From fresh eyes

[Seeking ET]

  Hola all.  Just got back from Chichen-Itza, which many of you I am sure have heard of or seen.  For those that haven't, it is the capital city of the Ancient Maya civilizations.  To say the very least, these people were incredibly intelligent, diligent, athletic, artistic, etc, etc.  We sometimes forget to give credit to what mankind has accomplished with just their bare hands and imagination.  Works of wonder without technology or outside influence to hinder their beliefs. 
  I could go on for pages upon pages about how beautiful and creative everything was.  How surreal it is to stand in an ancient sports arena and uable to fathom how many countless were killed where you stood.  But this is the internet, and that information is attainable (though there's no teacher like experience). I would like to address the 2012 Maya thing.  I don't know a great deal about "demon wars", but there is something to be said about this year for the sole reason that the Maya ended their far more accurate calander on this year.  They were very precise when it came to predicting eclipses and astronomical events, and coordinated their beliefs around them.  From their temple structures to their rituals, nothing the Maya did was done without purpose.  That idea should logically transfer over to their most prized understanding, the calander. 
  Reflecting on the Maya beliefs I think an astrological event is more likely than something as unpredictable as earthquakes or volcanoes.  There are the "Planet X" theories that support something like this may be a regular occurance (astrological time), being responsible for Earthly events like "the great flood" and the ice age.  Why they stopped at this year could mean it's the next time that such an occurance would take place and that it would symbolized the end of an era and the beginning anew. 
  However, finally, using the Occam's Razor form of reasoning, the simplest solution is probably the correct one.  For simplisities sake, perhaps the Maya just had to leave.  Currently the most accepted anthropology explanation is that the soil could no longer produce crops and migrating was key.  Maybe there Maya "astronomers" whos task it was to create the calander for the next few thousand years.  Unfortunately for them, by the time they got to the year 2012 the Maya migration was occuring and they just couldn't continue their observations any longer.  Or maybe the only guy who knew how to predict astronomical events just died, and 2012 was his last entry. 
  Whatever the case, January 1, 2013 will be the beginning of an interesting year.

[Adun]

There are the "Planet X" theories (...)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_X#Planet_X_disproved

(...) "the great flood" (...)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology#Additional_evidence_against_a_global_flood




The Mayans made their long count calendar based on observations of the changes in the sky due to the earth's precession. The effects of the precession are small and gradual, so for one person to notice them a longer lifespan would be needed.

The "beginning" and "end" of the cycle are arbitrary positions decided by the observer and so have no special meaning. Besides, the duration of the cycle changes overtime so even if there was some meaning associated with the end of a cycle, the Mayan date of 2012 would be wrong already.

[CFTraveler]

One more thing to add:  My brother went to Chichen-Itza just last year to work (the old one as well as the better known new one) and (as a spanish speaking person) got the backstory that most tourists don't.
The Mayas didn't leave, they absorbed other (formerly enemy) groups, and adopted blood sacrifice.  Once they did, their civilization declined into what they became.  And the rest is history.
They didn't go anywhere, they're still there.

[Seeking ET]

Yes true, there are still many Mayans in Mexico.  A lot of people don't know that.  What's important is not the disappearance of the Mayans from Mexico, but from Chichen-Itza, the Mayan capital.  It's true that many Mayans probably did get absorbed.  In fact they adopted the blood sacrifice from the Aztecs.  But that was long before they disappeared from the capital.  Many could have gone to other cities from the Mayan civilization, but there is no certainty what happened in Chichen-Itza.

[AndrewTheSinger]

To understand what happened to the mayans we first have to understand the meaning of the 'tree of life' that was worshiped by them, and by the other contemporary groups that appeared around that same place. That symbol was not new though, the sumerians had a tree, the assyrians, the egyptians, and it had the same meaning to all of them, the tree represented the honour and the glory of their ancestors. The tree of life is the genealogical tree of each civilization.

When Noah along with his offspring were handed over the world after the flood, they were given a tree to look after, so that their seed would not depart from the power of the Archon. But why would they need that tree? Weren't they the only family here on Earth after the great flood?

The answer is no, they were not. There were other people who had come from the power of the perfect knowledge, not from the God of this world, but from the Immortal Man. They were the seed of Seth, and they were called the Immovable Race. Now if you wanna know who these people were I'll give a hint - they built many wonders like pyramids, temples, and they changed the head of the sphinx (that was a lion) when they received Noah's grandchildren into their glory.

In Ancient Egypt the power of the snake (procreation) was elevated to operate with the power of the mind, so when they bore children they came to the world with the thought of the Light. The pyramids protected them from the darkness of Nature. Though before death, he must have learned to keep that power under control, for if it gets stronger than the man, the serpent of the underwold Apophis would devour him (as presented in the Book of Gates).

Ok now, back the mayans, they were the offspring of the error of Tezcatlipoca, the snakes that multiply without knowledge. Quetzalcoatl was the one who had been appointed to bring them the gift of knowledge in order to correct their deficiency, but he tricked them, and became an enemy that started devouring them. In Hindu tradition Quetzalcoatl is known as Garuda (in other stories as Astika - pretty interesting), and this is what the story says:

The great nemesis of the Nagas in the Mahabharata is the gigantic bird-man Garuda. Garuda and the Nagas began life as cousins. The sage Kasyapa had two wives, Kadru and Vinata, the former of whom desired many offspring, and the latter of whom desired few but powerful offspring. Each got her wish. Kadru laid 1000 eggs which hatched into snakes, and Vinata laid two, which hatched into the charioteer of Surya the sun god and Garuda. Through a foolish bet, Vinata became enslaved to her sister, and as a result Vinata's son Garuda was required to do the bidding of the snakes. Though compliant, he chafed and built up a grudge that he would never relinquish. When he asked the snakes what he would have to do in order to be released from his bondage, they told him he would have to bring them amrita, the elixir of immortality. Garuda stole the elixir from the gods and brought it to the serpents in fulfillment of their requirement, but through a ruse prevented them from partaking of it and achieving immortality. From that point onward, he regarded them as enemies and as food. (Book I: Adi Parva, Sections 16ff.)

