Tag Archives: Shamanism

Consciousness and Plants

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The Science of Plant Intelligence Takes Root

July 1, 2020

Jack Fox-Williams, New Dawn
Waking Times

For centuries, Western philosophy has viewed animals and plants as unthinking automatons. The famous 17th (century) scientist and philosopher, Rene Descartes, maintained that non-human organisms cannot reason or feel pain; they are robotic machines that purely act on impulse.1

While science has recently proven that animals are intelligent creatures, capable of logical thinking and emotional experience, the notion that plants possess a similar kind of intelligence is largely disregarded by the scientific community. It is assumed that because plants do not possess a brain, they have no conscious experience.

 

 

Goethe and other thinkers through history observed that plants constitute an intelligent life-form, develop symbiotic relationships with other organisms, and can respond to complex changes in the environment. While the scientific community explains the intelligence of plant behaviour in terms of electrical and chemical responses to sensory stimuli, others believe that plants could provide a valuable insight into other forms of consciousness.

One of the most famous scientists to observe plant intelligence was the English naturalist, geologist and biologist, Charles Darwin.2 While Darwin is most prominently known for the theory of evolution, he was deeply fascinated by the behaviour of plants and made a valuable contribution to the botanical sciences. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Darwin maintained that plants are not unthinking automatons but highly complex and receptive organisms. In one of his last works, The Power of Movement in Plants, published in 1880, Darwin suggests that the root of the plant operates in a similar way to the neural networks found in lower animals, receiving information about the external environment and communicating it to other areas of its structure, writing:

“It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the tip of the radicle thus endowed (with sensitivity) and having the power of directing the movements of the adjoining parts, acts like the brain of one of the lower animals; the brain being seated within the anterior end of the body, receiving impressions from the sense-organs and directing the several movements.”3

Unfortunately, Darwin’s observations were rejected by leading scientists of the time, particularly the eminent plant physiologist Julius Sachs. He labelled Darwin an amateur scientist who performed careless experiments and acquired misleading results. However, in-depth analysis of plants is beginning to reveal they possess highly developed neural systems and even utilise the same neurotransmitters we do.

Modern Science & Plant Intelligence

While it is easy to dismiss these findings as pseudoscience, more and more scientists are recognizing that plants exhibit brain like-functions and make sentient decisions. In 2009, researchers Dieter Volkmann, Stefano Mancuso, Peter W Barlow and Frantisek Baluska, published an article in the journal Plant Signal Behaviour entitled “The ‘root-brain’ hypothesis of Charles and Francis Darwin” in which they examined Darwin’s root hypothesis and whether current scientific literature supports his theory.

Based on complex analysis of scientific data, they concluded that “recent advances in chemical ecology reveal the astonishing complexity of higher plants as exemplified by the battery of volatile substances which they produce and sense in order to share information with other organisms about their physiological state.”4 According to the paper, plants can recognise self from non-self and roots, even secrete signalling exudates that “mediate kin recognition.” Moreover, plants are “capable of a type of plant-specific cognition, suggesting that communicative and identity re-cognition systems are used, as they are in animal and human societies, to improve the fitness of plants and so further their evolution.”

…  One of the most interesting scientists to have undertaken research into plant intelligence is Monica Gagliano, associate professor at the University of Western Australia. In 2014, she conducted a series of experiments using Mimosa Pudicas plants to work out whether plants ‘memorize’ changes in their environment.

In order to test her hypothesis, she placed the plants in pots and then loaded each one onto a specially designed plant-dropping device. Each plant was dropped from a height of six inches, sixty times in a row at five second intervals. The plants would fall onto a soft foam to prevent them from bouncing, with the drop quick enough to cause the plants to curl up their leaves. Since the plants were not harmed in any way, Gagliano wondered whether they would eventually realize the drop did not signify an external danger. After a short amount of time, she found that “some individuals did not close their leaves when fully dropped.”The plants realized that falling from six inches would not cause them any harm and no longer curled their leaves.

Members of the scientific community were cynical of Gagliano’s findings, suggesting the plants merely became exhausted. Gagliano disproved this theory by taking a group of plants and placing them in a shaker in order to deplete them of energy. She found that the plants still curled their leaves, indicating they only became unguarded when dropped from a height to which they had become accustomed.5

Gagliano’s research has significant implications in terms how we see plants. The fact that they respond differently to situations that present no harm to those that do, implies plants recall sensory information and ‘memorise’ changes around them. While there is much uncertainty as to how plants recall this information, Gagliano believes it could be representative of a distributed intelligence operating entirely different to the mammalian brain.

This corresponds with Rupert Sheldrake’s ‘morphic resonance’ hypothesis that memories are not stored in the brain but in a universal informational field. …   Examples like this suggest memory may not be an entirely neurological phenomenon but exists in other forms; this may explain why plants are able to memorise information without possessing a physical brain structure.6

The notion that plants operate within a wider intelligence network is supported by recent experiments in plant communication. …

Plant Sentience in Shamanic Cultures

The belief that plants constitute an intelligent life form is commonplace in shamanic cultures, particularly those found in South America. As Michael Winkelman, Associate Professor at Arizona State University states, “the self-identifications with the broader universe, particularly personification of the sentient cosmos which is a hallmark of ecopsychology, is a fundamental aspect of shamanism.” 

…  Many people who have ingested Ayahuasca, an entheogenic brew made from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine in South America, report telepathic communication with plants, animals and people during the experience; the natural world becomes personified as an animated fractal intelligence that is constantly adapting, changing and evolving. …

In this sense, recent experiments into plant intelligence prove what shamanistic cultures have known all along – that plants are intelligent, sensitive and sentient life-forms.9 By observing their behaviour, we can learn more about the natural world and the complexity of all living things. Although modern science provided us with tremendous technological innovation and development, the reductionist belief that animals and plants are ‘mechanical’ in their nature, rather than a dynamic expression of intelligence and consciousness, has disconnected us from our environment and thus ourselves.

