The 2012 Story (60 page)

Individual renewal and world renewal must happen in concert. Both share the same representative image: the
mandala
—the image of center, source, wholeness, oneness. To the extent that the world image is a projected dream of the inner psyche, the burden of successful world renewal lies with the individual. We decide, and we make it or break it. We may prefer to sit around, “waiting for 2012 to happen,” and avoid the responsibility for
being the change
that needs to happen, but that completely misses the point. If we don’t do it before the 2012 party, it will be waiting for us afterward.

APPENDIX ONE

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

1 Ahau.
The Sacred Day of Venus. Occurs every 104 haab (26 days less than 104 years) when the cycles of Venus, the tzolkin, and the haab coordinate on a Venus morning star rising.

4 Ahau.
The day in the 260-day tzolkin calendar that coordinates with both the zero day and the completion day of the 13-Baktun cycle.

Ahau.
One of the 20 day-signs in the 260-day tzolkin calendar. Has multiple meanings, including “solar lord” and “blowgunner.”

Anagogical.
Perceiving or accepting that symbols have a higher or larger reference to other sets of meanings, beyond a literal and specific denotative meaning. The etymology of the term means “upward-leading.”

Anagogue.
A neologism derived from the term
anagogical
(see entry). By analogy with the relationship between
pedagogical
and
pedagogue
, an anagogue is a person who teaches or believes in the anagogical interpretation of symbols.

Apocalypse.
From the Greek, ‘Aποκα′λυψις (
Apokálypsis
), meaning “lifting of the veil” or “revelation.” In modern usage it has become synonymous with a fated catastrophe.

Apocatastasis.
From the Greek, meaning the restoration of the original and true conditions. Implies a doctrine of degeneration through time followed by regeneration, which may apply to the world generally or to conditions within humanity, including spiritual awareness.

Astro-theological.
A worldview espoused in many ancient cultures, including the Greek and Maya civilizations, founded on an intimate relation between the human world, spiritual teachings, and astronomical cycles. It often resulted in the alignment of temples with meaningful astronomical horizons. See, for example,
The Earth, The Temple, and the Gods
by Vincent Scully, Jr.

Baktunian movement.
A term used by Maya scholar Victor Montejo in reference to the modern renaissance of Maya culture heralded by a renewal at the end of the Baktun (in 2012).

Bloodletting rites.
A sacrificial practice of letting blood from the tongue, earlobes, or penis by ancient Maya elite.

Buddhi, buddhi mind.
Buddhi is a feminine Sanskrit noun derived from the same root as Buddha (
budh
—to be awake; to understand; to know). The word signifies a transpersonal faculty of mind higher than the rational discursive mind that is approximately equivalent to “intuitive intelligence” or “higher mind,” but is more properly identified as
gnosis
(direct inner knowing). It is “that which knows”—that is, able to discern truth from falsehood.*

Calendar Round.
A period of 52 haab (18,980 days) representing the synchronization of the 260-day tzolkin and the 365-day haab.

Chac Mool.
A reclining deity holding a bowl in its belly to receive sacrificial offerings. Associated with the New Fire ceremony and the movement of the Pleiades. Many large and small stone carvings of Chac Mools have been found.

Classic Period.
The period of the Maya florescence and sudden decline, from 200 AD to 900 AD. The beginning of the Classic Period used to be set at 300 AD, but defining characteristics have now been identified for an earlier date.

Correlation.
The coordination of the Maya time system with the modern Gregorian calendar. This effort began in the late 1800s, and Joseph T. Goodman published a breakthrough in 1905 that was later confirmed but adjusted slightly by Juan Hernandez Martínez and J. Eric S. Thompson. The issue was settled by 1950, resulting in 13.0.0.0.0 correlating with December 21, 2012.

Creation Myth.
Specifically used in this book to refer to the Maya
Popol Vuh,
also called the Hero Twin Myth.

