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One of the most fascinating subjects of 21th Century archaeology concerns thirteen crystal skulls of apparently ancient source that were found in parts of Mexico, Central America and South America in the 1900′s.
 Mystery of the Crystal Skulls These skulls, found near the ancient ruins of Mayan and Aztec civilizations (with some evidence linking the skulls with past civilization in Peru) apparently hold a profound mystery. Some of the skulls are believed to be between 5,000 and 36,000 years old. Mayan pottery and Mayan masks as well as Aztec pottery are replete with skulls. Indeed human skulls are one of the most pictured objects dealing with religious rites of pre-Columbian cultures. But the crystal skulls are different. They seem to defy logic. Everything that is known about lapidary work indicates that the skulls should have been shattered fractured or fallen apart when carved.
The Mitchell-Hedges family of Canada loaned their skull to Hewlett-Packard Laboratories for extensive study. The HP examinations yielded some startling results.
Researchers found that the skull had been carved against the natural axis of the crystal. Modern crystal sculptors always take into account the axis, or orientation of the crystal’s molecular symmetry, because if they carve “against the grain,” the piece is bound to shatter — even with the use of lasers and other high-tech cutting methods.
To compound the strangeness, HP could find no microscopic scratches on the crystal which would indicate it had been carved with metal instruments. Their best hypothesis for the skull’s construction is that it was roughly hewn out with diamonds, and then the detail work was meticulously done with a gentle solution of silicon sand and water. Best estimates for the exhausting job, assuming it could possibly be done in this way, would have required about 300 years of man-hours to complete. Under these circumstances, experts believe that successfully crafting a shape as complex as the Mitchell-Hedges skull is impossible; as one HP researcher is said to have remarked, “The damned thing simply shouldn’t be.”
Many of the indigenous people speak of their remarkable magical and healing properties. Legend also has it that a great power emanates from the group when all are joined side by side and that in effect the skulls continuously seek to be re-united.
The skull reunion legend has some rather peculiar bits of history behind it. A story goes that a “singing” noise can be faintly heard when one skull comes into proximity of another skull. Indeed, this remarkable feature was how a “fake” was discovered. When an owner lent his skull to a museum for public exhibition in the 1950’s, it supposedly began “singing” when it came into contact with two other skulls that had also been lent for exhibition. Supposedly upon the attempted return of the skull to its owner, he noticed that it would no longer sing when placed next to the other two skulls. An examination latter revealed that in effect, the skull had been switched by a museum employee who had replaced the original with a fake copy. Fortunately, the authorities were able to recover the original and the owner was satisfied of its authenticity when it once again began to “sing” when it was in the proximity of other skulls.
Another story says that after an inspection of his bank deposit box, one German owner suddenly found himself the owner of two skulls. It was latter determined that the original owner of the unknown skull had recently died in a tragical accident. How the second skull ever got to the German bank deposit box is still unknown. Even more peculiar was the bank deposit box records that showed no activity or access to the box for over a year before the death of the owner of the “transported” skull.
L:earn more about Maya Prophecies
 Maya Cosmic Tree The ancient Maya pictured a luxurious afterlife. Those lucky enough to arrive there would not need to perform punishing work such as the typical cutting of terraced fields from mountainsides or thick jungle. They could rest from the hunt or the long trading journeys they had made in their lifetimes. They would find luxuriousness all around them and lie in the sweet shade provided by the cosmic tree. When they were thirsty they could gather cacao beans to make chocolate drink. Scenes such as these are commonly depicted in Mayan pottery and carved in pyramids and monuments.
Unfortunately for most, Maya traditions held that only a few lucky souls would be admitted to this heavenly realm. Most souls were destined for the underworld where many grueling and terrifying tests awaited them.
The Quiche Maya Popo Vuh (a type of Maya bible) tells the mythical accounts of the Hero twins. It narrates the Twins’ decent to the underworld where they faced many tests and a ballgame to the death. But the tests were stacked against the Twins. The lords of the underworld had learned the proper names of the twins, and to the Maya, knowing ones proper name gives power over the individual.
Eventually the Twins defeat death and rise victorious to the heavens. It was broadly believed that their triumph paved the way for those that came after them.
