Maya, Ancient & Today | Carol Chapman

Mayan Elder Hunbatz Men Speaks about 2012 –

This is a quote from a letter sent from Hunbatz Men, Mayan Elder in the Itza tradition to Colin Andrews who is co-author of The Idiot’s Guide to 2012. It appears that, according to Hunbatz Men, 2012 is not an issue for native Maya.

the belief of
the year 2012 was invented by the American archaeologist Eric Thompson when he visited
the archaeological site of COBA, Mexico. He claimed he found that information in that place.

Mayan Elders Speak about 2012 – Authors of Idiots Guide to 2012

2012 Movies

I’ve been looking up 2012 movies to see how they compare with the one I’m working on. To my surprise, I’ve seen trailers for 2012 movies with what appears to be Tibetan Monks, something about the dead coming alive, a talking head movie of a young guy with such poor audio I can hardly hear what he’s saying who is denouncing the whole thing as a scam to make money, another talking head view of young man speaking at a conference.

Isn’t 2012 about December 21, 2012, the end of the Long Count Calendar of the ancient Maya? It appears as if there are few 2012 movies about the Maya people, ancient and modern, of Mexico. That’s what my 2012 movie is about.

Carol Chapman —

Where to find happiness?

Here’s an interesting observation as a result of my interview with 2012 expert Robert K. Sitler, Ph.D. He told me how he’s always sad when he comes back to the US from Guatemala or Yucatan where he’s been visiting with modern-day Maya.

I said, “Did I hear you right? Aren’t they very poor and live in one-room mud and wattle houses? Shouldn’t you be happy to get back to civilization?”

He said that I had heard him right. He is sad because they have such a richness of spirit, family and intimacy. In comparison, returning to the US feels cold, lonely and as if most people are depressed. He said that many modern-day Maya are very happy even though they have little material possessions. He said that their children are also very happy even though they don’t have toys but only use natural objects like stones and sticks for fanciful play. They also revere the natural world in which they live.

Here’s my experience. On my way down to the Winter Star Party, every restaurant where we stopped that also had a gift shop, I wanted to buy something such as marble Easter eggs, bowls with rabbits painted on them, and stuffed bunnies for Easter. We decided to buy these items on the way home from our week of star gazing.

However, after the friendship, conviviality of fellow amateur astronomers as well as living in nature in a rustic cabin – we also lived by nature’s rhythms since we couldn’t use electricity after dark to preserve our night vision – I felt so content within myself that on the way home from the Winter Stay Party, all the things I thought I needed and wanted to buy meant nothing to me.

Was it because of the intimacy, friendship and closeness to nature – the way the Maya live – that I did not need things to make me happy?

Very interesting is all I can say!

Carol Chapman —

2012 Movie Includes Dr. Robert K. Sitler

Yesterday, I had a delightful interview with Robert K. Sitler, Ph. D., Director of Latin American Studies at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. I first learned of Dr. Sitler from his excellent article, “2012 and the Maya World” in the book, The Mystery of 2012.

Dr. Sitler has visited and studied the Maya for over 30 years and brings direct knowledge of their culture and their perspectives on 2012. It was a great interview – about an hour and half in length – which I can incorporate in my 2012 movie.

Thank you, Dr. Sitler.

Carol Chapman —

Readers Write Re: Merc. Retro & Twin Souls

MERCURY RETROGRADE FEEDBACK

I felt happy to receive the following email showing that I’m not the only one diverting my energy into organizing and cleaning during this Mercury Retrograde:

“I feel like there is so much I am suppose to be doing of great significance…and am sitting here getting organized…and keep asking myself…”What’s the point of getting all this stuff done..??” Thanks for the message. I shall plunge forward !!”

Is anyone else feeling the effects of Mercury Retrograde perhaps with travel delays or communications misunderstands?

TWIN SOULS STORY OF THE WITCH AND THE SORCERER DWARF

I enjoyed emails about twin souls. It is such a fascinating subject and one that resonates with many of us. Here are excerpts from two interesting emails with insightful views:

“In the desire for God to be part of ‘physicality’ the one had to become two—since we incarnate into a plane of duality. . . . A physical plane of manifestation requires a ‘binding’ to it. By being a part of it, we become dual expressions; physical and spiritual.”

and

“I was told back in the 50’s that the monads from a intuitive psychic level, look like light beings that are shaped like walnuts standing on end; they are four sections of them. the Twin souls that incarnate and the Twin alchemical mates which make up our super consciousness beings.”

I feel grateful and happy to receive wonderful emails such as these three. Please feel free to write to me or to comment on my blog at http://www.CarolChapmanLive.com.

Carol Chapman —

The Legend of the Sorcerer Dwarf – Part 2

The Witch and the Sorcerer

In Arrival of the Gods in Egypt, I wrote about the sorcerer dwarf on page 154 saying that “I interviewed Santiago Domingez, a modern-day Maya whose family has lived for generations close to Uxmal. He told me the story, handed down from his grandparents, of the witch. She was lonely. Therefore, she took an egg and hatched out of it a dwarf who became her companion.”

I had heard this story before. Possibly I read it in a guidebook or read it in a book about the Maya. In the stories I had read, there was no mention of the witch being lonely. These stories would just proclaim that this witch decided to hatch a dwarf out of an egg which sounded like some nonsensical story fabricated by primitive people to make sense of their world.

