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by John Major Jenkins, Terence McKenna

Paperback - 423 pages (June 1998)
Bear & Co; ISBN: 1879181487 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.11 x 9.03 x 7.02

Reviews

Spirit of Change, November-December 1998
Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 is an involving well-research and in-depth perspective on the evolution of the Mesoamerican calendar. According to the Mayan peoples, we are now living in "end time." Decoding the mythological explanation of their long-known  "astronomical facts," Jenkins explains how the Galactic center at the central bulge of the Milky Way was understood by the ancients as the pregnant point in the heavens that gave birth to the world. This point coincides with what is just now being discovered by today's scientists to be a black hole. An impending alignment of the sun at that very point, according to Mayan calculations, culminates at the winter solstice, December 21, 2012.

The Mayan interpretation of this as an "end point' of our time is said to signify "a World Age shift" indicating a cataclysmic transformation seen as a "prelude for global renewal."

The ever-spiritual perspectives of the Toltecs and Mayans on this upcoming cosmic alignment reflect a belief in "the cyclic renewal of the earth and the spiritual unfoldment of humanity." A fascinating and engaging read, Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 offers us a solidly researched invitation to "recognize our place in the great chain of creation."

Why did the Maya choose the date of 21 December 2012 to mark the end-time of their long-count calendar? And why mark the (northern) winter solstice?

Studying the star charts, independent scholar/author John Major Jenkins noted that a very rare alignment in the precessional cycle will occur on the December solstice in 2012, when the sun conjuncts the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. Seasonal alignments occur once every 6,450 years, but this December solstice of 2012 occurs once every 25,800 years! Jenkins surmised that the Maya, like many other ancient cultures, were aware of precessional cycles, but it was no coincidence that they marked this date. Indeed, as he discovered, it was central to their cosmology, mythology and calendrics, as was the idea of galactic centre as the source of life. The Maya even had a glyph to present the black hole at galactic centre--the existence of which has only recently been confirmed by astronomers.

In his expansive new book, Maya Cosmogenesis 2012, Jenkins explains how the Maya revered the end-time as a zero point, entered through galactic centre and involving an energy field-effect reversal and rebirth into a new World Age. In explaining his thesis, he takes us on a heady trip through Maya shamanic rites, the origin and development of the long-count calendar at the sacred site of Izapan, the galactic geometry and symbolism of the ball court, and much more. Jenkins' finds not only extend our understanding of Maya cosmology; they have great significance for humanity at the evolutionary crossroads.

Is Earth approaching cosmogenesis, and does ancient Maya science and religion hold messages to aid us in this era of transformation? Author John Major Jenkins believes that indeed the precession of the equinoxes, as it was understood by the Maya, will be the formative influence of evolving life on Earth: "Being the culmination of an ages-long quest for understanding the nature of time, Maya cosmological insights are reminding us that the Zero Time is upon us."

Jenkins beings his thorough and comprehensible account of Maya cosmology by delving back 13,000 years into human history to the origins of Mesoamerican civilization. Logically he progresses through this Mesoamerican timeline to reach Maya civilization at its height of power and wisdom.

Interpreting the 2012 end-date of the Maya calendar proved to be an irresistible challenge for John Major Jenkins. It is apparent that his journey toward enlightenment was undertaken with pleasure and an enthusiasm which communicates itself to the reader.

This is an authoritative and at the same time exciting voyage of discovery into the past, a return to an ancient understanding of the cosmos that gives meaning to our place in the chain of creation.

"It is initially strange to think that Maya Creation occurs on what we are calling the 'end date'. But Maya concepts of weaving, birthing, and dawning declare that Creation (birth) occurs at the end of a time cycle. The birth of a child occurs at the end of the nine-month period of human gestation. Furthermore, the Maya utilized 'end naming,' such that periods of time were named after their last day."

"Also, the Pyramid of Kukulcan at Chichen Itza has ninety-one steps on each of its four sides, making a total of 364 'base' steps. The 365th step -or 'day'- is at the very top of the pyramid, in the zenith position. Now imagine turning this metaphor upside-down, so that the zenith is the first day -New Year's Day- and one descends the pyramid by spiraling down the remaining 364 steps, or days."

"In one Popul Vuh episode, the Black Road speaks to the Hero Twins, suggesting that the Black Road (the dark rift) either has or is a mouth. This makes sense when we remember that the dark-rift is the Road to the Underworld, and the mouths of jaguars and snakes were also recognized as Underworld portals. As a result, when we look at Maya carvings and see Maya lords being birthed from the mouths of snakes, toads, or jaguar deities, we should suspect that they are being born from the dark-rift -appropriately enough, since the Milky Way is the Great Mother and the dark-rift is her birth canal."

"The Maya equate the four-cornered celestial dome with a house for other reasons. Houses 'belong' to women. When a Maya woman marries and becomes a mother, she 'owns' the family house. Symbolically, she is the house. In fact, in the Yucatec language and elsewhere, 'na' means both house and mother. As a result, if we expand these ideas to the level of the cosmos at large, the cosmos is a house, the house is the mother; in other words, the cosmos is the Great Mother. The Milky Way itself is the arched frame of the Cosmos-Mother, and her birth canal would thus be the dark-rift -the 'hole' at the deepest center of the night sky- that is, the Underworld."

"The Hapaycan snake's mouth refers, by sound inversion, to the concept of a deity-ruler's throne. (The serpent's mouth is the portal to the Otherworld and is the place where Maya kings are reborn upon taking their throne of office.)"

"In this image, again we see the crossroads near the cosmic birth portal. All of these mythic images attest that the dark-rift in the Milky Way was imaged in many ways and appears in many different forms of Mesoamerican myth. But they all indicate that the dark-rift was conceived of as a place of magical conception and celestial rebirth. The parallel image of birthplace and crossroads relates to the oldest universal ideas about celestial rebirth, the laying out of the four directions, and World Age Creation. The crossroads and the birth portal: the cross and the cup. These two powerful metaphors work together and provide a compellingly clear map to the true astronomical place of Maya Creation."

"It is a fact of astronomy that the December solstice sun will be in conjuction with the great bulge of the Galactic Center in the years around A.D. 2012. Astro-physicists now believe that a Black Hole -a hyperdense object from which even light cannot escape- exists at the center of our Galaxy."
 
 

"On 13.0.0.0.0, December 21, 2012, the December solstice sun is dead center in the 'xibalba be', right at the crossing point of Creation in Sagittarius. The December solstice sun is First Father and the Milky Way is Cosmic Mother. Mythologically speaking, on this date First Father and Cosmic Mother are joined. Actually, it might be more accurate to say that Cosmic Mother rebirths Cosmic Father, our star, the sun. Here we see a reflection of a very ancient cosmogonic Creation myth, attributable to a substratum of history prior to patriarchal overlay: The Cosmic Mother is the head point of a trinity involving the birth of a male deity who is also her mate. This Trinity Principle involves the dynamic between mother, father, and child, and shares with many Old World traditions the idea that the Great Mother, as the first principle of Creation, must give birth to her mate, First Father, and only then can engender the multiplicity of created beings. On the cosmic level, the astronomical trinity is Galactic Center, solstice sun, and humanity."

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