2012 and the Shift of the Ages: A Guide to the End of the World
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Table of Contents 1. The Hopi Way 2. Aztec Migration Path 3. Mayan Timekeeping 4. Cosmic Cycles 5. Universal Religion 6. The Path of the Sun 7. The Master of Animals 8. Egyptian Mysteries 9. Mesopotamia the Far-Away 10. The Divine Harmony 11. The Zoroastrian Dawn 12. Mithras the Rejuvenator Epilogue: The Return of the King
Alexander Price
Just a person writing about life.
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Reviews for 2012 and the Shift of the Ages
5 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5At first I that this book was going to be Hoockey when I read the title but I was pleasantly surprised when I started to read this. It had historical aspects and I thought it was interesting because I did not know much about these early civilizations so I really learned alot from this book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I was expecting something very different in this book which I won on LibraryThing. First off the title does not match what I found inside the book! I thought that the text of the book would discuss the ideas behind the 2012 “End of the World” Mayan calendar and other related “End of Days” predictions and how they relate to our modern world. What I found was a book that discusses the similarities found in different religions and people (including the Mayans) and their concept of time, spirit and heaven. I think a better title would have been “Religious Concepts and the Shirt of Ages” and leave the “2012” and “Guide to the End of the World out! The book did cover some interesting information and I learned much while reading it but the text did not live up to the title. If you are interested in history and the different spiritual concepts for the different levels of self-awareness, then this is a good book to read. If you are looking for the details behind the Mayan calendar and the 2012 event, this is not the book.
Book preview
2012 and the Shift of the Ages - Alexander Price
2009
I
1
The Hopi Way
The indigenous Hopi people of present-day northeastern Arizona say that humans inhabited three previous worlds before migrating to the present Fourth World. These were at first paradisiacal places, they say, but the people fell over time into harmful lifestyles and were eventually destroyed as a consequence of their choices. The story serves as a warning that if we repeat the same mistakes, we will suffer the same consequences.
As many readers may already know, December 21, 2012 is the end date of the Mayan Long Count calendar. What is less-frequently known is the close connection between the ancient Mesoamerican people and the Hopis. Both cultures descended from a common ancestor in the American Southwest, and lived in close contact with one another in the centuries prior to the fall of the Aztec Empire. The Hopis have long claimed that the Aztecs were originally a migrating clan of Hopis who settled in the lush Valley of Mexico and did not complete the spiritual pilgrimage they were assigned by the Creator; they eventually fell into corrupt ways as they had been warned would happen, and this was the karmic
cause of their destruction at the hands of the Conquistadors.
Archaeologists believe that the indigenous American people arrived on the North American continent by way of the Bering Strait sometime around or before 11,000 BCE.¹The Native people themselves insist that they did not come to their land from the North or East but emerged into it directly from the underworld. The Hopis locate their Place of Emergence in the basin of the Grand Canyon, about a hundred miles west of the present-day Hopi Reservation.
Upon their emergence, they say, they were met by the guardian spirit of the land, Maasaw, who told them that before they could settle, they had to migrate throughout the land – north, south, east and west – following a spiral-shaped migration pattern across the face of the Earth before returning to reunite at the symbolic Center of the Universe. He warned them not to stay too long in the comfortable areas they would find, but to remember their obligation and continue migrating until they found the place he would show to them.
The Hopis met Maasaw again, after many centuries, in the Four Corners region of the American Southwest. One Hopi spokesman relates:
They looked around, and [said], Why this… we came from a better place. We had nice beautiful mountains, we had a lot of rivers, we had a lot of game and all that. But this is a desolate, God-forsaken country. Why here?
Maasaw replied:
The reason why you are here is because this is… a most safe place, there’s going to be no more things that you have to experience. No more floodings, no more earthquakes, no more fires, nothing like that is going to happen. Because now you can be so close to me, so close to spiritual being. Then you will not forget. You’re going to be so humble, that you’re not going to forget that I’m there.
And this is the reason why he chose it… The severity of the intense desolate weather conditions, lack of any pristine value or mineral commodity or the elements, and finally this place was situated in the middle of the plaza,
symbolic of a center of the Universe.²
Hopi religion is structured around the agricultural cycle, with seasonal ceremonies that ensure the fertility of the fields and sufficiency of rain. To the Hopis, there is a literal causal relationship between their ceremonies and the proper functioning of the natural world. If the ceremonies are not performed at the right time, by duly authorized people, they say, the planet will lose its balance, the entire ecosystem will collapse, and the world will be plunged into chaos. Their ceremonies, therefore, are a vital element of nature: along with the prayers and practices of religious people around the world, they keep the world in balance and ensure the safety and sustenance of all creatures everywhere.
