The Popol Vuh and the Venus Cycle 3
The ancient Mayas discovered a magical series of cycles in the sequence created by the rising dates of the planet Venus. This planet rises regularly at different times of the year. Sometimes it rises in the dark pre-dawn hours just before the sun rises, so it shows up as a brilliant star on the eastern horizon and lingers there waiting for its much brighter partner to rise right behind it, finally disappearing in the bright glare of morning as the sun finally lifts itself up high in the sky. At those times it is known as the “morning star”. Other times it shows up at the end of the day making a brief appearance at dusk as the sun sinks into the western horizon, and then disappearing itself. At those times it is known as the “evening star”. Then there are times when it rises at the same time as the sun does. They are so close together when they both rise that the glare of the rising sun just blots out the much weaker twinkle of the planet Venus so it is “invisible” during that time. This is called “superior conjunction”. The same thing happens at other times when the sun goes down, the two heavenly bodies are so close together when they are both setting in the West that it is impossible to see Venus as it goes down wrapped in the glare of the setting sun. That is known as “inferior conjunction”.
The rising of Venus as a MORNING STAR occurs in cycles. One day, on a predetermined, predictable date Venus begins to rise at dawn and will continue to do it every day for a predetermined period of time. Then, eventually, the day comes when it comes up out of the horizon so close to the sunrise that it is completely blotted out by the light of the rising sun, SUPERIOR CONJUNCTION. Then follows a predetermined and predictable number of days when the planet rises invisibly, always outshined by its big solar partner. Finally, after that period of invisibility is over it is seen again but this time as EVENING STAR, and that series of sightings also lasts for a predictable, predetermined number of days, followed by another brief interlude when it is again blotted out of visibility by the glare of the nearby sun. The whole celestial drama finally comes full cycle on the day that Venus again begins to rise as a MORNING STAR and the whole thing starts all over again.
The ancient Mayas found a way of measuring and determining the predictability of this complicated planetary cycle. Then they took this cycle of Venus and sun as those two perform their heavenly ballet and wedded those cycles with the sacred cycles of their extraordinary calendar. When they did that they created a fascinating, mystical calendrical construct that actually tells a story. It tells that story by coinciding the significant phenomena that make up the Venus cycle with special day-signs that appear in their calendar. For instance, the opening of each major Venus Sequence (the first day when Venus rises as MORNING STAR) is ruled by the Mayan day-sign “Ahau” (Lord) (Also known as “Sun” in the Dreamspell tradition). Then other significant Day-signs come up at significant junctures in the Venus Cycle, Inferior Conjunction, Superior Conjunction, First Evening Star rising, etc. This coincidence of day-signs and Venus Cycle phenomena creates a kind of story that mirrors the exciting adventure experienced by the ancient Mayan twin Spirits Hun-Ahpu and Ix-Balanque. An example of this is an episode in the Popol Vuh legend in which the evil Lords of Negativity send their warrior owls up to the upper world to summon the hero twins down into the nether realm. This happens on the day CIB, (Owl) (or “warrior” as it is known in the Dreamspell tradition).
Another example of this is the episode when the Lords of Negativity lock the hero twins in a deadly chamber filled with ferocious man-eating jaguars. Ix-Balanque uses the shamanic mystical powers of the jaguar magician to persuade the large cats that it is best not to harm them. Ix-Balanque saves both hero twins through an act of powerful magic. This event happens on the day IX “Jaguar shaman” (or “wizard” as it is known in the Dreamspell tradition).
The pattern of Mayan day-signs combined with significant events in the Cycles of Venus create a sacred matrix. This matrix was taken into consideration by the traditionally trained DAY-KEEPER calendar priests when reading their mystic Mayan oracle. The oracle of the calendar priests, (which survives to this day) is similar in some ways to the “solar-seal” and “tone” readings of the Dreamspell, but there are significant differences. The most important of these differences is, of course that the Mayan oracle of the DAY-KEEPER calendar priests is much older.
The Dreamspell was inspired to a 20th century visionary named Jose Arguelles by the spirit of an ancient Mayan monarch called Pacal. Arguelles ellucidated the premise of the Dreamspell tradition in a landmark book called “The Mayan Factor”.
The amazing secrets of the Mayan calendar and its relationship to the predictable cycles of the planet Venus were revealed by an equally inspired visionary named John Major Jenkins in his publication, “Tzolkin”.
Combined with what we now know of the relationship between the Taino legend of ANAKAKUYA and the Mayan legend of HUN-AHPU and IX-BALANQUE, The work of these two enlightened humans has allowed us to fathom the wisdom of our ancestors in new and surprising ways. It has given us the key to unlock the meaning of the ancient prophesies and to look foward to the life that awaits us far int the future beyond the epochal date in the year 2012.
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