A Challenge to Outmoded Paradigms & Thinking

There are significant social, philosophical and religious implications for plant intelligence. It challenges the anthropocentric and monotheistic view that humans are the only species with a mind and a soul – we are not the most important entity in the universe but part of an interconnected web of life.

…(he independent scholar, author, teacher, and speaker on sacred plant medicine Stephen) Buhner notes:

“The older, reductive, mechanistic paradigm that looked at the earth as a ball of non-sentient resources, we do with as we please, has reached its limits. It is destroying the ability of most life forms to endure, and the eco-systems of the planet. Younger and less mentally restrictive scientists in every field are finding that the world around us is far different than the picture that reductionists have created and taught us to believe. All life is intelligent, none of it is mechanical, and you cannot use the ecosystems of the planet as resources for unlimited extraction.”11

Plant intelligence also forces us to reconsider the nature of consciousness. Mainstream science currently posits the idea that consciousness is an epiphenomenon of the brain (it is generated by the brain). When we die, the brain ceases to operate, and consciousness switches off. In this reductionist perspective, plants and animals possess a very limited consciousness since their brains are not as neurologically complex. But the fact of the matter stands that modern science does not understand the mystery of consciousness and the process by which neural pathways, which are non-conscious, become self-aware as a complex web of connections in the brain. If plants have the ability to recall sensory information, socially communicate with each other, and respond to complex changes in the environment, we are forced to rethink our current models of consciousness. It may be the case that the human brain constitutes a very specific expression of consciousness, and intelligence manifests across a broad spectrum of life with plants possessing their own unique form of awareness which modern science does not currently understand.

To conclude, there is increasing evidence suggesting plants are an intelligent life-form. Recent scientific experiments indicate that plants are able to retain sensory information, respond to complex changes in their environment and even communicate with one another via complex biological networks. While we have yet to fully understand how plant intelligence works, these experiments challenge the orthodox scientific view that plants are non-sentient, and intelligence only emerges via neural pathways in the brain.

…

An interview with Stephen Harrod Buhner accompanies this article and can be read inside the same issue of New Dawn.

from:    https://www.wakingtimes.com/2020/07/01/the-science-of-plant-intelligence-takes-root/

Rethinking the Hope of Psychedelics

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The Psychedelic Experience, 50 Years On

The name for The Doors occurred to Jim Morrison after a weekend experimenting with psychedelics. (Wikimedia Commons)

Editor’s note: John Densmore is the legendary drummer of  The Doors. To learn more about Densmore, listen to Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer’s interview with the musician here. 

All this to say—if you are up against that wall—in a place where it feels like there are no options—and your intuition says it’s right … go ask Alice.

I’m 73 years old and still feeling quite good about myself. Well, I know I’m on the descent, but it’s a nice ride … right now. I know it’s going to get more difficult, but if I can just hang on to what I experienced 50 years ago, I’ll make it to where I’m supposed to go.

So play the game “Existence” to the end … of the beginning, of the beginning

Fifty years ago, my friends and I were street scientists, experimenting with then-legal psychedelics. At Monday rehearsals, we would all share what happened on our weekend “trips.” On one of those Mondays, Jim suggested we call our new group The Doors, after the Aldous Huxley book, “The Doors of Perception.” It seemed the esteemed British scholar had written a little book about his mescaline experience. The new name quickly became unanimous. All of us went through the gauntlet—tough moments that lasted for a few minutes, or quite a while. A few friends never came back fully to their former mental selves, and actually, all of us were in some way changed forever—mostly in quite positive ways.

Lifting the veil is dangerous, but if the environment is supportive, the outcome can be life-changing. I only took the trip a few times, but the opening is still with me. I realized these experiments were extremely rigorous on the nervous system, so I found myself heading toward a less shattering route: meditation. But the initial couple of liftoffs have definitely impacted my life permanently.

Now, 50 years later, I still can touch the feeling of wonder that I got from these initial excursions. It’s hard to describe any more than that; kind of like trying to describe God. My 90-year-old cousin, who is a diligent thinker, laments the loss of the framework of organized religion. I told him that the impact of a tab of acid made a much bigger impression on my spiritual life than the communion wafer at mass. And I can’t go back. Even though Pope Francis is challenging my renegade Catholicism because he is so wonderful, I still can’t go back. The great mythologist Joseph Campbell says that the new mythology might take 100 years or so to fully form. So I comfort myself with a patchwork cosmology: a little Hinduism here, a dash of Buddhism there, and a whole lot of indigenous wisdom.

Let me be clear—I am not advocating indiscriminate drug use. But recent studies have shown that used carefully, some psychedelics can actually help treat addiction to other drugs. Plus, carefully conducted scientific studies from nonprofit organizations and major universities are showing many physical and psychological benefits, including a powerful treatment for PTSD and anxiety in people with serious illness. Even the much-maligned weed is showing stunning evidence as an important medicine that fights diseases like epilepsy and cancer.

These are very exciting studies, but psychedelics still have a stigma: the old patriarchal, mistaken outlook that all drugs are the same. We now know that “Just Say No” is an extremely simplistic and misleading response to a very complex issue. As Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance said years ago, the appropriate phrase is “Just Say Know.” This is apparently lost on the new U.S. Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, who is trying to go back in time with tough policies that have failed. Sessions’ predecessor, Eric Holder, has called this “dumb on crime.”

Of course, there are those who will quickly judge this rant as a “hippie flashback.” If that’s what this is, then bring it on. I have raised a family, have grandkids, written three books, a significant amount of music, and many articles. No slacker’s or stoner’s rant is this. In fact, I’m very careful now about what I put into my system, and those early days of exploring my mind were key in forming my values and my spiritual path.

Now here’s the cosmic part (you saw it coming): when I stepped outside while under the influence of LSD, I saw God in every leaf. OK, now you expect me to say I started eating those botanicals since I was so loaded, but what I really came away with is a sense (which is still with me) that this moment in time is not the only moment happening at this moment! This might sound like double-speak, but there are other realities going on right now outside of our awareness.

