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*Brief chapter-by-chapter summary
of /Maya Cosmogenesis 2012/*
John Major Jenkins. © November 2002
Order the book here ==O== More information
*M*ore than four years after the publication of my book /Maya
Cosmogenesis 2012/, two realities have come to my attention. First,
generally speaking several misconceptions about the Maya calendar and
the 2012 date persist. The misunderstandings occur in the general
population of interested people as well as among academics. Secondly,
and more specific to my own reconstruction detailed in /MC2012/, I have
been chagrined to realize that, except for a very few readers and apart
from the general thesis, the material in that book has been largely
ignored and has remained un-integrated into popular consciousness. The
deeper you go, the less can follow. I should probably limit my
perspective to the realm of popular consciousness, for it is expected
that the academic world will ignore and deride new perspectives for
decades. However, exciting new perspectives are usually taken up much
more quickly in the popular culture (the esoteric, psychedelic and
metaphysical seekers out there). I am grateful that the general thesis,
that of solstice-galaxy alignment in 2012, and a few other items have
been acknowledged. However, it is perhaps time to summarize the salient
aspects of my work that culminated in that book.
It may be unclear exactly how much of that book consists of my deeper
elucidation of Mayan traditions rather than simply parroting previously
accepted discoveries, as so many new books often do. To emphasize these
exciting new discoveries, I will summarize the book chapter by chapter,
and then summarize the major and minor items that are new. This “in a
nutshell” summary will augment a similar summary I undertook in the
first two chapters of my recent book, /Galactic Alignment/, but will be
more comprehensive. The general concern, mentioned above, regarding
persistent misconceptions in the popular and academic perception of
2012, will be explored in the subsequent section of this essay.
*Background.*
/Maya Cosmogenesis 2012/ was the culmination of four years of intense
research and writing. It was my seventh book since 1989. My book /The
Center of Mayan Time/ (1995) explored some early perspectives, but was
only a preliminary work. Many essays and articles were written between
1995 and late 1996, and these became the main chapters of the book. The
Izapa Cosmos study emerged during an intense three-month investigation
that culminated in the completion of a self-standing monograph, /Izapa
Cosmos/, in early November 1996. That’s when I realized what the work
was to be about in its broadest scope. Material that became chapter 24
was written in February 1997. Chapters 17, 23 and 25, and the
Introduction, were written between August and November of 1997. The
copy-editing process with Joan Parisi Wilcox took place in January and
February of 1998. Terence McKenna wrote his foreword in January of 1998,
which I edited with his approval, and the book was more or less complete
by mid-March, when I traveled to Merida to speak at the Maya Calendar
Congress. There are almost 200 diagrams (originally 240) in the book,
most of which I re-drew in early 1998. Several were done with the
artistic finesse of my wife, Ellie. The book was printed in late May 1998.
*_The Contents:_*
* *
*The Hunab Ku poem*
This poem was written in October of 1992. It was the first
in a series of three poems that emerged at three-year intervals. In
retrospect I now realize that they were each about one of the cosmic
centers: polar, zenith, and galactic. Each center has a deity, and this
scenario resonates with other situations, such as that found in Pekka
Ervast’s /Key to the Kalevala/.
*The Frontispiece art*
Designed as an encapsulation of the Zenith (Pleiades) Cosmology and the
Galactic Cosmology, which are located on the Galactic
Anticenter-Galactic Center axis. It resembles a chakra system and thus
anticipates the Galactic Chakra model elucidated in a chapter in my book
/Galactic Alignment/. Mayan in design, I think of this complex diagram
as a Hermetic symbol akin to the kabbalistic Tree of Life.
*Preface*
Terence McKenna was invited to write a 2,000-word foreword to my book,
which he happily accepted in December of 1997. I discussed points with
him and edited his first draft, which he approved right before he left
for the 1998 Palenque / Uxmal conference.
Introduction
I wrote this introduction in two sittings around September 1997. With no
diagrams, it serves to sketch my journey with Mayan cosmology and
describe the solstice-galaxy alignment in concise and simple terms. This
introduction alone should drive home the magnitude and originality of
this work.
