The Misinterpretation of the Mayan Calendar and the Belief in the End of the World

In episode 419 astrologer Kenneth Johnson joins the show to talk about the Mayan calendar and Mesoamerican astrology, which is the indigenous astrology of ancient Mexico and Central America. During the course of the episode we talk about what is known about the development of astronomy and astrology in Mayan and other Mesoamerican cultures prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, when many written documents were destroyed during the Spanish conquest. Kenneth explains how Mesoamerican cultures had complex and highly accurate astronomically based calendars, and how these were tied in with a pervasive belief in astrology, conceptualized as a connection and mirroring between the sky and earth. One of the key features of Mayan astrology was a focus on tracking the cycles of Venus, as well as the development of a 260-day sacred calendar which consisted of 13 numbers and 20 day-signs that were used for astrological purposes. Later in the episode we talk about what happened with some of the western misunderstandings surrounding the Mayan calendar ending in 2012, and how time is seen in terms of cycles that have no end. Finally the last point we touch on is the recent revival and expansion of Mayan astrology in modern times, and how a new system has grown and developed over the past 30 years Kenneth is the author of the book Mayan Calendar Astrology: Mapping Your Inner Cosmos. You can find more about Kenneth's work on his website: https://www.jaguarwisdom.org This episode is available in both audio and video versions below. Timestamps 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:14 Kenneth's background 00:10:58 Mesoamerican civilizations 00:17:30 Destruction of texts 00:23:00 Mirroring of heaven and earth 00:30:27 Calendar and cycles 00:41:00 Sacred time 00:44:08 Electional astrology 00:51:10 Venus in Mayan astronomy & astrology 01:01:42 Myths 01:06:45 Celestial portents & eclipses 01:14:08 Natal astrology 01:28:58 Astrology and medicine 01:37:05 Astrologers 01:42:47 Knowledge lost vs. survived 01:49:25 Mayan & European astrology mixed 01:54:08 Mayan long count 01:58:36 Mayan calendar and 2012 02:09:10 Contemporary Mayan astrology 02:29:31 Kenneth's work 02:32:30 End cards Watch the Video Version of This Episode Watch the video version of this episode on astrology and psychotherapy on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqdeq5LxGWk – Transcript A full transcript of this episode is available: Episode 419 transcript Listen to the Audio Version of This Episode Listen to the audio version of this episode or download it as an MP3: