Mayan Time

Recently, I’ve been spending some time with the ancient Maya. They’ve been coming round for a chat most days over the past six weeks or so. I’m glad of their company. I’m currently doing a tour where I’m speaking in some depth about the 2012 prophecies, and the Mayan civilisation’s sacred beliefs form the foundation of my talk.  It’s been good to have some first-hand information. Although I’d read a lot about them and had long been fascinated by the Mayan calendars, I’d never really got a handle on who the flesh and blood Mayan people were or how they saw life.

Then about six weeks ago, I was struggling with the Mayan concept of time. I’d just dropped little Tom off at the nursery and was walking home trying to conceptualise the Mayan angle on time and space – as you do – when I was engulfed in a wave of energy as warm as a summer breeze and – wham bam – the Maya filled my being. I “felt” Mayan time and it was a beautiful experience.

Suddenly, I was shockingly aware of how trapped we are in linear time in comparison to the Maya. We rush along this straight line between birth and death allowing time to continually steal the beauty of the moment. Since birth, we have gathered a huge force of momentum behind us that propels us into the next moment as if fired from a canon. Seemingly, we cannot stop ourselves from anticipating our imagined future with either excitement, dread, or, as is often the case, a confused struggle between the two. Linear time has us in a stranglehold which has insidiously increased in pressure since the industrial revolution. This man-made time is our master and each one of us gives this strange illusion our energy each day. It is the stick that beats us on as we unconsciously walk ever forward along the line. ……Yes, I think you get the picture now, I felt trapped in my own concept of time.

The Maya, on the other hand, felt time. They participated in time. Time was the ever-dancing movement of rhythms, cycles and spirals. Each day had its own essence, its own energy to it with which they were invited to commune and interact. Time was sacred. They worked with the natural cycles of their world and with the cycles of the galaxy they observed around them each night and knew they were a part of. For writers such as Jose Arguelles and John Major Jenkins, the Maya were galactic participants who knew their place in the vast creation around them. Through their calendars, they attained a harmonic resonance with the natural cycles of the cosmos which, I believe, allowed them to communicate with other dimensions in time and space. The Maya told me that their calendars, especially their sacred calendar, the tzolkin and its interaction with their famous calendar, the Long Count, could predict when cosmic doorways would open and allow them access to dimensions from which wisdom and knowledge could be gained. But, for the Maya, the important quality was that time was “alive”. It had life, energy and vitality.

In my inner vision, the Maya are dancing now. History has painted them as an enigmatic cross between philosopher and barbarian. Stargazers with fearful gods who weren’t averse to spilling blood. Perhaps. I can’t tell you as I’m communicating with the souls, the higher selves of those who once inhabited Mayan bodies. The Maya I see are completely in tune with their world and their harmony and joy for life are obvious.

Linear time has robbed us of a precious gift. The gift of perceiving “living” time. Linear time is cold, sterile and artificial. It has no soul. Today is Saturday. What does that mean to me? It’s the 8th day of December. Does this have meaning? While Gregorian time passes in defined chunks, rather like chicken nuggets, I’ve been left by my Mayan friends and now I’m hungering for something more meaningful, rich and experiential. I want to dance.

Care to join me?                        

David is a psychic consultant and spiritual teacher. To find out more about David’s 2012 talk, go to www.mysticklight.com