The Northern Cross and Seven Macaw

     One would expect bees sealed into jars to be real in a history of primitive warfare. But could it not also be sky warfare as found on page 55, [top left] of the Nuttall Codex and noted in the previous Post?

Nuttall N-55-LT:  Seven Macaw with the insect like star at its ankle 
with the appearance of an eagled Warpath glyp on a cross.

     The bird is definitely placed on a crossed warpath glyph. Since a star is present at its ankle, [assuming that even birds have ankles], it is a sky event (near Vega ?). This is described in excellent detail, under the title Tlaltecuhtli by Mary Miller and Karl Taube in their 1993 book called, The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, published in London by Thames and Hudson, Ltd.

     The Madrid Codex gives the story on pages 112 through 103, In this instance the Madrid has to be read from the last page to the earlier pages.  Instead of the female goddess, Tlaltecuhtli, this codex also goes into great detail, but about bees who live in straw houses with a sky-band in their abbreviated house/wall glyphs.In the Popol Vuh, it is the final destruction of the Manikins under Tohil's instructs. So instead of looking for bees that are used to attack human warriors, think in terms of sky warriors who attacked the earth and hurt both people and animals like burning turpentine or resin that fell from the sky and burned humans and animals alike with bee-like stings.

     If you want to embellish the story even more, one can say that the sky Sun warriors painted on a wall mural at Chichen Itza, are burning sun stones [meteorites], turpentine, ash, or resin on the roofs of Maya homes. The double comet is above with a bright star entity in the front and a lesser one at the tail. In this instance, then, the sky Sun warriors also burn the houses, just as inferred in the first chapter of the Popol Vuh.  It depends completely upon one's story-telling ability just how many different variations will be told at any given time or location.

     Even though the Popol Vuh had its own variations, that either the burning turpentine or the  hot resin fell from the sky [it is inferred that the "rains" "burned with bee-like stings"].  Since there are many hearth fires every day and milpa burnings during each pre-planting season, burning ashes from such ordinary fires were not even considered for this historic glyph story. The fires created by humans on the earth they walked upon was of no account to the PV story.

     Sure a forest fire might start from cooking fires, or untended milpas burnings. Related glyphs could be used for such glyphs, [as one author insisted, using D-6-8  (Kelley, 1976 pp. 146-47) and T- 341 (Gates 1931-32).  In the Madrid on M-38-B/C T-341 is used as fire-drilling implements. [See next blog] When such happened in the sky animals ran into houses or under the trees, . . . . until the earthquake that followed tumbled all the Maya houses. People were then hurt by falling metatls, and by pottery dishes kept on tables or hung on walls of those houses.

     So it said in the Popol Vuh——the stinging [bee-like] fires from the sky were followed by Maya houses that fell on their occupants——All because Jaguar  Quitze painted the Jaguar on one cloak; Then Jaguar Night painted an eagle on a second, while Not Right Now painted swarms of yellow jackets, and swarms of wasps on the third cloak.(Tedlock, 1996, p. 166). The latter chapter was just a filled-in version of what happened in the first chapter of the Popol Vuh.

Jewel Eye: Seven Macaw

Seven Macaw: Jewel Eye and Turquoise Teeth

     The Popol Vuh is explicit. Seven Macaw was quite proud of his metallic Jewel Eye and his Turquoise Teeth. In the picture above, there is a broad line between a nighttime fire rains [thought to be burning turpentine, or hot resin] and the following fall of the meteorites, here shown as arrow points. Seven Macaw, tied in knots by the twin comet, Hunahpú and Xbalenqué, is about to lose his metallic eye decoration and his life.

     Such images of this once beautiful bird of turquoise teeth and a single jewel eye, was rampant in the codices. The Nuttall Codex was the most surprising. On Lamina 55, there is a small identification glyph with the burning star at the bird's ankle instead of in his barely decorated star-eye. It could be an eagle not a macaw, but the fire star,. like an insect, is to be found at its ankle. The "ankle" or "wrist" of the appendage is an important key to finding out who or what Seven Macaw really was in the night sky. The war path glyph behind the bird is a convulsing constellation which identified its home; probably the upper left quadrant where his one eye is located.

Seven Macaw with the insect like star at its "ankle" and 
having the appearance of an eagle on a crossed War Path glyph.

     Here more that a simple identification glyph for the larger figure near it, we see a graphic description of what occurred just before he died. The gradual disappearance of his eye decoration.  It also has a numbered name, that of Thirteen Deer, in this instance a Doe, probably an indication of its androgynous status.  The Old Fire God, in a previous post, shows not only his ancient age, but also his similar bi-sexual status by showing his pendulous dry breasts, no longer capable of supplying milk for babes.

     The Laud Codex, related to the Borgia group not only has several representations of the Jewel Eyed bird, but also contained another surprise related to a bird, This bird, golden in color [Lamina 30], was feeding a golden, nude, pregnant woman. Since this bird image is so similar to brilliant shining angels,  it may have been a monk in a monastery attempting to Christianize the codex by inserting a "virgin birth" scenario that the natives would understand immediately.  The art work is isolated from each other and not the type used in the older codices,. Such Codices have images compressed into smaller and smaller areas, so that all the historic details would never be forgotten.

     Is it a blatant assumption without evidence, that the Jewel Eyed bird is sitting upon the Northern Cross, as Cygnus? Maybe, but if one considers how important astronomy was to the natives, both for horoscopes and for strange sky events, like the ball game in their Popol Vuh, where most of the story revolves around a great sky event. The Aztecs called such a sky event, the arrival of Quetzalcoatl and his twin Xolotl, So it is not difficult to translate the star information into the story of the young, brash Twins, Huanhpú and Xbalenqué who dared to engage the Lords of the Underworld in a ball game. by which they finally lost their lives in the "fire cauldron of the Gods."  That "fire" might well be in the great bowl tied to the forehead of the Fire God'.

