The Awakening of Teotiwakan: A Paradigm Shift to the Living Cosmos
Marcos Villasenor
(Note: with the exception of book titles, I use the Nawatl Orthographic Convention when using Nawatl words).
The Fifth Toltek Sun started on May 20, 311 CE. May 20 is the yearly date of the northern zenithal passage of the Sun at the latitude of Tollan: the Toltek capital. Precisely on that day, Venus transited through the face of the solar disk, just as it had done 8 years earlier, on 22 May 303 CE. The Teotiwakans, who preceded the Toltek in that region, constructed the Pyramid of the Sun just on time for this astronomical event. This twin astronomical event is reflected in the myth of the creation of the Fifth Sun. Just as the legend tells us, Ketzalkoatl threw himself into the fire (first Transit of the pair) and went to Miktlan (land of the dead) but failed to bring the bones of the ancestors, so next was the turn of Xolotl, his twin brother who, after throwing himself in the fire (second transit of the pair) and venturing into Miktlan, successfully brought the bones of the ancestors back. Ketzalkoatl-Xolotl (Venus) then bled over the bones of the ancestors and created the new humanity. The birth of the Fifth Sun.
The end of the Mayan Long Count on 2012 has generated momentous interest throughout the world. This phenomenon has sprouted numerous books and theories on the meaning of this event. Researchers and authors span the gamut from academia to fringe spiritual theories. Epiphenomena such as crop circles and the re-emergence of the shamanic experience have also become an important part of the 2012 movement. Yet there is one story that is of paramount importance and has never been told outside of Mexico. The following is only part of that story.
First though I feel it's necessary to give a personal account of where my life intersects the story you are about to read. From 1968 to 1974, I often went with my grandmother to a small village in Mexico called "Aldea de los Reyes," this precious village sits at the foot of the snowcapped volcano known as "Istaksiwatl" (White Woman) the female companion to the active volcano known as "Popokatepetl" (smoking Mountain).
My grandmother, my brother, and I stayed in a small brick cabin owned by a gentle woman, a childhood friend of my grandmother. I remember clearly those days. The days were spent with my brother exploring the small village and surrounding mountains, the evenings were spent listening to wonderful stories told by my grandmother and her friend. It was years later, when I was in my twenties that I met her son: Antonio Velasco Piña "The Witness".
Velasco Piña is well known in Mexico as the author of several books on the re-emergence of Indigenous consciousness. Chief among them is "Regina el Dos de Octubre no se Olvida" (Regina October 2nd won't be Forgotten). The following account is based on that book, also on the book "El Despertar de Teotihuacan" (The Awakening of Teotihuacán), and my personal conversations with Antonio Velasco Piña. His books have not been translated to English.
Regina was born in that same cabin where I spent unforgettable childhood days. On March 21st 1948 her soon to be parents had gone on a trip to the nearby town of Amekameka. On the way back to Mexico City, they stopped at the town of "Los Reyes" to take in the scenery. Regina's mother felt the pains of labor and they sought refuge in the brick cabin owned by Velasco Piña's mother. Fortunately Antonio, who was then a child of twelve, and his mother were at the cabin that day and readily opened their doors to the couple. Antonio's mother called the local midwife to help with the birth of Regina.
Several months prior to the birth, the pregnant couple had gone to India where they visited the Buddhist Temple at Shahjanpur. At the temple, a visiting Tibetan Lama, Tschsandzo Tschampa, approached the couple and told them that the soon to be born child was an Avatar and asked them to move to Tibet where the Lama would see to the her proper upbringing. Regina's mother was reluctant and decided to have Regina in Mexico. The young couple promised the Lama that they would go to his monastery in Tibet once the child was born.
Regina[U1] was indeed taken to Tibet by her parents. She spent her childhood under the care of the Tibetan Lama Tagdra Rimpoche, the same Lama who recognized the incarnation of the current Dalai Lama. When Regina was only a couple of years old, she was taken to visit the then young 14th Dalai Lama, who immediately recognized her as a Dakini. Regina stayed in Tibet even after the Chinese invasion. In 1958 the Chinese army killed her parents who were living in Lhasa. Regina and her mentor hid in an isolated cave in a remote area of Tibet in order to complete her training. Eventually, the Chinese found them, killed the Lama Tagdra Rimpoche, and imprisoned Regina for several years. When she was 19 years old, the Chinese released her to the Mexican authorities.
Regina arrived in Mexico City in 1968. Not knowing anyone there, she headed to the only address she knew: Antonio Velasco Piña's mother's house in Mexico City. She was received warmly and invited to stay for as long as she desired. It was then that Regina met Antonio Velasco Piña and asked him to witness and chronicle the events that were sure to follow. Velasco Piña has not only done that, but he also founded the Casa Tibet-Mexico, which was inaugurated by the Dalai Lama in 1989. He is also an indefatigable leader of the Reginos: the followers of Regina[U2] .
In a few months, Regina became very active, promoting cultural events around the recovery and recreation of the knowledge of the ancient Mesoamericans. It was through her activities that she met the four Secret Guardians of the Tradition. These four men were the current Guardians of the Indigenous traditions (Toltek, Sapotek, Maya and Olmek) that went underground since the Spanish invasion. Depositories of ancient knowledge that they had inherited from the previous Secret Guardians, these lines of Guardians extend uninterrupted all the way back to 1521. These four individuals, upon meeting Regina, knew it was time to start the process of re-awakening the Pyramid of the Sun.