Then came the aztecs, the eagle that was now enemy of the snakes, and since they also had a tree of life they shouldn't intermingle with the mayans, they had to be exterminated. The sacrifices began, and the aztecs (not the mayans) built pyramids to protect themselves from the darkness. They destroyed and burned the mayan temples. They threw the dead bodies into the huge artificial pits called Cenotes Sagrados, which had been made by the... hmm, well, let's skip this part.

The aztecs lived, and the mayans were defeated.

[AndrewTheSinger]

Ops, but there's something else, it's been said that Queztalcoatl came back to stop the sacrifices, and the aztec tree of life shares a side with the mayans.



They probably killed some and received others.

Indeed, in the text where they speak about Astika this is what it says:

The curse of Kadru

Kadru, the ancestral mother of snakes, made a bet with her sister Vinata, the stakes being that the loser would be enslaved to the winner. Anxious to secure victory, Kadru requested the cooperation of her offspring in order to fix the bet so that Kadru would win. When her offspring balked at the request, Kadru grew angry and cursed them to die a fiery death in the snake-sacrifice of King Janamejaya, the son of Parikshit, who was the son of Abhimanyu the son of Arjuna. The king of the snakes Vasuki was aware of the curse, and knew that his brethren would need a hero to rescue them from it. He approached the renowned ascetic Jaratkaru with a proposal of marriage to a snake-goddess, Manasa, Vasuki's own sister. Out of the union of the ascetic and the snake-maiden was born "a son of the splendor of a celestial child." This son was named Astika, and he was to be the savior of the snakes.

In accordance with Kadru's curse, Janamejaya prepared a snake sacrifice of a type described in the scriptures, the Puranas. He erected a sacrificial platform and hired priests and other professionals needed for the rites. Following the proper form, the priests lit the sacrificial fire, duly fed it with clarified butter, uttered the required mantras, and began calling the names of snakes. The power of the rite was such that the named snakes were summoned to the fire and were consumed by it. As the sacrifice took on genocidal proportions, Astika came to the rescue. He approached Janamejaya and praised the sacrifice in such eloquent terms that the king offered to grant him a boon of his choosing. Astika promptly requested that the sacrifice be terminated. Though initially regretful of his offer, Janamejaya was true to his word, and the sacrifice came to an end. (Book I: Adi Parva, Sections 13-58.)

[Adun]

When Noah along with his offspring were handed over the world after the flood (...)

You didn't mean that literally, right?

[AndrewTheSinger]

Not literally, evidence for a worldwide flood is debatable. It seems to have been a localized event. The flood was brought upon the work of man only, and then the world was covered with darkness. This darkness that they say is one of the roots of nature. In the beginning there were darkness (ignorance), light (immortals), and spirit (humans). Darkness are the rulers of the material universes. Light came down to summon the seed that belongs to them, and that has been kept prisoner by ignorance in this lower existence. They both made empires and engaged in battles.

When there was the flood, Noah was allowed to return to his land as long as his seed would remain under the power of darkness. It did for some time, but then Seth came back and they started receiving the seed of Ham and Japhet. They've endured for many dynasties, but then even the sons of light started mixing with those from the darkness, and they were taken captive:

They (the angels) created a counterfeit spirit, who resembles the Spirit who had descended, so as to pollute the souls through it. And the angels changed themselves in their likeness into the likeness of their mates (the daughters of men), filling them with the spirit of darkness, which they had mixed for them, and with evil. They brought gold and silver and a gift and copper and iron and metal and all kinds of things. And they steered the people who had followed them into great troubles, by leading them astray with many deceptions. They (the people) became old without having enjoyment. They died, not having found truth and without knowing the God of truth. And thus the whole creation became enslaved forever, from the foundation of the world until now. And they took women and begot children out of the darkness according to the likeness of their spirit. And they closed their hearts, and they hardened themselves through the hardness of the counterfeit spirit until now. (The Secret Revelation of John)

After that Seth came back again as Jesus to summon others and scorn the powers, then we all know what happened.

[CFTraveler]

Yes true, there are still many Mayans in Mexico.  A lot of people don't know that.  What's important is not the disappearance of the Mayans from Mexico, but from Chichen-Itza, the Mayan capital.  It's true that many Mayans probably did get absorbed.  In fact they adopted the blood sacrifice from the Aztecs.  But that was long before they disappeared from the capital.  Many could have gone to other cities from the Mayan civilization, but there is no certainty what happened in Chichen-Itza.

I get what you're saying, (I think) but blood sacrifice doesn't destroy a civilization overnight- first you start with the losers in wars, then you move on to the 'first' (or whatever) in families, pretty soon you move on to whoever's left in the city.  By  then the custom becomes so entrenched that the practice loses it's meaning. 
Would you stay in the city if you knew that sooner or later you may become 'it'?