     The question then remains, when exactly do the glyphs, both carved into stone and drawn in the codices, remain names and when do these glyphs become statements of location, of events, or just of rainy days during the year?  It is my opinion that each glyph is actually but a small part of a larger picture story that could be told if we understood them better.

Shaman Authority Staff

Shamans, Curanderas and Bone Setters

What is a Maya Shaman?

     The best definition of a Shaman, I found far to the north in the Arctic Circle, with a group of Eskimos who called themselves Ihaumiuts, now a lost civilization. 

     It was written in 1968 by Farley Mowat, long before Linda Schele taught her first class how to read the Maya glyphs at the University of Texas at Austin, or Dennis Tedlock and his wife, Barbara, decided to become Day Keepers. 

     The definition of the shaman in the Arctic was a revelation after reading so much nonsense about those oddly powerful people in tribal societies.

      Farley Mowat, in 1965 wrote a book about the time he spent with the Ihaumiuts of  the northern lands of ice and snow. He went into the Arctic as a young boy with his uncle and decided to return to the Barren Lands, a very isolated part of the area. He met with two trappers there and began his "internship" with them.

     By the time he left, he was appalled that the native population had been systematically decimated with the free aid of welfare services; by hard working missionaries, and the few entrepreneurs who thought they could make a living off the natives by employing them with different Arctic resources.

  When '"knowledgeable people" took the Ihaumiuts completely away from their sustaining diet of deer meat and the fats necessary for their ability to live in the Barrens.  The first "industry" introduced to the natives was the need for white fox pelts.  Hunting the deer, their main food staple became secondary. Later, the fishing industry employed these people in the seaside towns until other resources became more lucrattive, By the time the Ihaumiuts returned to their lands they had lost much of their ability to hunt.

     The fats that enabled them to survive the harsh weather of the land were depleted with their more modern foods, like fish, and other commodities. Illness struck the Ihaumiuts until only one woman remained who was considered fertile. After her death,  the whole culture disappeared off the face of the earth.

* * * * *  * * *  * * * * * 

The Shamans of the North

     The Shamans of the Ihaumiuts were described in plain, honest terms, together with some of the horror stories of welfare communities who tried to help these people with modern housing and commodities with little or no understanding of their needs. Missionaries told "civilized people" of the 1940's wild tales of "devil worship" and other horror stories based on a lack of understanding of the cultural mores  necessary for the people's survival.

   Shamans, whose main role is to create a cooperative atmosphere, were the primitive psychologists, who conducted ceremonies for the dead, [i.e. deaths, of a child, wife or mother; celebrated the birth of a child], created an atmosphere of public confessions [not of sins, but of broken taboos] when bad times struck the tribes; acted as local physicians [as Curanderas]; or as those who dealt with broken bones [as Bone Setters.] 

Jawbone Staff of
Authoity for Shaman

     They also know the basic components of nearby medicinal plants and were never asked to plead with the gods about lack of animals along the hunting trails, or any other special favors. The Eskimos believed that both humans and animals have free will. Hence, their gods do not tolerate "whining messages" from humans. Their survival was dependent, not upon gods of the weather or the land, but upon the ability of the natives to use all the resources of the land to the best of their ability.

      One of the standard pieces of equipment for shamans, world-wide is a "Bull-Roarer" a piece of notched wood that when swung overhead roars like a tortured animal, similar to a bull. Their jobs are basically the same. And, on the side, they also can prove their power with a bit of magic, aided by shuffling, dancing and/or drumming, when needed.

     A symbol of their position in a tribe is sometimes demonstrated by a staff, [such as the one illustrated here], a magnetic stone; a magic bone; a special tone of a single drum, or of many drums during group dancing  or a solitary shuffling dance of the shaman him/herself.

     Shaman take note of the weather and will advise if a proposed journey that week or day, would be successful. They are wise about such conditions by noting the clouds, the dampness in the air, and a myriad of small details people may miss due to an emergency of some sort.

     However, "a power-hungry shaman" is seldom appreciated since their main role in any community is to help and aid the people under their care. There is a story of a curandera who lived in the desert near several mineral springs  It was an old Indian remedy that helped people for many years. She learned to help many who came for such assistance. 

     But as it was, an entrepreneur heard about the springs and was cured of his ailment. At first, he would talk to his friends and send them to the springs. She had gotten busy; and she was running short on time and energy. The entrepreneur suggested she turn the area into a spa with proper housing, and such luxuries like proper beds and private bathrooms.

     Everything went according to plan until opening day. when the future owners decided to light a fire in the new fireplace. The room was suddenly filled not only with smoke but also with enough ash that necessitated a complete restoration of the building.

     It had not been just old ash expelled from an old fireplace since it was a completely new chimney.  The result was, the person who had helped so many people at the waters of the springs, eventually lost all her clients and even the land where the mineral waters were located. The business end of the proposed health spa was utterly destroyed. Hookum? or the Universe did not approve of such business arrangements.

     

         * * * * *_____________________________* * * * * 

                         

                                 The Maya Version of Shamans

     Shamans are found in many cultures around the world. It was in the dictionary section of I. U. Knorozou's 1963 book, Writing Indian Maya, which contained a word: "Pacal." The name of the now popular ruler of Palenque was translated at that time as "a medicine store." A translation that has been totally ignored ever since.