On March 21st 1968, when Regina turned twenty years old, she and the four Secret Guardians of the Tradition, went into the cave at the base of the pyramid and performed a ritual ceremony to awaken its heart, its energetic center. According to the Tradition, this center serves as a synchronous resonant chamber that amplifies earthly and cosmic energies. After the ceremony Regina explained to the Guardians of the Tradition that there remained four energetic seals on the pyramid.[U3]
These seals had been put in place by the Toltek and had the effect of inactivating the pyramid's geo-energetic resonant function. Regina and the Guardians knew that the spiritual energies of the Earth were once again moving polarities, from the Himalayas to the American Cordillera. It was the Tibetan Lamas who needed to perform the rituals necessary to break the first three energetic seals and only then she and the Secret Guardians could break the fourth seal, which sat at the top of the pyramid.
Mexican agents murdered Regina on the night of October 2nd 1968. She was shot from a helicopter during the infamous student massacre that took place in Tlatelolko. Regina died on top of the small pyramid at Tlatelolko surrounded by the four Secret Guardians of the Tradition and the Witness, Velasco Piña. The Guardians buried her body in a well-hidden cave in the Istaksiwatl.
Many years later, the Witness, the four Secret Guardians of the tradition, and the many followers of Regina, known as "Reginos" were able to invite his Excellency the 14th Dalai Lama to perform the first of four rituals needed to break the energetic seals that kept the Pyramid of the Sun from functioning properly.
On July 3rd 1989, the Dalai Lama flew in a helicopter to the ancient city of Teotiwakan and performed the first of these rituals. Several thousand Reginos dressed in white were present at this ceremony. For the first time in over a thousand years, the earth energy that emanates from the heart of the Pyramid was allowed to flow out. But it only scattered through the ground, like water from a broken faucet, losing its power as three seals remained in place.
The next year, on March 21st. 1990, under strict instructions from the Dalai Lama, eight Lamas from the Ganden Shartse Monastery conducted the second ritual ceremony. Over 30,000 Reginos were present at Teotiwakan for the occasion. This time the energy flowed out of the pyramid and upwards but was stopped by the third seal, which was located at the first platform[U4] of the pyramid. The third ritual was scheduled for 1992.
On March 21st 1992, Tibetan Lamas were to conduct the third of the four ritual ceremonies that would reopen the energetic flow of the Pyramid of the Sun.
After the two previous ritual ceremonies conducted at the Pyramid of the Sun, the INAH or National Institute of Anthropology and History, decreed that the ritual ceremony scheduled for March 21 1992 would not be allowed. The permit that Casa Tibet-Mexico (the organizers of these events) had applied for to bring ten Tibetan Lamas from the Drepung Loseling Monastery, whose turn it was to perform the third ritual ceremony at the Pyramid of the Sun, was denied. The reason given to the public was that the growing presence of people at the previous rituals (30,000 people attended the 1990 ritual ceremony) would damage the structures at Teotiwakan. In order to prevent this event from taking place, the INAH requested the presence of the Mexican Army at the famous archaeological site.
Mexico and The Tibetan government in exile have no diplomatic relations, while Mexico and China do. China had protested against the character of these events. While the Mexican Government had granted visas to the Tibetan Lamas, it appeared likely that the third and final Tibetan ritual ceremony required to open the third energetic seal of the Pyramid of the Sun would not be performed.
As the March days went by, the attitude of the Mexican Government didn't change. No permits were issued and the 5th Artillery Regiment moved into the archaeological site of Teotiwakan. It seemed that the ceremony was to be cancelled. When the Lamas were told of the situation, they responded by saying that they would risk their lives if necessary in order to perform this ritual.
Around midnight on the 20th of March of 1992, something extraordinary took place. The President of Mexico, Carlos Salinas de Gortari,[U5] ordered the Mexican army to leave Teotiwakan and countermanded the head of the National Institute of History and Anthropology, who was ordered by the President to grant the necessary permits for the third ritual ceremony to be performed. What moved the President to issue these instructions? Nobody knows. As a gesture of gratitude to the President of Mexico, the Guardians of the Tradition gave him a beautiful handmade book, one of an edition of fifty, titled "The Aztec-Mexican Computations of Time."
Around sunrise on March 21st 1992, the Lamas arrived at Teotiwakan[U6]. They were ten: seven youths and three elders. Their leader seemed more a warrior than a priest. The multitude of people numbered close to 100,000, most of them followers of the martyred Mexican Avatar, Regina. The Reginos, dressed in white, presented an amazing picture, a sea of white that contrasted with the colorful garments of the Tibetan Lamas.
The lamas made their way to the stairs of the Pyramid of the Sun and climbed to the first platform where the third energetic seal was located. On the platform a group of "Concheros" or traditional Aztec dancers blew seashells, a symbol of Ketzalkoatl, sang, and played traditional drums. Once the "Concheros" finished their salutation to the five directions, the Lamas began their mudras and chants.