But before I stepped outside, I had a few minutes of absolute terror. My friend, who was also “tripping,” pulled me out of it by laughing hysterically. You see, in those days, we didn’t have doctors like today at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore carefully monitoring our voyage. Due to our early experiments, and of course centuries-old shamanic cultures, researchers are now clear about the safe boundaries needed to make the excursions the most fruitful. Knowledge is often surrounded by danger. You have to get out on the edge to see the whole clearly.

Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream … It is not dying, it is not dying

Every night when we choose to go to bed, we are accepting a “little death,” giving up our conscious daily life. We know we need rest to reset our body for another day of sentient life. In effect, it’s a small rehearsal for the big “D” coming at the end of our time here on planet Earth. When that time arrives, going peacefully is what we all want. For thousands of years, Tibetan Buddhists have believed it is crucial to be calm in the moments before crossing, or you won’t get to where you’re supposed to go. Now we are seeing terminal cancer patients receiving effective help via psychedelics with the “little death” rehearsal.

Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void … It is shining, it is shining

So once again, the U.S. government is very slow to get the message and continues to interfere with the availability of traditional indigenous medicine. Bipartisan support for criminal justice reform has been halted. Medicine that has helped people for centuries is once again under attack. It’s sad, because Vietnam vets that have been metaphorically stuck in the jungle have been finding their way out of years of mental and emotional torture thanks to medicinal plants.

Retired Sgt. Jonathan Lubecky, who served in Iraq, says about MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, “This treatment has made it possible for me to watch my son grow up. He will not be presented with a folded flag on behalf of a ‘grateful nation’ in recognition of a parent who took his own life.” So unfortunately, there are more roadblocks to the “good” drugs, but thank God for human enterprise. No wall can keep out the human spirit, which seeks healing.

All this to say—if you are up against that wall—in a place where it feels like there are no options—and your intuition says it’s right … go ask Alice. Make sure you have planned your excursion, have a guide, and this is really what you need to do. Then you will build a bridge or dig a tunnel into your soul and find yourself.

from:    https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-psychedelic-experience-50-years-on/

On Power Animals

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What is a Power Animal?

By Dr. Steven Farmer

Power animals are spirit guides in animal form, valuable allies who can help you navigate through life’s challenges and transitions. You can turn to these perceptive and trustworthy oracles for advice and counsel on any questions or concerns, for they’re exceptional teachers who will help you learn about both the spirit and the natural world. Working with them on a regular basis will enhance your personal life and expand your spiritual capacities immensely.

Power animals can appear in meditations, visions, dreams, shamanic journeys, or on the earth in their physical form. They can be mammals, birds, or reptiles; and even so-called mythical creatures such as unicorns or dragons can be power animals, although they have no physical representations in the material world. However, since spirit animals’ power is drawn from their instinctual and wild nature, it’s uncommon for purely domesticated animals such as pets to be part of this group.

The source of power for your animal spirit guide won’t just be a single animal, but the entire species. For instance, if your power animal is Bear, it won’t be just one particular bear, but an animal spirit guide that’s representative of the entire species of bears. Consequently, you’ll probably develop a greater appreciation for all bears, and likely extend that care and respect to the animal kingdom as a whole. If Dolphin is your power animal, for example, your love and appreciation will likely go out to all creatures of the sea and naturally expand to include those of the land and the air. Your animal will also teach you to use this power compassionately, to heal and empower yourself and others.

The good news is that we can recover our power animal or even discover a new one by opening our hearts, minds, and souls to this notion, Your power animal may come to you in meditations, visions, dreams, or shamanic journeys. You’ll have an opportunity to recover your power animal in the guided meditation journey for this lesson. If you’ve had a particular affinity or attraction for an animal, it’s most likely this is your power animal. Just recently someone wrote and asked what I thought her power animal was. She went on to describe how hawks have shown up for her much of her life, especially in the past few weeks, and was wondering if this could perhaps be her power animal. I wrote back and basically confirmed what she already knew, that Hawk was her main animal spirit guide, or power animal.

Your power animal may leave you at some point, even if you’ve paid attention to her over the years. Usually that means that the relationship has served its purpose, and another power animal either is or will be coming into your life. I’ve observed how these spirit guides will enter into our lives at a time when we most need their particular expression of spiritual power. For instance, if you’re moving into a position of leadership, Cougar spirit may very well leap into your life as power animal, helping you with confidence and clarity in your leadership roles. If you’re going through a major transformative process with big changes, you may find Snake spirit or Butterfly coming into your life as a power animal.

Another interesting facet is that often your power animal is reflective of your personality characteristics. For instance, Rachel is slight of build, energetic, with a tendency to move very quickly, often juggling several tasks at once, flitting from one to the other. It’s no accident that her power animal turned out to be Hummingbird. Gary is a fairly large man, gentle by nature, yet very capable of standing up for himself or for others as needed. No one messes with him. No surprise that his power animal is Bear.

Other questions that come up are about cats or dogs being power animals. Generally domesticated animals can’t be power animals because they’ve lost much of their wildness and are removed from the natural world. Likewise, some traditions believe that insects are to be excluded from being power animals because of their size and nature. Generally true, however in my book Power Animals, Dragonfly and Butterfly both argued vehemently about being included, so I caved and included them. I see now the wisdom of that, as they both offer unique types of power.

Yet another question that comes up on occasion is about mythological or etheric animals, such as dragons or unicorns. Although some would insist that they exist in third dimensional reality, it really doesn’t matter whether they do or not. If you believe they do, then they do. Any of these so-called mythological animals can certainly be your power animal. The only disadvantage is that they’re not commonly seen in the physical world as are other kinds of animals.

This is a highly personal and specialized relationship with an animal spirit guide. It’s not one you choose in the usual sense of the word. It’s more of a soul-to-soul connection, your soul bonding with the soul—or more accurately the oversoul—of the animal. The relationship is one to be nurtured and attended to on a regular basis, and if done, will last a number of years.