     But it was an early book before Linda Schele showed us how to read the glyphs and long before the Maya Shamans began to demonstrate their rituals to the public during planned tours of scholars; those souls who were just vaguely interested in Mesoamerica; or just those people who didn't care as long as they were going somewhere. Even after I had visited Palenque twice, I never heard anything said about a "medicine store." 

     Neverltheless, there were apparently Shamans who were called the priests of Ay May at the Temple of the Inscriptions. I believe that this temple, just recently discovered some thirty or forty years ago is the one referred to as the place of the Oracles in José Castillo-Tortre's book of 1955 called: Por la Señal de Hunab Ku: Reflejos de la Vida de los Antiguos Mayas.

     The Temple of the Inscriptions appears to have been the temple of oracles since it contained a tube from the burial room of Pacal to the top of the stairs [hidden under a huge stone slab.] Oracles have to come from somewhere sacred. It cannot just be a priestly incantation, the speaking tube from the tomb, fit the bill perfectly.

The Ay May priests who were in charge of the Temple, proclaimed prophecies through their miraculous Oracle, doled out medicines and in general helped the people through some very tough times when the harvests were poor. Apparently, the seasons were out of synch just before Pacal appeared on the Maya stage of rulers. 

Was Pacal a ruler, or was he just a stranger without any Maya ancesters who came into the land in ships with the men portrayed on the wall of Temple XIX. Was it he who helped the Maya to adjust their calendar system to agree once again with the seasons;  and who may have trained the Ay May priests in a new role; that of physicians like those in the other world across the seas.

But, Oh my, do not breath a word about such connections from over the sea. The Maya WERE isolated, and everyone KNOWS that they were primitive people that suddenly learned everything from the Conquistadores and their schools. Hm.m.m.m. . . . .Really?

________________________________________________

Mowat, Farely, (1968, 7th printing 1971) People of the Deer. Pyramid Books, NewYork: Pyramid Communications, Inc.

Castillo-Torre, José (1955)  Por la Señal de Hunab Ku:  Reflejos de la Vida de los Antiguos Mayas. Mexico DF, Mexico: Libreria de Manuel Porrúa, SA.

Knorozou, |. V. (1963) Writing Indian Maya / Uzdatelbctvo Akademia Hayk, CCCP [Edition Nzdatelbctvo Akademia Hayk, CCCP.}

The Birth of the Twins: Hunahpu and Xbalenque

Dresden Do-47 the Origin of the Double Comet

     Obviously, the Dresdon D-47 does not illustrate two young strapping ball-players, either on the ground or in the sky ball-court. Nevertheless, there is a "twin" element just before the end of the glyph segment above the death god's head. The double glyph, near the grieving figure of a human indicates that the most important part of the message is in the headdress of the figure at Do-. It appears to indicate two comets, one more important than the other, even though it was a "twin." The insignificant part of the story is also mentioned in the saga of the Father, One Hunahpú and his twin brother, Seven Hunahpú, who is not considered very important in the tale.

     The younger Twins, Hunahpú and Xbalenqué, killed Zipacna, [the maker of the earth; the maker of mountains] by turing him to stone in a deep canyon. These Twins later became a constellation near the 400 boys [who rose into the sky as the Milky Way] They had been killed by the Earth Caiman, his younger brother, Kab'raqan [or Earthquake; the breaker of mountains] who was also destroyed by the Twins with the help of a bird covered with clay and cooked as a savory dish.

     The text in the Dresden, over the head of this death god, contains the burning sun of the east, with the night jaguar of the underworld [as the fires in the night sky here]. It is possible that it is inferring that the "sun" was also the sun of the underground lava flow from the volcanoes, not the daytime sun from the east. The twin elements at the end of the text segment indicate that the two [twin] elements had something to do with making the human [the last glyph] very unhappy.

     Why say the human at the end of the text is unhappy?  Well, for one, with his bowed head, he does appear to be unhappy. He is not angry [with fire around his head], as in other glyphs. And, two, in order for the people to understand the glyphs they need a marker of some sort to indicate where the event in the Dresden Codex occurred.

     Since the Dresden is Aztec, and not Maya, we can assume that the volcano Popocatepetl just found out that his true love, Iztaccíhuatl, the other volcano, died and was separated from him forever. Such a "love story" would be appropriate for even those who do not read the glyphs properly. It is verified by an event of geology called a  "sheer thrust" that slashed through the earth from the Puerto Rican Trench in the Atlantic Ocean; splitting those two mountains apart; not by other glyphs. The sheer thrust ended at the Baja California coastline.  It also gives a good reason for Kab'raqan to have died by the actions of the Twins.

     Personally, which would be more interesting to remember, the terminology for the "sheer thrust" or the very romantic tale of a warrior prince who fought bravely and honorably, who when returned to his love, only found her dead?  To say there was no "love' interest in Maya lands, or any other Mesoamerican area is sheer nonsense. Not all marriages are arranged by parents. [This romantic tale was also told all the way south in Inca lands. The fanciful tale was made into a poem in Peru.]

The Birth Process of the Twins

     Since the Twins "became" a constellation, it stands to reason that their birth was in the stars in the very beginning. If we refer to world myths, it can be found that Kronos was emasculated by Zeus, his son. If they both were also star entities, then his bloody phallus would have been seen falling from the sky.

     One does not have to look very far for the origin of the event, even though we cannot see it any more. Hubble did the world a huge favor by naming a newly discovered nebula, the "Hand of God." It shows the left hand with two fingers and the thumb.  And since. in some cultures, especially sea-faring folk, the left hand is considered the symbol for the male phallus. As such, it is often considered "evil," "dirty" or impaired in some manner. As a common-sense symbol, it is nothing more than a health factor. The left hand is used for body functions, while the the clean and proper right hand is used for bringing food to the mouth. In the Popol Vuh, the god who supplied the food was also present in the storyline. He produced the re-birth of maize.

