Let us take a brief moment to look into the meaning of the ritual ball game of the Maya, and the Mesoamericans, in general. Ball courts were constructed as part of the Mesoamerican ritual practically from the beginning. Since these were sacred rituals, we must assume that there is a metaphysical meaning in the ball game which is being conveyed.

 

The layout of the ball court has been connected to various astronomical orientations. Whether the orientations are correct is not in question, for it is assured that the Maya rituals were reality oriented to the extent that they purposely tied in astronomical orientations to their lives. They clearly believed that the word of First Father came through the messages in the heavens. We can also tie the temple and pyramid sacrifice rituals to the asterisms at Perseus, Andromeda, the Great Square, Cepheus, and Sculptor.

 

The ball court and the turtle of resurrection can be illustrated in the asterisms of Pisces and Cetus to correspond to the bottom of the ecliptic under the head of Cepheus and the body of Quetzalcoatl. What we need is a tie in to the metaphor of the game.

The three vignettes above ("click" on photo to enlarge) show Maya kings playing the game. Besides the ball, there is the "Six-Stair-place". This place of six stairs is central to the metaphor of the game. That is what the vignettes are saying, even though definitions of the glyphs at each step are not available. But, the ball and the six steps are all we need to connect the metaphor of the ball game to the experience of life on earth, or in the cosmos. Mayanologists prefer to associate the ball with the sun.

Some, including Jenkins, associate the movement of the vernal equinox with the ball game. This association is undoubtedly part of the metaphor of the game. But, the Mayanologists avoid the meaning of the six steps. This inability to identify the number of steps with the metaphor also afflicts Egyptologists and archaeologists, in general. In the Great Pyramid, the Queens Chamber has a four tiered nitch located at the center of the pyramid. The Grand Gallery has a seven tiered ceiling. The King's Chamber is blocked by four portcullis slabs, and it has six stone ceilings. These numbers are sacred to the rituals of the monuments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If we consider the ball field one level, then there are six levels which must be ascended in order to "win the game". In metaphysics, seven is the number of the "spirits of God". In other words, there are only seven dimensions of creation which must be ascended to become one with the Creator. The first four dimensions are the metaphysical elements, earth, water, air, and fire. The earth dimension represents the material world composed of all energy and matter. This is the earth in which we all come to play the game. The first step to ascend is the physical dimension which has the metaphysical element name water. This is the level at which bodily functions result when a life force is added to the substance of the first material level. An organism which discontinues to maintain the level of the water step dies, and returns back to the matter level of the carrion. The second step is the metaphysical level called air. At this step, the living organism imagines and thinks about objects and subjects in the creation. This imaginary step is essential to any rational understanding. The third step is the metaphysical level called fire. This is the level of inspiration. When an imaginative living organism made of material substance reaches the level of fire, it has the power to rule nations of living organisms.

 

These four levels from the ball field to the third step were identified in the Book of Revelation.

• Rev 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

• Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

• Rev 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

• Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

These verses associate the material, physical, mental, and esprit de corps aspects of creation with the rewards given for ascending above the appropriate level. There is no reason to believe the great Maya did not know these truths, and every reason to believe they had to put them into their on revelatory saga. The real mystery is why is it that Mayanologists, Egyptologists, and archaeologists in general, can not understand that the temples they uncover are of religious nature, and are defining the essential metaphysics of the created world. The answer to this enigma is in the modern object oriented definition of science.

These four esoteric states are, by definition, subjective. The subjects they are concerned with are the material existence, the life force in the biomechanisms, the imaginations of the mind, and the espirit with which the material, biomechanism, and mind accomplish life. Science, being object oriented rather than life oriented, cannot overcome the first step of subjective creation, and is always bound to the material universe. Science cannot understand subjectivity because it is a taboo placed on science.

The top three steps in the quest for a winning ball game are not parts of the created world. They are a process which is mandatory for communication to occur within any creation. These higher steps bind even the gods and the God. Communication is a process which requires a subject, a medium, and a message. The subject is closely associated with consciousness, but it must not be confused with consciousness. Consciousness is a composite of the four created elements. The subject can enter consciousness, but it is not consciousness. For example, the subject of this essay is the ball court rituals. The consciousness is forced to focus on the ball court rituals, but it is an independent element, and no author can capture the consciousness of a reader, without the reader's consent. If a reader does not consent to stick to the author's subject, then communication fails. The written words, vignettes, monuments, or star constellations are media through which subjects can be carried. My present goal is to transfer the message that communication cannot occur if the subject, medium, and message do not work in unison.