(excerpts taken from Power Animals: How to Connect with Your Animal Spirit Guides)

from:    http://www.earthmagic.net/shamanic-journey/what-is-a-power-animal/

On the Benefits of Music

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Music as Medicine

Music As Medicine

5th November 2014

By Joshua Eagle

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

Just as letters, words and phrases carry vibrational information which transmutes out into our greater universe, so too does music. There may be no greater language with the power to break all universal vibrational communication boundaries than that of music.

Imprinted into the fabric of reality is a fluidity which at the underlying core is comprised of vibration. In this current band of reality we exist in, mediums such as color, geometry, tonality and sound, work to transmute this fluid like energy, often referred to as zero-point energy, ether, or ‘the source’, into our waking state. The act of syncopated drumming in particular is a most powerful way of drawing in this source energy into one’s mind through the creation of a repetitive pulse wave which draws in this energy into one’s individual consciousness, merging the individual mind with that of the universal mind.

In this way, instruments are photonic and vibratory transducers.

Music is Science

The field of Quantum Physics teaches that a foundational seed concept from which all other knowledge of our cosmic universe grows is that of String Theory. The notion of String Theory explains that, while our entire universe is made up of particles and their seemingly ever-unfolding plethora of sub-atomic singularities, it is only when these isolated singularities come together to form a string that intelligence is brought to life.

Whether we are examining the string of a Violin or a strand of our biologic DNA, what is found contained within is an intelligence that becomes born only after singular particles are exposed to photonic energy or photons of light, in combination with the pulse waves being emitted directly from the center of our galaxy. Contained within the frequency of cosmic light and the vibratory pulsation emanating from our galaxy’s core exists what very well may be “God’s code”. This becomes apparent when we see that just exposing our own naked skin to the complete spectrum of UV sunlight triggers over 3,000 DNA activations within our cellular biologic matrix; and this same principle goes for plants, which only after receiving photons of light and engaging in photosynthesis are capable of generating their own food, antioxidants, vitamins and phytochemicals, which we humans ingest as medicine.

It is only when isolated singularities come together to form a string that intelligence is brought to life.

Music as Medicine - Shamanic Drumming

Music in Shamanism

In all indigenous cultures, the medicine man, otherwise known as the Shaman, incorporates music as an integral form of medicine for the community. In areas of the world where sunlight is abundant Shamans integrate their medicine of music with specific entheogenic Shamanic plants to maximize healing benefits. However, in areas of greater northern and southern longitudes where sunlight is sparse and plants are nearly devoid, Shamans rely solely on music as their form of spiritual medicine through the use of syncopated drumming.

In Amazonian Shamanism exists the practice of singing medicine songs called Icaros to the patients or recipients of the plant medicine being given. Within these Icaros themselves, medicine is directly transmuted to the recipients through the vibrational energetic power of the Shaman. Just like when working with crystal healing, where a gem or crystal is charged by sunlight and purified by water or sacred plant smoke, the crystal skeleton and blood of humans (which at its very nature is fluid crystalline water and crystalline bone) becomes charged by the Icaros of the Shaman. In combination with the purification of the medicinal plant smoke, this generates massive healing power within the recipient, if the shaman embodies benevolent intentions.

In this band of reality we exist in, music carries vibrational information which transmutes out into our greater universe.

from:    http://wakeup-world.com/2014/11/05/music-as-medicine/

Thoughts on 2012 by Antot Masuka

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Year of Destiny: 2012 Journey Through Time and the Cosmos! By Antot Masuka

Mayan 

THE MAYAN CALENDAR

The Mayans developed a simple yet comprehensive calendar system that allowed them to describe the internal processes of time or nature, often referred as an underworld, meaning that which goes on within that is often kept from plain sight.

The following article will be appearing in this month’s Winter Edition of ‘Ingress’ magazine, a publication of The National Council for Geocosmic Research NCGR http://www.geocosmic.org

The Mayans used a Vegesimal system that rises by factors of twenty, with one exception.  A day is a Kin.  Twenty (20) Kins is a Uinal.  Eighteen (18) Uinals represents a Tun (360 days).  Twenty (20) Tuns is a Katun (7,200 days).  Twenty (20) Katuns is a Baktun (144,000 days).  A Pictun consists of 2,880,000 days, a Calabtun is 57,600,000 days and a Kinchilitun is 1,152,000,000 days or 3 million 154 thousand years, Alautun, which is 20 tuns raised to the sixth power or 63.1 million years and finally a Hablatun, 20 tuns raised to the 7th power or 1.26 billion years.  Each cycle is broken down into thirteen stages, evolutionary processes or heavens that evolve from seed to maturity.

AZTEC AGES OR SUN GODS
The idea that December 21, 2012 may bring the end of the world is based on the Aztec Sun Disk (shown above) that shows 5 ages or Sun gods.  The first Sun god Tezcatlipoca took the form of a jaguar and destroyed the world.  The world was destroyed by a great wind when the reign of the second Sun god, Quetzalcoatl, came to an end.  Tlaloc was the third Sun god, but Questzalcoatl wasn’t happy and made fire rain down causing destruction and the end of that age.  The fourth Sun god was Chalchiuhtlicue (lady of the jade skirts), the goddess of water – lakes and streams.  The fighting gods caused a flood, which destroyed the Earth.  The fifth Sun were two gods, Tecciztecatl and Nanauatl.  The gods decided that the first to offer his life in a blazing fire would be Sun god. Both jumped in creating two Suns (bianry stars) that shun brightly.  The gods wouldn’t stand for this, so they threw a rabbit into the face of Tecciztecatl to dim his brightness.  And so he became the moon, doomed to chase the sun forever, but never to shine as bright.

MAYAN WORLD AGE
Many authors believe that we are living in the fifth and final Mayan world age or cycle that started on August 11, 3114 BC.  Our present world age that started in 3114 BC consists of 5,125 years.  When you insert the Aztec creation story that describes five world ages of creation (four of which have passed) into the Mayan Long Count calendar the number of years is close to a precession year lasting 25,625 years (5,125 times 5).

