| Imagine for a moment that time has a different
meaning than just keeping track of hours, days and years. Imagine
it is a complex time-life continuum that revolves around the
use of several calendars and can only truly be registered by
a select few of an elite hierarchy known as day keepers.
This was how the ancient Maya viewed time: as something that
affected them through planets and the universe and gave meaning
to every waking second of their lives.
For anyone intrigued by the Maya and the Mayan calendar's
looming prediction with December 21, 2012 depicting the world's
end, that date approaches with uneasy dread. Interest in this
Maya prophecy has led to an upcoming tour sponsored by MayaSites
Travel Services, based in Albuquerque,
New Mexico. Those taking part in the tour may be illuminated
in the ways of the Maya and their timekeeping abilities.
TEDLOCKS AS GUIDES
The 10-day tour will be led by two prominent authorities on
the subject, Barbara and Dennis Tedlock, who live between Santa
Fe and Buffalo,where they teach at University of New York. Dream
Weavers of Time --a journey of discovery in the tropical jungles
and highland rain forests of Mexico and Guatemala -- begins
in Villahermosa
May 2, 2009.
Founded in 2000, MayaSites is the wunderkind of Jonnie Channels
and Brendan O'Brien, Mayanists and travel guides who lived in
both Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, and Palenque, Chiapas, after
traveling far and wide throughout the Maya world to search out
their own discoveries of the Maya. Along the way they met and
developed relationships with a loose-knit group of archeologists,
anthropologists, and fellow Mayanists, all consumed by the same
wonder and awe at the Maya's achievements.
LOCAL COLOR
Each Maya site spawns an assortment of local guides who are
specialists because of where they live. They've absorbed minute
particulars of the local culture which is right in front of
them. They are familiar with the local myths, have heard oral
histories by old timers, and can visit the site often. Why not
harness this font of information and pass it on to others, Channels
thought, and soon a concept took shape to put this knowledge
to use in MayaSites' tours, which makes a practice of using
only local talent.
Eventually, Channels and O'Brien moved back to the U.S. and
settled in New Mexico where their paths crossed with the Tedlocks
who lived between Santa Fe and Buffalo where they teach at the
State University.
POPUL VUH
Dennis Tedlock, widely known as the premier translator of the
Popul Vuh, the Maya Book of the Dead (akin to the Maya Bible),
has roots in anthropology and art history. In his initial research,
he studied native American tribes of the Southwest USA. Support
for his research and writing has been provided by numerous grants
and fellowships including the Fullbright Commission, and John
Simon Guggenheim Foundation. But even more importantly, Tedlock
and his wife Barbara have been initiated by the Quiche Maya
in the highlands of Guatemala through formal training and initiation
as calendar divenas or Maya daykeepers, learning ancient methods
of divination and dream interpretation.
Barbara Tedlock, a prolific writer, is best known for her
book Time and the Highland Maya, based on her shamanic training
and initiation into naked eye astronomy and calendar practices
of the Maya. Her newest book, The Woman in the Shaman's Body:
Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine, has won two
awards. She's also appeared on several TV shows relating to
her work with the Maya, including a PBS series titled Breaking
the Maya Code.
MAYA INITIATION
Tedlock's personal introduction to the shamanistic ways of
the Maya came about unexpectedly while working on a dig in Guatemala
in 1976. She fell ill, and a shaman was called in to assist.
He told her the Maya guides were upset with her for not asking
permission to 'degrade' the site. For Tedlock, a metamorphosis
took place which spurred a change in her archeological tactics
as she became initiated in the ways of the Maya spiritual world.
To adhere to the rhythms of Maya daykeeping, the MayaSites
tour in May coincides with a proper daykeeping birth number
in the 260 day Maya Tzolkin calendar. After Villahermosa, the
group will head to Palenque, Yaxchilan, Tikal, Seibal, Flores,
Guatemala City, Lake Atitlan, Chichicastenango, Utatlan and
Antigua.
LUCID DREAMING
With the Tedlocks as tour guides, both the timekeeping and
dreaming aspects of the Maya will come into play. "The
Tedlocks are devotees of lucid dreaming," explains Channels.
"As for the weaving part of the journey," Channels
continues, "five Maya weavers will be introduced to the
group. In the Maya world, there are no unconscious weavings.
Each woven item has a numerical code, with math and symbols.
Each piece tells a story."
Part of the journey will debunk the myth that 2012
is the end of the world.
DECEMBER 2012
"For people believing that December 2012
is the date of the end of the world, 2012 is the end of a creation
cycle, but the earth is moving all the time, and the calendar
is earth based. The Maya have a 260 day calendar with the belief
of keeping time on the same page as Maya day keepers, doing
things and honoring who one is at a certain hour of a certain
day; to keep you in touch with who you are," Channels said.
"It's scary on one level," she said, "because
there's plenty of talk about 2012, but at Palenque, Dennis Tedlock
will point out a temple for Pakal, that site's most revered
leader, that has the future date of 4775 AD on one of the stellae,
which proves the Maya believe the world will continue after
2012.
"December 21, 2012, represents an extremely close conjunction
of the winter solstice sun with the crossing point of the galactic
equator or the middle of the Milky Way and the eliptic or path
of the sun—what the Maya recognized as the sacred tree.
It has taken 26,000 years for this conjunction to come about."
One of the Maya calendars, the Tzolkin, is based on the 26,000
year cycle of the Pleiades.
Even if you're unable to travel with the Tedlocks in May,
if you're an avid Mayanist, MayaSites Tours won't disappoint
if you'd like to schedule another Maya tour in the future. Channels
and O'Brien take pride in being creative travel guides and will
put together custom tours in any price range. Their website
is MayaSites.com.
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