The Hopis were among the last of the indigenous North American people to be affected by European immigration. Their contact with Conquistadors and Catholic missionaries began in 1540, two decades after the fall of the Aztec Empire, as the Spanish continued north in search of the fabled El Dorado, City of Gold. But since the Hopis occupied an uninviting land and were apparently not in possession of any desirable natural resources – like gold lakes or streets of gold – they were more or less left to themselves through the 1850s (with the notable exception of Catholic missionary efforts).³ In the mid-19th century, a wave of settlers was traveling west across America: like their predecessors, in search of gold. Sparked partly by curiosity for the Hopis’ exotic Snake Dance – a remnant of the very ancient Mesoamerican cult of the Plumed Serpent – ethnographers and tourists developed a keen interest in them. The Hopis were increasingly confronted with demands by the new U.S. government for changes in their traditional way of life, such as the mandatory attendance of children in Euro-American schools, and the establishment of a democratic Tribal Council. Internal disagreements over whether to comply or resist led to a split among the Hopis in 1906, with the dissenting party departing from their ancestral home at Old Oraibi to found the village of Hotevilla a few miles north on Third Mesa.
The Hotevilla Traditionalist Elders viewed their village as a symbolic Center of the Universe, and a microcosm of the world. This is one of the reasons they saw their ceremonies as so important: they dramatize processes that happen throughout nature, and have a symbiotic affect on each other through sympathetic correspondence. The proper performance of the ceremonies and religious dances ensure the proper functioning of the world – which, at the local level, is undoubtedly true. They saw the events that took place there as a reflection of the situation in the wider world. It is vital, they said, that the spiritual center of their village not die, for the North American land cannot live without its heart.
At first the residents of Hotevilla staunchly resisted attempts to install modern utilities such as water and power lines, which they felt would make them dependent on the government, rather than the Creator, for their survival. When the government proceeded to install utilities against the residents’ wishes, the people repeatedly pulled the lines out of the ground at night so that construction would have to be abandoned. Eventually, however, the lines came in anyways.
The Hopis pride themselves on being a gentle, humble people: the word Hopi, in their language, means peaceful.
They were easily overpowered by the White Brother’s Guns, Germs and Steel,
but their endurance in the face of insurmountable opposition is a testament to the power of their faith. One by one, the Traditionalist leaders aged and passed away: Dan Katchongva, Titus Qomayumptewa, David Monongye, Dan Evehema, Thomas Banyacya, and many other friends and supporters, known and unknown. Today, only one Hotevilla Traditionalist remains. Although he is now in his late eighties, Martin Gashweseoma still gets up every morning at 4 A.M. to perform the traditional prayers. He still gets his water from the spring; his is one of the last homes in Hotevilla without running water, without electricity.
I first met Grandfather Martin in the fall of 2003. My boyfriend at the time, documentary filmmaker Scott Peehl, shared my interest in Native American spirituality, so we arranged to visit the Hopi Reservation and meet Martin’s son-in-law and daughter. We arrived on a sunny afternoon in Hotevilla, a small village perched on the edge of Third Mesa, jutting out over the desert plane. Its unpaved streets wound around the traditional adobe houses scattered about the village, and the desert far below stretched out to the horizon. Martin’s daughter led us through the dusty streets to the peeling, sky-blue screen door of her father’s adobe home.
Fig. 1. "The shield symbol with its four circles in four quadrants means:
‘Together with all nations we protect both land and life, and hold the world
in balance.’" From the Hotevilla Traditionalist newsletter Techqua Ikachi.
We entered, and as our eyes adjusted to the darkened interior, we found ourselves standing in a kitchen before an ancient-looking couple, sitting at the table taking their lunch. The two of them formed a startling image: I had never seen anyone who looked so ancient, and was quite taken aback. The grandmother’s eyes were completely covered over in white cataracts, and her skin was so deeply wrinkled it looked like the cracked desert.
Grandfather Martin waved to the two chairs at the table before them, and his daughter let herself out the door wordlessly as we sat down.
For lunch, the elderly couple was sharing a cold can of Chicken Noodle soup. Martin stood and slowly shuffled over to a nearby cabinet to retrieve a pair of bowls and spoons, which he placed before us. He lifted the beat-up pot of soup in his shaking hands, leaned forward and deposited a teaspoonful of soup in each of our bowls. I felt a stab of shame, and a wash of gratitude for the humble meal they were sharing with us.
After eating in silence, the blind old grandmother heaved herself up onto a walker, which she used to slowly make her way around to a couch behind us. She remained sitting in the same spot for the remainder of our visit – silent, unmoving, a pillar of patience.
Scott and I helped clear the plates to a nearby sink, where I noticed there was no running water. I had expected this from what we’d read about the history of the village, but it was one thing to read about it