Many authors believe that four world ages came immediately before the start of the Mayan calendar in 3114 BC, but the historical records do not support the existence of such earlier cycles or ages that we can easily fit into a neat package of 5,125 years periods going back into time or readily associate with the Aztec Sun Disk.  No author has offered dates for these four previous world ages that can be used as a guide to understanding the cycle that started 3114 BC.  Some claim that the prior world ages or cycles were longer than the fifth world age that started 3114 BC. Dr. Paul LaViolette believes that some earlier cycles lasted up to 820 million years for the Age of the Jaguar or Mammalian Age.

Scientist and author, Maurice Cotterrell, The Super Gods and The Mayan Prophecies, strongly insist that this period is not the completion of a cycle that can be attributed to the Mayan calendar.

In fact Cotterrell argues that the Mayan calendar goes beyond 2012 to include other cycles far into the future that exceed 1,872,000 days and that “at best it can only be considered to be 13/20ths of the Pictun, the next largest period” that began on August 11, 3114 BC.

THE AGE OF MAN
Zacharia Sitchin, author of The Twelfth Planet believes that The Age of Man, a time when human beings were given dominion over the Earth, started around 3,100 BC.  The Mayan universe that started on August 11, 3114 BC corresponds to the start of ‘The Age of Man’ described by Sitchin.  This date also corresponds neatly with the starting dates of civilizations that seem to spring up from out of nowhere in Sumer, Egypt, India and further east in China.  Mênes was the first Egyptian Pharaoh to unite Upper and Lower Egypt starting the 1st Dynastic Period dated around 3,100 BC – 3,200 BC defining the apex of Egyptian civilization. On the Atlantic side of the globe, early Mayan and Mesoamerica civilizations took off as well with new monolith constructions at Palenque, Mexico.

Sitchin own viewpoint is that Mayan 2012 prophecies hold no particular significance, and does not mark the return date for Nibiru often referred to as Planet X.

John Van Auken of the Association of Research and Enlightenment, Virginia Beach, Virginia identifies the world ages as 1) Age of the Jaguar, 2) Age of Water or the Fish, 3) Age of Fire, 4) Age of Turkeys, 5) Age of Movement, 6) Age of Spirit of All Living Things, and 7) Age of Melting Into Oneness Again!  He believes that we are ending the Age of Movement on December 21, 2012, the image in the center of the Aztec Sun Disk surrounded by four diagonal squares, entering the Fifth Sun or Age of Spirit of All Living Things after which we will enter the last and final Age of Melting into Oneness Again.  He does not offer dates for when the sixth or seventh world age will end, but notes that Nostradamus saw into the future well up to 3797 AD.

AZTEC AGES OR SUN GODS
The idea that December 21, 2012 may bring the end of the world is based on the Aztec Sun Disk that shows 5 ages or sun gods.  The first Sun god Tezcatlipoca took the form of a jaguar and destroyed the world.  The world was destroyed by a great wind when the reign of the second Sun god, Quetzalcoatl, came to an end.  Tlaloc was the third Sun god, but Questzalcoatl wasn’t happy and made fire rain down causing destruction and the end of the age.  The fourth Sun god was Chalchiuhtlicue (lady of the jade skirts), the goddess of water – lakes and streams.  The fighting gods caused a flood to destroy the Earth.  The fifth Sun were two gods, Tecciztecatl and Nanauatl.  The gods decided that the first to offer his life in a blazing fire would be Sun god. Both jumped in creating two Suns (bianry stars) that shun brightly.  The gods wouldn’t stand for this, so they threw a rabbit into the face of Tecciztecatl to dim his brightness.  And so he became the moon, doomed to chase the sun forever, but never to shine as bright.

MAYAN LONG COUNT CALENDAR
The date of origin of the Mayan Long Count calendar is August 11, 3114 BC, representing a cycle of 13 Baktuns which ends on December 21, 2012.  But the real meaning of the ending of this cycle is open to debate since most of the records and inscriptions which were written by the Mayans in the Classical period (250 BC – 900 AD) that would have given us an unequivocal understanding of what the closing of this stage or heaven truly means were destroyed by Europeans who conquered the Americas during 15th and 16th centuries.

Contemporary Mayans living in the Yucatan, Mexico and the greater part of northern Peru and Central America believe that when this world ends, possibly through annihilation or destruction around December 21, 2012, another world shall begin!  Will this renewal come from Super Gods as Cotterrell maintains is unknown.

Contemporary Mayans also believe that each world age was part of an evolutionary cycle designed to perfect life in the world. They believed that man’s perfection will be achieved at the end of this world age.  In their view, the world will not end suddenly in 2012.  Man will be recreated anew!  There will be a new beginning after the end of this world age to allow life to continue, only that the new world will be very different from the one in which we live.  These views are very much in line with the spirit, myths and cosmology mastered by Mayans living on the Classical period, but they are not rooted in any specific Stela or inscription found at Mayan archaeological sites that can be quoted authoritatively.  Part of the reason for this is that Mayan prophecies and cosmology is still part of a secret order of Mayan elders who use the oral tradition of passing knowledge and wisdom from one generation to another.

Maurice Cotterrell argues against ideas proposed by John Major Jenkins that the winter equinox of 2012 shall come into direct alignment with the Galactic Center.  Cotterrell believes that this is not accurate nor is it scientifically valid.  If any such alignment were to take place it would not occur at a single moment in time because of the vast area that the center of the galaxy represents, which is still under debate by scientists.  The Sun’s crossing of the galactic center would most likely take a greater period of time exceeding the proposed 36 years advocated by proponents of this theory.