It was possible to ascend to heaven from the underworld, but only by defeating the dark lords. If one was successful in this quest, the soul would emerge from the underworld in the appearance of a jaguar god and would be greeted by offerings. Thereafter, death could not hold him.
 conjuring the vision serpent According to an ancient Maya seer, it is not prohibited to know the future it is just reserved to be revealed in small pieces to those that ask.
“The future was ordained to be by the gods. The people can know this future, it is not prohibited; it is just reserved to be revealed in small pieces to those that ask. For to reveal the future in its entirety all at once would surely put the fate of even the gods themselves in jeopardy”, so goes the sayings of Tizimin a Maya seer who looked into the future as described in the Katun 5 Ahau of the ancient Maya.
To understand the words of the gods, it is necessary to request the aid of someone with a direct link between the spirit kingdom of the gods and the physical world of men. For the ancient Maya such a link was the Vision Serpent.
Maya mythology describes serpents as being the vehicles by which celestial bodies, such as the sun and stars cross the heavens. The shedding of their skin made them a symbol of rebirth and renewal. Thus the Vision Serpent could intercommunicate and speak to the gods on behalf of someone who is requesting to know a piece of the future.
But to gain the aid of the Vision Serpent was no easy matter. It would have to be brought forth in a ceremony that opened the door between the physical and the spirit world.
 Maya blood ritual Maya mythology states that in the beginning, the gods themselves had sacrificed parts of their own divine blood to give life to man. Therefore, human blood was partly made up of the blood of the gods. In order to ask the gods to reveal a snippet of the future, the Maya believed that blood had to be given back to the gods.
Such a ceremony required the use of a Maya pottery vessel that had been purified. Such pottery vessels were usually decorated with passages describing the roles of the gods and Maya ancestors. In preparation for calling the Vision Serpent, burning ambers and copal (a tree resin believed to be the blood of trees) would be placed in the vessel.
The Vision Serpent was brought forth by soaking paper strips with blood from a self inflicted wound and placing the paper strips upon the ashes of the burning amber and copal. The act of burning the sacrificed blood symbolized the transfer of the offering from a human to the gods via the rising smoke.
From this smoke the serpent appeared. Its image would emanate from the pottery vessel in the rising smoke and tower over the one who called it forth. It is at this point that the caller should hear……”he who calls me forth…… what is the answer you seek from the gods”?
Tizimin further states, “Be not surprised by what you learn; the act of asking to learn the future does not require the revelation to be what you would want it to be. The truth will remain the truth”.
View Mayan Pottery
A few of the surviving Maya codices and Mayan pottery pieces give hints concerning the Maya Law Code.
 Maya Law Code The Maya seemed to have imposed harsh and immediate penalties on those who committed crimes. Adultery and murder were considered especially heinous.
An obvious distinction between our view today concerning those who commit crimes and how the ancient Maya saw this matter concerns human free will. The Maya did not believe that bad things could happen by accident; they viewed every event as the fulfillment of patterns. These patterns had been set in motion by the gods.
A hunter who killed another man by accident in the forest was just as guilty of murder as a man who killed another in a quarrel in front of other witnesses. The unfortunate dead hunter must have been elected by the gods to meet his end. The perpetrator thus must have displeased the gods in some manner.
Similarly, a person who lost or damaged someone else’s belongings by accident was treated as if he or she had done the deed with intent and was required to compensate the victim immediately.
The punishment for murder was death. The murderer was placed in stocks and put to death by the relatives of the person he had killed. Indeed a fitting punishment was required to “neutralize” the harm that had been done.
Those who had no wealth of their own with which to pay compensation faced slavery. But once the debt was paid off, the perpetrator would be freed.
A person caught stealing would be cast immediately into slavery to compensate the victim for his crime, but once the value of the theft was paid off, he was free to continue his life.
The Maya also had strict codes of conduct for protecting the jungle and the animals. It appears that killing an animal for no reason was seen akin to murder and subject to discipline.
Punishments seem to have been carried out immediately. And since the punishment was supposed to be fitting for the crime, the Maya did not keep jails.
Learn more on Mayan pottery and Mayan history
The Maya creation story is described in the Popol Vuh (a type of Maya bible). Scenes of creation are some of the most pictured in Mayan pottery and Codices. The Maya believed in a Holy Trinity as the sovereign creation being. Many of these creation scenes were enacted in religious ceremonies where shamans wore Mayan masks of the creation gods to re-live and honor those gods.