I. Precession Astronomy
Time and astronomy in the development of Mesoamerican civilization. In
the final two chapters of this section, precession and the relationship
between mythology and astronomy are presented as keys to a central
concern of Mesoamerican consciousness.
* *
*1. A Timeline of Mesoamerican Culture*
Here I sketch the entire history of the human presence in the Americas,
up through the Classic, Post Classic and post-contact periods. I suggest
that the domestication of corn reveals an intelligence at work, even
some 5,000 years ago, and we might expect a similar intelligence working
out star mythologies and observations. Precessional knowledge is
indicated as early as the Olmec site of La Venta, circa 1200 B.C.
*2. Calendrics: Mapping Methods*
Introduction to the Mesoamerican calendrical systems, with special focus
on the two that were used in World Age doctrines, namely, the Calendar
Round and the Long Count. The precessional underpinning of these
eschatological systems is introduced. I explain the correlation question
that is essential for understanding why December 21, 2012 is the
end-date of the 13-baktun cycle.
*3. Cosmology: Finding the Center*
The cosmological interests of early Mesoamericans are introduced,
especially the concern with “finding the center.” I review the three
celestial centers that they became aware of, and the
impossible-to-ignore precessional considerations. The associated
cultures that gave preference to each cosmic center reveals a
differentiation or shift in cosmological orientation, manifesting
particularly between Central Mexico and Mayan areas to the east, circa
100 A.D.
*4. Precession: The Mystery of the Ages*
Since precession is the constantly recurring theme, a full explanation
is given here. I provide a “foreground and background” model to easily
understand precessional shifting, and sketch the evidence in the
academic literature that the ancient Mesoamericans were aware of
precession (more of this evidence is detailed in Appendix 2).
*5. Mythology and Astronomy*
Here the relations between mythology and astronomy are introduced,
following the insights in /Hamlet’s Mill/. I provide some examples of
how the Maya mythologized astronomical bodies and events, emphasizing
that one astronomical feature could be mythologized in many ways. As an
example of the universality of one astronomical feature, the polar axis,
I sketched how it was symbolized in Egyptian, Hindu, Mayan, and Finnish
mythology.
II. The Union of Captain Serpent and Captain Sun Disk
The seven chapters in this section provide the major core of the
original research and discoveries in /Maya Cosmogenesis 2012/.
*6. The Pyramid of Kukulcan: A Cosmic Myth in Stone*
The reader is already familiar with the solstice-galaxy alignment,
described in the Introduction. Another type of precessional alignment
was alluded to as well. My research into the symbolism of the Pyramid of
Kukulcan at Chichen Itza reveals a deeper, previously unrecognized
encoded knowledge, that of the alignment of the sun and the Pleiades in
the zenith. This alignment is clearly pointed to in the symbolism of the
Pyramid of Kukulcan and, as a precessionally-defined era, it culminates
beginning in the 21^st century A.D.
*7. The True Meaning of the Toltec New Fire Ceremony*
Since the sun-Pleiades-zenith alignment involves the Pleiades, I was
compelled to seek the calendrical tracking method of this alignment in
the New Fire Ceremony. I discovered a very simple and compelling fact
about the role of the Pleiades in the New Fire ceremony, which was
transplanted to and celebrated at Chichen Itza in the 8^th and 9^th
centuries. /I identify this fact, that the Pleiades were noted passing
through zenith at midnight at the end of each 52-year Calendar Round, as
a way to track the future converge of the sun and the Pleiades in the
zenith./ The eschatological implications of this situation are profound
and entirely unacknowledged, even as a remote possibility, in
Mesoamerican studies. To further support my reconstruction of this
“zenith” or “Pleiades” cosmology, I explore the prevalence and role of
zenith imagery in Mesoamerican iconography (next chapter).
*8. Zenith Imagery in Mesoamerica*
In this chapter I survey academic insights into zenith imagery,
including the use of staff, scepter, snake, pyramid, and year-sign
symbols, as well as trapezoidal zenith-tracking instruments. This
provides contextual support for the discoveries in chapters 6 and 7.
What emerges then is a picture of a vast two-part cosmological system in
Mesoamerica, pointing at the Pleiades in one part of the sky, and the
Galactic Center in the other. That the precessional alignments in both
these cosmological systems culminate over Chichen Itza in the 21^st
century is taken up further in chapter 12.
