November/December 2008 Spirituality
Return of the Maya Goddesses

by Leonide Martin

The Maya calendar ends in 2012, according to calculations based on Izapan astronomy. Many ask what this means for our endangered planet's future. Can the Maya guide us through a shift of ages that will bring expanded consciousness and greater global harmony?

According to Gregg Braden, 2012 is a cosmic gateway when it is "easier for us to choose a new way of seeing ourselves in the universe and a new way of being."

Ancient traditions predict the world as we know it will change, with shifts in electromagnetic fields, climate and continental shapes. Shifts in polarities include changed relationships between masculine and feminine forces, evidenced by the widespread reawakening of goddess spirituality. The Maya calendar caught the public's attention as a marker of global changes, and the Maya goddesses are returning into our awareness as guides to navigating these changes.

The Maya calendar has the unique ability to track vast cycles. The current great cycle of 5,125 years and the approximately 26,000-year precession of the equinoxes are both ending in 2012. This event is marked by a rare alignment of the Earth and our solar system with the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

The galactic center may be the creative source for everything in our galaxy. At winter solstice 2012, the sun will rise through the dark rift directly aligned to the center of the Milky Way (in Maya latitudes). According to Maya symbolism, this means the union of father sun with the galactic mother's birth canal, bringing forth a new era - the birth of new sun/son.

This cosmic rebirth has spurred interest in Maya goddesses. The Maya have a profound goddess tradition. IxChe'el is the best-known Maya goddess in her form as great goddess of the moon, herbs, childbirth and nature. She is called mother rainbow and rules over water, rain, seas and all liquids. Her body is the sacred temple of nature and she pours her energy on to the earth to give life and make plants grow. She is the "third aspect of the mother," and the first is IxKanLeox the infinite womb of the universe-Milky Way, and the second is IxAzalUoh the inner divine mother, weaver of our life and symbol of spirit within.

In the Maya book of creation, the Popul Vuh, the creator gods seek help from the grandmother IxMukane in order to successfully create proper humans. Called heart of the Earth, transformer of energies released on Earth, this goddess of great antiquity handles the cosmic ages of the planet in accord with the cycles of time, and represents the powers of transformation and evolution. She oversees the history of humans on Earth, our personal and planetary destiny.

Carved inscriptions on stone monuments (stela) show that the Maya calendar tracks vast time cycles, going back billions of years. Scientists still puzzle over the origins of this immense time measure, which required astronomical knowledge far beyond the capacity of early civilization. Theories propose that the calendar came from cosmic sources (ET intelligences) or from highly developed Earth civilizations that subsequently disappeared. Either theory causes us to rethink Earth history and evolution.

Most cultures carry memory traces of a golden age, when Earth was a paradise. The planet was in harmony, masculine and feminine forces were perfectly balanced, the climate gentle, food abundant and people lived close to nature, but this paradise was subsequently lost. Recent archeological research found evidence of global maritime civilizations spread widely across the world in prediluvian times. They had advanced technologies, navigated oceans, built great cities and followed goddess spiritual practices.

These high civilizations were destroyed in a well-documented global cataclysm around 9500 BC, described in myths about "the Flood." Traces of their culture were left by survivors in the Shanidar cave of Jericho, the Gerzean/Nagada cultures on the Nile, early Minoans on Crete and Catal Huyuk in Turkey. Archeologists date these sites around 8000 to 6000 BC, and suggest they were sources for cultures that "suddenly appeared" around 3000 BC in Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Indus valley.

Ancestors of the Maya during the golden age knew the catastrophe was coming. Evidence of astronomical knowledge including use of telescopes was found on engraved stones from Ica, a culture from the Nasca Plain of Peru that may be over 15,000 years old. An explosion of supernova Vela around 11,000 years ago sent fragments through our solar system, causing the global cataclysm.

Ancient astronomers gave forewarning and master teachers went to habitable areas including Egypt, Tibet and the Americas. A master called Itzamna brought this culture to Yucatan. Contemporary Maya elders say their people originated in Atlantiha (Atlantis) and the "god" Itzamna founded their first cities.

Itzamna is linked to the feminine deity IxChe'el. Most ancient deities were paired, recognizing the need for balancing male and female qualities. As the high civilizations along with goddess spirituality declined, the world became unbalanced and masculine power grew. Over 4,000 years of patriarchal dominance has damaged the planet's ecological balance, causing human oppression, warfare, climate change, pollution and species extinction.

This critical time was predicted by many indigenous cultures, from Maya to Hopi to Inca. We are at a turning point in the evolution of the planet. The feminine force must bring the world into balance. Indigenous wisdom guides us to attain this balance and live in harmony with nature. Women and men seek the return of the goddess into contemporary societies.

Now is the time to activate the sacred feminine in ourselves and in the Mayalands, for the cycle is closing. Those who hear will summon forth the inner feminine, honor sacred female forces and make choices to balance polarities.

Leonide Martin is a Maya solar initiate and fire woman living in Merida, Mexico. She does programs on Maya wisdom, goddesses and calendars, and is author of Dreaming the Maya Fifth Sun. Visit www.mayafifthsun.com.