At that moment, a dot of black manifested in the sea of white, it moved slowly through the multitude towards the great Pyramid of the Sun. They were thirteen people dressed in black and armed with huge sticks, they were worshipers of Tezcatlipoka: twelve men and one woman. The woman at the lead of the precession kept repeating in a loud voice: "Out of here damn foreigners, this is ours!" The spirit of peace that permeated the multitude was firm and no one attempted to stop the intruders. They made it as far as one of the corners of the pyramid, but before they could start their ascent to the first platform, Alberto Ruz (the son of the discoverer of Palenque) with a contingent of Rainbow Warriors from Wewekoyotl (Old Coyote) their community in Tepoztlan (the birthplace of Se Akatl Topiltzin Ketzalkoatl), made a human barrier. The thirteen worshipers of Tezcatlipoca decided to change their route and attempt to ascend the pyramid through the stairs at the center of the pyramid. The multitude, realizing what was going on, reacted with a chant: "Tibet-Mexico! Tibet-Mexico!" and some people decided to stand in their way but were forced out of the way with the huge sticks. The spirit of consciousness was such that no one reacted violently to this aggression.
As the thirteen worshippers of Tezkatlipoca arrived at the platform, Mr. Miguel Limon, the Undersecretary of the Interior for Migratory Affairs, and only official authority at the event, reproached their attitude in very strong words and reminded them of the traditional hospitality of the Mexican people. His words disarmed six of the intruders who turned back. Seven of them kept going past the Undersecretary. A second authority stepped up to stop their advance on the Lamas, Domingo Dias Porta, known as "Titolopochtli," who with the support of the Guardians of the Tradition has worked to recreate the Sacred Traditions of Amerrikua. He spoke to them in a serene and quiet voice, he expressed to them that Teotiwakan is nobody's monopoly and it belongs to the entire human race. Another six of the intruders desisted from their goal to reach the Lamas. Only the woman kept moving forward with the intention of attacking the Tibetan priests.
The sudden irruption on the site by the worshipers of Tezcatlipoka had two different effects on the Lamas: the young ones showed concern in their faces, but the three elder Lamas seemed to be pleased and indeed were smiling at the unexpected occurrence. Their eyes were focused on the huge incensory a few feet away, a thick cloud of aromatic smoke emanated from it. When the woman finally reached the other side of the incensory opposite to where the lamas were standing, the smoke appeared to be a barrier that the woman could not overcome, she stopped her advance and at that moment the Tibetan lamas concluded the ritual ceremony that broke the third of the four energetic seals of the Pyramid of the Sun. Unbeknownst to the Priestess of Tezcatlipoka, her negative energy had been necessary to bring forth the rupture of the third seal.
Regina had explained to the Witness and the four Secret Guardians of the Tradition that just as a Mexican had to begin the process of awakening the Pyramid of the Sun, it was the duty of a Mexican to conclude the awakening of the pyramid. In March of 1993 the Guardians of the Tradition performed the last ritual ceremony and broke the 4th and last seal, the one that sat on top of the pyramid. It was then that the powerful and subtle energies of the Cosmos and the Earth united to generate a light energy for the use of any human being on the planet who wishes to use it for the realization of a higher consciousness. The first step in the process of re-polarization of the Earth's spiritual and consciousness energies had been achieved. The Pyramid of the Sun has been reactivated and is now fully functional as the energy resonator it was constructed to be.
It has become a common site to see Tibetan lamas performing rituals all over Mesoamerica and South America; the purpose of these rituals is to reactivate all of the geomagnetic points on the American Cordillera and facilitate the spiritual re-polarization of the planet. Perhaps this is why China is becoming the great materialist, while the Americas are seeing a revitalization of its spiritual dimension. The task for all of us appears to be straightforward, to promote and guide a paradigm shift, a spiritual and consciousness awakening based on the ancient knowledge of the rythms of a living Earth and a living Cosmos.
- Marcos Villasenor's blog
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Great news
YES!!!
metaphormosis
I think this gives a hopeful message about the kind of transistion that could happen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzU3H7E0DO8
rituals
beautiful
What a beautiul story!
Thanks for sharing it, Marcos.
"Will the transformation."-Rilke
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"If only I could remember the future"
?
You are being sarcastic, right?
You never really know around here...
"The lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding" -- The Kybalion.
sarcasm
The good thing about sarcasm, is that it acts as a disclaimer, and is justified by the humour. So you can say what you want and not be accountable.
I do value the cynical view, otherwise it can get sick and cheesy.
Too good to be true?
This is a great story, but I worry that it is too idyllic. The idea of the Tezcatlipoka worshipers attacking but slowly being whittled down as they neared the ceremony, only to find when the last one makes it that her negative energy was actually needed. And the president changing his mind with no good reason?
I googled for any other accounts of the activation of Teotiwakan but could not find a single one. I would imagine that if 100,000 people were present there would be some sort of media report.
Could anyone point me in the direction of some other accounts/books?
Thanks
"The lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding" -- The Kybalion.
ditto
...What do you mean?
...What do you mean?
I know it is based on a book but that book is supposed to be based on a real event.
And what about the angry blog posts?
angry posts
Hi Jenn,
Can you point us to the "angry blog postings" and convey what they say? I met Marcos a few times, and he seemed very sincere. Marcos, if you are reading these comments, perhaps you could point to some reference material or articles that support your accounts.
It is odd that there seems to be no other references to these events on the Net. It may be wholly or partially fictitious, but it is still a "beautiful story."