In Cotterrell’s viewpoint, it is impossible to accurately calculate the line for the galactic elliptic. To do so would require knowing the mass of the galaxy, a task which science has not yet undertaken.  Proponents of this argument claim that the Sun will cross an imaginary galactic elliptic, that is only a guess, between 1980 and 2016, which includes December 21, 2012 as one of those dates robbing it of its mystical Mayan Long Count calendar meaning and significance.

For the Mayans, the dark rift near the center of the Milky Way galaxy marks the black road to the underworld.  This is visualized as a celestial mouth akin to the vagina from which new life emerges.  The emergence of Lord Xibalba is synonymous with birth.  The appearance of the Sun from the dark rift would be a natural point in Mayan cosmology indicative of a new beginning from some ending point.  December 21, 2012 seems to suggest that some ending of the current world order will take place around this date triggering a renewal of life on Earth shortly thereafter.
Many cultures celebrate winter solstice as the death, burial and resurrection of the Sun. On the 20th of December the Sun is mythical killed (stops in the sky), buried on the 21st (stationary on the elliptic), and resurrected on the 22nd (increase in declination moving towards the summer solstice).

There is no shortage of ideas, opinions and speculations of what will happen when the Mayan Long Count calendar ends on December 21, 2012, which has fed a frenzy of news stories, articles and media publications!

Nevertheless, when you closely examine the Mayan Calendar system, some interesting facts emerge that tie into cycles found in nature.  For example, the 400-year Baktun cycle is equivalent to the amount of time it takes the Earth’s core to rotate around a fixed point on the surface.  The twenty-year Katun cycle corresponds to the time it takes the Earth’s magnetic field to rotate around a fixed point on the surface.

The Mayan Calendar allowed them to accurately record the cycles of other planets.  Venus was particularly important to the Mayans.  Its dual rising in the east and the west forms a Vesica Piscis representing the incarnation of spirit into matter, which is the basis of all life on planet Earth.  Being the brightest celestial object in the night sky, Venus is associated with the star of Bethlehem.

MAYAN PROPHECIES FOR 2012
Mayan 2012 prophecies that relate to the Mayan Long Count calendar come from The Book of Chilam Balam of Tizimin.  These prophecies state that:

  1. “In the final days of misfortunes, in the final days of tying up the bundle of the thirteen (baktuns) … then the end of the world shall come and the baktun of our fathers will ascend on high.”
  2. “Presently the Baktuns thirteen shall come sailing… Then the god will come to visit his little ones. Perhaps ‘after death’ will be the subject of his discourse.
  3. “These little valleys of the earth shall come to an end. For those katuns (7,200 days) there shall be no priests, and no one believes in his government without having doubts”.

Don Alejandro Cirillo is the elected leader of the National Mayan Council of Elders of Guatemala and a thirteenth generation Quiche priest.  He believes that 2012 shall be characterized by major earth changes, probably earthquakes and floods, but most significantly by a darkening of the Sun that will last many days where electricity will fail, crops will fail and we will not be able to buy clean water, fresh food or fresh air.  When the Sun returns, this will signal the start of a new world age.

2012 is expected to bring about the fifth world of creation, marked by the return of ether, the fifth element allowing for the fusion of polarities changing forever the nature of material things and the start of the fifth root race according to Edgar Cayce.


Some researchers believe that when the boundary of the galactic plane is reached, you get a kind of Coriolis Effect, changing or reversing the resonance we experience coming from the galactic center.

The Mayans calculated the orbit of Venus with amazing accuracy and detail.  Venus transits the Sun in pairs of transit 8 years apart.  On June 6, 2012 Venus will transit the Sun.  Venus last transited the Sun on June 8, 2004.  In 2004, Ronald Reagan died three days before the Venus transit took place on June 8th.  And two days after the transit, the beloved Ray Charles passed away as well.

The Mayans considered the first appearance of Venus as an evil omen and considered it to be a good day for warfare.  They viewed the transit as the warrior twin of Venus.  The first sighting of the morning star that was frequently represented by bloody situations.  The Mayans glyph for the Venus transit shows the Chief holding the severed heads of his enemy with blood trailing from the victim’s neck.

Prior to June 2004 transit, the last transit occurred in 1761 and 1769.  Future Venus-Sun transits will occur in December 2117 and December 2125.


EARTHQUAKE PREDICTIONS FOR 2012
 Major Earthquake coming for North America at about 8.0 magnitude.  Once this earthquake strikes the west coast of California, they shall not stop.  The eastern side of the Pacific Ring of Fire shall become activated forcing people to move from California to Arizona and adjoining states.  Watch the San Joaquin Valley! This earthquake is likely to send oil and food prices soaring, triggering massive inflation and collapse of the dollar.

A major earthquake shall also strike Northwest, USA in the Montana/Wyoming/Colorado area east of the Rockies!

6.1 – 6.6 million people shall be overtaken by earthquakes.

Florida shall come under heavy flooding around June 2012.

USGS world earthquake activity map on the Internet shall show lots of earthquakes striking all over the world, all at the same time, throughout Asia, Middle East, and Europe in an almost even-spaced distribution!  These earthquakes shall range from 5.0 to 7.0 magnitude.

POLE SHIFT
 Some researchers believe that we may experience a reversal of the Sun’s polarity that may trigger the possible reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field, which all could be triggered by a celestial phenomenon coming from out of the dark region of the Milky Way Galaxy.

NEPTUNE IN PISCES
 Neptune ingress of the astrological sign of Pisces on February 4th, 2012 promises to fulfill the meaning of the word ‘Maya,’ which means illusion.  Illusion is a veil of consciousness.  Being the ruler of the mutable signs, Neptune sits on the rim of the known versus the unknown.  It promises that we shall have new thoughts and ideas of things that we have never thought of before.  The mysteries of Mayan prophecies and 2012 predictions shall be revealed to us as time marches on, but few if any will have their expectations met on what Mayan 2012 prophecy and cosmology is all about.  One thing is almost certain, as we move through 2012 to meet 2013 and 2014, the Mayan Long Count calendar shall give birth and impetus to a new string of research and understanding that shall transform our understanding of astrology, astronomy and cosmology forever!

