Maya Information Board – Copán in Honduras [Photo by JJM – 2015]

Darkness Before Dawn (Part 1-D) – The Big Picture View

Note: Some segments of this text contain updated and expanded extracts of information published previously in the Energy Shifts series.

The Precession of the Equinoxes’ Cycle

An alternative explanation for the current upheaval in the world is related to the earth’s present position in the (approx.) 26,000 years Precession of the Equinoxes’ Cycle. This cycle refers to the shifting orientation of the earth’s axis caused by the pull of the gravitational forces of the Sun and other celestial bodies. These forces cause the earth’s axis to be slightly tilted and, as it spins, it wobbles slightly over time, similar to the motion of a spinning top.

I, Dennis Nilsson, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The result is that the orientation of the earth’s poles is not constant. Over time, the North and South Poles point to different constellations. Consequently, the star map that’s viewable at night from any position on earth changes over time, too. The time that it takes for the earth’s poles to come full-circle to point to their original positions again is variable – but falls within a band of 24,000 to 26,000 years. The estimated average length of one completed Precession of the Equinoxes’ Cycle is currently defined as 25,772 years [1].

A Common Astronomical Framework

According to writers Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha Von Dechend in their seminal book Hamlet’s Mill: An Essay on Myth & the Frame of Time published in 1969 [2], at least 30 ancient – and not so ancient – civilisations and cultures have used the Precession of the Equinoxes’ Cycle for the mapping of time, making it the most common astronomical framework used for that purpose.

Correlation, Compatibility and Discrepancies

Interestingly, the Maya civilisation appears to be a notable exception. There seems to be no conclusive evidence that the Mayas based their calendars on the Precession of the Equinoxes’ Cycle. Susan Millbrath, Curator of Latin American Art and Archaeology at Florida Museum of Natural History, stated, for example, in a 2007 newsletter of the Institute of Maya Studies that: “Nowhere do we see a Maya record that accurately records the cycle of precession of the equinox known to us today [3].

Nevertheless, the Maya Five Worlds model (explained in the article The Maya World Tree) matches the length of the Precession of the Equinoxes’ Cycle almost perfectly. It is beyond the scope of this essay to definitively determine whether or not the Mayas were aware of the precession of the equinoxes, but it’s also not necessary for the particular objectives of this essay.

Five consecutive 5,125-year Maya Great Cycles (which are Maya’s World Ages depicted in their creation story and measured by their Long Count calendar) result in a total of 25,625 Gregorian years when added up. This makes the Maya Five Worlds model very valuable for pinpointing and analysing our present position in time from a big picture perspective and within the context of the Precession of the Equinoxes’ Cycle.

Another ancient cycle that correlates with, and in this case is based upon, the Precession of the Equinoxes Cycle, is a particular version of the Vedic Yuga Cycle from India. That version is a fractal (a cycle within a cycle) of the more commonly known and used Maha Yuga Cycle (also known as the Chatur Yuga Cycle) of India which has a duration of 4,320,000 years.

The 24,000-year precession of the equinoxes’ version of the longer Yuga cycles was reintroduced to the world by the Hindu sage Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri in his influential book The Holy Science, published in 1894. Sri Yukteswar states in his book that the 24,000-year version was lost to the world during the Dark Age of Kali Yuga when many wise men retired to the mountains and a lot of knowledge was lost [4]. The 24,000-year version of the cycle goes as far back [5] as the Laws of Manu which date back to at least 1,500 BC [6].

As can be seen from the numbers stated above, the length of both the Maya Five Worlds model (25,625 years) and the fractal version of the Vedic Yuga Cycle (24,000 years) differs somewhat from the current average length of the Precession of the Equinoxes’ cycle, which is 25,772 years.

The Maya Five Worlds model is the closest match with a 147-year difference, while the Vedic Yuga Cycle’s fractal is 1,772 years shorter than the Precession of the Equinoxes’ Cycle, even though it is based upon it. This is a curious discrepancy and – as will be shown later – knowing the reason behind it will prove to be very beneficial from a big picture perspective in understanding the rise and fall of consciousness.

The Value of Comparative Energy Systems

The advantage of using the above two cycles side by side is that both cycles measure and define consciousness (each in their own way) within the same overall timeframe, which is the Precession of the Equinoxes’ Cycle. By using both these complementary frameworks, a more holistic and comprehensive understanding can be arrived at.