     With this in mind, let us use that image without asking the Maya "si o no." Temple XIX at Palenque shows a series of panels that indicate shipwrecked sailors were asking for help from a ruler who was wearing a false nose piece, but only a sliver. Even if they brought this iconography into Mexico, it is during an unknown time in Pre-classic or even Classic Maya.

[As the bones given to the Jaguar of the Night in Xibalba's Jaguar House?]

     If the birth began as usual with the "semen" leaving the male member, then it came from the "Hand of God," aptly named by NASA.  Stars are supposed to be born of stars.  From there, somewhere near the bull, the semen [meteorites] traveled to NGC7000, a nebula near Deneb of the Northern Cross. NGC7000 has the appearance of an open mouth of a skull [the head of One Hunahpú, Hunahpú's dead father] and from there it reached Blood Moon, the mother of the twins when she was near the Milky Way, [the Cosmic Tree of all myths; but here two corn stalks that the twins had lplanted for their grandmother]

     The net Blood Moon had "placed" under the magic maize stalks was the sparkling tail of the double comet. The multiple cobs of maize was the debris the exploding star hand blown onto the tail as it was passing after it had been freed of the dying star's erratic gravity pull.  In this story, it did not matter if the tail was attached to the double comet or not. The glittering comet tail with its appearance as a net was one of the magical events that occurred in the story to create interest. Here it was for the gradmother to accept Blood Moon into the family of the Hunahpú "men."

     It could have been the real moon colored red by the blazing double comet, or it could have been the new nebula that was created as the star itself died out. It was here, in the blackness of the sky, that Hunahpú almost lost his life when the bi-polar jet came out as a knife from a similar blazing "toddler" star, that bounced and rattled all over the ball court. It was similar to the one shown twisting and turning in  short movie found on www.nasagoddardspace.com/100_0567.MOV. An awesome sight it would have been.

      The Popol Vuh tells it as the House of the Knives. Other houses of Xibalba also indicate the trajectory in a different format.  I believe it is just so if one does not recognize the actual trajectory, the symbolic orbit through the various "Houses" will fill in the data. this event of the slashing knives was part of the First Ball-game in Xibalba for the Twins.

     Later, the  stage of the fluctuating  gravity created by the bi-polar star form sucked the double comet into its bosom and released it various times. When it was through playing with the dying gravitational force, the star spewed out its debris and died by turning into a benign white gleam in the sky again. The double comet picked up that debris and carried it to earth as the chopped up body of the Moon Goddess on a disk displayed at the Templo Mayor in Mexico City.

     Instead of Seven Macaw whose blazing blue turquoise teeth were replaced by the Twins with white maize kernels. the Moon Goddess appears to be  the same story as the Popol Vuh found in different areas of Mesoamerica. Each told the epic tale in the vernacular of the area, village, or family, where the story was discovered.

    Persian artists made sure the event was captured. They incorporated the ""Hand of God" in a stone story-panel about their main god Mithras who was born of a stone, just Huitzilopoctli was in Mexcio. That panel also illustrated the size of the telescope that was used to watch the meteorite fall-out. Their telescopes were nothing like our Palomar, Chandra-NASA, or NASA-Goddard Space Observatories. They were small compact and could be easily carried by a man anytime,  anywhere.

     Such a story is in the Popol Vuh, ready to be read and appreciated without fancy complex technical words that are not understood by the native populations.  Other codices confirm that  many things were well known a long time ago. But since they have never occurred in our lifetime, we choose not to believe what we read.  It is Grandpa's "fish that got away" story.  And everyone knows that Grandpa exaggerated during his lifetime.

   The trajectory of the double comet is told in great detail, with a little bit of magic thrown in for good measure. The magic holds one's interest better than dull tomes of our astronomy languages.

The Eyes of El Zotz iconography

The Sun God who frightened the world enough
that the native population had to destroy,  not his eyes, but his voice.

      Stephen Houston of Brown University in Rhode Island, noted that the masks on the walls of a buried temple at El Zotz had the most amazing masks that he believes to be those of the Sun God in it various forms as it crosses the sky.  It is true up to a point. Familiar symbols tend to be used when a strange event has no earthly explanation. The symbolism is true in every detail, except its origin as the Sun, even rhough the sun puts on a bright sunny display with scurdding clouds and much wind, until the hurricane itself hits land. When the eye of the hurricane passes over, the birds come out twittering, happy to see the sun and blue skies during the day, or the bright stars at night.They hold a long sessions among themselves to find out how every other bird survived, and if any of them gott hurt.

     One of the masks shows its Eyes as a coil within the eyeball of each. Normally, this is called a "Serpent's Coil" and is not related to the Sun God but to a hurricane. The Maya were well aware of the rotary power of a hurricane and were glad to give that powerful rendering as a source of authority to its new rulers.

     It also refers to the status of a strong-minded person who took over the rule of his tribe when all others died from the "rain of fire;" the "rain of resin;" or the "rain of turpentine, that burned as it fell." Oddly enough, this stinging rain of fire, sticky resin or turpentine that burned, was noted in the Popol Vuh and was an integral part of the destruction of the tribes called manikins of the ancient rulership. They was those elite who failed to listen to the astronomer-priests believing that their stone houses were safe from minor events like hurricanes and flooding. They did not expect earthquakes at all.

     The final demise of the manikins came after the "birth of the Sun, which is not that which we see today." The sun, the burning sun [prior to its birth low on the western horizon] created deserts where there was once green foliage. This superior Sun God (a blazing comet that hugged the new low horizon) became the main power source (A modern  newspaper called such a brilliant comet like "that of a thousand transformers that exploded at once.