LOOKING AHEAD
Much of the current world order is crumbling; the environment is under attack. In almost every sphere of life things seems to be falling apart.  It is self evident that we are reaching an ending of some sort, a point of crisis if you wish – terminal saturation according to Riley Martin!

At a minimum, Mayan 2012 prophecy assurance us that a new world is coming, that there shall be a new beginning, a new dawning and new recreation of the current world order. Our role and place in that world is unknown.  We saw what happened to the Mayans, how they were brutally treated by their conquerors. We also saw what happened to just about every other civilization since the dawn of creation.  Case in point, the Library of Alexandria; how those precious, irreplaceable books were burned three times over the course of history just to extinguish their light.  The people of enlightenment throughout the ages and the history of the world since the start of the Mayan Long Count calendar in 3114 BC have all been under attack and most have been destroyed.  No period was more destructive than the Age of Pisces (55 BC to 1781 AD) that brought us into total darkness and complete utter ignorance.  Conquerors hate light, they hate to assimilate or learn from those whom they conquer.  There is no reason to believe that we will be spared similar fate, catastrophes, annihilation or destruction.  Nothing under the Sun gives us that divine right and privilege.  It seems to be the path of nature to destroy and recreate.

At best, we can look around and observe what is dying and what is on the rise in our personal life and in society. We have lost faith in government.  Pastors and priests no longer serve us anymore.  Money is abundant but not evenly distributed.  In the abundance of great wealth, people and animals are dying and suffering.  Technology is on the rise.  How will the blessings and seed of technology become our worst nightmare in the future?  Already this is expressing itself in the unemployment lines.  There needs to be a realignment of values.  But how will this come about?  Who will start it?  What will trigger a realignment of the global society?  These are the unanswered questions that Mayan 2012 prophecies beg us to ponder.


CONCLUSION
 We have reached a point in time where oil, money and technology can no longer sustain us.  Venus transit of the Sun shall demand that we seek the natural order questioning intensively the road upon which we have traveled since the fall in 9,500 B.C.  We have moved out of the Golden Age, the Garden of Eden of prehistory and have developed a profound understanding and control of natural forces and have uniquely developed the capacity to dominate and extinguish all life forms on planet Earth.  On the verge of committing ecocide, we have become the agent of death for the world’s ecological system.  Who or what shall become our agent of death other than ourselves?  Within the twinkling of an eye we have become space travelers embarking on a planetary and cosmic journey of inter-galactic dimensions.

Mayan Long Count calendar and predictions ask us to question our role in the universe and on the planet in particular.  We can no longer hide from the enormous burdens and responsibilities that the new age demands of us as individuals or as a society.  Mayan 2012 prophecies demand that we pay close attention to detail least we delude ourselves into believing that we are in any way, shape or form different from our brothers and sisters that walk this Earth or any of the creatures of the land, air and seas that live in the flesh.

We are on the cusp of our own evolutionary path that shall lead to a higher human form that is now in the process of being changed or re-birthed!  Since our creation, but more accurately, since the event of the Flood, we have been in the midst of two different evolutionary paths: one of the masters of space and time and the other of the extinct hominids that preceded us.  As time marches on, we are slowly and slowly being disconnected from the path of the sky gods and native hominids, and more and more we are coming into our own being of who we are and were intended to be.  Hence, the development of man is not complete, and for this we must press on and be prepared to endure a lot!

Antot Masuka
NCGR – Ingres
Copyright © 2011 – All Rights Reserved
antot@celestialaffairs.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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from:    http://www.newrealities.com/index.php/articles-on-shamanism/item/1844-year-of-destiny-2012-journey-through-time-and-the-cosmos-by-antot-masuka

Crystal Skulls Journey

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(As always, you decide:)

IT WAS WRITTEN IN TIME… by Humbatz Men (Mayan daykeeper)

Hwanneta_and_me_Humbatz     It was written in the deepness of stars that the sacred crystal skulls would return on the right time to guide mankind and make them learn from the cosmic laws. This pilgrimage we are going to do is the beginning of that prophecy written in time. But hundreds of years ago, there in a holy site known as Manhattan today, a similar story took place.

Hundreds of years ago, the inhabitants of this site welcomed the first settlers who came from Europe, event that marked the beginning of a New Age. That place was called ManhatHan by the native Mayan inhabitants and those European people named the natives with the name of Maya Troglodytes. After a long trip to the west, these new people arrived into another site where they were welcomed by the Chumaac K’in people. This site is known today as Los Angeles, in the state of California.

Today this story is about to be repeated after such a long time. The difference is that now it will mark the beginning of a new cycle of 5,125 years and that we are going to celebrate this important event in a ritualistic way when the crystal skull caretakers transmit the power held by the skulls onto the members of the Maya Itza Council. Later on, these Mayas are going to deposit this great power of the skulls into the 104 Mayan ceremonial centers that are going to be activated in 2012. This way, these sacred sites will be ready to welcome the manifestation of the Great Spirit and the beginning of the new cycle of 5,125 years.

So 2012 will be the right time and from the very first day of that year we must be ready to welcome all the changes it will bring along. On December 21, 2012, which is the winter solstice, the great manifestations of power will be seen and heard by the whole mankind. After this, the great power of Great Father Sun will shake the genetics of all manifestations of life and when he starts his journey to the north of the continent, the genetics of every human being that has been incarnated as a child of the sun will be awaken. Just after this, they will start to remember their past solar lives.

When the members of the Maya Itza Council return to the sacred Mayan temples, they will start to work on the activation of the 104 Mayan ceremonial centers immediately. This activation will be at a spiritual level and in that moment we will invoke the spirits of the Mayas who have been in different sites of the world, in different times, under different names; for example, Kara Mayas, Naga Mayas, Mayax, Maya Troglodytes, Maya Itza, and some other names that have been recorded in history. So these Mayan spirits shall get manifested to show us the right cosmic solar pathway we must follow. By the time we conclude all that sacred work, we will be living the right date December 21, 2012.

