. Human rights violations still occur
regularly, and even international human-rights
monitors have been under threat.
Still, in the view of Mr. Barrios who came of
age during the war, there have been improvements.
"There are no armed guerillas, and the police
and army are more decent, more respectful,"
he observed. "Because there is more human
respect now, we can try to find a new life."
One eventual consequence of Guatemala¹s
long-enduring climate of terrorism, has been mistrust
and criticism. From this few are immune. Accusations
are often aimed at people who purport to speak
of the Mayan traditions. Mr. Barrios is enmeshed
in this matrix of uncertainty. He criticizes others,
and he is criticized himself.
The World will Not End
Carlos Barrios was born into a Spanish family
on El Altiplano, the highlands of Guatemala. His
home was in Huehuetenango, also the dwelling place
of the Maya Mam tribe. With other Maya and other
indigenous tradition keepers, the Mam carry part
of the old ways on Turtle Island (North America).
They are keepers of time, authorities on remarkable
calendars that are ancient, elegant and relevant.
Mr. Barrios is a historian, an anthropologist
and investigator. After studying with traditional
elders for 25 years since the age of 19, he has
also became a Mayan Ajq'ij, a ceremonial priest
and spiritual guide, Eagle Clan.
Years ago, along with his brother, Gerardo, Carlos
initiated an investigation into the different
Mayan calendars. He studied with many teachers.
He says his brother Gerardo interviewed nearly
600 traditional Mayan elders to widen their scope
of knowledge.
"Anthropologists visit the temple sites,"
Mr. Barrios says, "and read the stelas and
inscriptions and make up stories about the Maya,
but they do not read the signs correctly. It¹s
just their imagination...Other people write about
prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say that
the world will end in December 2012. The Mayan
elders are angry with this. The world will not
end. It will be transformed. The indigenous have
the calendars, and know how to accurately interpret
it, not others."
The Calendars
Mayan comprehension of time, seasons, and cycles
has proven itself to be vast and sophisticated.
The Maya understand 17 different calendars, some
of them charting time accurately over a span of
more than ten million years.
The calendar that has steadily drawn global attention
since 1987 is called the Tzolk'in or Cholq'ij.
Devised ages ago and based on the cycle of the
Pleiades, it is still held as sacred
With the indigenous calendars, native people
have kept track of important turning points in
history. For example, the daykeepers who study
the calendars identified an important day in the
year One Reed, Ce Acatal, as it was called by
the Mexica. That was the day when an important
ancestor was prophesied to return, "coming
like a butterfly."
In the western calendar, the One Reed date correlates
to Easter Sunday, April 21, 1519 ‹ the day
that Hernando Cortez and his fleet of 11 Spanish
galleons arrived from the East at what is today
called Vera Cruz, Mexico. When the Spanish ships
came toward shore, native people were waiting
and watching to see how it would go. The billowing
sails of the ships did indeed remind the scouts
of butterflies skimming the ocean surface.
In this manner was a new era initiated, an era
they had anticipated through their calendars.
The Maya termed the new era the Nine Bolomtikus,
or Nine Hells of 52 years each. As the nine cycles
unfolded, land and freedom were taken from the
native people. Disease and disrespect dominated.
What began with the arrival of Cortez, lasted
until August 16, 1987 a date many people
recall as Harmonic Convergence. Millions of people
took advantage of that date to make ceremony in
sacred sites, praying for a smooth transition
to a new era, the World of the Fifth Sun.
From that 1987 date until now, Mr. Barrios says,
we have been in a time when the right arm of the
materialistic world is disappearing, slowly but
inexorably. We are at the cusp of the era when
peace begins, and people live in harmony with
Mother Earth. We are no longer in the World of
the Fourth Sun, but we are not yet in the World
of the Fifth Sun. This is the time in-between,
the time of transition.
As we pass through transition there is a colossal,
global convergence of environmental destruction,
social chaos, war, and ongoing Earth changes.
All this, Mr. Barrios says, was foreseen via the
simple, spiral mathematics of the Mayan calendars.
"It will change," Mr. Barrios observes.
"Everything will change." He said Mayan
Daykeepers view the Dec. 21, 2012 date as a rebirth,
the start of the World of the Fifth Sun. It will
be the start of a new era resulting from ‹
and signified by ‹ the solar meridian crossing
the galactic equator, and the earth aligning itself
with the center of the galaxy.
