Maya Cosmos

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Summary: The First Book to Tell the Real Story About Maya Shamanism
Review: As a person who has traveled in places where the modern Maya live--Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico--and who has taken the trouble to get to know what the history and culture of these admirable people is really like, I have always been appalled at the number of books that claim to be about "Maya shamanism," but are really just New Age claptrap. While it is true that MAYA COSMOS does not read like a mass-market paperback, it is one of the most heartfelt, well-researched, and stunning books on the Maya that I have ever read. If you want the REAL story on who the Maya are and how their spiritual and cultural beliefs have evolved over the last 5,000 years, this is the book for you. Yes, there is some scientific data and research here, but I would rather a thousand times read that than the silly cultural misinformation written by dozens of New Age authors who project their own interpretations onto the art and the cities without even being able to read the very texts they are claiming to understand. The late Linda Schele was one of the five major figures who was responsible for cracking the code of the Maya language. As an art historian, she was well versed in the complex and fascinating symbolism of Maya culture. David Freidel has been a brilliant Maya archaeologist for over 25 years, and first became involved with the culture because of his interest in shamanism. Joy Parker, who, by the way, was the ghost-co-author of A FOREST OF KINGS (check out the Acknowledgements and the Forward where her work is credited) has spent over a dozen years working with the modern Maya (most recently, as an editor of Maya shaman Martin Prechtel's SECRETS OF THE TALKING JAGUAR and LONG LIFE, HONEY IN THE HEART) and with other indigenous cultures such as the North Native Americans (check out her book WOMAN WHO GLOWS IN THE DARK) and African cultures, so she brings a special personal interest and flair to this project. The first-person stories told in this book are priceless. I spent as many pleasurable hours reading it as I did the authors' first effort A FOREST OF KINGS. If you truly want to learn about the history of the Maya, the tragedy of the Spanish conquest, and how the modern Maya find the strength to endure, this is the book for you.

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Summary: Not for the Beginner
Review: I have to admit I didn't get more than halfway through this one - no way is this written for inquiring minds who aren't already versed in Mayan lore.

The book seems to describe the authors' discovery and fleshing-out of a new theory about how the Maya interpreted the stars. Apparently their creation story was all written up in the sky and, as the stars and planets moved, episodes in the creation were cyclically reinacted. This is not described very straight-forwardly, though, and I'm still not sure if I've got it right.

There is an attempt to make the whole thing read like a mystery novel, sort of a la "Celestine Prophesy": the book starts out describing the eager young scientists mixing with the wise tribals in an ancient ceremony. Later, for several chapters, one of the authors is quoted at length about how she discovered some commonality amongst various artifacts and codices which backed up some hypothesis, and which I entirely lost sight of by the end. She kept calling up friends and friends kept calling her up until I thought I was watching a Gidget movie. All the authors come off a little too New-Age loopy for me, adding lots of little asides praising the aboriginal and putting down the modern, and talking about how their life has been changed by their discoveries. But then, my confusion with all that Jaguar-3-Peccary-Holy-Twins-Tree-of-Life stuff may have made me just a bit grouchy.

At any rate, my point is, all the reviews on this page (except the very good Kirkus one) make the book sound like an easy read, which it isn't. It's a delineation of a hypothesis with some adventure stuff thrown in for better surface marketability. The result is, to me, confusing. Granted, it's not an easy subject, but that makes clear writing all the more important, especially if you're writing for mass consumption. Better to start out with one of Michael Coe's books and go from there.