*9. The Long Count: Galactic Alignment in 2012*
A close and realistic examination of the parameters of the Galactic
Alignment, based on actual sky observations and astronomy software
modeling. The galactic equator, Galactic Center, and solstice meridian
are distinguished and explained. Contrary to accusations that I ignore
these considerations, here, as in my 1995 book /The Center of Mayan
Time/, I openly discuss the precise calculations of the alignment.
*10. Maya Creation: The Stellar Frame and World Ages*
Almost a stand-alone piece that summarizes galactic alignment
perspectives thus far. I specifically address the ideas of Linda Schele
and ask why they wouldn’t apply to the other crossing point of the Milky
Way and the ecliptic (the one near the Galactic Center, rather than the
one near Orion in her interpretation). As with all the other chapters, I
cite respected academic studies to document and support my own conclusions.
*11. The Cosmic Symbolism of the Maya Ballgame*
As with many of my other sub-discoveries, my unraveling of the galactic
alignment within Mayan ballgame symbolism has flown completely under the
radar. And yet the conclusions are based on understood iconography of
the ballgame and are consistent with its accepted meanings. Like
Mithraism’s association with the Galactic Center that I explored in my
recent book, the Mayan ballgame’s connection with the Galactic Center is
transparently obvious, and the dearth of feedback or commentary on my
elucidations is baffling.
*12. Chichen Itza Cosmology: Maya-Toltec Reconciliation*
The implications in this chapter could be expanded into a full-length
book. Here I sketch a model of historical development in Mesoamerica,
driven by cosmological and eschatological pursuits. The two precessional
cosmologies that I have reconstructed indicate a split in the
Mesoamerican psyche, manifesting in two divergent traditions that
flowered in Central Mexico (Toltec / Nahuatl) and in the east (Mayan).
Chichen Itza’s renaissance in the 9^th century was stimulated by Central
Mexicans who fled the fall of Teotihuacan. They brought the New Fire
tradition and its associated Zenith Cosmology to Chichen Itza. However,
Chichen was originally informed by the Mayan eschatological concept of
galactic alignment and so a reconciliation symbolic of a unification of
the ancient schism in the Mesoamerican psyche had to occur. It did
occur, via the relocation of the Zenith Cosmology further north,
effecting an astronomical convergence of the two precessional
eschatologies such that they would both culminate in the 21^st century.
This pact between the two worlds, between two eschatological
perspectives, is symbolized by the union of Captain Sun Disk (the
Galactic Cosmology) and Captain Serpent (the Zenith Cosmology), which is
depicted all over Chichen Itza. Though portrayed with pseudo-historical
avatars, the union was essentially cosmological. We could think of it as
the union of the Galactic Center and the Galactic Anticenter.
Part III. Maya Cosmogenesis
This section was intended to explore miscellania related to birthing,
creation concepts, shamanic conjuring, and cosmogenesis. Each chapter
presents original research and insights.
*13. The Birth of the Hero Twins*
Much of my book is based on the principle that mythology and astronomy
go together. In this chapter I take up identifications offered by /Popol
Vuh/ translator Dennis Tedlock to decode likely dates of the Hero Twins’
“cosmological conception”. In other words, the story of their conception
as it appears in the /Popol Vuh/ contains well-defined astronomical
parameters. That the Hero Twin story goes at least back to Izapa, circa
100 B.C., defined for me a general epoch in which to search for (with
astronomy software) the alignment of astronomical parameters that
defined the conception of the Hero Twins. Above all other dates
explored, the date on the winter solstice of 165 B.C. is found to be the
most likely candidate. This is when Jupiter, Venus, and an old moon
aligned with the dark-rift on a winter solstice. This approach to
finding the astronomical date of the Hero Twins’ conception, and thereby
their likely time of entry into early Mayan consciousness, has no
precedent in the academic literature, although similar methods are
employed to date events in the codices.