     The rulers had protected their people in the mountain caves, until the land was no longer  impossible to walk on due the the flooding that followed the burning "bee-like" stinging rains prior to its birth low on the western horizon. A comet of such strength and power that it orbited around the world three times.

Is the following glyph mask a "Square Eye of Amazement?

Another mask either an eye without a jaw,  or a fang curled upside down

     Since the eyes are supposed to be destroyed on this temple wall,  and one side of this mask seems to be the other eye but since fangs do not usually turn upside down by themselves, this may truly be another eye symbol.

I can only think of one analogy that fits: t'hat of absolute surprise.' The idiomatic phrase used here was told me by a gentleman from Texcoco. He said "Mis ojos son cuadrados!" about something amazing that he had just witnessed.  I did not think it was so amazing but he seemed to. And he explained it in such a way that he understood it as a very old idiomatic phrase from his homeland.

    Such "square eyes" are found on a stela of Izapa, which is shown on Stela 22 as an over-sized glyph called "the raising of the sky." the sky is tilted at 23.5 degrees. The serpents that surround the raised sky all have square cornered eyes, similar to the one above. What was so amazing?  The "birth of those eyes called "serpent coils" of the sun god or was it the catastrophe of the ages, which even today strikes fear in all humanity?

     It might be interesting to trace this event further within the glyphs and the codices that are available.

     

Xultun: Stela 10

Stela 10_ Xultun_10-3-0-0-0

     Not a bad stela. However, it is almost completely ignored except for the 10.3.0.0.0 date. That is all that is important, except maybe for the name of the ruler, if it is a ruler. on the face of that stone monument. Two items caught my eye: one, the Monkey, being held in the left arm of the man and two. a dog singing toward a blazing star, more likely though, it is a passing comet.

Xultlun:  Stela 10 Top half
with a monkey held in the left arm and
at the right side, a dog singing to a blazing sun or comet passing over him.

The bottom half turned up even more information: The right sandal (looking directly at it) has an eagle decoration on the shoe, while the left sandal, had a fork-tongued serpent

Xultun Stela 10, Bottom half:
The right sandal has an eagle (or a vulture) decoration
while the left sandal had s fork-tongue serpent.
 To the left of the feet is a manikin of some sort with three knives in his headdress.

     Three knives are in the headdress of the manikin sitting at the feet of the ruler.  There is more to be seen, and most of these icons are much more important than the date noted. Actually, this stele appears to be a god, not a ruler at all.  Their costume usually consists of a pair, or duplicates of each other shoe.

Pacal's son at Palenque is shown with one serpent leg, and a K'awi'l with a flaming cigar shape over his face, but those were specific symbols of his rank as ruler-to-be.

     The reason for my observations here is simple.  Men do not wear sandals with a serpent wrapped around one ankle and an eagle or a vulture on the other. This entity is telling us a story about his origin, not that of a ruler. One can call him a Lord of the Sky, but at this point in time, the whole concept shown on the stone is completely ignored.

Climate Change I [July 7, 2012]

"Climate scientists have been warning the global community since 1988."

A postscript to 2012

 Today, it is a bit different. Our present “climate change” is a bit slow. During the last two or three years, our DSL summer change has moved from October and March 31^st, to a week a week later.  So far, no one has cared, one way or another.

For more info, go to July 20, 2014 and March 6, 2017 versions:

     On January 6, 2011, the Tampa Tubune stated that, after commenting on the fact that the compass readings posted at the ends of runways designated for approaching planes had been changed by 10 degrees; they also commented that our North Pole was now located over Russia.  

     Would that not put the US in a different climate zone? 

     A commentary after that article was from an ex-air-force pilot [?} who commented that the compass coordinates on runways at the USAF airports had been changed [more than a few] times [?}since 1982 when he was in the air force. His comment came after he had read in the Tribune about such airport runway coordinates for approaching planes in Tampa, Florida had to be corrected by 10 degrees.

      [The in-coming pilots had enough to do getting the plane landed. Recalculating the location of coordinates for each landing plane was wasting the necessary and critical time needed for landing procedures.] Have the Climate Scientists missed that edition?

The reporter of the Tampa Tribune probably got dismissed for poking around in the wrong area of the airport. The military had to cover all the bases for any disturbance and they did. Anyway who understands 2.8 million tons of thrust for each foot of space?  Who understands that comets can do the same thing with a few dozen stones that fall from the sky and much faster than a mere twenty or forty years of thrust by mechanical means?

Our Earth was once upon a time hit by such meteorites but not 65 mya [million years ago]. The event is still recorded as the "Creation of the World" in many places, like caves, tombs, underground havens. Who knows what other hiding places humans could find in time, even the catacombs of Italy?

Merchants with a lot of extra supplies, who listened to astronomers, stored their caches over time, so had a money flow, even then. Nothing strange about that. The worst was when few people thought it would only last a short time. They ended up eating "cinta," fodder for the animals that they slaughtered for food. It was better than nothing; until it became "teocinta," a god's gift to mankind.

The strikes in Nova Scotia, the Yucatan, the shores of the Carolinas, the middle of Germany and the middle of the Sahara.  And why not in Peru, Argentina, Lake Texcoco as a backlash due to the curvature of the Earth?  

Why not? Our Earth spins a complete 360.15 degrees (Circle) now every 24 hours. So what is located south of the Equator has a different orientation by the time, the comet completes its trip circuling the earth.  So a comet going east would be going west by the time it got below the Equator.

So what is in store for us when we succeed in finding another Earth-like planet?