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Summary: A Unique look inside the Mayan Mind
Review: Mayan Cosmos Mirrors Your Creation I dream of an older woman. She is holding a ball of clay in her hands, pressing and molding it with her fingers. She reveals that working clay helps her prepare for creativity. Preparing for creativity arouses thoughts of the Creator. The Creator1s gift was not a one-time blessing of that initial molding called Genesis, but is an ongoing, abundant outflowing at this and every moment. My personal awareness is one window through which the Creator experiences the world. My own actions, although molded by this force, are a local agent of this creation. When I pause to acknowledge the presence and companionship of the Creator, I feel grateful. The Creator1s blessing perfectly balances the burden of individual responsibility I carry in that relationship. A shared burden can be carried lightly, with joy. Praise creation! This meditation upon creativity and companionship with the Creator is but one of the blossoms sprouting on my sacred tree as I contemplate the book, Mayan Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman1s Path (William Morrow). The authors, David Freidel and Linda Schele, are respected Mayan archaeologists at competing univesities in Texas. Their previously acclaimed book A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya presented the many secrets of Mayan history that were revealed with the recent breakthroughs in deciphering the enigmatic glyphs. Mayan Cosmos continues the revelations, presenting the Mayan spiritual philosophy and lifestyle. There are so many congruences between Mayan mythology and the Christian faith that these two spiritually inspired civilizations were destined to meet. The Mayan recognizes in the Christian cross, for example, the secret of death and rebirth. That cross is the Mayan world tree, uniting heaven and earth, and providing passage between them. The common image of Jesus1 exposed heart simultaneously dripping with blood while blossoming in a bouquet of flowers mirrors the Mayan perception of the sacrifice mutually required and offered between God and humanity. I dream that I have decaptitated myself. I am looking in the mirror, marveling at how I can see with no head. Mayan iconography of headless heroes portrays the necessary sacrifice of the personality so that the larger Self may enter into consciousness. The Creator needs reflection in the consciousness of the creature. To provide that reflection, the creature must relenquish pride of self-ownership and become a more transparent mirror of a greater reality. The mirror is also an important symbol, reflecting the universal truth, 3As above, so below.2 Among the many ways in which the Mayan finds the divine realm mirrored in the earthly sphere is in the ongoing fact of creation. The Mayans regularly celebrate creation by ritual enactments. They believe, in fact, that the Mayan1s continued existence is totally dependent upon their remembering the Creator1s presence. By properly reenacting the creation process, the Mayans provide God a conscious place in the world, a place that God needs and uses. By making themselves useful to God, the Mayans create for themselves a place in the cosmos that gives their lives meaning. God created the Mayan race from corn. Their ritual acts of communion with this sacred food, much like the Christian rite of the last supper, not only provide their bodies spiritual nourishment, but gives God material, human embodiment and a window of experience through the Mayan awareness. Corn is the one grain that requires human assistance to seed itself. Corn is thus an archaeo-botanical riddle. It also reflects the Mayan1s spiritual responsibility to the ongoing creation process. What creation story do you use to guide your life? When was the last time you thought about that story, or participated in a ritual that re-enacted your creation? If you are uncertain of your creation story, you are not alone. Experts proclaim we are between creation myths and are wandering lost, reacting with anger to our frustrated need for meaning. We devolve into a creature of habit when we lose the Creator awareness. When we forget our companionship with the Creator, our very existence is threatened. Having a moment of silence before a meal, eating more slowly and mindfully are simple acts that can serve as reminders of our participation in the ongoing creation. In a home-study project with A.R.E. members, participants discovered, in fact, that such ritualized eating added priceless seasoning to the meal and extra nourishment for the soul. Remembering, upon encountering a frustration, that God is molding the moment to inspire a leap of creativity, can help us make an opportunity out of the circumstance. In seeking a material expression through human actions and an individualized experience through human awareness, the Creator sometimes pinches the clay. We all have hearts through which the Creator shares love, and hands through which the Creator seeks to shape the world into a better home for that love. I dream that a woman is teaching me how to dance among the sprouting corn plants. I am learning to step lightly. Praise creation!

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Summary: Archeoastronomy of the Maya
Review: The authors present Mayan archeoastronomy in a very readable and absorbable form. Compare the astronomy/astrology/ myths and stories of the Maya to other cultures of which you are aware, and you will see that this book presents a valuable contribution to world archeoastonomy.

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Summary: Maya Cosmos is essential to archeo-astronomy
Review: The foundation of Maya Cosmos is the re-discovery of the Mayan creation myth in hieroglyphs, art, and modern Mayan daily ceremonial ritual. The creation myth centers around First Father, the Maize god and father of the Twins, famous in the Popul Vuh creation story. First Father is identified with Orion where he is resurrected from the dead from the cleft carapace of a turtle, which are the three stars in Orion's belt. Recent studies in Egyptian archeo-astronomy has identified the constellation Orion with Osiris, the god of resurrection. The lower left star in Orion's belt, Alnitak, has been identified with the Great Pyramid of Giza. First Father emerges out of a cleft mountain and a cleft turtle carapace, the mountain here possibly related to the idea of the pyramid. Maya Cosmos has gathered a creation story that can be placed now in the archeo-astronomical tradition of the world. In like manner, ancient India has the god Vishnu sitting upon Mt. Meru. A serpent is entwined around this mountain and under the mountain is a great turtle. This identifies Vishnu and Osiris with First Father; Mt. Meru and the great pyramid with the Cleft Mountain; the Vishnu turtle with the Mayan constellation of the turtle, the belt of Orion; and the serpent entwined around Mt. Meru with the Mayan double-headed serpent of the Ecliptic. Maya Cosmos is the first book I have read that has looked at the archeo-astronomy of the Maya and the Olmec and has given archeo-astronomers a valuable resource.