 Maya Creation Story in the Popol Vuh In Maya mythology, Tepeu and Kukulkan (the Plumed Serpent) are referred to as the Creators, the Makers, and the Forefathers. They were two of the first beings to exist. Collectively with a storm god named Huracan, are personified as a union or trinity of gods called the Maya called Heart-of-Sky.
Tepeu and Kukulkan hold a conference and decide to guide Huracan in the process of creating beings to worship them in order to preserve their legacy. Without this, they feel they would never be remembered and would therefore eventually die.
The gods begin by saying “Earth”, which appears immediately from the sea. The gods then speak the words, mountains and trees, and the trinity, Heart-of-Sky proclaims “our work is going well”.
Next for creation are the creatures of the forest: birds, deer, jaguars and snakes. They are told to multiply and scatter, and then to speak and “pray to us”. But the animals just squawk and howl and were thus banished forever to the forest.
So Heart-of-Sky tries to make more respectful creatures from mud. Thus, man is created first of mud. But the mud creatures just crumbled and dissolved away.
Other gods are summoned by Heart-of-Sky for advice. Man is next created of wood. But the wooden men had no soul, and they soon forgot their makers. They did not worship them. So Heart-of-Sky turned all of their possessions against them and brought a disastrous resinous rain down on their heads. The wooden people escape to the forests and were turned into monkeys.
Heart-of-Sky then makes yet another attempt at creating a suitably respectful race, and finally succeeds by fashioning humans out of maize-corn dough.
As such, the Maya believed that maize was not just the cornerstone of their diet, but they were also made of it. Finally modern man is formed and Heart-of-Sky’s work is accomplished.
Learn more on the stories in the Popol Vuh
 The Ancient Maya Empire We know so little about the ancient pre Columbian Maya. Only tiny amounts of their writings and wisdom have survived. Time, erosion and direct destruction have erased most of their ancient words. Indeed, what we know in general is limited to stone carvings and four surviving Maya Codices (original Maya books made from bark).
In one of the saddest episodes in Mesoamerica, thousands of the sacred codices of the Maya were burned by the Spanish priests and conquistadors. One Bishop Diego de Landa, wrote, ‘these people used certain letters with which they wrote in their books about ancient subjects. We found many books scripted with these letters and since they held nothing that was not falsehood and the work of the evil one, we burned them all’.
Today after countless work by many and some breakthroughs at understanding the meaning of what is left, we marvel at their advanced knowledge in astronomy, mathematics and their apparent ability to foretell the future. No telling what knowledge has been lost forever. Their writing system was original and based on phonetics like ours. And ancient Mayan art is beautiful, vibrant and today commonly used in Mexican style decor.
The pre Colombian Calendar of the Ancient Maya and their View of the cosmos
Ancient Mayan art and writing that has survived explains that the Maya believed in a cyclical nature of both time and celestial movements. Everything occurs more than once and continues to cycle in perpetual repetitious patterns. These patterns were inscribed in their calendars and used to look into the past or view the future.
Maya priests provided prophetic outlook based on the number relations to their ancient calendar and significant past dates such as a birth or a death. If the interpretations of the priests spelled bad times to come, offerings and sacrifices would be performed with the intention of satisfying the gods.
It is not known how the ancient Mayans being a Stone Age indigenous society acquired such exactness in measuring time. Their calendar is very precise, 1/10,000 of a day more accurate than the Gregorian calendar we currently use.
It is also unknown how the Mayans discovered celestial alignments and incorporated them into their pre Columbian pyramids. Indeed, many of their most important buildings were devoted to the calculation and transition of time.
Mayan Prophecy Accounts of 2012
 last page of Dresden Codex Incredibly the ancient Mayans were able to anticipate an astrological alignment that only occurs every 26,000 years. According to the surviving Dresden Codex, the Great Cycle of the Mayan Long Count Calendar (the fifth sun) ends on the winter solstice of December 21, 2012. This date happens to coincide exactly with the Earth’s and our sun’s alignment with what modern astronomers call the Great Rift. This Great Rift is a band of dark dust clouds located around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy from our vantage point on Earth. The ancient Mayans were aware of this Great Rift. They knew it as Xibalba-Be or “Black Road”. According to the Maya, this “Black Road” was the entrance to the underworld, a place of evil and misfortune.