"Will the transformation."-Rilke
Indeed
Yes, definetely a beautiful story. I do hope it is true.
"The lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding" -- The Kybalion.
Other sites of "Activation"
DoAn
Interstitial Artist
www.doanart.blogspot.com
i wonder about Gulliver
without verification...
Without verification of some sort, I wonder if we should take this article off the site? Or at least pull it from the home page? Antonio Velasco Pina seems legitimate enough. Is it possible that the book Marcos is discussing was a novel that he somehow mistook as fact?
Marcos has advanced an interesting thesis that "precession" occurs because we are actually in a binary star system, and some ancient cultures were aware of this.
For me, this piece and other recent articles, including Tristan's recent piece on CERN, are opening up bigger questions about how we define the content of this magazine, whether we are going for truthfulness or "truthiness." I think we need to tilt back to truthfulness, and make sure any assertions of RS authors are backed up with sources and evidence.
"Will the transformation."-Rilke
Reality Sandwich's Lunchtime Myth Buffet and Happy Hour
This is an interesting situation. It's almost "Castanedian".
Yet it's an interesting story, something to tell the children at bedtime, perhaps.
The part about the negative energy being faced/embraced/needed/used in order to rupture the seal and complete the cycle and transformation seems to me to be particularly relevant as we face and engage so much shadow and confrontation.
*
I'm reminded of a Sun Ra quote "...we need to touch upon myth because the truth has practically wore us out."
Now, I'm not referring to RS with that Sun Ra quote but the entire planet/species/time/story etc.
But these days, it seems, as we move ahead in any direction - it's become an increasing challenge and also a kind of "passtime", to discern, or create, fact from fiction. Things are blending, swirling and intertwining with everything and each other. As Ken Jordan put it recently "One bleeds into the next, slipping and sliding in a spiral of associations."
Funny how it's increasingly natural to engage Google and the Internet as a kind of Supreme Verifier of fact or myth.
If something has not been shared, it does not fully exist.
*
Evidently the Reginos have a thriving business.
Truthiness
Take it off
It is one thing to speculate on the metaphysical, the philosophical, or the fringes of science. It is quite another to invent events and try to pass them off as real. This site should be about the former among other things. When it comes to reporting actual events, it should be extremely meticulous about the facts. In the absence of stronger evidence, this should be pulled off.
Regarding the binary star system theory, this theory is promulgated by Walter Cruttenden in Lost Star of Myth and Time. It is an interesting theory but not accepted by many, if any, scientists.
Let me revise that
This article should never have been posted as it is. An editor should have rejected it until the author could provide some additional evidence of the events he claims happened. After all, some of these events were supposedly witnessed by thousands of people. There must be newspaper accounts, videos, or something. I would be surprised if some of them wouldn't be on U-Tube if they really occurred.
Having said that, I don't think the article should be taken down. Rather a large disclaimer should be placed in front of it that indicates that the events described are unverified and may be fictious.
SOA girl
Yes
I strongly agree. I don't believe beautiful articles such as this one should be completely removed but that they should be presented differently. Possibly in some sort of "speculation section".
After all we are here as seeker's of truth, for us to be successful in our individual ponderings I think a distinction between interesting ideas and factual reports would be helpful.
"The lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding" -- The Kybalion.
Kybalion
comes from the hermetic tradition, but will the real hermetic tradition, stand forth through the hermetic purple haze?
in this regard it's all high speculation, and then there are the reasons for layers of meaning, and or symbolic language.
The fact that all the secrets (the secret) are out in the open now, all the forbidden books, all the mystery right out in the open, is another kind of camouflage, did that wyrd remind me of the word Camel? and did the last part remind me of flanging effect? when two signals are mixed? a type of phasing? or phrasing? anyway back at the Ruach...
anyway so i progress, so pryamids of the sun.
and towers of our Babylon, so out there in the open, smoking like a gun.
and the eye of Wajet, or ujat or utchat"sound eye"
.
Indeed, I find it a very interesting and true saying. Thats why its my signature! Though I think it's over due for a change. Maybe to something from Aldous Huxley.
"The lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding" -- The Kybalion.
A memory?
Verification
Beautiful story or not,the article is presented as truth complete with dates and names.Its presented as a journalistic piece,not magical realism.
As much as I wish to believe this story,until the research can be verified by the writer it should be pulled or presented as fiction. I was entranced as well,wanting to believe this overcame my critical faculties.
Thanks to JennC, Thinker and Don Shake for the reality check.
Found this
With a nod of apology Morgan Maher's way I did a quick scout of the internet using, of course, Google and found this.
'Gender and Identity formation in Contemporary Mexican Literature by Marina Perez de Mendiola. (1998)
On page 22 she mentions Velasco Pina's book on Regina in reference to the student murders in 1968.
This book is listed as LITERARY critcism.
Guess the only person who can really clear this up is Velasco Pina.
Let's not get Casteneda'd again.
barbara hand clow
Barbara Hand Clow talks of some quite 'fantastic' occurances regarding the pyramids, so I'm never sure quite how seriously to take her.