At sunrise on December 21, 2012 ‹ for the
first time in 26,000 years ‹ the Sun rises
to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way
and the plane of the ecliptic. This cosmic cross
is considered to be an embodiment of the Sacred
Tree, The Tree of Life ‹ a tree remembered
in all the world¹s spiritual traditions.
Some observers say this alignment with the heart
of the galaxy in 2012 will open a channel for
cosmic energy to flow through the earth, cleansing
it and all that dwells upon it, raising all to
a higher level of vibration. This process has
already begun, Mr. Barrios suggested. "Change
is accelerating now, and it will continue to accelerate."
If the people of the earth can get to this 2012
date in good shape, without having destroyed too
much of the Earth, Mr. Barrios said, we will rise
to a new, higher level. But to get there we must
transform enormously powerful forces that seek
to block the way.
A Picture of the Road
Ahead
From his understanding of the Mayan tradition
and the calendars, Mr. Barrios offered a picture
of where we are at and what may lie on the road
ahead:
… The date specified in the calendar ‹
Winter Solstice in the year 2012 ‹ does
not mark the end of the world. Many outside people
writing about the Mayan calendar sensationalize
this date, but they do not know. The ones who
know are the indigenous elders who are entrusted
with keeping the tradition.
… "Humanity will continue," he
contends, "but in a different way. Material
structures will change. From this we will have
the opportunity to be more human."
… We are living in the most important era
of the Mayan calendars and prophecies. All the
prophecies of the world, all the traditions, are
converging now. There is no time for games. The
spiritual ideal of this era is action.
… Many powerful souls have reincarnated
in this era, with a lot of power. This is true
on both sides, the light and the dark. High magic
is at work on both sides.
… Things will change, but it is up to the
people how difficult or easy it is for the changes
to come about.
… The economy now is a fiction. The first
five-year stretch of transition ‹ from August
1987 to August 1992 ‹ was the beginning
of the destruction of the material world. We have
progressed ten years deeper into the transition
phase by now, and many of the so-called sources
of financial stability are in fact hollow.
… The banks are weak. This is a delicate
moment for them. They could crash globally if
we don¹t pay attention. One critical period
is October and November 2002. If the banks crash
in these months then we will be forced to rely
on the land and our skills. The monetary systems
will be in chaos, and we must then rely on our
direct relationship with the Earth for our food
and shelter.
… The North and South Poles are both breaking
up. The level of the water in the oceans is going
to rise. But at the same time land in the ocean,
especially near Cuba, is also going to rise.
A Call for Fusion
As he met with audiences in Santa Fe, Mr. Barrios
told a story about the most recent Mayan New Year
ceremonies in Guatemala. He said that one respected
Mam elder, who lives all year in a solitary mountain
cave, journeyed to Chichicastenango to speak with
the people at the ceremony.
The elder delivered a simple, direct message.
He called for human beings to come together in
support of life and light. Right now each person
and group is going his or her own way. The elder
of the mountains said there is hope if the people
of the light can come together and unite in some
way.
Reflecting on this, Mr. Barrios explained: "We
live in a world of polarity: day and night, man
and woman, positive and negative. Light and darkness
need each other. They are a balance. Just now
the dark side is very strong, and very clear about
what they want. They have their vision and their
priorities clearly held, and also their hierarchy.
They are working in many ways so that we will
be unable to connect with the spiral Fifth World
in 2012."
"On the light side everyone thinks they
are the most important, that their own understandings,
or their group¹s understandings, are the
key. There¹s a diversity of cultures and
opinions, so there is competition, diffusion,
and no single focus."
As Mr. Barrios sees it, the dark side works to
block fusion through denial and materialism. It
also works to destroy those who are working with
the light to get the Earth to a higher level.
They like the energy of the old, declining Fourth
World, the materialism. They do not want it to
change. They do not want fusion. They want to
stay at this level, and are afraid of the next
level.
The dark power of the declining Fourth World
cannot be destroyed or overpowered. It¹s
too strong and clear for that, and that is the
wrong strategy. The dark can only be transformed
when confronted with simplicity and open-heartedness.
This is what leads to fusion, a key concept for
the World of the Fifth Sun.
Mr. Barrios said the emerging era of the Fifth
Sun will call attention to a much-overlooked element.
Whereas the four traditional elements of earth,
air, fire and water have dominated various epochs
in the past, there will be a fifth element to
reckon with in the time of the Fifth Sun: ether.
The dictionary defines ether as the rarefied
element of the Heavens. Ether is a medium. It
permeates all space and transmits waves of energy
in a wide range of frequencies, from cell phones
to human auras. What is "ethereal" is
related to the regions beyond earth: the heavens.
