Future Memories on Mayan Pyramids
Photo by Ryan Hayashi
3.5 minute read
We are living in uncertain times. As technology is advancing faster than ever before, so is the environmental devastation on our planet. The Mayan civilization has existed long before our current one, and it may provide an understanding of what humanity is facing. While a modern-day Eurocentric perspective has seen this culture as inferior to ours, that notion is far beyond inaccurate.
People all over the world continually keep track of important dates for themselves and their communities by using calendars. The Maya were highly advanced astronomers and had multiple calendar systems based on both immediate and long term cycles. In this culture, there are day keepers, who are extremely skilled in the field of mathematics and responsible for complex systems of tacking the concept of time.
Today there exits a variety of information about the Maya that differs vastly in its content and accuracy. When Europeans arrived in Central America, they found great libraries of ancient Mayan books and calendars. Unfortunately the Europeans, filled with greed and foolishness to conquer the Mayan lands, burned almost all of the material they found.
The good news is that the tremendous intelligence and practice of the Maya are alive today in the living people. Daykeepers have kept the wisdom alive through mentor disciple bonds, passing on practices through a living relationship.
I have met several Mayan Daykeepers in my movements through the US, Guatemala, Mexico, and Belize. All of them have been admirable, humble, and mysterious. It was as if they wanted to appear normal, but beyond their appearance, through their eyes I could see an entire other universe of understanding pouring from their soul.
Recently I was in Central America in the country of Belize in a 4x4 Jeep driving down a half-finished dirt road into the jungle. My destination was the Caracol pyramid, a recently uncovered ruin located south of Xunantunich on the foothills of the Maya Mountains.
After an entire day of driving, I arrived to an empty parking lot. There was one park ranger working who told me the park was going to close soon and was hesitant to let me in. After convincing him otherwise, I quickly walked through the main entrance through the tallest pyramids. My intuition led me to the back of the ruins to one particular building on the edge of the jungle.
I climbed hastily to the top of the pyramid I felt drawn to (in the photo) and immediately dropped to the ground. I took some cacao and tobacco from my medicine pouch and offered a prayer to the infinite energy that has flowed from the site from time before beginning.
Then I took out a dose of rapé, an Amazonian plant medicine used to release stuck negative energy from the mind and concentrate the body and soul. Sitting Japanese style I closed my eyes and bowed down to the entrance of the portal. As my forehead kissing the ground I entered a profound state.
There was a small space between my ribs where my spirit began to drift, traveling past the door and quickly down the center of the pyramid to an underwater entrance. A flash of the people who lived in Caracol and all that has ever existed there rapidly appeared in front of me as if I was standing in a whirlwind of memories. A digital map appeared in me, I saw where all the fresh water was located in the so-called "ruins" of these pyramids that are connected across Central America.
My entire being began to tremble and I burst out in tears. Shaking on the ground, still in Japanese position, I felt like I had awakened from a deep sleep. I slowly sat up and spoke out loud, "now is the time for The Roots Awaken." Right now is the time for the ancient memories to awake to protect the water and all life on planet earth.
That day I brought forth a future memory on the Mayan pyramid. As I walked back to my Jeep in the parking lot I was filled with great joy. I passed two giant ceiba trees, their leaves began to shake in the wind greeting me as I passed by them. There was a deep calmness and sense of peace in my soul.
Despite the uncertain times and the environmental destruction happening on our planet, there is a great deal of hope that is alive in people today. Walking around in a normal appearance, most of us wouldn't be able to tell the difference. However, if you slow down and take a moment to pause you might just see in the eyes of humans an entrance to infinity.
Written by Kumiko Hayashi - kumiko@therootsawaken.com