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The Legend Of The Five Suns
According to the mythology of the Aztecs and other peoples of ancient Mexico, the Gods have created and destroyed the world four times. Each world was called a "Sun," and each Sun was named for one of the days of the sacred calendar. This calendar, known throughout ancient Mexico and Central America, is the same one we usually call the Mayan Calendar, even though they may not have invented it.
The first world was called the Jaguar Sun, and the people of that early time were devoured by jaguars when their world was destroyed. The second world was called the Wind Sun, and its inhabitants were all transformed into jabbering monkeys before great hurricanes blew their world to pieces. The third world was called Storm Sun, and when a rain or fire destroyed it, only the birds were saved, for they alone could fly to safety. The fourth world was called Water Sun, and it was destroyed by a great flood.
After the end of the fourth world, the gods gathered to create a new one. To do so, one of the gods would have to sacrifice himself upon a funeral pyre. There was a particularly boastful god among them who believed that he could bring light to the new world through such a sacrifice, and that he could do it alone.
The other gods knew that he was wrong, though. It would take the sacrifice of two deities to bring light to the new Sun, and so another god was chosen: a sickly fellow with a skin disease who was so badly afflicted that he didn't mind sacrificing himself.
The flames were lit and blazed high. The boastful god prepared to fling himself into the inferno, but lost his courage and turned back. What would happen now? How could the new world begin?
Gladly and without hesitation, the sickly god threw himself into the flames. So beautiful was his sacrifice that the boastful god became filled with shame, and thus followed him into the fire.
The sickly god became the bright and beautiful Sun we see above us, and the boastful god became our Moon.
The world that we live in, this Fifth Sun, received its own name according to the sacred calendar. It is called the Earthquake Sun, and the Aztecs believed that it would someday be destroyed by a series of cataclysmic earthquakes. But when?
The Aztec legends are not at all clear regarding a time frame. Many Native peoples of Mexico and Central America shared the Aztec belief in a succession of worlds, including the Maya, and it is believed that the so-called Mayan Great Cycle of 5,125 years was originally meant to begin in 3114 B.C., right after the destruction of the Water Sun by flood, and it is due to end on December 21, 2012. Does this mean that the world will be destroyed once and for all by a terrible earthquake?
It is more likely that the Maya thought of the world-shattering "earthquake" in terms of consciousness rather than in terms of a physical event. After all, they themselves made predictions concerning dates several thousand years beyond the end-date of 2012. We can only assume that they meant for us to survive. In fact, each successive Sun or world can be seen as a step forward in the evolution of human consciousness. If this is so, then we can expect a quantum leap in consciousness when the Sixth Sun begins.
Kenneth Johnson
As you go the way of life you will see a great chasm. Jump. It is not as wide as you think.
-- Native American Proverb
In 1066, Halley's comet appeared shortly before William the Conqueror invaded England. The Norman king took it as a good omen; his battle cry became "A new star, a new king."
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