Cycle-ending date.
The date that falls at the end of a cycle; a term used intentionally to avoid confusion caused by the term “end date,” which has often been mistakenly taken to mean a final ending.

Dark rift.
A visual feature, caused by the thick accumulation of interstellar dust along our galaxy’s midplane, that lies along the lengthwise body of the Milky Way, beginning within the nuclear bulge of the Galactic Center (between Sagittarius and Scorpio) and extending northward to Cygnus.

Day-count, count of days.
Refers to the 260-day cycle (the tzolkin).

Day-keeper.
An initiated priest, or spiritual guide, who counts the days of the 260-day tzolkin calendar, says prayers and makes offerings at shrines, and is adept at using the calendar as an oracle.

Desacralized.
A term describing something that has been drained or shorn of its sacredness.

Dresden Codex.
One of the surviving Maya books.

Eclipse half-year.
An ideal period of 173.3 days between eclipses; used in Maya calculations and almanacs.

Ecliptic.
The 14-degree-wide band that encircles the earth and along which the planets, moon, and sun travel. It is, astronomically, the plane of our solar system.

18 Rabbit.
The approximate English translation of the name of the Copán king who ruled between 695 AD and 738 AD and erected the many carvings in the Grand Plaza. His name in the Mayan language is Waxaklahun Ub’ah K’awil.

End-naming practice.
The Maya practice of naming a Long Count period by the day in the 260-day tzolkin that its last day falls on. For example, we are currently in the 4 Ahau Katun because this Katun’s final day falls on 4 Ahau.

Entelechy.
According to Aristotle, an entelechy is the condition of something whose essence is fully realized; actualized in its totality. In some modern philosophical systems it is a vital force that motivates and guides an organism toward self-fulfillment. *

Epigrapher/epigraphy.
Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs engraved into stone or other durable materials, or cast in metal; the science of classifying them as to cultural context and date, elucidating them, and assessing what conclusions can be deduced from them. A person who does this study is called an
epigrapher
.*

Epiphenomenon.
A consequent or secondary phenomenon derived from a previous existent. For example, mind is thought by some thinkers to be an epiphenomenon of matter.

Equation of Maya time.
13.0.0.0.0 = 4 Ahau = December 21, 2012.

Eschatology.
The study of the ultimate ends of the world, or universal process; an ultimate spiritual state of being. Some historical religious traditions, such as the Essenes of Qumran, are thought to have realized their eschatological ambitions, and thus its members lived in a state of awareness of ultimate reality, a “realized eschatology.”

Eschaton.
The end state, or ultimate condition or object, that emerges at the end of time. See
eschatology
. Used by philosopher Henry Corbin and popularized by Terence McKenna.

Fractal.
Is generally a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole. A property called
self-similarity
. A mathematical fractal is based on an equation that undergoes iteration, a form of feedback based on recursion.*

Fractal time.
The application of fractal geometry to time. The concept was elaborated by Terence McKenna in his Novelty Time Theory. The concept has since been adopted in various forms with varying intervals and periods by other writers.

Galactic alignment.
The alignment of the December solstice sun with the dark rift in the Milky Way. This definition highlights astronomical features that are compelling to naked-eye sky-watchers, past and present. For a more technical definition, one can replace “dark rift in the Milky Way” with “galactic equator.” This alignment takes place within the boundaries of the nuclear bulge of the Milky Way, also perceptible to naked-eye observation, known as the Galactic Center.

Galactic Center.
The center of a spiral galaxy. Our own galaxy’s center lies between the constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpio. Astronomers tend to conceive of the Galactic Center as a precise point, which is misleading because galaxies have slightly different gravitational, visual, and electromagnetic centers. In addition, some spiral galaxies, such as our own, have two closely connected centers. A more realistic conception, which is congruent with how the central part of the Milky Way is perceived by naked-eye stargazers, is that of a “nuclear bulge,” which is a wider and larger zone of brighter stars as compared to other parts of the Milky Way. For example, the opposite part of the Milky Way in Gemini is very thin and diffuse, as that is the direction looking out of the galactic disk.