This communication trinity resides in the author and the reader. But, more importantly, the author has to use the cosmic medium to transfer the message. In this way, and only in this way, two people can communicate. But, because the cosmic medium must be involved in the communication, it is possible that subjects external to any specific attempt to communicate can become part of a communication by association. When this happens, the medium of the receiver can record messages which are composites of the various sources of subjective information. This potential is a primary reason why modern science excludes subjectivity as part of the processes it calls science. Within the exclusions is the failure to communicate. The sacred sciences of all cultures attempted to decipher all the subjects in order to maintain the messages in their proper perspectives. Sacred Science is much more profound than Material Science, because it attempts to integrate an holistic message.

These three steps were also identified in the Book of Revelation.

• Rev 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

• Rev 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

• Rev 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

John demonstrates the successful transfer of subject with "white raiment" in the "book of life". He identifies the successful ascension above the level of the medium with the "pillar in the temple" and the "new Jerusalem" which will carry the meaning of the subject. And finally, John gives the throne of the father's to the one who can ascend to the level of the message. The throne is the message, for it is what is on the Mind of God. The white raiment is the Milky Way on the child at Quetzalcoatl. The Pillar in the temple is the body of the Caiman Tree. The throne is the rational message of the precession of the ecliptic cross. Thus, the Popol Vuh is in agreement with Revelation (or viceversa). One important aspect of these top three stairs is the fact that the entities which were on the ascended level do not change, it is the created one who ascends that is re-cognized. In other words, communication does not change the medium nor the message, communication simply causes the subject to return to its origination. That is the fundamental consequence of proper communication. An author can lead the individual, but only the individual can carry the subject back to the throne from whence it came.

The subject of the present discussion is the meaning of the ball game in Maya mythology. When a successful communication has occurred, a reader will hear the message in the subject and the medium and then be able to go directly to the originating source for the message. In the ball game, Hunahpu wins and acquires the head of First Father. This acquisition then makes Hunahpu the one who possesses the mind of First Father, as he repeats the circle of life. The message is returned from the mythical lands of the underworld, where it had been lost in subliminal consciousness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that we can see the possibility that the six stair place is that domain where the seven spirits of God reside, we can begin to recognize that the ball is the "real world." In many glyphs a man, or a man's face is found on the ball. This means that the ball is the "human world." There is little question that the goal of the Maya ritual was to get the sons back to First Mother and First Father. This is precisely the same metaphor as the ball court and the six-stair-place. The objective of the game is to get the human world back to the heavenly world.

 

Egypt was founded with the specific goal of "uniting the two lands". The two lands are the material earth and the heavens above. "As above, so below", was a ritual required in order to attain the fullest awareness of reality. This ritual was world wide, because it is as essential to an African, or an Asian, as it is to an American. Any human being must climb the six-stair-place in order to achieve the objective of life. When it is achieved, and the obstacles are overcome, the reward is the throne of the father's.

The great divergence in the ritual accomplishment of "as above, so below" occurs because above and below are variable around the surface of the earth. This means that the thrones of the father's are dependent upon the local terrain and the local Holy City, as seen from the sacred lands on earth. The ball is thus the earth, not the sun. The variant faces on the Maya ball are the symbols of the local chiefs and kings. This theme has been explored at great depth for many cultures of the earth. They all demonstrate one clear compassion. The compassion is written in their local myths and it says, "join the two lands," "as above, so below.".  Let us apply the "as above, so below" idea to Teotihuacan, as an example.

 

The chart on the right represents the view of Teotihuacán on the vernal equinox of 4400 AD, oriented so that the expression "as above, so below" applies. If the stars were projected down to the terrain, they would be as shown, with the Milky Way and the head of the reborn king resting on the Way of the dead at the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent. The sun is at the foot of Aquarius as represented in the ball game vignette from the Popol Vuh.

 

Look closely at the path of the zenith (Z). At the east northeast horizon, it is in the cleft of Pisces, or the back of the turtle. Further north along the horizon, a ball player takes a hip shot to beat the Lord's of Xibalba at their own game. The metaphor of the hip shot can be understood in modern cowboy vernacular as "shooting from the hip". The zenith ball bounces through the Pisces circlet "ball" over the head of Aquarius who is pouring water toward the man holding the "staff of life" at the bottom of the cosmic world. When the ball reaches the zenith, the star pattern is as it is shown, with the zenith directly on the head of the reborn king. The sons have rescued One Hunahpu! Let the dances begin.

 

West of the galaxy we see First Father drawing new spirits out of the mouth of Quetzalcoatl, and the sons doing what sons do in the heavens, where a Maize God tends to his field and his flock. On the northwest horizon, Seven Macaw stands pointing the way to the top of the world and the head of the king. Salvation is shown in full swing at Teotihuacán on the vernal equinox morning of 4400 AD. Down below at Chich'en Itza a shadow will rise along the stairs of the pyramid to Kulkukan to symbolize that Quetzalcoatl shows the way back to First Father, just like it has since the pyramid was first constructed.

 

This shadow and the metaphor "as above, so below" is a great comfort to any who would worry about death and dying. It is a pathway to eternal life in the hearts of the children of First Father, who overcame all obstacles in the "Six-Stair-Place".

