The Mayas were Central American Indians whose great civilisation was destroyed by the Spanish. They lived in an area which includes parts of modern-day Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras and southern Mexico. The Mayan civilisation was far advanced in some fields, notably astronomy, architecture, sculpture and heiroglyphic writing. They also had a sophisticated calendar that is called the Mayan Calendar.
The person with no previous exposure to the Mayan Calendar will usually initially be surprised by the fact that some people today take such an interest in an ancient calendar. After all, human history has seen a high number of different calendars. Is not then the Mayan calendar just a very specialized subject of interest only to specialists or history buffs? �Why would the world today need another calendar than the Gregorian or Muslim that are currently in use, and why should this be the Mayan calendar?� some may ask.
Well, to begin with most people probably have a much too limited view of the importance of the Mayan civilization, and Native American traditions generally. In fact, at their height in the 5th to 9th centuries AD, the Mayan cities would be among the largest in the world and developed the most advanced mathematics and astronomy of their day. And so, even if the Native American civilizations hardly survived the later contact with the Europeans they were and are the carriers of a significant and irreplaceable part of the global human consciousness.
When we talk about the Mayan Calendar something profoundly different is also meant than just a system to mark off the passage of time. The Mayan Calendar is above all a prophetic calendar that may help us understand the past and foresee the future. It is a calendar of the Ages that describes how the progression of Heavens and Underworlds condition the human consciousness and thus the frames for our thoughts and actions within a given Age. The Mayan Calendar provides an exact schedule for the Cosmic Plan and the unfolding of all things that come into existence. There is now ample empirical evidence for this, something that shines new light on the age old questions of mankind. Things do exist for a reason. The reason is that they fit into the divine cosmic plan. For those that seriously engage in a study of the Mayan Calendar this soon becomes evident and the former materialist world view loses all relevance. The Mayan Calendar is a gateway to the worlds of consciousness which the majority of humanity has been blinded to through the use of false or delusory calendars.
Since everything that exists is an aspect of consciousness, and the Mayan Calendar describes the evolution of consciousness in all of its aspects, no stone is left unturned for the serious student of the Mayan Calendar. All of science is affected, all of religion is affected, all of life is affected. We are here for a reason. Time is no longer equated with money, but with spirit. Time is inspiration!
The Mayan year, beginning always on July 26, called a tun consisting of 360 days (called kin ) and 5 or 6 epagomenals called Vayeb , weeks, called Uinals , are 13 kin long and numbered perpetually over a span of 20 days, named as follows: Imix, Ik, Akbal, Kan, Chicchan, Cimi, Manik, Lamat, Muluc, Oc, Chuen, Eb, Ben, Ix, Men, Cib, Caban, Edznab, Cauac, Ahau. The months, which are 20 days long, but numbered from 0 to 19 are as follows: Pop, Yax, Vo, Zac, Zip, Ceh, Zotz, Mac, Xec, Kankin, Xul, Muan, Yaxkin, Pax, Mol, Kayab, Ch'en, Cumku. . . and the Vayeb intercalaries.
Time is reckoned in units of 20. Thus 20 tun make a katun, 20 katun make a baktun, 20 baktun make a pictun, 20 pictun make a calabtun, 20 calabtun make a kinchiltun, and 20 kinchiltun make an Alautun, which latter amounts to 163,040,000 years.
The present cycle began in the year 3113 B.C. and ending in 2012 A.D., is the final part of a 26,000 year cycle (a zodiacal age), and (according to José Argüelles) June 20, 1986 was "10 Ben, 9 Kayeb, 12.18.14.18.9" meaning baktun 12, katun 18, year 14, vinal 18, day 9 and kin 1862599 (number of days elapsed from the initiation point of the Great Cycle)."
The "Harmonic Convergence" of 1987 was the beginning of the end of the last five years of the Hell cycle. 1992 is the beginning of the final 20-year countdown to the completion of the 26,000 year galactic cycle. (The time it takes the sun to circle the Pleiades). One of the stars in the Pleiades is called "Maya."
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