The Complete Idiot's Guide to 2012 - Dr. Synthia Andrews Nd [50]
With all this talk about ages and changing ages, let’s take a look at just what the ages are and what to expect in the new one. We’re helped in this by using the creation mural from the ruins of San Bartolo, which we discussed in Chapter 1. The ruins were excavated in 2003, revealing a creation mural from 100 B.C.E. It perfectly matches the Popol Vuh creation story, written 600 years later, and helps us to understand parts of the story.
End of an Epoch
As you know, a Mayan creation age corresponds to the precession of the equinox. We discussed in Chapter 6 that there are two versions of how this happens. In one version, a creation age equals 5,126 years, the length of the Long Count calendar which is a Mayan Great Cycle. There are five ages in the creation and five Great Cycles in the 25,630 Grand Cycle of the precession. In this version, we are in the fifth age of the Maya.
In the second version, each creation age equals one Grand Cycle, one trip around the precession, and each creation age is subdivided into five “Suns” equal to 5,126 years each. In this version, we are in the fifth Sun of the fourth World. In both versions, we are at the end of a precession cycle. This is known because of the upcoming alignment of the Sacred Cross of the Maya to the center of the galaxy, something claimed to happen once per precession and marks the end/beginning of the cycle.
What does it mean that the Long Count calendar ends as we are coming to the end of a Grand Cycle? Does it matter what world, age, or Sun we are in?
What Sun Is Rising?
Deciding what age we’re in has generated a lot of controversy. Is this the fourth age going into the fifth? Or are we in the fifth age and at the end of the creation story? What does it mean that none of the creation stories talk about a sixth age? The picture is further confused by the Aztec creation story, clearly based on the same events as the Mayan creation story. According to the Aztec legend, we are firmly in the fifth age.
Some researchers contend that the problem is one of interpretation. They say it depends on when you start counting. If you start counting at zero, we are in the fourth age moving into the fifth. But if you start counting at one, we are in the fifth age now; for example, starting at zero: 0 1 2 3 (4) 5, or starting at one: 1 2 3 4 (5) 6. This doesn’t really answer the question, as it still means we are living in the fifth age, whatever number you give it.
Popular Mayan researchers put us squarely in the fifth age, leaving a Grand Cycle on 2012. Mayan Elders say we are in the fourth age, moving into the fifth age which lies at the center of the sun disc calendar. The sun disc is a beautiful Mesoamerican sun calendar that incorporates the changing of the ages. The sun disc predates the Mayan calendar originating in the Izapa/Olmec culture.
You’re going to have to decide this one for yourself. Let’s look at what each of the five ages represents and you can figure out what makes sense to you. As for us, we agree that the story belongs to the Maya. Taking their word for it, this must be the fourth age.
Overview of Creation
Each world of the creation has its own Tree of Life holding up the sky and connecting the realms. Each world also has to deal with a particular challenge. At the end of each world is death and destruction followed by resurrection and rebirth.
The creation story is similar to the myth of the Hero Twins from Chapter 2. The Hero Twins go into the underworld and face five challenges in order to defeat death. In the creation story, at the end of each world, the gods use natural disasters to destroy humans. Symbolically, the life the gods created was sacrificed. As the Hero Twins are reborn from death, each age is reborn from the one that came before.
First Age
In the first age of