Friday, June 19, 2009

What did the astronomers of the Maya/Aztec see?
A young Aztec-Mayan slave tells us the story: Gifted in math and astronomy, Coyotl rises to king’s counselor in Tula, a golden city of milk and honey ruled by the brilliant god-king, Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent of lore. Gathering artists, scientists and craftsmen, this legendary ruler builds a city and commissions an astrological study of the night sky that will awe and confound scientists a thousand years later.
The Maya astronomers were the best in the ancient world – the studies of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians and Chinese paled in comparison. And the Maya saw something. And knew it would come back. They put the secret in a Codex.
A team of modern scientists struggling to decipher the Codex realize their own age mirrors Tula’s. Can they crack the 2012 code and save their world from Tula’s deadly fate?

Are the Mayan 2012 Apocalypse and the Christian Apocalypse of Revelation one and the same? Do they share common elements?
The two cataclysms share many common elements, and their End-Time predictions arguably fall on the same year, 2012.
Revelation prophesies that the central battle of the Christian Apocalypse will be fought in the Holy Land on the Plains of Armageddon—where many past wars have been waged—and will then engulf the world. Revelation’s thousand-year countdown to Armageddon, however, does not begin until “the Angel” casts “Satan” into the bottomless pit, where he is then contained for 1,000 years. If the Christian Apocalypse were to commence on 2012—the date when the Mayan Apocalypse is to due to destroy us—what would have happened in 1012 to commence the 1,000-year countdown of Revelation?
Many Christians have viewed 1000 C.E. as marking the beginning of the Millenarian countdown. It was a time of famines so terrible they were called apocalyptic portents, when a new star was spotted in the heavens (the Supernova of 1006), followed in 1009 by a “rain of blood” when the sun turned red and failed to shine for three days. Unprecedented plagues broke out, and by the 1012 the Abbey of St-Vaast was having his apocalyptic visions of the End Time.
The most telling apocalyptic cataclysm came in 1012 when the satanically militant Muslim ruler, Egypt’s Caliph Al Hakim destroyed the holiest ediface in Christendom, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Erected by Constantine, it reputedly occupied Golgotha, the Hill of Skulls, the site of Christ’s crucifixion. The church’s worshippers believed it even encompassed the ground and sepulcher where Christ was originally buried.
This mad, millenarian, Islamist ruler—who mysteriously vanished into the desert after desecrating Christian holy places—has long been identified with the 1000 year countdown. Al Hakim’s atrocities, which culminated in 1012, eventually sparked the Crusades . . . which would go on for a thousand years and which, some would argue, are still fought today. Many people believe that this war with militant Islam will be waged on the Plains of Armageddon and consume the nations of earth in a global Armageddon.
Proponents of this interpretation sometimes point out another potentially history shaping event: the next US presidential election takes place on 2012.


What other common elements do the Maya Apocalypse and that of Revelation share besides a similar time-line?
There are striking similarities between the apocalyptic Four Horsemen and the Four Apocalyptic Gods of the Maya. In Revelation the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are responsible for humanity’s annihilation. The White Horseman brings Pestilence, the Red Horseman War, the Black Horseman Famine and the Pale Horseman Death. The Pale Horseman unleashes the forces of hell. These horsemen each emerge from one of the four cardinal directions.
The Maya too have four supernatural beings—in their case deities—who will participate in humanity’s apocalyptic end. While they have also shared to varying degrees in the creation of the four previous “Sun Ages” and in our own fifth era, they are inherently violent, perpetually vindictive and will on 2012 destroy our world just as they helped to obliterate the four previous Ages of Humanity. The four apocalyptic Mayan gods, just like the Four Horsemen, are identified by “colors” and come from the “four cardinal directions.” The Blue Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, comes out of the south. The Red Xipe Totec, the god of gold, farming and spring, comes out of the west bringing famine. The Black Tezcatlipoca—the god of night, deceit, sorcery, hurricanes, discord and strife—presides over the north. The Black Tezcatlipoca will unleash the dark demons of the Mayan hell which on 12/21/2012 will traverse the Underworld Road, exit the Dark Rift of the Milky Way, overwhelm the earth and exterminate humankind.
The only god, who is at all friendly to humanity, is the White Quetzalcoatl, who is the god of light, mercy, wind and fire. He will probably not be of much help though. The Black Tezcatlipoca defeated him once before, ejecting him from his privileged position in the night sky, where he had reigned amid the stars. He has subsequently roamed the earth, sometimes serving as humanity’s patron deity.
Quetzalcoatl is ambivalent toward us however. One thousand years ago, he incarnated a Toltec emperor and brought humanity science, compassion and enlightenment as well as outlawing war and human sacrifice. The priests whipped up the multitudes, which rose up against him, and Quetzalcoatl—the so-called god-king—went into exile.
Having been betrayed by humanity 1,000 years ago, there is no evidence he will attempt a rescue on 2012
In his compassion and his ultimate sacrifice for humanity, he is viewed by many Maya as authentically Christ-like.

Sunday, June 7, 2009