Another Tzolkin Take
Considerations from the Perspective of the
Traditional Mayan Calendar
Marguerite Paquin, PhD

With increasing public awareness that the "end-date" of the centuries-old Mayan calendar is currently close at hand, speculations abound concerning the timing and meanings associated with this event. 

The issue of "timing" with regard to correlation between the Mayan and Gregorian calendars has been the subject of controversy for much of the 20th century.  Close examination of the history of Mesoamerican archaeology and hieroglyphic decipherment reveals that after many years of in-depth research based on evidence found in surviving pre-Columbian manuscripts and inscriptions on monuments, agreement on the correlation was reached - to within two days.  In academic circles this is commonly known as the GMT and the GMT + 2.  In the early 1980's it was discovered that the GMT (representing the work of Goodman, Martinez, and Thompson) matched the Tzolkin count still in use by Guatemalan daykeepers, whose ancestors have kept the count going, unbroken, for at least 3000 years. 

Decipherment has also shown that through the use of this correlation it is possible to access and explore a variety of time-oriented cycles.  These cycles include the Tzolkin (the sacred "Count of Days" that forms the basis for all Mesoamerican calendrical systems), the Haab (a 365 day cycle involving 18 months of 20 days plus a shorter period of 5 days), the 52 year Calendar Round, and the Long Count (a multi-layered system for tracking and recording large cycles of time).  The 4 AHAU end date (which correlates as December 21, 2012 using the GMT and December 23, 2012 using the two day variant) completes the current Great Cycle of 5200 Long Count years.  This GMT is sometimes referred to as the Classical count, since it ties in with inscriptions found in great Classical-era cities such as Tikal.  John Major Jenkins, an astrologer/researcher who has worked with Mayan calendrics for many years and has spent time among the Quiche Maya of Guatemala, terms this, the "True" Count. 

With so much evidence available to support the traditional classical correlation, one might ask why controversy in this area still exists.  To find the answer, we have to look at the original source of the problem - the Spanish Conquest. 

In the early 1500's thousands of books and monuments were destroyed in an effort to replace pre-Columbian belief systems with those of the invaders.  Once it was realized that valuable knowledge was being destroyed efforts were made to retrieve some of this information, resulting in attempts to "regulate" the Tzolkin in terms of its correlation with the Julian calendar that was in place at the time.  In the late 1500's the Gregorian adjustment was made and confusion about how to deal with the leap year resulted in a "freezing" of Maya new year dates in many parts of the country.  Whenever a Gregorian leap year occurred, Tzolkin days were counted twice - which was never done within the traditional system.  The whole point of the Mayan calendar is to count every day in continuing cycles, to reflect the cycling of energies imbedded in the calendar.  Since many of these adjustments originated in the Yucatan, and have been noted in documents written shortly after the conquest, many individuals and organizations located in this area still use this re-aligned system.  This "adjusted" dating is also reflected in Jose Arguelles' "Dreamspell" game, which many people assume to be "the Mayan Calendar."  However, because these "frozen" systems have been found to be considerably out-of-sync with the traditional unbroken Tzolkin, and are completely incompatible with the more intricate calendrical cycles of the Long Count, these broken systems are no longer considered in the context of serious archaeological research and decipherment. 

With this clarified we can now look at dates pertinent to John Mirehiel's "discovery" from the perspective of the traditional Mayan calendar. 

The August 27th, 1998 date of the "magnetar" was 13 OC, which has been connected, mythologically, with the energy that created time itself, including the days and months of the ancient calendar.  The following day, August 28th, 1998, when John's "discovery" was made, was 1 CHUEN, which is still celebrated as "One Batz, the Day of the Monkey" by many Guatemala Maya.  Maya mythology places 1 MONKEY (CHUEN/BATZ) in the center of the "Tree of Life" represented by the Tzolkin.  In this position CHUEN reflects the great creation forces of the universe, since this was thought to be the day of cosmogenesis itself.  So Maya mythology tells us that as the day 13 OC was turning into the day 1 CHUEN (echoing the timing of the magnetar followed by the John's "discovery") time was created, along with heaven and earth. 

