The Mayan Calendar, 2012: A Vision for a New World

A recent visit to Guatemala to visit Mayan Shamans and Ceremonialists brought the whole question of where this planet is headed into vivid clarity. For months now, I have been doing research into the Mayan Calendar, Hopi, Qero, Tibetan, and other prophecies, astrological predictions, and whatever else sheds light on where we are headed. It is not that this is the first time I have been obsessed with the question of our future, but it has gained in urgency as we approach the date of the end of the long count in the Mayan Calendar, December 21, 2012. With my recent research efforts I began to see the future of the human race in a brand new light. In addition, a visit with several astrologers added to my evolving perspective that there is no more important work than forging a new future by collapsing the old worn out dream and creating a new dream via working with the quantum field.

As many of you are probably well aware, the internet and printed materials are full of various theories about what we are headed for, some apocalyptic, some filled with promises of a new day of love, light, and peace as if we had nothing to do but sit and watch it unfold. Much of this information is, in my opinion, utter nonsense, from the sun going nova to mass ascensions and the like. I ran across internet sites with people bidding goodbye to the planet while others solemnly provided survival strategies to deal with the upcoming disasters. In order to save you much hype and dead ends I am going to summarize rather drastically and present you here with the conclusions I have arrived at regarding the whole question of our future. In order to accomplish this, I am not going to focus on the tedium or details of astrology or Mayan calendar systems, and so on. I will present only simple explanations that, if you are interested, you can research on your own, all of which is readily available in any number of books and articles on the world wide web.

Let me begin with my two recent trips to Guatemala, land of the ancient and current Mayans, authors of the long count calendar system that comes to a close on 12,21,2012. Every Mayan priest or shaman I encountered on my travels pointed out without exception that the end of the long count is not the end of the world but rather a transition point, a shamanic initiation if you will. Some of them go so far as to say that even the date is in question because the counting of the days may have been interrupted and compromised with the Spanish invasion of the Mayan nation. Nevertheless, given the importance of the date in Qero and Hopi prophecies as well as the predictions of many western astrologers, we can be certain that the 12/21/2012 date is extremely important and transformative. All the Mayans I spoke with perceived the date as a time to celebrate the ending of the old dream and the beginning of a brand new one, one that all humans could take part in forming. So rather than the events of the date being preordained they were saying that the future is ours to dream, ours to create, our responsibility after all. They said that one of their important prophets, whose name I cannot pronounce or spell correctly, told them that during this time, the grandchildren would be returning to the land of the Maya and they would be hungry for knowledge. These grandchildren they identified as us, non-Mayans who are interested in their philosophy, their spiritual understanding, and their view of the world. We, the visitors to Guatemala and identified as the grandchildren, have been traveling and living in different parts of the world, after splitting off from the main branch of Mayans throughout their long history and migrations. We were welcomed back, embraced, and shown respect and honored. That was my own personal experience and that of my companion’s during our visit.

Now let us digress for a moment to the Hopis who now live in Arizona, near the Grand Canyon region. In the 1950’s, some of the first meetings between the present day Mayans and Hopis began to take place. They found they could understand each other because the Mayan and the Hopi languages have similar roots. According to Hopi legends, they were told by Spirit long ago to migrate to different regions of the world. The Mayans were originally the Hopis. Both possessed a calendar system, both have very similar prophecies, and both have similar world outlooks. According to the Hopis, Spirit told them that periodically they would have to leave their temporary homeland and migrate elsewhere. Not all the people would be able to migrate, so some were left behind to occupy places where great civilizations have flourished and collapsed.

Today the Hopis and the Mayans have many points of agreement. One of them is that periodically, after a great length of time, the old sun moves on and a new sun is born in the sky. Although the Hopis and the Mayans differ slightly on the number of suns there have been, they are in agreement that time is now arriving for a new sun to shine on a new world. Now if we take these prophecies literally we might expect great catastrophes to occur with these changing of suns. Indeed there have been great catastrophes on a regular basis throughout history and there will be more. Because we live on a dynamic planet, it has its own evolutionary story line. However, we can also choose to take these prophecies as metaphorical as well and understand that a new sun also means a new time, with new influences, and new opportunities.