She says that -
'..during the 1989 Mayan Initiatic Ceromonies with Hunbatz Men, we travelled from Palenque to Chichen Itza and met with tribal elders in each region. During the culmination at Chichen Itza, it was prophesied that Quetzalcoatl would appear in the sky as the serpent descended the Pyramid. As the pipe ceromonies completed at the foot of the descending serpent, the full moon rose while the Sun set, Asteroid 1989-A zoomed over 40,000 people in an air-imploding roar and crashed into the sea just off the Yucatan Peninsula. This was the expected return of Quetzacoatl the sacred serpent. Astromoners but not Humbatz or the Maya, were suprised by this close asteroid'
(From 'Alchemy of 9 dimensions')
I was quite impressed by this but it takes time to try to verify everything you read. Until you really trust the author it seems better not to believe what they say.
I tend to assume that what I read here has been verified and checked, which is how I think it should be, it needs a 'reality check'.
i been Castaneda'ed
been Learye'd i been Crowley'ed i been, Makakali'ed been dragged over the rainbow'ed, been University of the Trees'ed, i been 'you cannot know what it was like to be a surrealist in the 20's e'd" been Jimi Hendrix'ed, been Frank Zapped, been draft'ed, been rejected, been kicked out of high school for having long hair, i been hoodwinked, mickey finn'ed, poo poo'ed, bood, chewed up and spit out,snookered, circle jerked around'ed been told the wrong 'SECRET'ed' been rung out, flung out, strung out, i been time warped, and done it again, i been down so long it looks like up'ed, been on a street in Mexico city, walking with a ex-surfer drug dealer Buddhiste'd, i thought i saw a pussy cat'ed, i been turned on tuned in dropped out'ed, i been on helicopters in Big Sur, when it looked like mars, i been on rides in Disneyland trippin my brains out'ed, been 9/11e'd born,
let the paradigm shift its crystal skull gear shift nob, i been Bob'ed, burned for an ounce, i been spare changed when all i had was a spare hole in my pocket, i been seeing strange things, hearin about 2012'ed, i been rememberin the Kennedy assissination day, Robert, and Martin too, yeah, i want them Monks to remove the last negative serpent'ed smudge cloud and make the horizon go verticle'ed, or at least i want to get my surreal teenage psychedelic poem novel publish'ed
Casteneda'd
Yea,I've been Casteneda'd too, Liz Greene'd.....there have been others as well.....have developed a distaste for people who lie about qualifications or present works of imagination as non-fiction.
Its fraudulent and to quote Thom's comment...its almost an abuse of the writer's power over the reader.
Personally I would leave out the almost.
Truth is not monologue
When I read this piece yesterday, I was left feeling a little surprised that it had been passed by the RS team. I was intending to write a cautionary note about the dangers of propaganda this morning, but see that questions have already been raised. Good. Until Marcos comments, this piece comes to us as monologue, almost an abuse of the writer's power over the reader. We shouldn't need to resort to Google for context.
I agree it would be better presented as contemporary oral tradition, as Antonio and Morgan suggested. RS needn't be bound to academic standards, which can stifle creativity - creative interpretation can be empowering, a work of alchemy, transmuting and releasing tangled energy. Graves' The White Goddess did this, but some people read it as a statement of fact, forgetting that as a poet, Graves deals in mythic imagery, and has trained himself to think in images. The book was therefore dismissed as unintelligible by most academics, bound as they are to the rules of the trade.
I would argue in favour of multi-disciplinary interpretations or readings of events where appropriate, using psychology, anthropology, archetypal mythology, archeology, ethnobotany etc. Poetic vision can be considered a discipline to my mind. We just need to be conscious of what we are doing, otherwise we risk slipping back into the Victorian generalising that creates blindspots rather than exposes them.
Good post
Good post
"The lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding" -- The Kybalion.
Truthiness
the Mahakali
ritual that was performed for the first time in San Fransisco, in the Masonic auditorium, with a Lama and a lot of Buddhist monks, in around 75 was a real event, i was there and i received a blessing personally from the Lama at the end of the rite, this was for those that chose to walk down the isle and stand in line to receive the tap on the top of the head with some holy relic.And i really felt a charge of energy from it.I think it made my life more psychic.Certain things happened after that, that seemed to change for the better,or I knew that i had a very psychic movement of my life karma, i knew i was going to meet my soul mate. Not everything of course was just wonderful but in some essential ways. Anyway, i think Buddhist monks are perfectly capable of doing what is described in the blog.
The reasons for making up a kind of myth about this at this time, are, and could be a real need to heal some of the events we have seen since the 68 student protests in Mexico, and America, France, ect. On the other hand the strange complex nature of internet communications, is a factor that is still manifesting, just like the unknown effects of television on the world, and the known ones.
And it's obvious that here is a lot of world karma speed up happening now, with Tibet.And everywhere.I am a writer-poet so i am in the habit of making up and improvising as i go along, is just that i also feel the need for ritual and mirroring events, and even peoples comments on RealitySandwich, i'm very prone to the actual moment of creative energy, the quick action of typing as fast as i can, and letting it hang out, this is like a chaos magic ritual, like surrealists doing an exquiste corpse, or Burroughs and co. doing cut ups.And in some kind of objective chance, we see what we see, it is not always what we want or expect to see, or are ready to see, or are open to yet, perhaps it's not the magical smoke that protected the Monks in the last solar rite on the pyramid, perhaps it's us.
And the White Goddess, is as real as faeries, and Kubla Khan.