It is interesting to note how close these dates tie in with John Major Jenkins's research into the timing of the great galactic alignment that he has described so eloquently in his books "Maya Cosmogenesis 2012" (published in 1998) and "Galactic Alignment" (published in 2002).  In these texts Jenkins vividly shows how the end-date of the Maya calendar reflects the rare alignment of the December solstice sun with the center of our Milky Way galaxy.  He then ties this in with the 25,800 year precession cycle that can also be seen as a "Great Cycle" from the perspective of the Maya Long Count.  Although the specific calendrical end-date for this current "Great Cycle" is December 21, 2012, Jenkins points out that the U.S.  Naval Observatory calculated October 27th, 1998 as the date when this alignment actually occurred.  He also notes a number of factors that might add (or subtract) a few years from this date.  In any case, if we take the October 27th date as the date of alignment we can see that this was precisely two months after the date of the magnetar.  As it turns out October 27th, 1998 was also a CHUEN day. 

So now we can look at the November 8th, 2003 lunar eclipse date, which correlates with the Tzolkin day 1 MULUC, the daysign of Water.  Maya mythology provides important clues.  Water, the Source of Life, was seen as containing the life force of the universe.  It was deeply connected with creation imagery and with ideas that linked the great creator deity, Itzamna, with the great "dew road" known as the Milky Way.  Itzamna, the Yucatec creator grandfather, was thought of as the "wizard of water" who gave birth to life on earth.  He was also seen as patron of the calendar.  The Moon Goddess, the Yucatec creator grandmother, through her influence on all earth-bound bodies of water, was also strongly associated with the energy of MULUC.  Her energy is repeated in the number "1" that accompanies the daysign MULUC on this date.  Since the day 1 MULUC begins a trecena (period of 13 days) the influence of "water" (often associated with purification) would be felt throughout this time frame.  This 1 MULUC date is also a key 52 day "shift-point" within the overall Tzolkin cycle. 

November 9th, 2003 translates as 2 OC, with the energy of "2" providing the dynamic yin/yang energy that drives evolution (reflecting the oppositions that can be seen in the Grand Sextile pattern in the Harmonic Concordance chart).  The daysign OC is the energy of the guardian DOG, emblematic of the "fire of faith and love" that can lead one out of the darkness and into the light.  (Remember that the magnetar also occurred on an OC day.) 

It is also interesting to note that 7 cycles of the 260 day Tzolkin plus 79 days (6 trecenas + 1 day) unfold from the date of the magnetar to the lunar eclipse date of November 8th, 2003. 

Although no definitive information is available to address the question of "what happens" at the end of this current Great Cycle of the Mayan calendar, a long range retrospective view of the evolution of Grand Cycles of time coupled with speculations of contemporary visionaries suggest that we are coming to the end of a period of darkness, which will be followed by a new "age of light."  Indeed, Maya inscriptions that project several hundred years beyond the current end-date suggest that this is not "the end", but rather a time for significant new beginnings.  It will be interesting to see how the energies unfold. 

General References:

Brennan, Martin, The Hidden Maya.  Santa Fe, N.M.: Bear & Co, (1998).
Coe, Michael, Breaking the Maya Code.  London: Thames & Hudson, (1992).
Edmonson, Munro The Book of the Year: Middle American Calendrical Systems.  University of Utah Press, (1988).
Jenkins, John Major  Maya Cosmogenesis 2012: The True Meaning of the Maya Calendar End-Date.  Santa Fe, N.M.: Bear & Co., (1998).
Jenkins, John Major, Galactic Alignment.  Rochester, Vermont: Bear & Co., (2002).
Leon-Portilla, Miguel,  Time and Reality in the Thought of the Maya.  University of Oklahoma Press, (1988).