The Michael Teachings tell us that the human race is evolving and that it has already evolved through three totally different stages, the infant stage of survival, the toddler stage of rule making and breaking, and the child level of interest in power and material wealth. Just as the Mayan calendar suggests, each of these stages has taken a progressively shorter time to navigate. The Mayan calendar breaks evolution down into nine overall eras starting with the formation of cells and ending with conscious co-creation, the present era. The Michael Teaching’s stages of evolution encompass the fourth Mayan era, the tribal cycle=infant soul, the fifth or cultural era=toddler soul, and the sixth or national era=child soul. Now we are ready to transition into the adolescent stage and this requires transitioning into puberty as a human race. What could be more difficult? If you ask most people if they would like to go back and reprise puberty they look at you as if you are nuts and say, “Are you kidding?” Remember the hormones, the intensity, the development of interest in sex, the development of acute self-consciousness, the idealism, the disappointment, the feelings of being misunderstood and so on. There is no escape, no jumping ahead, no skipping the lessons. We must navigate this stage in order to become adults, no matter what.

So, is this the new sun that begins 12/21/12? Is this the beginning of navigating the next level of maturity where the interest in raw power and being “king of the mountain” gives way to an interest in social dynamics and interaction, communication, diplomacy, understanding, and love of relationships with all its concomitant challenges? Yes, it sounds like it. After all, how could we possibly move into and through this stage if the world were destroyed physically? Yet adolescence truly destroys childhood, so yes, something will be destroyed. Much of our social fabric that awards the powerful and successful and ignores the poor will be going by the wayside. Our economies will change, our values will shift, our governments will be reformed. Our ways of choosing leaders will radically transform, our international relations will undergo a revolution.

Will all of this take place on 12/21/12? Of course not. There is no way all these changes can take place in one day. Change takes time. But unlike the past, the changes we are about to go through will be radically accelerated. This accelerated change will be experienced by the peoples of the world like a massive tsunami of shifting values, like a mammoth social earthquake, like a raging forest fire or flood, burning and washing away all the old corrupt forms, all rigid hierarchies, all inequities for so long unquestioned and tolerated. Nothing will be untouched by the time these changes are adopted. Is this the end of the world? Yes, in a manner of speaking. Is it the beginning of a new world? Absolutely.

Now let us give this massive shift we are speaking of a little more definition, according to the Mayan Calendar and other prophecies including astrological predictions. In order to make this comprehensible, we are going to have to go into a simple explanation of how Mayan calendars work. If your eyes roll into your head here you don’t need to follow this, but it is interesting.

The Mayans use many counts and therefore have various calendars that keep track of different aspects of life. Their three main calendars are the Haab, the Tzolkien, and the Tun. The Haab was their 360 day year calendar divided into eighteen months of approximately twenty days apiece plus five days for celebrating. It is the most like our Gregorian calendar, just with a different number of months. Their mathematics are so astoundingly accurate that they calculated the length of a solar day to within two seconds of what our scientists have calculated. The latest evidence is beginning to show, that perhaps the Mayan’s calculation is the more accurate one.

The Tzolkien calendar keeps track of daily aspects by integrating the pairing of thirteen intentions and twenty aspects. Together this comprised of 260 days. This calendar is circular because it never really ends. It just goes round and round keeping track of the influences of the day and the time. This calendar is spiritually oriented and not focused on seasons.

The Tun is the long count calendar keeping track of very long periods of time. It is subdivided into thousands of baktuns made up of 5,200 year cycles adding up to 16.4 billion years, longer ago than the big bang supposedly took place. Amazingly enough, the Tun is coming to a close on 12/21/12. However the Tzolkien is ongoing and so it continues its combining of intentions and aspects regardless of the Tun ending.

