Mayans had a very keen understanding of their surrounding energies and their universe. Their religious concept was formed on the notion that everything in the world, animated and in-animated, contained divine life force of existence and for that reason it was considered sacred. They had a greater awareness of life itself without being influenced by the concept of time in a linear fashion.
Mayans perceived the concept of the structure of the universe as being the product of specific time cycles done at different stages that influenced the growth of consciousness within the same universe. Their concept of life, death, and afterlife was understood as one single and unbreakable ring.
Mayans had a configuration of the universe as an entity divided into 3 layers:
-Heaven was at the top and was divided into 13 levels and ruled by 13 gods (Ox'La'Hun'Ticu). It was arranged as a pyramid with earth as the second layer.
-Earth was the base of this pyramid concept and consisted in only one level and where humans lived and nowhere else.
-Underworld (Xi'Bal'Ba) layer was a subterranean world and was divided in 9 levels to which souls were taken after death and was ruled by the Bol'On'Tiku.
The pyramid of life was thought of as spiritual mountains with everything happening and changing and growing in-between the heavens above, the source of creation and the underworld as the place where everything done in earth had an accountability for the next cycle of life.
At the very top of the celestial pyramid was the supreme god, Itz'Amna, balancing the energies between the levels of the universe. It was depicted as a squinty-eyed, long-nosed old man.
Hura"Can, another significant god, was often referred to as the Heart of Heaven, Heart of Sky, or Heart of Earth.
The tree identified as Yaax-Che (Ceiba) was considered sacred and served as a connection between the 3 worlds, because of the hollow spaces some trees have in their trunks and its long roots and branches. It was believed that many of the mythological characters that went down to the Underworld did it through the log of a tree.
Each of the 9 levels of the Underworld are represented horizontally in Mayan pyramids. Just as the levels are seen becoming progressively smaller as they tier towards the top, so it is the amount of time in each level that becomes shorter in duration as they are hierarchical in nature.
The number 13 comes into play at each level to determine their length of time. The number is a direct reference to 7 days or 7 lords of creation and 6 nights of divine action which constitute the 13 heavens. The number 13 played a significant role throughout Mayan calendar mathematics and how they calculated very large blocks of time. The longest time-cycle was called "Habla'Tun" and each one totaled 460''800'000,000 days equalling 1.26 billion years.
Thirteen Habla'Tuns made up the first underworld (the initial creation cycle) with a total duration of 13 times of 1.26 billion years equalling 16.4 billion years. Subsequent Underworlds became shorter in duration increasing the frequency of change, yet each level of consciousness attained was raised dramatically within shorter periods of time.
The Mayans set the beginning date of the Long Count Calendar to correspond with the solar zenith in Izapa in Southern Mexico, so the end will be when it reaches the Zero Point according to the spiritual concept of growth in consciousness that interacts in the 3 levels of existence. This emphasizes the significance the Mayans placed on days lived in the world of the living and how each one had its importance because it represented specific energies acting in the whole universe determining the future of its own demise. This is the reason why Mayans conveyed the expression that in the end of creation time will cease to exist as we know it.
Mayan gods were fluid and had diverse personalities that made difficult for them to distinguish one god from another. Some deities even had conflicting personality traits. The multiplicity of their personalities were furthered by their appearance as an amalgamation of human and particular animal traits. They were also associated with different cardinal directions and their importance varied depending on the context in which it appeared. Each one of these gods carried creative progression theme to a next higher level of consciousness.
Nothing in this entire process was abrupt in terms of the growth of consciousness, but expect the upcoming period to be somewhat unstable at times but also energetically quite complex in nature. This is enough reason to maintain a high degree of awareness of this closing cycle and move through it possessing a non-judgmental, neutral, non fear-based perspective in our spirit. Only the Creator of all things know the exact time of the End.
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