[See Climate Change I I    July 20. 2014]

Tlaltecutli- - New Iconography

Tlaltecutli : Her New Iconography
 and a New Name: Coyolxauhqui

Coyolxauhqui, the torn-apart Moon Goddess
also known as Tlaltecuhtli, the Blue Star

      It was not until 2004 that I began to explore the Popol Vuh as a history book before I even looked into José Castillo-Torre's history about Hunab Ku, the father of all men, that I read anything relative to the humanity of Pacal of Palenque, other than his birth, accession to the throne or his death and maybe a battle or two. The dates were taught by the professors, but no history other than what the epigraphers were able to decipher from the glyphs in those early days.

      Two glyphs appeared around 2002 when I attempted to paraphrase the West Panel of the Temple of the Inscriptions in Tom Jones class during the Maya Meetings, in Austin, Texas. Joel Skidmore came by and gave us the translation of O-12 and P-01 as: God I threw the heart of the Death God into the Sea. It shocked me to hear that translation because I had just seen it in the Madrid Codex: a Death Bundle with the bells of the Death God around his neck, upside down (falling is to be assumed here).

     It was not until much later, I discovered Mary Miller's and Karl Taube's Dictionary of the Maya Gods, and read about Tlaltecutli, who was torn apart by the twins (Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, in this instance, or the Maya Twins Hunahpú and Xbalenqué) The Popol Vuh. changed the arms and legs of the Aztec Moon goddess Coyolxauhqui into Tlaltecutli and finally to the metal eye decorations of Seven Macaw's Eye and his Turquoise [Blue] Teeth. They were then replaced with white kernels of maize, thus making him/her a benign star ever after.

      One other glyph was also at the bottom of the panel, I read it as: the Lake of Moon [Texcoco] next to the volcano Popocatepetl. However, what it referred to in the story of the glyphs, I have no idea. Nevertheless, the Lake of the Moon at the rim of the volcanic lake was as clear and concise as glyphs are supposed to be.

      The Aztec Tlaltecutli has other names in the Mesoamerican world. The names are never cognates that may or may not be the original god or goddess; even though their individual descriptions are so alike that their tales can be seen as the same story as the visual representation of Coyolxauhqui discovered in the Templo Major in Mexico City.   Mary Miller and Karl Taube's, (1993, 167) verbal description of Tlaltecutli (below) matches the visual stone picture of the Moon Disk (Above)

"One grasped the right hand and left foot and the other took the left hand and the right foot; they squeezed Tlaltecuhtli, until they had rent her body asunder. After they had taken one-half away to the sky, other gods descended to the earth to console her.

      "Although represented in the sculpture of Mayapan, Tlaltecuhtli, cannot be located in Classic Maya Art and her origins remain obscure." (See Miller & Taube, p. 167)  Especially since she was venerated in the Aztec temple as Coyolxauhqui as a Mixtec goddess. Except for her name, the gory details of her flaming birth was left out because the codex was so badly deteriorated at the bottom edge, little else could be determined.

       Even so, it is the story that Alfonso Caso, (1976, 263) described, in the Mixtec Bodley Codex, her exact location in the sky. Her location in the Burning Tree, her birthplace.  Nevertheless, Alfonso was able to discover her name, Tlaltecuhtli, a Mixtec [and/or an Aztec] goddess, not a Maya at all.

       The complete story of marriages, children, husbands, and sundry other relations, include the dynasty of Tilantango; Black Mountain; a split mountains; the Seven Caves, Bundle or Stone with a hole; a monkey born from a rock; the Tlaloc Wall; the Burning Tree of Tlaltecuhtli's birth. All these items are within Laminas 25 thru 29. And all appear refer to the main astronomy noted in the Popol Vuh, even  the "rock" (p. 35) [as was once tossed by Xbalenqué] at the turtle hanging over the ballcourt, or even in the world myths that are found to refer to the births of miraculous gods born from rocks; i.e Huiitzilopochtli of the Aztecs; and Su Wu Kong of China, each was born in or on  a Flower/Fruit Mountain, Mithras of Persia, Su Wu Kong of China; again each was born from a similar egg of Stone,just as found in the Peruvian temple for a Peruvian star god, etc.

       Without investigating other myths around the world, any star information is completely lost to the magical, and mythical stories of strange gods, or animals who accomplish stranger deeds that any human or animal could do in real life. Hence, the story immediately becomes a myth and no one even considers the very important earth and sky event hidden in those magic happenings.

     According to Alfonso Caso, there is also an interpretation of two dates once thought to be a simple matter of different calculations between the Aztec and the Mixtec historians in the Nuttall, the Bodley and the Vindobonensis [6-II). But since all three codices refer to years both before and after the date of the murder of 12 Lizard and 12 Vulture by 9 Grass "Skull" in otherwise proper sequences, Alfonso Caso still had his doubts and determined that particular interpretation as "untenable."

     He did not say that it was an error, or that it should be investigated more thoroughly; he just inferred that those dates might need further investigation. In 1976, his  Interpretations of the Codices were sufficiently detailed for scholars to search out the various dynastic rulers, their marriages, births and deaths of their children, accession to their thrones; gods, goddesses, some important stars or planets, because it was felt that the codices were only dynastic records of previous rulers. It was also accepted that the glyphs were only short notes about those dynastic rulers.

     With the advent of NASA's Hubble Satellite Telescope, old stars that had been moved across the sky [during the second ball game of the Twins in the Popol Vuh], can now be appreciated. There are at least five nebulae that should be evaluated for their distinctive characteristics that are mention and/or illustrated in the extant codices and monuments of Mesoamerica.