According to Kenneth Johnson, researcher into all the Mayan calendar systems, a katun is a twenty year cycle and the entire Tun calendar is divided by the twenty aspects or thirteen intentions. On 12/21/12 a katun known as 8 Ahau comes to an end, a katun that is notorious for empires crashing down. However a new katun starts when the last one ends. This katun will go from 2012 to 2032 and will be followed by another one going from 2032 to 2052, and then a third one, 2052 to 2072 and more to follow. These three katuns are highly significant because they describe the opening years of the new sun.

Let us examine each of these katuns in turn. The Katun from 2012 to 2032 (2 Ahau) is characterized by the following phrase according to glyphs on ancient Mayan Temples: “It was halfway famine; it was halfway feast”. Scholars have interpreted this phrase in a variety of ways. What should we take this to mean? Does it mean that for ten years there will be famine in the world and for ten years there will be relative prosperity? Or does it mean half the people on earth have food and the other half do not? Given a look at former historical periods this is probably more accurate. Yet what if the statement is more metaphorical and not so literal. What if famine and feast referred to spiritual knowledge or wisdom? What if only some of the people lived according to this wisdom and the rest did not? There will be the have’s and have not’s and there will be those with spiritual wisdom and those without. There are many predictions regarding these times as heavily polarized with people lining up on opposite sides of issues. Indeed this seems to be currently the case. This is most likely the scenario for the next twenty years until 2032. Some of the world will have technological knowhow and access to good water and food. Some will not and suffer the consequences. Some will know that change has to happen and some will try to maintain the status quo. So the katun appears to be focused on a theme of polarization in many ways and this points to difficulty. When we look back in history at other times when this katun reigned, they are indeed characterized by polarizations.

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Again, according to Kenneth Johnson, the next katun or twenty year cycle goes from 2032 to 2052. This katun (13 Ahau) is characterized by the following phrases: “Descended will be the blood of sticks and stones. Burned will be heaven and earth…for five days the sun shall be eclipsed, then it shall be seen again.” When we look back in history at other times when this katun came up, we see revolution and radical global change like the French and American Revolutions and much more. This could be a time when the haves and have nots come into clash with one another. It could be bloody and violent as in so many times in the past. However, these will be new times so it could also be bloodless revolution with all sides recognizing the need for change. These will be years of massive global change then, just as in the past, but the question of how it will transpire remains to be decided.

Many people fixate on the phrase about the eclipse of the sun for five days. However this katun has come up in the past many times and there never has been such an eclipse, so it is obviously metaphorical. We should not expect to see the sun vanish for days on end. The Hopi word, Koyanisqaatsi, a world out of balance and the Quechua word, pachacuti, a world turned upside down both describe this katun.

The next katun, 11 Ahau, goes from 2052 to 2072. This is described in the Mayan codex as “The heavenly fan, the heavenly bouquet shall descend.” In the past this has meant renaissance, a new beginning, and profound benefits. In other words, it means that the benefits of change come about and the harvest of transformation. Thus, according to these katuns, the massive change represented by the date 12/21/12 will be handled in the eye blink of sixty years, nothing by historical standards. Babies born now will be in their sixties by that time, most likely a very young age considering all the medical advances coming during this time. The younger generations will all live to see major parts of these powerful historical and world changing times. Those of us who will not live long enough to see it all through, will no doubt have an opportunity to reincarnate into a transformed world, where older soul values will rule the day.

However, these good times are not automatic. We must take responsibility to see that they do happen. Older souls are going to have to take the initiative and envision a world that they want to see replace the past one. If they want their values to hold sway then they are going to have to take the lead and mentor the younger souls into a new way of being.

Perhaps these visions I have outlined in this next section can serve as a template for your own vision of a new sun and a new world. Let us not worry at this point about the details. Let us rather hold an overall vision and let Spirit provide the details. We are much too ignorant at this point to know exactly how it is all going to work itself out. The main thing is that we have to know what we want. Here are some of the things that I want to see, want to experience, want to live in the context of, whether in the remainder of this life or lives to come:

A Vision for a New Dream

May we live in a world where the economies of the world support the well-being of all, honor individual effort and initiative, reward generosity and cooperation, blessing those who support creativity, non-destructive technologies, and those who give back to the earth. May we all share the wealth.