A new acronym
I like the idea of a separate category for articles like these....maybe call it 'speculative truthiness'
There is a lot of power in myth and I agree with CJ when he wrote, 'the reasons for making up a kind of myth about this....could be a real need to heal some of the events we have seen since the 68 student protests in Mexico,and America.'
I have been deeply influenced by Emmett Grogan's 'Ringolevio' and I have always thought that the trauma of events like Kent State and others have never been fully healed in the cultural psyche.
And I feel that there is a need to heal it....no wonder punk with all its nihilistic cynicism was the sixties bastard child.The wound will not be ignored.
certainty, borges
I am thinking about some of Jorge Luis Borges' short stories, which though totally fictitious are written in a scholarly cant, complete with fictitious citations, references to non-existent academic controversies, and so on. And without any kind of disclaimer either.
I wonder about this quest for certainty. Presumably, if we could verify all the events that Villasenor describes, then we could finally allow ourselves the luxury of believing, once and for all, that great and magical changes are underway. But certainty is ever elusive. At some point the quest to fix something against a backdrop of objective reality falls apart. We are left with a number of alternative stories that each incorporate the available data. Each one of those stories requires a leap of faith, however small.
I like the indefinite ontological status of this story, I like that it is impossible to verify, because then we have to decide based on other criteria whether or not to incorporate it into our reality picture. I am a fan of Robert Graves too. I like to choose based on beauty rather than evidence. For me, this story is allegorical. It is immaterial to me whether it "actually happened". I must say that I find it less compelling than Castenada's early books, which were much more startling and original.
When we read a story like this, can we respond in some other way than "Is it really true?"
Charles Eisenstein
www.ascentofhumanity.com
Relativity of Fact and Truth?
Hi Charles,
I am thinking about some of Jorge Luis Borges' short stories, which though totally fictitious are written in a scholarly cant, complete with fictitious citations, references to non-existent academic controversies, and so on. And without any kind of disclaimer either.
Well, we know when we open one of Borges' amazing books that we are about to be engaged by a master magician. When we open Reality Sandwich, are we expecting fantasy masquerading as reportage? Do we expect contributors here to invent data to support their version of the truth, or to ignore facts that contradict the line they are spinning? Certainly we should be on our toes, but it would be unfortunate I think if readers were to be repeatedly led into liminal realms of dubious provenance.
It is, of course, a common feature of our postmodern era to assert the relativity of truth. If all truths are equally valid, then truth is meaningless and we can believe whatever we like. Maybe this is what people need, but it seems decadent to me. "Truth" becomes a dividing wall of pleasing illusions that shield as from the rocks of reality - soliloquy replaces colloloquy, cult replaces community. And what if fact has become as relative as truth...does that mean propaganda is the only reality? If so, we are doomed - because language is the divine spark in us, and if it is always to be bound and twisted into the service of the temporal ego, then we are anti-Logos, turning elves into orcs, furthering disintegration and dismemberment.
I've seen truth defined as the unity of trust and truce. Peaceful community exists in truth, at one with the divine, the lie is transparent and easily dissolved, and speech is integrative: the harmonious articulation, in every sound, of the whole being - instinct, intellect, passion and imagination unified. Very rare to hear it these days, but easily recognisable when found - "a spirit passed before my face and the hair of my flesh stood up."
I'm sure Marcos has good intentions, but a slight problem of presentation has risked damaging our trust in him, as it damaged Graves' book (though of course Graves loved annoying academia.) Hopefully it will all be resolved - maybe the events described did occur! Certainly there are symbolic elements in the story that are worth meditation, and the "indefinite ontological status" of the story is indeed amusing.
Keep the thread
Discernment: 1: the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure : skill in discerning 2 : an act of discerning
synonyms: discernment, discrimination, perception, penetration, insight, acumen mean a power to see what is not evident to the average mind. discernment stresses accuracy (as in reading character or motives or appreciating art) <the discernment to know true friends>. discrimination stresses the power to distinguish and select what is true or appropriate or excellent <the discrimination that develops through listening to a lot of great music>. perception implies quick and often sympathetic discernment (as of shades of feeling) <a novelist of keen perception into human motives>. penetration implies a searching mind that goes beyond what is obvious or superficial <lacks the penetration to see the scorn beneath their friendly smiles>. insight suggests depth of discernment coupled with understanding sympathy <a documentary providing insight into the plight of the homeless>. acumen implies characteristic penetration combined with keen practical judgment.
So, in view of the inherent suggestion implied by these synonyms of discernment that it, and its family, are skills to be practiced, and in view of my perception that many RS readers are younger and therefore less practiced in the dark art of obfuscation, I believe that articles such as this should lead with a notice of unknown authenticity penned by an editor. In such case, this entire thread could have been an imaginative exploration into its possibilities rather than a exploration of its fallacious origins and potential dark purpose.
While Charles, others, and myself might be well experienced in the art of nuance, many others here at RS are blessed with the innocence and naïveté that are so easily, and so often, exploited.
By his obvious absence, it seems to me that Marcos has deliberately hacked this site in order to do just that. (Thus, my sacrastic book preview above) And while such exploitation is unfortunate, I think it could become a growth experience for RS. If we care to be a family, then we share some appropriate responsibility for the welfare of our brothers and sisters here and should not tolerate premeditated abuse on this site.
While we all have rights, we also have responsibilities--to each other, and to the synergy of this cyber-environment.
