An initiate’s inside account of ancient Maya spiritual practices alive today
• Includes a Foreword by José Luis Tigüilá NABÉ kaxbaltzij, spokesperson of the Maya municipality
• Details the initiation process the author went through to become a Maya shaman-priestess, including rituals, prayers, and ceremonies
• Explains the foundational spiritual wisdom of the Maya calendar as a living entity, its cycles of time, and the significance of “the counting of the days”, which helps keep time itself alive
• Examines the power of dance and Maya ceremonies, Maya future-telling, and communication with ancestors through the sacred fire
Offering an insider’s experiential account of ancient Maya spiritual wisdom and practices, initiated Maya shaman-priestess Gabriela Jurosz-Landa opens up the mysterious world of the Maya, dispelling the rampant misinformation about their beliefs and traditions, sharing the transcendent beauty of their ceremonies, and explaining the Maya understanding of time, foundational to their spiritual worldview and cosmology.
The author, an anthropologist, details the initiation process she went through to become a Maya shaman-priestess in Guatemala, including rituals, prayers, the presence of numinous forces, and the transmission of sacred knowledge. She explains the spiritual wisdom of the Maya calendar as a living entity, its cycles of time, and the significance of “the counting of the days,” which helps keep time itself alive. She examines Maya spiritual and cosmological concepts such as how the universe is shaped like a triangle over a square. She reveals the profound power of dance in Maya tradition, explaining how ritual dance halts the flow of time, reactivates primordial events, and captures vital energies that keep the Maya spiritual tradition vital and alive. Exploring other Maya secret knowledge, she also details Maya ritual attire, Maya future-telling with the calendar, the reading of the Tzi’te beans, and how the Maya communicate with ancestors through the sacred fire.
Illustrating how contemporary Maya life is suffused with spiritual tradition and celebration, the author shares the teachings of the Maya from her initiate and anthropologist point of view in order to help us all learn from the ancient wisdom of their beliefs and worldview. Because, to truly understand the Maya, one must think like the Maya.
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Transcendent Wisdom of the Maya bridges the Western scientific worldview and the spiritual world of the Maya brilliantly. Its wonderful photographs and detailed storytelling are very compelling. I have enjoyed time with the Maya in the Yucatan, and Gabriela’s wonderful stories of weaving, dancing, healing, and divining brought it all back to me as if I’d never left. Her description of her welcoming ceremony by the Quiché Maya is a significant contribution to anthropological literature, and the New Era celebration in 2012 offers hope for our future. This is a heartfelt and genuine story of Maya life, a must-read for understanding their time cycles and culture.”
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