Description
Book SynopsisAn initiate’s inside account of ancient Mayan spiritual practices alive today
Offering an insider’s experiential account of ancient Maya spiritual wisdom and practices, initiated Mayan 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 Mayan 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 Mayan 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 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 Mayan secret knowledge, she also details Maya ritual attire, Mayan 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 Mayan 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.
Trade Review“
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.” * Barbara Hand Clow, author of The Mayan Code and Awakening the Planetary Mind *
“Gabriela Jurosz-Landa’s rich and enlightening book is a surprising spiritual journey to mysterious cultures, an inner-self journey, and possibly a road map for our culture’s future survival. Her destined journey from her native Czechoslovakia to Germany to the United States and Guatemala, where she was initiated as a daykeeper (shaman-priestess), is fascinating. Gabriela generously shares deep knowledge and wisdom of the ancient Maya heritage as she takes us through the process of her initiation. I highly recommend this superb book.” * Itzhak Beery, author of The Gift of Shamanism *
“This book brings to life glimpses of the ancient Maya sacred texts and artwork. It is a gift to see their ancient underlying beliefs live on through the Quiché Maya of Chichicastenango.” * Erika Buenaflor, M.A., J.D., author of Cleansing Rites of Curanderismo *
“Ancient Maya culture comes alive in Gabriela Jurosz-Landa’s
Transcendent Wisdom of the Maya. The book offers many insights into centuries-old rituals and spirituality which are still lived today by contemporary Maya. Filled with personal observations from fieldwork, the author presents studious thoughts and goes deep into Maya mythology to contrast the Western worldview.” * Stuart A. Goldman, executive producer of the PBS series Joseph Campbell: Mythos *
“If you suspect that our technologically proficient culture is losing its soul, then dive into Transcendent Wisdom of the Maya where you will find an entrancing alternative to the relentless sense of urgency that dominates our times.” * Rand Flem-Ath, librarian and coauthor of Atlantis beneath the Ice *
"
Transcendent Wisdom of the Maya gives us a true insider look into the ceremonies, people, and mysterious rituals of the Maya practitioners. She shares her personal perspective which brings this book alive with the fascinating world of the Maya.While the book is written more as a diary of events than a handbook, it’s a lovely read and provides an inside look into the Maya that a regular outsider doesn’t get to see." * Amber Barnes, FacingNorth.net *
"Transcendent Wisdom of the Maya gives us a true insider look into the ceremonies, people, and mysterious rituals of the Maya practitioners. She shares her personal perspective which brings this book alive with the fascinating world of the Maya.While the book is written more as a diary of events than a handbook, it’s a lovely read and provides an inside look into the Maya that a regular outsider doesn’t get to see." * Amber Barnes, FacingNorth.net *
Table of ContentsFOREWORD The Foundations of the Maya Worldview by José Luis Tigüilá NABÉ kaxbaltzij (Spokesperson of the Maya municipality)
Acknowledgments PREFACE Widening the Scope of Science
INTRODUCTION The Contemporary Search for Meaning
PART 1 2012--The End and the Beginning of an Era
1 A Journey into Maya History and Tradition
2 2012--“The End of the World”
3 The Inauguration of Plaza Oxlajuj B’aqtun
4 Honoring the Cycles of Time, Nature, and Space
5 Traditional Reenactments during the Solstice Season
PART 2
Diary of Life with the Maya 6 A Fusion of Ideas
7 The Welcome Ceremony
8 Visits, Past and Present
9 Meeting My Mentor, Doña Tomasa
10 Santo Tomás Changes Cofradia PART 3 The Spiritual Journey
11 What It Means to Be Initiated as a Daykeeper
12 Arrival and Acclimation
13 Women’s Wisdom at the Hearth
14 My Introduction to the Maya Calendar Energies
15 The Life of Sacred Fire and Sacred Seeds
16 Embodying the Energy of Creation and Time
17 The Altar of Purity and Truth
18 The Darkness and the Light
19 The Weaving of Tradition
20 The Promise of Spring
21 The Mystery of Tz’ité Seeds
22 Snake Incarnation
23 The Day of the Deer and the Cave Ceremony
24 Consecration
25 Walking as a Shaman-Priestess Selected Bibliography Index About the Author