Ether ‹ the element of the Fifth Sun ‹
is celestial and lacking in material substance,
but is no less real than wood, stone or flesh.
"Within the context of ether there can be
a fusion of the polarities," Mr. Barrios
said. "No more darkness or light in the people,
but an uplifted fusion. But right now the realm
of darkness is not interested in this. They are
organized to block it. They seek to unbalance
the Earth and its environment so we will be unready
for the alignment in 2012. We need to work together
for peace, and balance with the other side. We
need to take care of the Earth that feeds and
shelters us. We need to put our entire mind and
heart into pursuing unity and fusion now, to confront
the other side and preserve life."
To be Ready for this Moment
in History
Mr. Barrios told his audiences in Santa Fe that
we are at a critical moment of world history.
"We are disturbed," he said. "We
can¹t play anymore. Our planet can be renewed
or ravaged. Now is the time to awaken and take
action."
"Everyone is needed. You are not here for
no reason. Everyone who is here now has an important
purpose. This is a hard, but a special time. We
have the opportunity for growth, but we must be
ready for this moment in history."
Mr. Barrios offered a number of suggestions to
help people walk in balance through the years
ahead. "The prophesized changes are going
to happen," he said, "but our attitude
and actions determine how harsh or mild they are."
… We need to act, to make changes, and
to elect people to represent us who understand
and who will take political action to respect
the earth. Meditation and spiritual practice are
good, but also action.
… It¹s very important to be clear
about who you are, and also about your relation
to the Earth.
… Develop yourself according to your own
tradition and the call of your heart. But remember
to respect differences, and strive for unity.
… Eat wisely. A lot of food is corrupt
in either subtle or gross ways. Pay attention
to what you are taking into your body.
… Learn to preserve food, and to conserve
energy.
… Learn some good breathing techniques,
so you have mastery of your breath.
… Be clear. Follow a tradition with great
roots. It is not important what tradition, your
heart will tell you, but it must have great roots.
… We live in a world of energy. An important
task at this time is to learn to sense or see
the energy of everyone and everything: people,
plants, animals. This becomes increasingly important
as we draw close to the World of the Fifth Sun,
for it is associated with the element ether
the realm where energy lives and weaves.
… Go to the sacred places of the earth
to pray for peace, and respect for the Earth which
gives us our food, clothing, and shelter. We need
to reactivate the energy of these sacred places.
That is our work.
… According to Mr. Barrios¹ reading
of the Mayan calendar, if war happens in November
2002 or after, then it¹s bad, but not catastrophic.
But if it happens between April and November 2003,
it will be catastrophic. Really bad. It could
eventually result in the death of two-thirds of
humanity. "So stay active," he said.
"If we are active, we can transform the planet.
The elders watch to see what happens."
… Many Mayan elders and knowledge keepers
may be eliminated in the next few years. For the
first half of the current Katun (20-year period)
the dark side has a lot of power. But that will
pass 3 to 4 years from now. The tide can turn.
Amazing things are going to happen.
… One simple but effective prayer technique
is to light a white or baby-blue colored candle.
Think a moment in peace. Speak your intention
to the flame and send the light of it on to the
leaders who have the power to make war or peace.
We Have Work to Do
According to Mr. Barrios this is a crucially
important moment for humanity, and for earth.
Each person is important. If you have incarnated
into this era, you have spiritual work to do balancing
the planet.
He said the elders have opened the doors so that
other races can come to the Mayan world to receive
the tradition. The Maya have long appreciated
and respected that there are other colors, other
races, and other spiritual systems. "They
know," he said, "that the destiny of
the Mayan world is related to the destiny of the
whole world."
"The greatest wisdom is in simplicity,"
Mr. Barrios advised before leaving Santa Fe. "Love,
respect, tolerance, sharing, gratitude, forgiveness.
It¹s not complex or elaborate. The real knowledge
is free. It¹s encoded in your DNA. All you
need is within you. Great teachers have said that
from the beginning. Find your heart, and you will
find your way."
- END -
****************************************
Carlos Barrios is the author of Kam Wuj: El Libro
del Destino, a book published in Spanish that
explores Mayan teachings. Mr. Barrios can be contacted
through the Saq¹ Be¹ -- Organization
for Mayan and Indigenous Spiritual Studies, Email:
saqbe@sacredroad.org http://www.sacredroad.org
Source: http://www.chiron-communications.com/communique%207-10.html
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