The image portrayed in the last page of the Dresden Codex, shows the destruction of the world by water.
Learn more on the Maya 2012 prophecies
Little known is the Maya practice of auto sacrifice, or offering of one’s own blood. The Maya used a string threaded with thorns to cut their cheeks, lower lips, ears and tongues. They collected the dripping blood and smeared on images of the god or on their own body. Men also used sharp knives or the spines of stingrays to cut and draw blood from their penises for offering.
 Maya Blood Ritual Among the Maya, ritual bloodletting of this kind was reasoned a privilege and was performed by members of the nobility. At important times such as the passing from one calendar cycle to another, the king and his family would perform the ritual in honor of his ancestors and on behalf of himself, the city state and his people.
Although the Maya practiced a equivalent sacrificial rite as the Aztecs, by slicing open a victim’s chest and extracting the dripping heart to offer to the gods, they much preferred the rite of decapitation. This, they felt was necessary to feed the gods and keep the world alive. One priest oversaw the rite while four aged men known as “chacs” in honor of the Mayan rain god held the body of the victim on a sacrificial stone. A priest named the nacom cut open the victim’s chest and extracted the dripping heart to offer to the gods.
The Maya also sacrificed animals such as turkeys, dogs and on special occasions, jaguars. Jaguars were considered sacred and thus only sacrificed on occasions such as the ascension of a king or when a great calamity occurred that needed the intervention and easement from the gods themselves.
Mayan pottery and codices are replete with illustrations of the gods themselves performing blood rituals in this manner. Thus, man was expected to also perform them and feed the gods.
View Mayan pottery vessels used in rituals
With so much interest in the 2012 predictions the pre Columbian Maya left behind and the many interpretations being voiced in everything from television documentaries, movies and videos one must ask, what is their real meaning? This guide will furnish you with enough selective information to judge for yourself.
First, let’s consider
The civilization of the pre Columbian Mayan was and is one of the most advanced in relation to time-science knowledge.
Even now, the main calendar the Maya used is one of the most accurate on the planet. It is 1/10,000 of a day more accurate than even the Gregorian calendar we currently use.
The Maya used their calendar to describe time and then combined it with the development of human consciousness in all of its aspects and how man passes through it. Therefore, the Maya intended for their prophesies to represent not just a clock but a specific time combined with the condition of the human state at that time.
Surviving Pre Columbian artifacts and ancient Maya art display vivid images and writing in bold colors. Until recently their messages were considered unreadable because only four Maya books survive today. The rest were burnt by the Spanish conquistadors and priests during the conquest. To them, the pre Columbian Maya symbols and their meanings seemed evil.
 Dresden Codex The 2012 prophesies were recorded in what is known as the Dresden Codex (one of the four surviving books of the Maya) and a single monument in the Maya ruins of Tortuguero. Following is what we believe the Maya are saying:
We are now living in the “fifth sun” world. Earth entered the fifth sun on August 13, 3113 B.C.E. The four previous worlds were destroyed by natural disasters. The previous fourth sun was destroyed by a great flood and left only a few survivors. The Maya believe our ancestors were the surviving descendants of the fourth sun.
Incredibly the ancient Mayans were able to predict an astrological alignment that only occurs every 26,000 years. The Great Cycle of the pre Columbian Mayan Long Count Calendar (the fifth sun) ends on the winter solstice of December 21, 2012. This date happens to coincide exactly with our Sun’s alignment with the intersection point of what modern astronomers call the Great Rift. From our vantage point on Earth, this Great Rift is a band of dark dust clouds located near the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The ancient Maya were well aware of this Great Rift and even named it. They knew it as Xibalba-be or “Black Road”. According to the Maya, this “Black Road” was the entrance to the underworld, a place of evil and misfortune.
Even more interesting, present day astronomers believe this Great Rift is located near a massive Black Hole Star which is located at the center of our Milky Way galaxy.
The Maya believed that our sun, or Kinich-Ahau, every so often synchronizes with the center of our galaxy. And, from this center receives a spark of light which causes the sun to shine more intensely, hence the reference to “solar flares” from those describing possible apocalyptic scenarios.