Then the Mayan Temples will begin to give off their light which is really needed by the whole mankind. Among these sacred temples we can mention: Tikal, Chichen Itza, Palenque, Edznah, Coba, Tajin, Kohunlich, Yaxchilam, Toninah, Monte Alban, Cholula, Tula, Cuicuilco, and some other hundreds of sacred sites in the Mayan area, as well as some other hundreds in the whole Americas.So we must be ready to welcome the Great Cosmic Spirit and be able to channel the energy we are going to receive during our initiation to our Mother Earth in order to be true children of the cosmos.

In this physical life, I reincarnated near Chichen Itza. That is the reason why I am going to be in charge of activating that sacred site and welcoming the Great Spirit there. I will do this together with my sacred skull which was granted to me by the Great Spirit from the Himalaya Mount there in the sacred lands of Tibet. Once I reincarnated in that sacred site and lived there physically hundreds of years ago.

However, today my destiny is here with my Mayan brothers and sisters in the sacred temples, especially the ones in Wenk’al. I was educated there by my uncle named Don Beto who now must be serving our great creator Hunab K’u, our Mayan God that lives in the Universe. He comes to us every morning with our Father Sun to bless all manifestations of life on our Mother Earth who will feel very happy to see all her children doing the grand cosmic ritual on December 21, 2012.

That day, December 21, 2012, will be the day when the wisdom that was deposited there will start to flow in most of the Mayan ceremonial centers. This will let the cosmic wisdom become more accessible to everyone and the wisdom of the 17 Mayan Calendars as well as the sacred Mayan Geometry will begin to be taught in all the teaching centers. That fact will also allow us to understand the secrets of the Mayan geometric god and the 7 levels of the sacred Mayan language. People who have already been awakened will be able to understand the mystic Mayan language which will lead them to the understanding of the secrets of other languages in the world. Also it will allow them understand many symbols that very few people know.

All this wisdom is held in all the 104 Mayan ceremonial centers where the members of the Mayan Council shall go first in order to request permission from the great spirits who will be awaiting our arrival to facilitate us do this important sacred work on December 21, 2012 when all the initiates of the world will begin their initiation within this new cycle of 5,125 years. This is the only way to enter the dimension of the cosmic time, characterized by the universal and unified way of thinking. Only then our cosmic brothers and sisters from beyond the universe will consider us like beings that will have evolved at a cosmic level.

On the other hand, if we continue walking on this fake pathway of the so-called “progress”, in which our human values are being manipulated by vain interests and every ruler thinks he has found a mine of gold, then we will be causing the destruction of our Mother Earth and our self-destruction. We will get lost in that pathway of the no return, with no beginning or end, and then our gods will cry for so long that their abundant tears will make us get drowned in the sea of desperation. The trees will see sadly the desperation of their human siblings and so will the animals. They both will feel sad because the human beings could not find the cosmic pathway of happiness and finally, the winds will blow so strongly that they will blow away our spirits in order to purify them within the memory of forgetfulness.

Hunbatz Men
Maya Itza for the next 5,125 years

********************

TO ALL OUR SOLAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS:
We are very glad to inform all of you initiates from all over the world that on October 27th, 2011,
we will be a the ARE of NYC, 241 West 30th street, NYC

From there the pilgrimage journey with the sacred Crystal Skulls is going to leave from

Manhattan, New York, with destination to Los Ángeles, CA, in the United States.

All along the way we are going to invoke and implore the Great Cosmic Spirit to enlighten our pathway

and the roads we are going to walk on carrying our sacred crystal skulls. This way the skulls will enlighten

and activate all the sites where the Great Cosmic Spirit is going to be present. Thus, the sacred sites we

are going to visit like Great Serpent Mound, OH; the temples of Cahokia, IL; Crestone, Colorado,

Sedona, AZ; and many other
sacred centers will be activated through this cosmic resonance. Tamuanchán (the original Mayan name for the

USA) will be once again the sacred site that must enlighten the whole of mankind in this world.

Please help us make this journey of spiritual greatness so the sacred crystal skulls take us in these our

beloved lands of our eternal Tamuanchán where our Father Sun and our Mother Earth will take care of our sacred spirit forever.

May the Great Spirit be always with you.
Hunbatz Men
Council of Maya Itza Priests and Elders

 


Schedule for the 13th Crystal Skull Pilgrimage New York to Los Angeles   

for the schedule and more, go to:    http://www.newrealities.com/index.php/articles-on-shamanism/item/1708-it-was-written-in-time-by-humbatz-men-mayan-daykeeper

 

 

Ayahuasca Experience – Discussion w/Jeremy Narby

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The Ayahuasca Experience

narbycoverlarge.jpg 

The following conversation is excerpted from The Psychotropic Mind: The World according to Ayahuasca, Iboga, and Shamanism
by anthropologist Jeremy Narby, filmmaker Jan Kounen, and writer/filmmaker Vincent Ravalec, available from Inner Traditions Bear & Company.
Vincent: The ayahuasca experience can be separated from shamanism. We can take ayahuasca, for example, in an urban setting and have a very strong experience, one not necessarily connected to the ancestral experience of shamanism. The experience of shamanism is quite close to nature, which actually functions with interfaces of spirits; and someone who takes ayahuasca is not necessarily going to encounter, I don’t know, the parrot god who will come talk to him in his dreams or the green mouse who drops by to say hello. He is going to see something else. While someone is having the experience in a shamanic setting, one is going to go through its conceptual system. And you can have very strong shamanic experiences without taking ayahuasca. But it so happens that ayahuasca is a very formidable agent for altering consciousness.

Jan: What is ayahuasca, for you?

Vincent: Physically, it is a beverage that is quite unpleasant to drink. Now there are different blends, depending on the shamans who brew it. . . .

Jeremy: Would you agree that it is the Concorde of hallucinogens?

to read more, go to:    http://www.realitysandwich.com/ayahuasca_experience