Like the Maya, the Aztecs developed a very complex calendar system based on astronomy, designed not only to mark their holidays and short periods of time but also to track the cycles of humankind through our progress on Earth. They embraced what they referred to as the Legend of the Five Suns, each of which represented periods in their own history. During the life of each sun, the earth thrives in peace, prosperity, and new life. But when a sun dies, the world descends into catastrophic turmoil, with the gods renewing the earth through the process of first destroying it.
The first sun was called the Sun of Precious Stones, and it was destroyed by jaguars at the command of Tezcatlipoca, the god of night and god of the north. Because he was believed to carry a magic mirror that emitted smoke and killed his enemies, Tezcatlipoca was also called “god of smoking mirror.”
The second sun was known as the Sun of Darkness, upon whose death life was destroyed by a massive hurricane that was summoned by Quetzalcoatl, the creator and god of the sky.
The third sun, the Sun of Fire, and all life it nourished, was exterminated by fire sent by Tezcatlipoca.
The fourth sun was the Sun of Water, at whose death a huge flood destroyed the world. This flood came from Tlaloc, the god of rain and fertility, whom the Aztecs so feared that they sometimes drowned their children as sacrifices to him.
According to the Aztec calendar, we’re now in the Sun of Movement, presided over by Tonatiuh, the Sun God and the Rising Eagle, who will ultimately cause earthquakes so cataclysmic that they will split the world in half.
Native Americans
It’s been said of the true Native Americans for thousands of years, and it’s still true today: ask them to tell you their story, and they’ll tell you about nature and their reverent relationship with Mother Earth.
The origin of Native Americans is a subject of debate, and there’s no real consensus among experts about where they came from. Theories range from a prehistoric migration from Asia via the Bering Strait to an escape from the destruction of the lost continent Atlantis. But there’s no question that in 1492, when Christopher Columbus arrived by mistake on San Salvador Island, the natives who greeted him, with their brown skin and black hair, convinced him that he’d successfully completed his journey to India. He referred to them as “Indios,” Spanish for Indians, and the cultural name was born.
The many tribes of the Native American nations each have their own histories, languages, rituals, and prophecies. But they all revolve around their spiritual connection to the earth and their belief that the survival of our planet is dependent on humankind’s learning to treat all things in nature with nothing short of reverence.
THE HOPI PROPHECIES
There’s a wonderful story that’s been circulating since 1959, and was told in part in a 1963 publication called Book of the Hopi. The story goes that in 1958 a minister named David Young was driving through the stifling heat of the desert when he saw a Native American elder beside the road. The Reverend Young stopped to offer the elder a ride, and the elder silently accepted. The two rode along wordlessly for a few miles, until the elder began to speak.
“I am White Feather,” he said, “a Hopi of the ancient Bear Clan … I have followed the sacred paths of my people, who inhabit the forests and many lakes in the east, the land of ice and long nights in the north, and the places of holy altars of stone built many years ago by my brothers’ fathers in the south
… I have heard the stories of the past, and the prophecies of the future. Today, many of the prophecies have turned to stories, and few are left. The past grows longer, and the future grows shorter.”
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