According to the Maya, this process allows our galaxy to “breathe” and is part of ongoing cycles that never change. From these predictions stem the endless possible outcomes that are quoted on articles and television programs. It is very probable that other Maya codices explained these predictions further, but unfortunately we will never know. During the Spanish conquest of the Americas, one Bishop Diego de Landa, wrote, ‘These people used certain letters with which they wrote in their books about ancient subjects. We found many books written with these letters and since they held nothing that was not falsehood and the work of the evil one, we burned them all’.
Since then there were different predictions about the end of the world . Many of them try and be specific and they finish up being disapproved by the virtue of the Earth continuing to be there. Others havent been proved already one way or the other, as a consequence of their dates havent reached yet. 2012 prophecies are among the second group.
In the non-internet world there’s some talk about the 2012 predictions. Online however is where the discussion has its most supporters. Each Internet forum appears to have at least one thread about 2012 drawing in numerous posters and contributors who are attracted to such concepts and ideas. Additionally there are a rising number of internet sites dedicated to the topic.
The Mayan 2012 predictions provide no details as to how the world will end. Simply put , December twenty-one, 2012 is the date that Mayan calendar ends so many Mayan-prophecy advocates take that as a suggestion that the world will end on that date.
The particular details of the world’s end change dependent on who is looking at the information. Some believe the end will be brought about by a natural disaster, others think it might be less literal and more the end of the planet as we all know it versus the absolute end of the world. Some prediction followers feel that the change will come about with the predicted alignment of the galaxy, an once in a 28,600 year occurence, on December 12th, 2012.
It doesn’t specific mention that skeptic folk are abundant in number. Though a lot of Mayan prophecies have turned out to be true, some skeptic folk have cited many logical inconsistencies so far as 2012 forecast is concerned . Their disagreements include an easy thing like that Mayan scholars could have not found enough time to bring out a new calendar due to end of Mayan culture. Another discussion is that the set periods of Mayan calendar covered a period more than a modern year of twelve months and it may have 2012 as the year. Their opinion is that ending of Mayan calendar in 2012 is of no importance.
As with many predictions, there are arguments for and against every aspect. The only way to be sure of the result, unfortunately , is to wait it out till 2012.
we will only hope that 2012 will pass without any incident. However , due to the fact that there are several catastrophies envisioned, you need to learn how to prepare yourself for year 2012. To learn how to survive 2012 visit Year 2012.
The Mayan Calendar has left us with an extreme puzzle. Acadamia, science and the clergy have worked long over the query as to the reasons why the calendar was extrapolated into the 21st century and why, on December 21st, 2012, it brusquely ends?
Writers are picking up on the subject as rumination and ideas are rising. From a systematic viewpoint, the prediction is nothing less than clinical. Around the date December 21, 2012, the galaxy will be totally aligned, an event with a reappearance of 26,000 years. Nobody really knows the implication of this, though many have theorized that there’ll be massive influence on our weather systems, quakes will be induced, volcanoes will erupt and tsunamis will be in force.
A more realistic prediction, based on what them planet has been forced to endure during the past, is that it will very probably see this thru.
The effect on population is not clear to any one at that point. However , it is believed by science that the Mayan Calendar, which is based on a 26,000 year cycle, will return to the start of its cycle.
Acadamia has remained outside of the argument but confesses to the difficulty as “interesting.” On the other hand, faith has offered some stunning hypotheses that range all the way from the gloomy to the quintessential age for humankind.
The Bible points towards a war of good and evil preceeding the “end of days.” The followers of Christ will do battle with the legions of devil. The victor will seize Earth and all its inhabitants.
A more optimistic rendering is that mankind will enter the 7th day of creation, or the “Sabbath Rest.” This speculation is set up on the concept that “God made the heavens and the Earth in 6 days and rested on the 7th day.” Theologists maintain that “God’s day” is, in fact, 26,000 of our years. To compute that even 6 of the Lord God’s days doesn’t equal the life of our planet is to blindly say that the Almighty worked his magic on consecutive days.
With the impending advent of this cycle on December 21st, 2012, a belief is held that we will be entering this seventh day. This “day of rest”, or “Sabbath Rest” will begin a season of peace for humankind.
Malevolent and sickness will be deposed and Christ will return to lead his folk. Many espouse the idea that the dead will return to take part in this heavenly reward.
With 2 and years to contemplate the situation, it’s going to be “interesting” attempting to pick which debate will survive.
Armageddon 2012?? Learn The FULL Truth And find out how to Survive 2012!
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