However, when I heard the story from Santiago, I saw that the legend had a deeper meaning. Santiago said that the witch was lonely and that it was her loneliness that caused her to hatch the dwarf out of the egg. The story became a creation story on a par with the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Adam was also lonely and had his companion, Eve, was created in an amazing manner.

In Arrival of the Gods in Egypt, I continued by referring to Edgar Cayce’s concept of twin souls. I believe the egg represents the primordial soul that becomes two twin souls.

This legend of the witch and dwarf sorcerer refers to that time when single souls separated into twins. The witch and the dwarf are the twin souls.

While in Yucatan this December, I talked again with Santiago. It was good to see him. I wanted to make sure that I photographed the correct stone carving of the dwarf when I visited Uxmal last January. He assured me that I had. However, he said that researchers at the Uxmal archeological zone said that the carving his grandparents described as the dwarf was actually supposed to be the king. I told Santiago that I took more stock in the traditions of his grandparents than a modern-day researcher’s opinions. Santiago said that since the dwarf became the king it made sense that the carving of the king could also be the dwarf.

I had good reasons for supporting the long-lasting traditions of Santiago’s traditional grandparents. Last January, when we visited Uxmal, we stayed for the nighttime Sound and Light show. To my great disappointment, there was no mention of the Legend of the Sorcerer Dwarf and the Witch. Instead, they told a fabricated story about young men of one village vying for a Mayan princess’s hand or something along that line.

It was a simple story that had nothing to do with the magnificent ruins of Uxmal which reverberate with intrinsic mystery because the main pyramid is named the Pyramid of the Sorcerer or as Santiago calls it, “Piramide de Adivino” and there is also a ruin named the Witch’s House.

Santiago said it also made him sad that the traditional legends were not included in the Sound and Light show.

Definitely disappointing.

Carol Chapman —

The Mayan Legend of the Sorcerer Dwarf – Part 1

OK, so where was I?

Oh yeah, now I remember. I was about to tell you the Legend of the Sorcerer Dwarf . . . but then, Christmas came along and everything stopped for a while.

I hope you had a wonderful time during the Holidays, whether you celebrated it traditionally with family and friends or quietly at home by yourself enjoying the time to relax or any other way.

I am always amazed at how everything so quickly gets back to normal. For me, after all the running around doing last minute gift shopping, going to parties, preparing many meals and wrapping presents, suddenly, it is all over and everything returns to just the way it was.

Well, almost. There is still that warm rosey glow that lingers after being together with loved ones.

So, now, back to the Sorcerer Dwarf. It is this legend that originally brought me years ago to the archeological ruins at Uxmal in the Mexican State of Yucatan.

Edgar Cayce’s trance source said that citizens of Atlantis had established colonies in Yucatan in anticipation of their homeland being destroyed by earthquakes. But, where in the Yucatan had the Atlanteans settled?

I figured that wherever Atlanteans had been, a residual myth or legend would pervade the region handed down through the generations.

This legend would also had to have a magnificent flavor to it similar to the legends surrounding the construction of the Great Pyramid in Egypt, which I believe was also constructed, at least partially, by Atlanteans.

For example, as I wrote on page 149 in When We Were Gods, “There is an ancient Arab legend that says that the [great] pyramids were built by supernatural beings called the jinn, entities who could enter animal bodies and even stones.”

So, here’s the legend of the Sorcerer Dwarf. It makes the outrageous claim that the sorcerer dwarf built the main Uxmal pyramid in one night. Now, if that isn’t a legend derived from Atlantis, I don’t know what is!

Because it has rounded sides and is oval rather than square, this pyramid is also the most unusual pyramid in the Yucatan and perhaps in the world.

The Very

Unusual

Pyramid of

the Sorcerer

Uxmal

Yucatan

Carol Chapman —

A continuing article from Carol Chapman’s emailed Newsletters.

Sorcerer Dwarf Legend in SW U.S.

I’ve heard from a reader that evidently there is a legend of the sorcerer dwarf among the Anasazi people of the American Southwest. I wonder if the Anaszi legend of the sorcerer dwarf is derived from the legend of the same name in the Yucatan. Edgar Cayce said that the people of the Yucatan traveled to the U.S. Southwest. If so, they would have brought their stories of their beginnings and the stories of their far distant past with them.

Carol Chapman —

The Legend of the Sorcerer Dwarf

I chose the Puuc Route because of the legend of the sorcerer dwarf, a legend which young Miguel Uc . . . with occasional promptings from his mother . . . was about to tell me, in Mayan, on camera.

Carol Chapman —

Why the Puuc Route?

So, the big question is: Why the Puuc Route?

If I could be searching for information on the Maya, ancient and today, anywhere else in the Yucatan Peninsula, why was the Puuc Route so important to me?

Why not Chichen Itza, which was also in the state of Yucatan? Why not the beautiful citadel ruin at Tulum or the mysterious ruins at Coba, both of which were in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo? Or what about the relatively undiscovered huge archeological site of Calakmul in the state of Campeche?

For that matter, why not Guatemala or Belize? These countries are also in the Yucatan Peninsula. And they speak English in Belize.

Carol Chapman —

Archive