Mayan Prophecies - Tapa dura

For centuries, wise men of the Mayan civilisation of Central America devoted themselves to predicting the movements of celestial bodies and amassing a body of revelations about the future. At the winter solstice in 2012 their prophecies will come to fruition: this is when, according to the chilam (time-keeper priests), the current epoch of time will come to an end. One way to interpret this is in terms of looming apocalypse; but a more thoughtful way is to look at human thinking and behaviour and consider how they can be revolutionised to usher in a new and more balanced way of living. The Mayan Prophecies presents twenty-one predictions based on original Mayan texts, each fully explained and beautifully illustrated. From the prophecy of energy release at the 26,000-year galactic syncronisation climax to the possibility that humankind itself may be the living prophecy of which all the prophecies speak, the urgent message is not cataclysm but challenge. The book's starting-point is a detailed overview of Mayan science, belief and ritual. We learn how the Mayans saw their own time and the time to come. Their astronomical understanding was highly advanced: they were the only civilisation in antiquity to know that the morning star and the evening star were one and the same (Venus). This book takes us right to the heart of the Mayan world-view and shows how it can be seen as the foundation-stone for a new way of thinking about our planet, our survival and our well-being.

Gerald Benedict is an expert in comparative religious philosophy and the author of The Mayan Prophecies for 2012 (Watkins, 2008).