We are in a Binary Star System

The reason why the Vedic Yuga Cycle’s fractal is only 24,000 years in length is because – according to the Sri Yukteswar model – the precession of the equinoxes happens not because of the wobble of the earth’s axis, but is due to our entire solar system being part of a binary star system. What that entails is that our Sun is in an elliptical orbit with a companion star (thought to be Sirius) around the two stars’ common gravity centre (known as a barycentre [7]). This concept is discussed in great detail in Walter Cruttenden’s acclaimed book, Lost Star of the Myth and Time, published in 2005 [8].

The premise is that when two binary stars move closer to each other in the region where their orbits overlap (i.e. closer to their barycentre), their orbiting speeds accelerate. Their mutual magnetism would increase as they move closer to each other. This orbit acceleration happens only for a portion of the full cycle with the result being that the overall cycle is shorter in duration, resulting in only 24,000 years.

Neither the modern understanding of the Precession of the Equinoxes’ Cycle nor the Maya Five Worlds model takes this temporary acceleration into account mathematically. Should the two aforementioned cycles, indeed, factor such a phenomenon in, those cycles would match the 24,000-year Vedic Yuga Cycle closer. The reverse would be true, too; if the 24,000-year Vedic Yuga Cycle ignores the occurrence of a temporary orbit acceleration, its length would naturally be closer to that of the other two cycles.

Although modern scientists have not yet confirmed that our Sun has a dual star, a lot of evidence points to that being more likely than not. In 2017, it was announced that a physicist of Berkeley University and an astronomer from Harvard University had determined that it’s almost certain that our Sun originated as part of a binary star system and that most stars similar to our Sun are ‘almost certainly’ born as binaries [9]. Walter Cruttenden states in the second edition of his book (published in 2018 [10]) that, according to NASA, more than 80% of stars are currently binary star systems or multiple star systems.

The Vedic Yuga Cycle as a Framework for Consciousness

This brings us back to the subject of the Precession of the Equinoxes’ Cycle as a framework for consciousness. The implication of our Sun being in an orbit with a companion star is that consciousness increases when our Sun’s proximity is closer to the barycentre of the two orbiting stars.

This is where the Vedic Yuga Cycle is so valuable, because it defines that framework in detail. The top of the cycle is closest to the barycentre and contains the highest, brightest and longest age known as Satya Yuga. That is the famous Golden Age with the most advanced level of consciousness. The two following levels further away from the barycentre are Treta Yuga first, which is the Silver Age, and then Dwapara Yuga, which is the Bronze Age. Each level / age is shorter than the one before and is incrementally lower in consciousness, too, and they have their own particular characteristics as well.

At the very bottom of the cycle is the notorious Kali Yuga Age, also known as the Iron Age. This is the shortest and darkest age and contains energy that is dim, dense and very materialistic – and these attributes are reflected in the general consciousness of humans who lived during that age. When our Sun is the farthest away from the dual-star orbit’s common centre of gravity, we are almost literally in the dark because we are so far away from the universal magnetism (Brahma [11]) emanating from the barycentre which regulates mental virtue (dharma [11]).

Whether consciousness would be either rising or falling over time would depend on whether our Sun is moving towards Vishnunabhi (the name given by Sri Yukteswar for the barycentre [11]) on the ascending arc of the Vedic Yuga Cycle, or away from it on the descending arc. These two half-rounds of the overall cycle are called ‘electric couples’ [12] because a vortex-like energy is said to be generated between the two of them by the orbit [13].

‘Electric Couples’ in Sun-Sirius Binary Orbit (File source: https://astrojazzblog.wordpress.com)

As far as consciousness is concerned, a slow descent of spirit into matter happens on the Sun’s journey away from the barycentre, whereas a slow rise of spirit out of matter occurs on the ascending arc during the journey back to the top of the cycle.

Q: Where are we currently in the Vedic Yuga Cycle?

In the year 2020, we find ourselves 1,522 years along the ascending arc of the Vedic Yuga Cycle. The shift-point from the descending to the ascending arcs happened in AD 498. Within the context of the overall 24,000-year VedicGreat Year’ Yuga Cycle, we can see [in Fig. 1] that human consciousness is still relatively low in general, but the trend is clearly upwards and will be so for thousands of years to come.

File Copyright: David Steinmetz (http://theyugas.com/about-the-yugas/overview/overview)

The Big Picture View

The big picture view, also, is that although we are clearly on the ascending arc of evolution in the long term, the Maya Fourth World to Fifth World (see Part 1-C) transition is causing an interim dark period where the collective consciousness of humanity is in turmoil due to a confluence of many shifting energies within the same timeframe.

