I share this not so much as a conference announcement as a reflection of native/Mayan spirituality and of their discussion of 2012. I’m not sure I agree that the dark remains really strong, but they do retain some ability to create difficulty. Thanks to Randall.
Announcement for our 4th Spirit Matters Gathering in August offers the Mayan elder perspective on 12-21-2012
Email Jan. 19, 2012
The Mayan Prophecy of the Fifth Sun
Carlos Barrios is a Mayan elder and Ajq’ij (ceremonial priest and spiritual guide) of the Eagle Clan who explored the different Mayan calendars with nearly 600 traditional Mayan elders.
He says:
“Anthropologists visit the temple sites and read the inscriptions and make up stories about the Maya, but they do not read the signs correctly. It’s just their imagination. Other people write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say that the world will end in December 21, 2012. The Mayan elders are angry with this. The world will not end. It will be transformed.”
In the Mayan Calendar there is discussion of different Suns in an interstellar context. It is to be noted that the Mayan Calendar’s comprehension of time, seasons, and cycles has proven itself to be vast and highly sophisticated. Carlos Barrios maintains that:
“We are no longer in the World of the Fourth Sun, but we are not yet in the World of the Fifth Sun. This is the time in-between, the time of transition. As we pass through transition there is a colossal, global convergence of environmental destruction, social chaos, war, and ongoing Earth Changes.”
“Humanity will continue, but in a different way. Material structures will change. From this we will have the opportunity to be more human. We are living in the most important era of the Mayan calendars and prophecies. All the prophecies of the world, all the traditions are converging now. There is no time for games. The spiritual ideal of this era is action.”
At sunrise on December 21, 2012 for the first time in 26,000 years the Sun rises to cross the galactic equator with the Earth aligning itself with the center of our galaxy, at the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic. This cosmic cross is considered to be an embodiment of the Sacred Tree, The Tree of Life, a tree remembered in all the world’s spiritual traditions. In reflecting on our present historical transition Carlos Barrios ponders:
“Just now the dark side is very strong, and very clear about what they want. They have their vision and their priorities clearly held, and also their hierarchy. They are working in many ways so that we will be unable to connect with the spiral Fifth World in 2012. The dark power of the declining Fourth World cannot be destroyed or overpowered. It’s too strong and clear for that, and that is the wrong strategy. The dark can only be transformed when confronted with simplicity and open-heartedness. This is what leads to unity, a key concept for the World of the Fifth Sun.”
Human beings need to come together in support of life and light.
Exploring The Depths of Indigenous Wisdoms for Guidance
Several years ago the Mohawk Elder Diane Longboat gave a teaching at the Transformative Learning Centre where she said that the importance of Indigenous Wisdoms will become crucial in the visionary transformative work of the 21st Century with the advent of the Fifth Sun. At this crucial time, indigenous leaders were open to sharing their knowledge with peoples of all four directions. It is fundamentally important that we come to appreciate and honor indigenous worlds for the Earth-based wisdoms that they continue to hold in spite of the deep orders of degradations visited on them as a result of western cultural arrogance. What Barrios emphasizes is that no one tradition or knowledge base holds the answer for what will guide us through this transition. He says; “It is not important what tradition, your heart will tell you, but it must have great roots.”
The Great Roots we explore together in this fourth Spirit Matters are from “soil, soul and society” around the planet. The 4th Spirit Matters gathering is the harvesting of wisdoms from the last decade of our deepening relationships with indigenous peoples and with our own indigeneity as members of Earth community. In focusing on those who have kept sacred, the awareness, knowledge, practices and values that preserve life and light as Earth beings, we prepare for the Fifth Sun.
Awareness from the primal to evolving human consciousness (and the healing of dissociated consciousness necessary for that movement) will be fostered experientially and not just discussed in this particular gathering. Knowledge leaders and young co-creators from many indigenous peoples will speak, sing, paint, dance and share what they know in multi-modal ways.
- Practices to prepare us as elders, to give us courage and to keep us balanced, healthy and connected in social action are core to this gathering.
- Circles that foster warm presence, equity, speaking from the heart, and respect will continue to be our main way of meeting.
In previous Spirit Matters gatherings, this has led to all of us working as an integral group. In the same way that the consciousness of individuals is an emergent phenomena from the co-ordination of activities of millions of sensitive cells in the body, we consider the “organ” of consciousness for an integral group to be co-ordinated combined consciousness of their members, in all its co-creative power.
There will be quiet sacred spaces and room for Spirit in how we talk, eat and play together. Respect for the Earth and all our relations, and other core indigenous values of gratitude, affection, truthfulness, and reciprocity will guide all aspects of our process.
Eimear O’Neill PhD
Website;
https://www.eimearoneill.com
University Afiliation
https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/tlc/