Compiled 202 Maya Sites

1.      ABJ  Abaj Takalik

2.      ACN  Acanmul

3.      AGC  Aguas Calientes

4.      AGT  Aguateca

5.      ALH  Altun Ha

6.      ALM  Altamira

7.      ALS  Altar de Sacrificios

8.      AML  La Amelia

9.      AMP  EI Amparo

10.    ANL  Anonal

11.    BLK  Balakbal

12.    BFK  Bonampak

13.    BUL  EI Baul

14.    BVJ  Benque Viejo

15.    CAY  EI Cayo

16.    CCL  Chocola

17.    CDR  EI Cedral

18.    CHB  Chacchoben

19.    CHL  EI Chal

20.    CHN  Chichen Itza

21.    CKL  Chinkultic

22.    CKM  Chochkitam

23.    CLB  Chilib

24.    CLK  Calakmul

25.    CML  Comalcalco

26.    CMT  Comitan

27.    CMU  Chichmul

28.    CNC  Cancuen

29.    CNH  Chinaha

30.    CNK  Chinikiha

31.    CNT  Cenotillo

32.    CNZ  Chunhuitz

33.    COB  Coba

34.    COL  Collections, public or private

35.    COZ  Cozumel

36.    CPC  Chiapa de Corzo

37.    CPL  Chapayal

38.    CPN  Copan

39.    CRB  EI Caribe

40.    CRC  Caracol

41.    CSB  Consacbe

42.    CTP  Chuctiepa

43.    CVL  Cival

44.    CZP  EI Chicozapote

45.    DBC  Dzibilchaltun

46.    DBN  Dzibilnocac

47.    DPL  Dos Pilas

48.    DZL  Dzilam

49.    DZT  Dzitbalche

50.    EKB  Ek Balam

51.    ENC  EI Encanto, Peten

52.    ESP  La Esperanza

53.    ETZ  Etzna

54.    FLD  La Florida

55.    FLS  Flores

56.    FNC  Finca Encanto

57.    GQT  Guaquitepec

58.    HIG  Los Higos

59.    HLK  Halakal

60.    HLL  Halal

61.    HNT  Huntichmul

62.    HRZ  La Honradez

63.    HTZ  Hacienda Hotzuc

64.    ICC  Ichmac

65.    ICL  Ichmul

66.    ICP  Ichpaatun

67.    IKL  Ikil

68.    ITB  Itzimte-Bolonchen

69.    ITN  Itzan

70.    ITS  Itsimte-Sacluk

71.    IXH  Ixtelha

72.    IXK  Ixkun

73.    IXL  Ixlu

74.    IXZ  Ixtutz

75.    IZP  Izapa

76.    JAI  Jaina

77.    JMB  Jimbal

78.    JNT  Jonuta

79.    KAB  Kabah

80.    KAX  Kaxuinic

81.    KJU  Kaminaljuyu

82.    KNA  Kana

83.    KNK  Kanki

84.    KYL  Kayal

85.    LAB  Labna

86.    LAC  Lacanha

87.    LAG  Lagunita

88.    LBT  Lubaantun

89.    LGP  Laguna Perdida

90.    LOL  Loltun

91.    LPM  Lopez Mateos

92.    LTI  Lashtunich

93.    MAR  La Mar

94.    MCA  La Muneca

95.    MCW  Mountain Cow

96.    MLC  Mulchic

97.    MLP  La Milpa

98.    MLS  Muluch Tsekal

99.    MNC  Mario Ancona

100.  MNG  Managua

101.  MPN  Mayapan

102.  MQL  Machaquila

103.  MRD  Mirador

104.  MRF  Miraflores

105.  MRL  Moral

106.  MTL  Motul de San Jose

107.  NAR  Naranjo

108.  NAY  La Naya

109.  NCT  Naachtun

110.  NKM  Nakum

111.  NPT  Nohpat

112.  OAG  Ojo de Agua

113.  OKP  Okop

114.  OXK  Oxkintok

115.  OXL  Oxlahuntun

116.  OXP  Oxpemul

117.  PAB  EI Pabellon

118.  PAL  Palenque

119.  PCL  Pechal

120.  PCR  Pasion del Cristo

121.  PCT  La Pochitoca

122.  PDR  Padre Piedra

123.  PIX  Pixoy

124.  PLM  EI Palmar

125.  PMB  Pomona, Belize

126.  PMT  Pomona, Tabasco

127.  PNG  Piedras Negras

128.  PNH  Panhale

129.  PNT  Pantaleon

130.  POL  Polol

131.  PRS  EI Paraiso, Yucatan

132.  PRT  EI Porton

133.  PRU  EI Peru

134.  PSD  La Pasadita

135.  PST  Pestac

136.  PUS  Pusilha

137.  PVR  EI Porvenir

138.  QRG  Quirigua

139.  RAM  Rio AmariUo

140.  RAZ  Rio Azul

141.  RBC  Rio Bec

142.  RMC  Rio Michol

143.  RTR  EI Retvo

144.  SAL  Salinas de los Nueve Cerros

145.  SAY  Sayil

146.  SBL  Seibal

147.  SCM  San r.lemente

148.  SCN  Sacchana

149.  SCU  Sacul

150.  SEP  Santa Elena Poco Uinic

151.  SIS  Sisilha

152.  SLM  San Lorenzo, Campeche

153.  SLS  San Lorenzo, Chiapas

154.  SRC  Santa Rita Corozal

155.  SRX  Santa Rosa Xtampak

156.  STN  Santoton

157.  TAM  Tamarindito

158.  TBI  Hacienda Tabi

159.  TCK  Tohcok

160.  TEN  Tenam Puente

161.  TIK  Tikal

162.  TLA  Tila

163.  TLT  Telantunich

164.  TMN  Teleman

165.  TNA  Tonina

166.  TNL  Tonala

167.  TPX  Topoxte

168.  TRS  Tres Islas

169.  TRT  EI Tortuguero

170.  TSL  Tayasal

171.  TUL  Tulum

172.  TUN  Tunkuyi

173.  TZB  Tzibanche

174.  TZC  Tzocchen

175.  TZD  Tzendales

176.  TZM  Tzum

177.  UAX  Uaxactun

178.  UCN  Ucanal

179.  UKM  Ukum

180.  UOL  Uolantun

181.  UXL  Uxul

182.  UYM  Uaymil

183.  XCA  Xcocha

184.  XCK  Xcochkax

185.  XCL  Xculoc

186.  XCR  Xcoralche

187.  XKB  Xkombec

188.  XKM  Xkichmook

189.  XLM  Xcalumkin

190.  XMK  Xmakabatun

191.  XNC  Xnucbec

192.  XTL  Xutilha

193.  XUL  Xultun

194.  XUP  Xupa

195.  YAX  Yaxchilan

196.  YLC  Yalcabakal

197.  YLT  Yaltutu

198.  YUL  Yula

199.  YXH  Yaxha

200.  YXN  Yaxuna

201.  YXP  Yaxcopoil

202.  ZAP  El Zapote

Another view of an Eclipse of the Moon

     In K-1398 of Justin Kerr's 1998 Vase Books, there is a view of "God L pleading with the Night Sun who is hiding the Rabbit behind him. Barbara MacLeod (2011: 234) then suggests that God L and "the Night Sun are separate entities who complement one another as alternating rulers of the Underworld." Likewise, she adds that the name Bolon yokte' can be read as "nine wooden basal supports." Her suggestion that this name refers to the underworld pantheon of the ninefold deities. (IMS Explorer, M. J. Grofe, 2012: 3, 5  &  6)