Rather than take this thread down, we should use it as a reminder of the loving care we have for the vision of the founders of this site, and for its Homo-Luminous community.
"If only I could remember the future"
Right on!
Sweet shades, Don! Rawk on!
I agree that we should keep the thread up. As someone who led an innernet existence for several years as three fictitous characters I can tell you that it's not whether something "actually" happens or is "proven fact" that makes it true.
I for one enjoyed this story very much--it felt as though I was reading a parable by Borges, who, interestingly enough, often explores and overturns our notions of "fiction" in his writings...
While I understand the desire for journalistic integrity, I had to laugh when I read the comment about fact checking RS pieces on Google. Ha! It makes me tempted to write up a bunch of official sounding posts on official sounding blogs and post them around the web that refer to the story in the post as FACT going so far as to make up the names of fake government agencies and have letters sent on fake letterhead...which is kind of a fun idea for an art project in a way, tho not for me as I'm currently working on something different.
Anyways, 2 Marcos, the author of the "original" post, thank you very much for (re)telling this lovely story.
peace,
jp
Mexican Mysteries
Charles and Jennifer - Nice connections.
Interesting how quickly the story was pounced upon, fact checked, called into question, extrapolated, discussed, accepted, rejected and so forth. Testimony i think, to the strength of the story/myth/meme and, also to the readers.
I don't feel as though Reality Sandwich needs any artificial ingredients - but the Borges connection is apt.
Jennifer Palmer: "It makes me tempted to write up a bunch of official sounding posts on official sounding blogs and post them around the web that refer to the story in the post as FACT going so far as to make up the names of fake government agencies and have letters sent on fake letterhead...which is kind of a fun idea"
Nice! Often this is how consensus fact/consensus reality comes into being anyway. Especially with government, some science, big industry (pharma, oil) - it used to be the realm of "spin doctors" right?
What about the spin of the spiral tribe?
As Terence McKenna put it, "This is not necessarily the truth, this is what Wittgenstein would have called an exercise in searching for that which is true enough."
or Kurt Vonnegut, "All of the true things that I am about to tell you are shameless lies."
Perhaps someone should ask the Dalai Lama?
Marcos, you say the story has "never been told outside of Mexico. The following is only part of that story."
What's the other part?
"Enquiring minds want to know."
similar implausibilities turn out to be true
I did want to note a few quick things here. First of all, I have encountered similarly implausible tales that turned out to be true, according to many witnesses. For instance, Jose Arguelles led a "rainbrow bridge" meditation at the end of a week-long workshop in South America (can't remember where). When people left the meditation, they found the sky was covered in rainbows. This anecdote was repeated to me by several people who I believe are trustworthy.
I have had similar rainbow symbolism in my own life - a double rainbow appeared in the sky at Burning Man about 15 minutes after I finished my Friday afternoon talk last summer. Of course, this event seemed like a refraction of the collective mindscape, and almost everyone has a story about how the moment of its appearance related to their own personal journey. Even so, it was quite magical.
From Jose, I also heard the story about how he was named the "closer of the cycle" by the elders of a group of Mexican tribes, who performed a 700 person ceremony at Teotihuacan, and gave him an impressive carved staff that symbolized this role.
I also want to note that one of the ideas I have been toying with lately is that part of the "dimensional shift" or consciousness change or whatever it is seems to be a convergence of "reality" and "hoax," almost as if the structure of space-time was increasingly rippling around human intentions. I can't say if this is a good or bad thing - it is a weird thing.
I have been studying Richard Hoagland's work and find this a typical example of the phenomenon. The images he points toward as "evidence" of structures on the moon are seemingly bizarre and murkily incomprehensible, yet the data collected in his larger argument is compelling. The UFO/alien abduction phenomena is similar.
Let's say Marcos' story is total fiction (still unclear): What if as Jenn suggests above, someone creates web documentation, including photoshopped images of the event, a Reginos website, a wikipedia entry, etc. What if people start to join the Reginos movement through the Net, and some of them start to remember actually being at the event? This seems similar to what occurs during some of the alien abduction therapy sessions.
If there are other dimensions of time and space, is it possible that "reality" is not just projected forward, but continually reconstituted, in the past, present, and future. If this is even conceivable, then we have to tread with great phenomenological care when we seek to make any staement about what "reality" actually "is."
I suppose this is similar to some of the concepts projected by Borges.
McKenna suggested the event in 2012 could be the construction of a time machine, which would bring linear history to an immediate conclusion.
"Will the transformation."-Rilke
-
'the construction of a time machine, which would bring linear history to an immediate conclusion.'
Or even if we could just see the future clearly ahead of us, assuming it is already set, we wouldn't be able to live in the same way.
footnote: rainbows
I considered quoting DH Lawrence's curious little poem, "The Rainbow" in my comment above. Now that rainbows have nested in the thread after all, for fun, here it is...
Even the rainbow has a body
made of the drizzling rain
and is an architecture of glistening atoms
built up, built up
yet you can't lay your hand on it,
nay, nor even your mind.
:-)
I think this has already happened
Daniel writes:
"Let's say Marcos' story is total fiction (still unclear): What if as Jenn suggests above, someone creates web documentation, including photoshopped images of the event, a Reginos website, a wikipedia entry, etc. What if people start to join the Reginos movement through the Net, and some of them start to remember actually being at the event? This seems similar to what occurs during some of the alien abduction therapy sessions."
