Mayan Calendar Prophecies: The Complete Collection of 2012 Predictions and Prophecies by Gary Daniels (best color ereader txt) 📗

of “doom and gloom” scare-mongering, decoding these myths actually provides “awareness and hope.” Awareness of the fact that unimaginable catastrophes have happened in our past that could happen again in our future and hope because these myths reveal that not only are these catastrophes survivable but they give clues about how people survived.

The fact is each and every one of us is descended from ancestors who survived all of these unimaginable catastrophes throughout earth’s history. The DNA inside of you right now came from your ancestors who survived droughts, plagues, famines, wars, floods, impact events and more. You are already one of the lucky ones, one of the survivors. Whatever the future has in store can be no worse than what your ancestors have already lived through and survived. Thus keep that in mind as you read the next few chapters.

8. Comet Machholz and the Return of Kukulkan

As stated in their prophetic book Chilam Balam of Chumayel, the Maya predicted that between April 6, 1993, and December 21, 2012, (a period they named Katun 4 Ahau):

“The quetzal shall come, the green bird shall come…Kukulcan shall come with them for the second time…”

Kukulcan is the Mayan name for the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl. Both Kukulcan and Quetzalcoatl mean “feathered serpent” in their respective languages. Astronomers William Napier and Victor Clube argued in their books The Cosmic Serpent and The Cosmic Winter that sky serpents, dragons and other such mythological beings were metaphors ancient astronomers used for comets. Is there any evidence that might support such an astronomical interpretation for Quetzalcoatl?

Quetzalcoatl, the  feathered serpent, shown devouring a human victim.

Quetzalcoatl was associated with Venus, the brightest ‘star’ in the night sky, thus we know the Maya and Aztecs believed Quetzalcoatl was a ‘star.’ (Of course we know Venus is a planet, not a star, thus it is more accurate to say they believed Quetzalcoatl was a bright light in the sky.) Strangely, early Spanish chroniclers noted that these Mexican cultures referred to Venus as “la estrella que humeava” or “the star that smoked.”[34] Likewise, they referred to a comet as “a star that smoked.” Therefore we see Venus and thus Quetzalcoatl were, indeed, associated with comets.

The other descriptions of Quetzalcoatl were that he arrived from the east, was bearded and wore a long robe, eventually departed and promised to return in the future. Does any of this symbolism also relate to comets?

In Europe comets were often referred to as “bearded stars” and modern astronomers also use the term “bearded” in reference to comets:

“...when the comet is east of the sun, and moves from him, it is said to be bearded, because the light precedes it in the manner of a beard…”[35]

It was also common to describe comets and their long tails as stars wearing long robes. For instance, on a print by Friedrick Madeweis from 1681 that documented the path of Kirch’s Comet across the sky it included a reference to the “long trailing robe”[36] of its tail.

Friedrich Madeweis illustration of Comet Kirch with text noting its “long trailing robe.”

Could the image of beards and robes combined as an old bearded man wearing a long robe be a way ancient astronomers represented comets? This seems to be the case for Quetzalcoatl. Likewise, the other elements of this myth, i.e., rising in the east, departing and returning in the future are all consistent with the interpretation of Quetzalcoatl as a comet.

Quetzalcoatl is composed of two words: quetzal + coatl.  Quetzal refers to feathers and coatl refers to a snake thus the traditional translation of Quetzalcoatl is “feathered serpent.”

Yet quetzal does not simply refer to any old feathers of any old bird. Quetzal refers specifically to the bright green tail feathers of the Resplendent Quetzal bird from southern Mexico. Of all the birds the Maya and Aztecs could have used to represent Quetzalcoatl, they chose the Resplendent Quetzal. Why?

The Resplendent Quetzal, known simply as the Quetzal to Mexican peoples, is known for its brilliant green feathers. More specifically, the Quetzal is known for its long green tail feathers. The tail feathers of the Quetzal are longer than the entire body length of the bird. A bird that flies across the sky with a really long tail is a logical choice if the Maya intended to represent a comet.

Resplendant Quetzal from southern Mexico ©Kenneth Lilly/Dorling Kindersley RF/Getty Images

The Chinese also likened a comet’s tail to that of a bird’s tail feathers. The Chinese referred to comets as “long-tailed pheasant stars”[37] since pheasants had very long tail feathers. Thus it is not completely unheard of for a culture to associate a bird’s long tail feathers with the tail of a comet.

Comets can also look like a feather. On June 2, 1858 Donati’s Comet was discovered by Italian astronomer Giovanni Donati.[38] Drawings and paintings of this comet all reveal a comet whose tail had a feather-like appearance.

Illustration of feather-like appearance of Donati’s Comet over Paris in 1858.

Was the color green another important reason the Mesoamerican cultures chose the Quetzal bird or was it chosen primarily for its long comet-like tail feathers and the color was incidental? Most of the images of Quetzalcoatl portray the deity as a green serpent. Even the Aztec calendar day sign coatl was depicted as a green snake in their religious picture book, the Codex Magliabechiano[39]. Thus the color green appears to be an important aspect of Quetzalcoatl.

Coatl glyph from Codex Magliabechiano

What are the associations for the second part of the name: coatl? In the Aztec language coatl means snake or serpent. Snakes appear to only have a head and a long tail just like a comet. Interestingly, in the Mayan language the word for snake and sky are the same. Thus Kukulkan, the Mayan name for Quetzalcoatl, has the following associations: feathered, sky, serpent.

Yet, just as quetzal did not represent any old bird, coatl did not represent just any old snake. Specifically, it represented the rattlesnake. Why would Mesoamerican cultures