Expectations vs Outcomes

Few people expected so much turmoil to arrive so suddenly in 2020, whereas if it happened just after 2012 it might have been less surprising. However, it always takes a while for shifts to build momentum, and the larger the shift, the longer the delay. It would seem, though, that the real shift is now finally underway.

Hardly anyone expected a decline in consciousnesses after 2012 either, because shifts in consciousness are usually perceived as linear progressions that rise from low to high. Moreover, it was presumed in some esoteric circles that 2012 would bring an almost instant positive quantum shift in consciousness – and, when that didn’t happen, most people assumed that it would then probably happen just slowly.

Nevertheless, discerning observers would have noticed that there has, indeed, been a decline in consciousness (in some respects) in recent years, notwithstanding all the technological progress in the world (please see Part 5 for examples).

The Depth of Submersion

A regression in consciousness is a feature of dark times, and dark times are a feature of world transitions. The crux of the matter is that we don’t know how deep this transitional submersion into the collective unconsciousness will be, and we don’t know how much of the world will be left standing after the collective emerges from its journey through the Dark Night of the Collective Soul (Part 1-C).

Fortunately, mitigating a general regression in consciousness can be done by elevating individual consciousness through the strengthening of autonomous functioning (through individuation) and this is one of the most effective ways for building resilience in the face of mass collective unconsciousness (see Parts 4 & 5).

The Light on the Horizon

We will be surfacing from our transition submersion at a higher level on the ascending arc of the Vedic Great Year Cycle compared to the level where we went under. The question is: ‘‘Will our present level of consciousness be compatible with that higher level when we arrive there? ‘’ This question will be explored along with others in the next chapter.

Continue to Next Chapter

By J.J. Montagnier

[Please note that this series is a work in progress. Some edits may occur after publication. Sometimes, content earmarked for follow-up chapters only makes it into later chapters.]

J.J. Montagnier is an independent researcher and writer. He has been studying and writing about Maya calendar-related subjects since 2014. He travelled to Central America in 2015 to familiarise himself better with Maya culture and history.

Copyright © · All Rights Reserved · Gypsy Café

References:

[1] Precession of the Equinoxes. (n.d.): Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved: December 21, 2020
from https://www.britannica.com/science/precession-of-the-equinoxes
[2] Santillana, G. D. & Dechend, H. V. (1969): Hamlet’s Mill: An Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time,
Gambit.
[3] Milbrath, S. (2007, December): Just How Precise is Maya Astronomy? Institute of Maya Studies Newsletter, Vol 36, Issue 12. p.2
[4] Yukteswar, S. S. (1990): The Holy Science. Self-Realization Fellowship. E-book version, 2017. p.21
[5] Cruttenden, W. (2018): Lost Star of Myth and Time (2nd ed.). Binary Research Institute. Kindle edition. p.75
[6] The Laws of Manu. (n.d.): History Department: Hanover College. Retrieved: December 21, 2020 from https://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/261manu.html
[7] What is a Barycenter? (2020, November 3): NASA Space Place. Retrieved: December 21, 2020 from https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/barycenter/en/
[8] Cruttenden, W. (2005): Lost Star of Myth and Time. St Lynn’s Press
[9] UC Berkeley, (2017, June 15): New Evidence That all Stars are Born in Pairs. Berkeley News. Retrieved: December 21, 2020 from https://news.berkeley.edu/2017/06/13/new-evidence-that-all-stars-are-born-in-pairs/
[10] Cruttenden, W. (2018): Lost Star of Myth and Time (2nd ed.). Binary Research Institute. Kindle edition, p.150
[11] Yukteswar, S.S. (1990): The Holy Science. Self-Realization Fellowship. E-book version, 2017, p.15
[12] Yukteswar, S.S. (1990): The Holy Science. Self-Realization Fellowship. E-book version, 2017, p.19
[13] Orbit. (n.d.): Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved: December 21, 2020 fromhttps://www.britannica.com/science/orbit-astronomy

jeanjacques
Author

Explorer, Philosopher, Photographer

12 Comments

  1. Martina

    Good evening Jean -Jacques,
    frankling speaking this post is highly interesting, but for me also quite difficult! But I really feel that there has been quite a decline of consciousness, despite all the progress as far a technology is concerned. It reminds me also of Margaret Atwood novel The year of the Flood! Le’ts hope that some consciousness will be left after the end of the tunnel.
    I thank you very much for your information and best regards Martina

    • Jean-Jacques

      Good evening, Martina.