Well, not to be disrespectful of sincere Christians or other prophetic faiths -- but can't we project that this is pretty much what happened with the Christian myth, its witnesses and writers, and the Bible? And probably all such prophetic Books that led to our various religions, down to the Book of Mormon and beyond.
I do believe the past is as malleable as the future. In Reiki, some practitioners believe you can literally change the past by using the "distance" symbol and its energies. (I haven't played that much with it so I personally can't say.)
My problem is that I've seen so many enthusiastic, sincere people, who don't have this Mercurial facility for dancing with truth but who have other considerable gifts, become extremely cynical, bitter and disenchanted when they find out that they have been deceived. And I personally don't like deception, either.. I can participate in any myth with as much belief as factual, consensual reality. I can cast circle and invoke Xena, or Ironman or whomever and get some sort of results and be quite happy with it. I think we all can and should cultivate the skill of walking in multiple realities.
"Consensual" is the keyword. If someone writes something and presents it as consensual fact in the dominant reality, that is similar to slipping me an entheogen in my morning tea, without my knowledge or consent. But if I enter into a created reality knowing it is created, then I can choose the degree to which I want to invest my power into bolstering its truth.
Oh Snap!
I hadn't read the comments by Charles or Thomas when I made mine mentioning Borges! Cool to know so many of us are on a similar literary tip and can appreciate this post in a myriad of ways.
peace,
jp
Rusty Spanish
My highschool Spanish is a bit rusty, but... Villasenor... Does it mean "man of the house"?
Anyone know what Marcos is a Spanish word for?
"everything means something"
the good, the bad, and the weird...
Daniel wrote: "What if as Jenn suggests above, someone creates web documentation, including photoshopped images of the event, a Reginos website, a wikipedia entry, etc. What if people start to join the Reginos movement through the Net, and some of them start to remember actually being at the event? This seems similar to what occurs during some of the alien abduction therapy sessions."
interesting points Jennifer and Daniel. I've been thinking today about the recent NYtimes article http://tiny.cc/BehindTVAnalystsPentagonsHiddenHand
The pentagon are apparently in very close and regular contact with the media's military analysts, and are working with them to spread propaganda about the war in Iraq. No surprise perhaps. "Joe America" (quote) is being hoaxed into a military mediated faery realm that has little correlation to the facts of life in Baghdad.
As Daniel noted in his book, and suggests above, the hypnotherapist and the patient might actually retrospectively co-create an abduction scenario where none existed. After the hypnotherapy session, the patient has been "baptised" as an abductee. And everybody is satisfied - especially the aliens, who are one step closer to enjoying a subjective reality in this spacetime.
Perhaps something of the sort occurs in the classical Eleusinian mysteries? Could the initiates experience of the "kykeon," that magical drink, mediated by the priests, combined with the carefully manipulated setting of the temple to Demeter create instant illumination and firsthand, experiential knowledge of the divine ground in its Demeter aspect?
The individual in all three cases, it seems to me, has some choice in the matter. We can be initiates of western capitalism, alien abduction, or the Goddess Demeter. The individual is also however, to a certain extent, guided into a way of seeing and feeling.
Perhpas Marcos' story offers initiation. Perhaps Michael Brownstein's story does the same. I wonder if it makes any difference that Michael's posts are presented as extracts from a novel, and Marcos' post is not?
Is humanity, at this critical juncture, a great shoal of belief to be trawled by the higher dimensions? I sometimes worry that some groups are splitting off into fantasia realms where everything will be exactly as they have dreamed it.... personally, I'd like to keep unified if possible.
best to all
Thom
Request
Lacking the inclination to waste my time and other people's by roaming the internet pretending to be someone else or putting up websites and forging documentation to support a hoax and show how clever I am at manipulation, could I request that somehow I can be notified if an article has been verified or not?
I don't mind doing my own research if I need to and as a preliminary research tool I find the internet more than satisfactory.
Thanks.
Truthiness or truthfulness?
"I think we need to tilt back to truthfulness, and make sure any assertions of RS authors are backed up with sources and evidence."
You've got to be kidding, Daniel. Will this apply to reports of lost continents, crop circles, alien abductions, and Maya prophesies? What about narratives of entheogenic experiences in which there were (and could be) no other witnesses, sources, or evidence?
Who's going to be the arbiter of what sources are acceptable and/or reliable and what constitutes legitimate and permissible evidence?
What's up with this potential crackdown on magical reality? Hypocracy at its worst, if you ask me.
I'm against it. Totally.
Magical reality
"Mexican agents murdered Regina on the night of October 2nd 1968. She was shot from a helicopter during the infamous student massacre that took place in Tlatelolko. Regina died on top of the small pyramid at Tlatelolko surrounded by the four Secret Guardians of the Tradition and the Witness, Velasco Piña. The Guardians buried her body in a well-hidden cave in the Istaksiwatl."
Something tells me that no one will ever know what really happened in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas that October night in 1968, when young dreamers were sacrificed atop an Aztec pyramid:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlatelolco_massacre
That was 40 years ago this year. Social unrest is smoldering in Tibet while the Olympic flame burns in Beijing.
It's fascinating that discussion has focused on the "reality" of Marcos' text rather than the reality of what he is trying to communicate.