On the west horizon at the moment when Quetzalcoatl returns to Teotihuacán, the hand of the Virgin, First Mother, reaches for the flower at the top of the field of Maize. When we move to the winter solstice of that year, another amazing phenomenon occurs. Saturn will sit right on the winter solstice together with the sun in Libra, suggesting that the days of judgment will finally be over and a cosmic balance will prevail. As the sun rises that day, all the other planets and the moon will be in the visible sky. The order of the planets from the sun to Pluto will be the same as the order of their orbits from the sun. When the top of the galaxy stands at the zenith of Teotihuacán, the Eternal City of the Milky Way will lay completely around its horizon. Pluto in the Twins will send a signal that the alignment of the Cosmic Ball has been achieved and the Eternal City restored by the Hero Twins.

 

This Eternal City was memorialized by Stonehenge around 2800 B.C., the founding of Rome in 753 B.C., and the writing of the Book of Revelation in Patmos around 200 A.D. We also have three communities which have forecast the coming of the Eternal City. Around 1360 B.C., Pharaoh Akhenaten built Akhetaten on the location where the axis of the galaxy would be at the moment of the first occasion in 1998 A.D. The Moai statues of Easter Island were being constructed many centuries ago to commemorate the same date for the arrival of the Eternal City in the Land Under the Land. Now we can see that Teotihuacán was constructed when the child Quetzalcoatl came down to earth in 1 B.C. and aligned to mark the return of First Father to the Eternal City 4400 years later.

The dream of being aligned with the cosmos is a very ancient ideal of humanity. When Teotihuacán aligns with the top of the cosmos, Seven Macaw will be a cosmic plow for the First Father as he tends his crops and his herds. Cepheus will hold the axis of the earth, and the crucibles spilt to reach Polaris in the Age of the 5th Sun will be distant memories. On the day the sun begins to rise in 4400 A.D., the planetary gods of the underworld, Neptune and Uranus, will both be under the Jaguar's gait. The visible planets, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury, will be a bed for First Mother in Virgo. The Moon will be in Cancer, the house where reflections on cosmic feelings are most associated. The only planet which will not be above the Milky Way on that glorious morning will be the Earth itself. But, there is no cause for alarm, because on that year the summer solstice aligns with Perseus at the Pleiades, and the gateway to the Caiman Tree will be the location of our cosmic ball. Thus, the sun will be at the balance above and the earth will be at the Tree of Life below. The Maya spirits on the earth at midnight that day will participate in the First Fire ceremony, as a memory of the days when Seven Macaw upset the peace in the cosmos, and the Hero Twins recovered the head of First Father. Sure, it is just a subjective story, but who told the story, the heavens above, or the humans below, or can it be realized, that as it is above, so it is below.

The astronomical data clearly supports the contention that the primary objective of the Mayan rituals was to maintain a cosmic orientation for all generations. This idea may seem quite esoteric in our modern world, but for the sake of our children, we have a need to remember that humanity came into this cosmos in the same state as the other creatures, without conscious experience. The rituals of the Maya carry many great truths through the ages, which would otherwise be lost. The core truth is that cultural consciousness must maintain an orientation to the Big Picture. Like Egypt, the Maya believed that the relationship with the cosmos could be lost if not properly maintained by ritual and monumental temple construction. The star charts presented in these essays are not declared to be the exact images seen by the Maya astronomer-priests, but they show an unmistakable and intentional association of "as above, so below" in their mythology. That association is the heavenly spiritual perspective being transferred to the mundane world for the sake of generations to come. It is the Mayan perspective of the cosmic path of transcendence.

In our modern world we give lip service to our heavenly alignment, and treat scriptures as if they do not apply to the daily actions of self orientation here on earth. The reason why we do not connect our scriptures to the heavens is because the present empires in which we participate on earth are more important to us than past or future empires. Although this is an essential necessity, it is incomplete. The complete picture of the Maya ritual demonstrates a perception of a lost Golden Age which will return when civilization returns to focus on the cosmic centered consciousness, from which it came.

 

This return is steered by the affectations and associations of the polar constellations with the daily lives of people who play the game of life in this Six-Stair-Place. If we stop for a brief moment in our mundane quests and meditate on this concept, it becomes obvious that the Mayan objectives were appropriate for all times, even for these times when stars no longer shine in the hearts of men. We do not honor the stars for their role in human endeavors. We do not honor the biosphere in which we live for its role in our endeavors, either. But, the spiritual winds are telling us that times are changing. We are about to witness the rebirth of cosmic consciousness. This rebirth will unfold precisely as the great ancestors said it would. Heroic children of First Father will restore his head upon the body of civilization, and the human world will mount up to the top of this Six-Stair-Place, one committed life at a time. How could it be otherwise?