The Complete Idiot's Guide to 2012 - Dr. Synthia Andrews Nd [24]
Lines of sight have always been important in many aspects of life. The Greeks and Roman used bonfires to send messages over long distances. Keeping a line of sight from one hilltop to the next, as one fire was lit, the team at the next hilltop would see it and light their fire. Messages could be sent over very long distances much faster than runners.
Trance States
It’s pretty clear that simple devices together with long periods of observation can account for a lot of the Mayan knowledge—especially since the Maya were able to build on all the data from the previous culture of the Olmec/Itzpam, which means they had about 500 years of observations! Even so, this was not enough to explain all that the Maya knew about the sky. For example, the Maya knew a considerable amount about the galaxy and the earth’s position in the galaxy. Where would they gain the perspective to know this? No line of sight from the earth can reveal this information!
The Maya have their own explanation. Ceremony for the Maya was an opportunity to open portals and commune with the gods. The Maya considered the sky and the movements of the celestial bodies as the message board of the gods. During ceremony, the Maya achieved trance states that allowed them to open the portals and explore the message board.
Trance states, or altered states of consciousness, were achieved through different means. Practices that involve breathing patterns and influencing the internal flow of k’ul have been described by modern-day Mayan elders. For sure we know that the ancient Maya used hallucinogenic plants. Peyote cactus and mushrooms were both used to induce a trance, as was tobacco.
Cosmic Caution
Should you be inclined to smoke a lot of tobacco and induce a trance, be advised: Mayan tobacco was much different than ours. Using our tobacco in this way may produce a trance, but it will cause nicotine poisoning far sooner!
In trance states, the Mayan shamans were able to perform many extraordinary feats. They were able to perform healing rites, seeming to remove the cause of illness in a type of psychic surgery. They were able to travel among the stars, possibly with the help of their Wayeb (see Chapter 2). It was during trance states that some of the advanced knowledge is claimed to have been discovered. We’ll explore more about how trance states were used in Chapters 10 and 11.
Sacred Sites and Astronomy
The Maya left evidence of their cosmology in their architectural structures. Pyramids, temples, and city plans were designed to align with astronomical events. Some buildings were marking passages and celebrating celestial alignments, such as the Kukulkan pyramid at Chichen Itza.
Others were working observatories, discovering new information, or confirming existing data. Alignments were made to the rising and setting of stars, constellations, the sun, moon, and planets. Of course, some alignments are bound to be simply coincidental; however, alignments were repeated in different ways at each site, so coincidence becomes hard to swallow.
Codex Cues
Encrypting pyramids and drawing glyphs in stone allowed Mayan knowledge to be preserved through centuries. In contrast, the knowledge of our modern culture, which is written on paper, CD-ROMs, and other media, will disappear with us.
Most importantly, the Mayan encrypted the pyramids they built with information from their calendars. Information is reflected in the mathematics of the design and the number of stairs, angles, segments; all had relationship to the length of the Mayan ages, the solar year, specific dates, and more. In addition to being observatories, these are teaching devices, universities in stone—books to withstand the march of time!
Why did the Maya go to the trouble? It’s not like they