*14. A Hawk, A Cross, and a Mouth*
Drawing again from academic work, here that of Judith Remington and
Barbara Tedlock, I take a step farther a Quiché Maya myth relating to
the region of Aquila (the Eagle or “Hawk” constellation) and the
dark-rift in the Milky Way. Related material among the Chortí and
Yucatec Maya is explored connecting the iconography of mouths and
crosses, frogs and birds. The basic demonstration here is that the
dark-rift was conceived as a mouth as well as a birthplace.
*15. The Man Who Was Swallowed by an Alligator*
Very related to the previous chapter, here I explore the “monster mouth”
motif as a doorway to another world. This chapter consists of my prosaic
retelling of a profound and quite funny Quiché Maya story that I found
in an obscure linguistic journal (where it was translated from Quiché
literally with no effort at prose style). My previous experience in
editing Finnish translations helped me to flesh out the real story in
good prose. I identified parallels with an episode in the /Popol Vuh/,
as well as the shamanistic overtones it contains and its astronomical
underpinnings. Reconstructing a folk-tale to such depth was inspired by
Eva Hunt’s book /The Transformation of the Hummingbird/, which was in
turn inspired by Victor Turner’s methodology (/Forest of Symbols/).
*16. Shamanic Tools, Thrones, and Birth Portals*
Shamanism, with its values, intentions, cosmologies, and methods,
finally gets full treatment in this chapter. In terms of the end-date
alignment, sacred plants were clearly used at Izapa during the time that
the Long Count and the Creation Myth were formulated. Sacred mushrooms,
DMT toads, trans-dimensional wormholes, throne symbolism, and
cosmos-as-mother are explored. In addition, I briefly sketch the “black
hole” in Mayan Creation texts, taken up in more detail in Appendix 4
*17. Conjuring Creation*
This chapter developed around the role of shamanic kings as
conjurers—evoking into local space-time the energies of a
higher-dimensional order. Some related material on channeling was
attached almost as an afterthought, as well as a mentioning of the the
Aztec /tzitzimime/ as monsters of the end times. Ironically, I received
several comments on this dispensable material, whereas the original work
found in other chapters in this section of the book have hardly ever
received comment. The chapter ends with a reiteration of the role of the
Great Mother in Maya cosmogenesis (the footnotes to this passage were
almost excised from the book but are very important).
Part IV: Izapa Cosmos
This section was a stand alone monograph, completed in late 1996, that I
knew would be central to the investigation. How else to understand the
2012 date than to study the site that invented it?
*18. Ceremonial City of the Ancient Skywatchers*
Examines the archaeological background, context, and development of
Izapa as a unique ceremonial center in time and space. It was a
mysterious transitional culture between the older Olmec and the emerging
Maya.
*19. Southern Mesoamerica, 200 **B.C.: The Izapan Civilization*
Sketches the alignments, architecture, astronomical concerns, and
mythological sculptures of Izapa. Compares Izapa to nearby sites and
bioregions.
*20. Izapan Calendrics*
Explores the unique astronomical calendrics used at the latitude of
Izapa, as well as the development of the Long Count calendar,
identifying the Izapans as its creators. Precessional considerations are
identified.
*21. Izapan Astronomy and Cosmology*
Here, unique relationships between the Big Dipper and the December
solstice sun are explored in the context of the Hero Twin myth that is
portrayed on Izapa’s monuments. A dialectic between Seven Macaw and One
Hunahpu is reflected in astronomical movments over Izapa. Precession is
identified as a central concern of the Izapans. The fall of Seven Macaw
is identified as the precessional fall of the Big Dipper farther away
from the North Celestial Pole. The demise of the Olmec is related to
this cosmological shifting, as the Maya took up the cause of One
Hunahpu—the December solstice sun and its precessional shifting towrd
the Galactic Center / dark-rift area.
*22. The Monumental Message*
The messages of the three monument groups are explored in the context of
their reference to the three cosmic centers: zenith, polar, and
galactic. Special focus is placed on the ball court group, which encodes
the mythological (even theological) meaning of the end-date alignment of
the solstice sun with the galactic equator in 2012.
*23. Initiation into the Izapan Mysteries*
This chapter takes a first-person look at the experiences of an Izapan
initiate of some 2,000 years ago. Different in tone than the scholarly
examinations in other chapters, here we imaginatively enter into the
life of the ceremonial city and journey into the Heart of Sky.
