My Mayan studies have revealed what
I like to call the “indigenous subplot,” the story of humankind that indigenous
peoples have long been aware of but to which modern society has been
oblivious.
Their worldview provides a
sweepingly different sense of human history, a poignant way of relating to each
other and a deepened sense of personal and collective identity.
My research has shown that three
consistent themes permeate Mayan and other indigenous worldviews. The
components of the “subplot” are:
1.) Enormous amounts of time,
often referred to as “world ages”
To the Hopi, we are in the Fourth
and final age, the Inca believe that we are nearing the end of the fifth and
moving towards the sixth.
The Vedics of India use the Yugas,
or world ages, which indicate that we are now in the Kali Yuga, the
Iron Age, a stage of depravity, ignorance, greed and delusion but headed for
the Satya Yuga, the Golden Age.
The Maya and other Mesoamericans
believe that we are in the process of shifting from the fourth to the fifth
age, passing from the Vale of the Nine Hells to the Time of Warning, popularly
known as “The
Shift of the Ages.”
2.) Existence of prehistoric
civilizations on our planet
The Maya and other Mesoamerican
cultures believe that the creator made several versions of people, the current
version fashioned from maize (Indian corn).
As seen in the Popul Vuh, highly revered as the Kiché Mayan
bible and one of only five remaining texts of the ancient Maya, the Gods tried
several times to create sentient beings of greatness.
Previous peoples were made from
other materials such as mud and wood but, because they did not possess or
develop the capacity to worship the creator, those cycles perished.
Each of the ages was ruled by a God
of an element, such as wind, fire or water, and was destroyed by the opposite
element, i.e., the world of fire was destroyed by water.
The people made from corn are the
most advanced version of the species to date, because they know how to speak,
pray, make offerings and perform ceremony to the gods and the “Maker, Modeler,
Bearer, Begetter.”
3.) Extra-terrestial, intelligent
life forms have visited and influenced people of the Earth
The other common theme found in
indigenous creation stories is that earth has been visited by beings from the
sky that helped the creator establish a new civilization.
Some groups believe these beings
come from star constellations of Sirius, Orion or, as the Mayan tell it,
Pleiades. Don Alejandro, a 13th generation Quiché Elder told the story
(verbatim) to our group as follows:
“In the
beginning, the Maya were created out of maize, white corn for the bones, yellow
corn for the flesh, black corn for the hair and eyes and red corn for the
blood.
At this
time there was no light, no joy and no knowledge found within the people.
When the
creator heard their anguished cries for help, he sent four prophets from
Pleiades to assist the creation of the Maya in the location that we now know as
Maya land in Central America.
The people
were perplexed about life and how to live it and the prophets taught them
everything they needed to know.
They
showed them that they had everything they needed to live a good life.
They began
to chant for light to come and, one day, they saw something in the sky start to
shine. It was Venus.
They gave
an offering, collecting sap from different types of trees, incense.
They
called everyone together to see Venus from a mountain and this was the first
ceremony.
Half-way
through the ceremony they saw a beautiful light come to the earth.
It came in
the form of an Elder wearing a white tunic.
The Elder
thanked them and asked them to teach their children about ceremony.
“I am the
heart of the heavens.
I am the
heart of the air.
I am the
heart of the earth.
I am the
heart of the water.
Earth is yours, populate her.”
Then, he
left.
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