The Popol Vuh and the Venus Cycle
(an analysis of the connection between the Mayan and Taino mythology concerning the Fall of the False Cosmic Center)
In the Caney, we believe that as part of the cultural exchange between the Tainos and the Mayas, there was a transmission of prophetic and oracular information. One of the most important aspects of this information is the concept of the “Fallen False Cosmic Center”.
The concept of the “Fallen False Cosmic Center” is interpreted by our Caney beikes in this way: The Universe must be governed by a ruling principle of Universal Order, Harmony and Continuity. That ruling principle is called “The Cosmic Center”. All of the various forms of consciousness in the Universe, whether it be human consciousness, animal consciousness, mineral consciousness etc. can recognize and tap into that principle to establish a perfect balance of divine telepathy (non-verbal communication and clear mutual understanding and harmony). It is believed that a failure in clear thought and divine telepathy on the part of any of the various consciousness of the Universe can aid in the establishment of a “False Cosmic Center”. This “False Cosmic Center” can derail the path to true divine telepathy and create havoc and disharmony.
The Ancient Mayas and the ancient Tainos both arrived at mythical interpretations of how this kind of disaster can occur as a result of the failure in clear consciousness. The Taino interpreted it in the legend of Anakakuia.
Anakakuia was a legendary magician with great powers arrived at through support from the Forces of Negativity. He bided his time waiting for the opportunity to gain control over the destinies of our human ancestors. Then one day he saw his chance. A patriarchal leader of the ancestral human community committed a great sin of greed and betrayal when he seduced the wife of his own son who had left the community on a mission and had been delayed in returning. Although the son eventually died before he could return to the community, the leader did not know that and seduced the young man’s wife in full belief that her husband was alive. Then to compound his sin the leader began to use his considerable influence and power to steal the wives of all of his neighbors. Ultimately he led a great host of wives and mothers away from their husbands and children. Husbands were left without wives and small suckling babies were left screaming for their mothers’ breasts. The babies died. The most destructive aspect of this event was that the Taino communal consciousness was robbed of the creative shamanic female element.
This great crime by a leader of the human community was exactly what Anakakuia was waiting for. He took control of the community and set himself up as the counterfeit “High Chief”. He proclaimed himself the “Center of the Cosmos” which was what the real leader should have been. A leader must reflect the steadfastness of the ruling principle, the principle of Harmony, Continuity and Universal Order that is invoked in the term “Cosmic Center”.
Anakauia was able to use his great magic to cloud the minds and eyes of the community to believe that he was in fact the Cosmic Center. He was endowed with the jewels of persuasive discourse by the Forces of Negativity who rule from their throne in the realm of chaos and disharmony. He persuaded the community that he was the right person to lead the community. He also vowed to find the wayward leader and bring him to justice, and to return the women to their husbands and children.
Anakakuia set out in search of the wayward leader but his intentions were not honorable. He was motivated by his desire for power rather than a genuine concern for he welfare of the community. Anakakuia found the one he searched for and used his magic to persuade him to return, bring the women back and face the vengeance of the community.
On their journey back, however the leader came finally to his senses and realized his terrible mistake. He realized that, through his sin, he had allowed a false Cosmic Center to take control of the community. Now he proposed to rid the people of the evil magician. He tricked Anakakuia into going out on the ocean with him in a canoe to fish. Then he pointed to a beautiful sea-shell in the water. When Anakakuia leaned over the gunwale of the canoe to stare into the clear liquid the rightful leader struck him with a canoe paddle and threw him into the sea. The false Cosmic Center was overthrown and the wayward leader was later punished by the forces of righteousness by contracting a sickness that made him suffer grievously for a long time until a woman with healing powers cured him.
Ultimately the repentant leader returned back to the community ( the women that had left with him never came back….they were too ashamed of their sin to face their husbands and surviving children). The community eventually gained a new population of women through a magical act aided by the power of the woodpecker spirit.