The Summer Triangle [upper right] as the north sees it turned -90 degrees south of the Equator.

     There are two things that can be suggested here.  The Nine Wooden Basal Supports could be considered to be the nine constellations that exist near and within the spiral [basal] energy of our segment of the Milky Way,. These stars can be seen in the southern part of our world as the opposite of our winter season, i.e. the  constellation of the Northern Cross (aka the Summer Triangle or Cygnus, the Swan) turned -90 degrees from our familiar summer-time view, as photographed for Bauer and Dearborn in their (1995: 106 ) book Astronomy and Empire in the Ancient Andes.

     The upper rulers led by the "Sun deity" show us our primary constellations on the northern side, not of the face of the spiral.  It would be, instead,  our own lop-sided world view of the higher or lower edges of that spiral that we face as the earth spins in its 23.5 degree north to 23.5 degree south spin during the orbit of the earth around the sun. 

    

     The rabbit [in the moon] who is hiding behind the Sun deity, is just another view of, what a full eclipse of the moon in the night skies. God L would then be begging the Night Sun (who is covering that moon) to please go home to the daylight side of the earth and give the world back the moon. Do not take it away because humans need the light it sheds during the night.

     Although this may appear to be nonsense, just think in terms of the native world who may have been frightened by the lose of moonlight, so they would ask God L to plead for them, the return of the Moon in its full glory. The intercession of a god or two is very helpful in allaying one's fears when the end result is not immediately known.

The Double Comet and Tlaloc, as the Great Star

The Double Comet and Tlaloc as the Great Srar

     Another Aztec photography from the INAH Museum in Mexico City.  A monster of horror [are they skulls across his back and tail, probably so. It is blowing on the remnants of a conch shell trumpet used for certain ceremonies during the year.  Above his head are two types of star forms, One is very prominent with the face and fangs of Tlaloc, the blue god of rains that brought fire to the earth.

     The other border iconography may represent the twin comet, since the monster below is blowing on a conch shell trumpet of death [indicated by the dripping blood and the strange cut-out design of the shell itself]. There are also a row of white icons along the back and tail of this sky monster with a very strong, but general, impression of death, or skulls.

     Comets and meteorites have been recorded with the sounds of a roaring wind, described by a gentleman in Australia, as a "bull-roarer caused by swinging a gasoline-soaked rag on a stick very fast around one's head." The sound is frightening to the uninitiated, who have seen meteorites in the sky, but never had one pass close enough that they could hear such sounds.

     A year or so ago, our northwest coast had such a noisy comet or comets in Oregon and southern Canada. The sound and the light from the comet[s] seemed to be 100's of modern transformers exploding all at once.  Since it was before dawn, people were awakened by the light even when their blinds were shut tight. House animals "fled to their masters' bedrooms and crept under their beds; children thought it was Tyrannosaurus Rex walking the earth, like the movies; even the adults were frightened of the noises that came from the "conch shell," but only the moaning, roaring noises;  definitely from something no one had ever experienced previously.

     The newspapers only mentioned it once or twice, while the TV News did the same. Once it was explained as a comet that came too near the earth, no one thought much about it, except to say, "It was a little too close for comfort, but thank Heavens, it did no damage and no one got killed."  The people all went on with their lives. In the olden days, when there were no radios, TVs or other types of rapid communications, other than word of mouth, it became an event to tell their grandchildren, who were in awe of the tales their grandparents told around the fire during the long winter nights before sleep came. 

     

     Embellished with other words and a great variety of actions, the tale spread from one to another until it became a part of a great epic adventure with no official history to verify it. Anything that might have been historic was pushed into the background as fears of primitive underworlds, or as "prophecies" about the end of the world.  Such is the world we live in.