Part V: Gazing into the Galaxy
Two summational chapters.
*24. The Forgotten Galactic Paradigm*
This chapter encapsulates the primary elements of the Galactic Cosmology.
*25. Back to the Center: The Message of the Mayan End-Date*
My obligatory attempt to sum up the meaning or message of the end-date
alignment, which because of the profound nature of the event, is quite a
task. I took a stab here at pointing out certain scientific theories to
provide an empirical model of the alignment’s “effects”, but end with a
prosaic description that is decidedly more metaphysical in scope.
The Appendices
App1: A Brief History of An Idea
I wanted to provide a clear record of the modern background to the
solstice-galaxy alignment idea, as far as I was aware at the time. I’d
add a few more writers to the list, including David Frawley and Patrizia
Norelli-Bachelet. People assume that I claim to have discovered the
alignment, which, as this appendix clearly shows, I never have. My
contribution resides in taking it all many steps further in showing how
the Maya encoded the end-date alignment of 2012 into their core
institutions, such as the Creation myth, the sacred ballgame, and
king-making rites. The discussion is thus no longer the province of New
Ages fantasts, but becomes viable for scholars to seriously look at. If
only they would.
App2: Mesoamerican Precessional Knowledge: In the Literature
A more in-depth treatment of what scholars have had to say about the
likelihood that the Maya were aware of precession, and calculated it.
Aveni, Brotherston, Hunt: The conclusion is resoundingly supportive of
the probability, even though it is downplayed by other scholars.
*App3: Space-Time Maps of the Sun and the Pleiades in the Zenith*
Path-breaking exploration of Zenith-Cosmology dynamics as a function of
latitude. Includes adapted astronomical tables laid over Mesoamerican
geography to illustrate the precessional flow of the sun-Pleiades-zenith
alignment. Tables indicate why a range of dates is required, especially
at the latitude of Chichen Itza.
*App4: Evidence for a Black Hole in Maya Creation Texts*
The observations in this appendix did strike a responsive chord in some
readers. Though epigraphers have failed to make certain connections in
their own material, the fact remains that a glyph translated as “black
hole” indicates the location of Maya Creation events. I propose that
this glyph refers to the dark-rift in the Milky Way with a possible
secondary reference to the Black Hole that some believe resides in the
Galactic Center.
*App5: Response to Counterarguments*
I anticipated a set of arguments against my theory that scholars were
likely to bring up; specifically, Linda Schele’s preference for a
20-baktun cycle and Floyd Lounsbury’s 2-day correlation shift. Many
people still invoke the positions of these scholars as a kind of
inviolable conventional wisdom, when in fact on both accounts the
conclusions of these scholars fail mild standards of rational sense
making. The unabridged version of this appendix is here .
*App6: Recent Breakthroughs in Decoding Ancient Cosmologies*
Addressing popular “independent research”, I attempt to provide clarity
on certain misconceptions and poorly argued theories. My application of
reason to the information in /The Mayan Prophecies/ reveals
contradictory statements and a lack of internal consistency. It is
lamentable that such books are successful in the market place even when
the research is shoddy and the conclusions are inconsistent with Mayan
time philosophy. Other books (e.g., Sullivan’s /Secret of the Incas/)
are acknowledged for solid contributions.
End Notes
20 pages of end-notes (many in-depth comments provided here, with
exhaustive and comprehensive citations to academic sources).
Bibliography
24 pages of bibliography (see unabridged bibliography at:
http://Alignment2012.com/bibbb.htm )
Excised Chapters (posted on my web site):
*Commentary on /Hamlet’s Mill/ *
An essay distilled from a 40,000-word manuscript I wrote in 1994.
Excised from the published book for space reasons.
*Olmec Antecedents: The Watershed *
A solid contextual piece showing how the concepts and astronomical
features related to the solstice-galaxy alignment were present in
germinal form even among the Olmec. This well-illustrated essay was
based largely on the articles by Schele, Taube, Reilly, and others in
/The Olmec World/ (1995).
===O===O===O===
A separate statement on various
misconceptions related to my work,
to 2012, and to the galactic alignment. <5misconceptions.html>
===O===O===O===
John Major Jenkins. © 2002. http://Alignment2012.com