The Drama of the “Fall of the False Cosmic Center” is played out annually in the night sky through movements of the constellation known as the BIG DIPPER. This constellation, in conjunction with the LITTLE DIPPER form a kind of center around which all other stars spin every night. The BIG DIPPER gets its Taino name ANAKAKUIA (Flower of the Center) in honor of the North Star, the bright celestial flower which is its totem spirit. The North Star is the central pivot around which all the other stars of the night sky spin every night. And yet it is a false center because it is not really the real Center of the Cosmos. The true Cosmic Center, the center of Order,Harmony and Continuity is represented by the center of the Milky Way Galaxy and the Sun. The Heart of the Milky Way Galaxy, along with the Sun, is one in a series of great Cosmic lenses aligned in a straight row through which Divine communication must pass as it is focused down to Earth and the consciousness of our planet from the Divine Consciousness. Every year the BIG DIPPER goes through a phase in which it is seems to fall into the sea and disappear behind the marine horizon, as if it had just been struck on the head and sent crashing in ignominy.
The Mayas arrive at a similar mythical conclusion via a quite different legend. As we in the Caney Circle interpret it, the Maya story also features a wayward hero. Again, the missing female shamanic element plays a lead role.
His “sin” as a male entity is the abnegation of his shamanic female side. He faces the rigors of confronting the Forces of Negativity alone, surrounding himself only in the aura of his male arrogance. He mistakenly interprets his divine duality as the combination of two men, two male spirits working side by side, instead of the male essence and the complimentary female essence operating harmoniously together. In this identity, the Hero confronts the Forces of Negativity in total disunity, a kind of multiple personality disorder creature who manifests itself in the form of two male entities called One Hun-Ahpu and Seven Hun-Ahpu. These two disassociated male manifestations of the same being arrogantly confront the Forces of Negativity without appealing to the insightful, shamanic Night-Cat feline spirit of femaleness that dwells within their soul. As a result they fail miserably. The self-deluded would-be hero in this state of split personality, is killed, and allows the Cosmic Community to fall under the leadership of a magical illegitimate leader called Seven Macaw. This Seven Macaw is regailed with the magical jewelry of deception given to him by the Forces of Negativity.
The Cosmic Consciousness is left at the mercy of Seven Macaw and his evil sponsors (The Lords of Negativity). The magic of Seven Macaw casts a spell upon the eyes of the Cosmic Consciousness and it perceives Seven Macaw as the Cosmic Center, the ruler of the principle of Harmony and Continuity. That of course is only an illusion and this great deception keeps the real focus-lens, the SUN, from rising and focusing the message emanating from the Divine Consciousness of the GREAT SPIRIT at the center of the Cosmos through the focus-lens of the Milky Way Galaxy and down to the Earth. The great deception keeps the Sun from aligning with the Milky Way and so there can be no focus of the two lenses. The Divine communication of Harmony and Continuity can not travel down to the Earth from the Divine Consciousness of the GREAT SPIRIT. The Earth is a dark and desolate place and there is nowhere even for Creation to occur. That is how the Lords Of Negativity want it to stay forever, no creation, no creativity, no communication between the Divine consciousness of the GREAT SPIRIT and the consciousness of the Earth.
Somehow, even after death, the defeated Hero comes to his senses and re-incarnates in his descendant. His descendant comes forth in complete and integral unity, recognizing the equal value of both the Male and Female attributes. As such, this entity confronts the Forces of Negativity in the form of a character with male attributes called Hun-Ahpu and a character with female attributes called Ix-Balanque. This unbeatable combination defeats the Lords of Negativity and later confronts Seven Macaw himself. The false Cosmic Center is found in the form of a resplendent bird with teeth and eyes made of bright jewelry given to him by the Lords of Negativity. He sits at the top of the Cosmic Tree and arrogantly rules from that place proclaiming that there is no need to search for the true sun because he is the sun.
Hun-Ahpu and Ix-Balanque take aim at the arrogant false sun and topple him from his tree-top perch with a shot from their blow gun. Seven Macaw is dethroned and, like the Anakakuia of Taino mythology, he falls into the sea. This allows for the true SUN to finally rise and put into motion the series of sunrises and sunsets that mark the passing of Time. Time is a very important aspect of the Divine Communication that is focused down to us through the focus-lenses of the Sun and the Milky Way galaxy. Time becomes the sacred communication finally reaching the Earth from the Divine Consciousness of the GREAT SPIRIT at the Center of the Cosmos.
Caney Circle 