      Thank you for reading. I have made effort with this post and the technical details are quite important for various reasons. There have, for example, been many disagreements over the years among researchers on the Maya cycles about the excact cycle lengths, etc. There also have been many misinterpretations, so this article sets out to correct some misconceptions. There are some writers on the subject of the Maya calendars that are of the view that the consecutive Maya Worlds (the Great Cycles / Long Count cycles) follow each other linearly, without factoring in that it’s a cycle also on the large scale.

      I’ve tried to make it as clear as possible otherwise, so it’s relatively easy to understand and the diagrams should assist (I’d be happy to answer any questions too!)

      There’s some less known information in here, but this big picture view brings a positive view to our unstable times – we can only go UPWARDS in the long run, notwithstanding some valleys and dips along the way.

      With reference to technology and consciousness; the ironic thing is it’s probably partially because of technology that consciousness has been declining in recent years … although most people probably don’t want to hear that (see, for example this article I wrote on the subject: http://gypsycafe.org/2016/05/28/building-new-world-within-9/ ). I will look into what M. Atwood said about this subject in The Year of the Flood – thanks for the reference.

      In the next chapter I will discuss more on the subject of maintaining consciousness, because that should actually be the biggest objective in order to go through to the other side …

      Thank you for your thoughts, Martina!
      With my best wishes, Jean-Jacques

  2. Debra Malmos

    Hi Jacques – This article is a thing of beauty, so well researched and executed. It deserves some study. I’ve been thinking about an exponential factor of circles being spirals. Like your illustration could be two equal circles if you were look at it through an angle at one end as a spiral. Just some loose nuts and bolts of a thought in process.
    MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY HANNAKAH and KWANZAA – and all Celebrations of Light.
    in lak’ech, Debra

    • Jean-Jacques

      Hi Debra, I’ve been wanting to do this particular article for a long time and finally got around to it. Very glad you enjoyed reading it!

      Yes, good point – circles are indeed spirals! They can only be, otherwise there would be no evolution. So, this 26,000 year cycle (all the versions of it – and the same happens with the cycles within the cycles) keeps on ‘turning’ but it also goes up ‘a level’ each time when it comes full circle. So the energies return, but the frequency is higher every time. When history returns (which it does) it’s never exactly the same … it’s similar, but also different.

      Merry Christmas and Happy Festive Season, Debra!

      In lak’ech,
      Jacques

      BTW: This is one of my favourite clips:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jHsq36_NTU

  3. Brigido Anaya

    I first learnt of these topic many years ago (1969) through a book from an interesting French man, who claimed to be an esoteric Mystic messenger of sorts, in the book he narrated an anecdote about a German, or Austrian Astrologer who wrote a book about it Otto von Bressensdorf, And his book “History of Civilization Through the Light of Cosmic Cycles” although I am not sure if this is the proper title in German, And another Astrologer by the last name of Kraft who wrote a book “Origin of Planetary Symbols” later I read the French man book ” Los Grandes Ciclos Religiosos.” (“The Great Religious Cycles,”) But later found the Greeks knew about the Precession of the Equinoxes, and Pythagoras, and Plato knew about it, because the Egyptian Hierophants.
    I published a post quite some years ago, talking a little bit about Astrology:

    https://konekrusoskronos.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/the-mother-of-all-sciences/

    Great post Jean-Jacques 🙂

    • Jean-Jacques

      Thank you for sharing your expriences. A lot of the information regarding these cycles are truly ancient and for me the most fascinating part is that we can clearly see when we look at the Yuga cycle and Maya cycle within the spectrum of the precession cycle, that people who lived before 1000 BC actually had higher consciousness than us, even though they lived more than 2000 years ago. Moreover, books written 100 or even 200 years ago (or even 60,70 years ago) often contained a lot of information and ancient knowledge that we have lost through modernisation. I often seek out the oldest books I can get hold of on some of these subjects (some are available on Archive.org)

      Also interesting is how we can clearly see that on this subject there’s still a lot of catching up to do for modern science in terms of understanding astronomy. The subject of a binary-star system is a good example of this. So, all in all, what we have then is two paradigms; the linear progression of evolution, and cyclical evolution. The cyclical model opens up a new understanding of the rise and fall of consciousness, knowledge, intelligence, & wisdom. Within that context, considering how far behind we are … instead of how far ahead … it just shows how much we have to learn to catch up. So any quantum shifts in consciouss intelligence can only come from revisiting ancient knowledge through studying as much as possible of it (but, unfortunately a lot of it has been lost), or by rediscovering it naturally.