Galactic synchronization.
A term coined and a concept used by author José Argüelles, defined by Brian Swimme in his introduction to
The Mayan Factor
. It is related to, and perhaps developed from, the Photon Belt concept (see entry). It is astronomically unrelated to the galactic alignment.

GMT.
The original Goodman-Martínez-Thompson correlation, proposed in 1927 by Thompson: JD 584285, making the cycle-ending date fall on December 23, 2012. (JD refers to the Julian Day designation.)

GMT-2
. The adjusted Goodman-Martínez-Thompson correlation number, finalized in 1950 by Thompson: JD 584283, making the cycle-ending date fall on December 21, 2012.

Gnomon.
A shadow-casting device, often a vertical pole, used to measure the sun’s movements through the day and year.

Gnosis.
A knowing conferred by direct inner experience. See
buddhi mind
,
Primordial Tradition
.

Gnostic.
A term applied to religions that cultivated direct initiatory awakening to wisdom, as opposed to obediently following exoteric dogma.

Haab.
Period of 365 days used in Mesoamerican calendrics. Same as the “vague solar year.”

Hermetic.
A magical and religious movement stemming from the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus. Generally, Hermetic philosophies are based on a conviction that comes from a direct initiatory experience of the deep interconnection between subjective and objective domains. The hermetic adage testifies to this: As above, so below. This refers not only to an interweaving between sky and earth, but also of microcosm and macrocosm, subjective and objective. Standard definitions of the word “hermetic” as pertaining to secrets, obscurity, and unrevealed information are superficial.

Hero Twin.
Hunahpu or Xbalanque; one of the two sons of One Hunahpu in
The Popol Vuh
.

Hero Twin Myth.
Generally, equivalent to the Creation Myth and
The Popol Vuh
. Specifically, pertains to the section of
The Popol Vuh
that involves the Hero Twins and their adventures.

Hun.
One.

Hunahpu.
One of the Hero Twins of
The Popol Vuh
. Refers to the day-sign Ahau, and therefore, as Hun-ahpu or One Ahau, to the Sacred Day of Venus.

Iconography.
The study of pictographic language and image systems used to represent ideas. In the development of writing, pictographic expressions usually precede more abstract hieroglyphic or alphabetic writing.

Inferior conjunction.
This occurs when a retrograde planet crosses in front of the sun on its way to becoming a morning star.

Intellectus.
See
noetic
.

Izapa.
A pre-Classic site in southern Chiapas, Mexico, near the Guatemala border. A significant ceremonial and astronomical site of the Izapan civilization that preserves some of the earliest carved portrayals of episodes from the Hero Twin myth, dated to 400 BC-50 AD. Was also involved in the formulation and adoption of the Long Count calendar.

K’awil.
A deity connected with Jupiter and concepts of transcendence and transformation.

Logograph.
An image that represents a word or a morpheme (the smallest meaningful unit of language). Logographs, or logograms, are commonly known also as “ideograms” or “hieroglyphs.” Strictly speaking, however, ideograms represent ideas directly rather than words and morphemes.*

Long Count calendar.
A system of time counting developed sometime between 400 BC and 36 BC by the Maya that basically uses five place-value levels: the Kin (day), the Uinal (20 days), the Tun (360 days), the Katun (7,200 days), and the Baktun (144,000 days). A typical date in the Long Count, from Baktun to Kin, is written: 9.16.4.1.1. It is a cycles within cycles system, an expression of a cyclic time philosophy rather than a linear time philosophy.

Mayanism.
The essential core ideas or teachings of Maya religion and philosophy. A counterdefinition of Mayanism has developed on Wikipedia that uses the term to identify popular and New Age appropriations and misconceptions of Maya ideas. This is a problematic use of the term, because it contradicts the consistently proactive meanings ascribed to analogous terms, such as “Hinduism” or “Buddhism.”