May this be a world where the rights of all species, plant and animal, their well-being and life are honored, where we live cooperatively and respectfully with the earth, with all of nature, and we ask permission before we take, always giving thanks for our largesse and good fortune.

May this be a world where all people respect the rights of women to choose their path in life, to control their fertility, to experience wellbeing, to respect their freedom to follow the highest paths of creativity and leadership. May all women be honored as the expressions of the feminine face of God. May they no longer be oppressed out of fear of their power.

May all men be honored for their productivity, for their mentoring, for their strength of character, for their protective natures, for their clarity, their ability to open their hearts for the well being of others. May all men be honored as the expression of the masculine face of God and may they no longer be made wrong for every little thing they do.

May the children be cared for, listened to, and taught values of love, gratitude, and wonderment. May they be guided and supported to follow their path of heart, to know their life tasks, their strengths, and understand their goals. May they receive the proper initiations on their paths to adulthood. May they be shown love.

May the pursuit of the creation of beauty be one of the highest values. May we restore the beauty of the earth where it has been damaged and cultivate the earth as a garden.

May younger souls be cared for, mentored, and taught the values of older souls. May they no longer be allowed to run wild without proper guidance and supervision. May they be cultivated as productive, cooperative, and helpful members of society.

May younger souls behaving violently, antisocially, or fearfully be temporarily removed from society, protected, and provided for.

May all food and water be considered gifts from spirit and treated accordingly.

May all people have full access to healing modalities according to their natures. May the true nature of healing be taught and understood by all.

May we as a species, live within our means, live cooperatively, and maintain our population in accordance with the limits of the environment.

May we live in a world where everyone honors spirit, where religions never convert but grow by simple attraction, and are never aligned with government or control systems. May there be no hint of control tolerated in any religion. May this be a world where people are free to practice expressions of the sacred freely and without fear of any reprisal.

May everyone understand that they must make some sort of contribution no matter how modest or restricted.

Let the haves support the have-nots to have. Let the haves never believe they have because they are somehow more privileged or more deserving. May the have not’s take responsibility for having.

Let no man or woman believe they are a victim of anyone or anything. Let each person know they are responsible for the experience they are creating. Let blame end, complaining end, resentment end.

Let no one go through life with a lack of meaning, a lack of purpose. May each person be supported to know their purpose.

Let no one crave more than they can productively use. Let all know they have as much as they need.

Let all know they have the time to do everything they had planned.

May forgiveness carry the day. May all guilt and shame be banished.

May all realize their value as children of Spirit. May no person believe they are less than others.

May all understand the importance of letting go, of giving up “micro managing” their lives. May all realize the value of serendipity, spontaneity, and flexibility.

May all be encouraged to express themselves creatively no matter how simply.

Well, I could go on and on, but hopefully you get the idea.

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José Stevens

José Luis Stevens, PhD is the president and co-founder (with wife Lena) of Power Path Seminars, an international school and consulting firm dedicated to the study and application of shamanism and indigenous wisdom to business and everyday life. José completed a ten-year apprenticeship with a Huichol (Wixarika) Maracame (Huichol shaman) in the Sierras of Central Mexico. In addition, he is studying with Shipibo shamans in the Peruvian Amazon and with Paqos (shamans) in the Andes in Peru. In 1983 he completed his doctoral dissertation at the California Institute of Integral Studies focusing on the interface between shamanism and western psychological counseling. Since then, he has studied cross-cultural shamanism around the world to distill the core elements of shamanic healing and practice. He is the author of twenty books and numerous articles including Encounters With Power, Awaken The Inner Shaman, The Power Path, Secrets of Shamanism, Transforming Your Dragons and How To Pray The Shaman’s Way.