      Thank you for the link to your post, I’ll go over and have a look.

      Thank you for your contribution, Mr Anaya! Always appreciated 🙂

  4. Brigido Anaya

    And there’s more Jean-Jacques, the current transit between Saturn and Jupiter plus Pluto in 2020 on the sign of Capricorn, the turmoil produced all through this year was due to that powerful conjunction, predicted by many Astrologers around the World, specially in India where they have a rich cultural tradition, and a lot of Indians consult a family Astrologer.

    Although there is a difference between Western Astrology and Vedic Astrology to complicate matters more, Vedic Astrology doesn’t take in account the new planets Beyond Saturn as Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, and one is based on Sidereal and the other in Tropical considerations.

    While sidereal systems of astrology define the signs relative to the apparent backwards movement of fixed stars of about 1 degree every 72 years from the perspective of the Earth, tropical systems fix the vernal point or vernal equinox (also known as the March equinox in the Northern hemisphere) to 0 degrees of Aries and define the rest of the zodiac from this point.
    Sidereal astrology uses corrective systems known as ayanamsas (Sanskrit: ‘ayana’ “movement” + ‘aṃśa’ “component”) to account for the precession of equinoxes, whereas tropical astrology does not use such measures. This has caused the two systems, which were identical around 2,000 years ago, to drift apart over the centuries.

    In my opinion, both systems work, despite their differences, here you can read more on this subject:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidereal_and_tropical_astrology

    • Jean-Jacques

      Thank you for this expanded information, Mr Anaya. The readers should be able to benifit from it greatly should they want to explore further in that direction.

      The interesting about the metaphysical energy shifts in the world caused by the cyclical movements of planetary and other cosmic cycles is that there are several advanced astrological frameworks that chart, map and follow these phenomena (although they all require deep study).

      I personally approach it mainly from the Mesoamerican, specifically from the Mayan cyclical framework, which is mainly m current area of research within the context of the subject of the Shift of the Ages. I find the Vedic Yuga Cycle particularly helpful as a complementary framework, but from a wider perspective. However, the finer details of the planetary movements as you outlined them are not my particular focus – for the moment. Nevertheless, Vedic Astrology is important (so I will go deeper into it later). I personally have very little interest in Wetern Astrology.

      In the next chapter in this series I will be ‘zooming in’ on some of the smaller energy shifts withing the larger ones in both cycles. The case of the Yuga cycle, the ‘subyuga’ and ‘subsubyuga’ fractals. In the Mayan context I will touch on the Venus cycle.

      Thanks again, for your contribution, Mr Anaya!

      • Brigido Anaya

        Well, in reality there’s no such a thing as Western Astrology, it’s all derived from Chaldean, Egyptian, and very likely Vedic Astrology as well, that through millennia has changed a little bit with our own Western thought, filtered with Greek Platonic thought, through Arabic medieval writers, and continued by medieval writers as Marsilio Ficino, and later Kepler, Newton and many others, vulgarly descending to our horoscope daily post at newspapers, scientific knowledge prevailing in the West has  made Astrology an obscurantist realm, according to scientist who have never really study it seriously, and to be objective there’s also few real serious and knowledgeable Astrologers compared to the great amount of charlatans, or self named Astrologers of dubious qualifications.

        But nevertheless, some exist, even at places you would not imagine, as at the Vatican, of course they do not advertise it.
        Pope John Paul II gave permission to Italian scholars of the Renaissance to research the 16th Century files of the Holy Inquisition and the Congregation of the Index giving access to records never before seen. This article argues that, to the present day, there is no doctrinal change in the Church’s position concerning astrology – it is permitted if the norms of Rule IX of the Council of Trent are followed, norms which reflect Thomas Aquina’s prohibition of astrology only if such predictions exclude free will. Pope Sixtus V, in 1589, condemned all judicial astrology in violation of the teachings of Aquinas however, as the records show, the follow-up position of the Church was its continued acceptance as seen in its manuals and pastoral practices. 
        Sorry for my lateness on this response extremely busy through the Holidays, with personal matters. 🙂

    • Jean-Jacques

      PS: On the subject of the Saturn, Jupiter & Pluto conjunction, I came across this page a a couple of weeks ago, but did not have time to read it at the time – it seem to be very comprehesive, so I’m sharing it here for everyone interested:

      “The Great Transformation” occurring throughout the new decade, 2020-2030:
      https://www.lunarplanner.com/~lunarpla/2020/index.html

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