Recap

Ancient Knowledge

Author Maurice Cotterell (mauricecotterell) Wednesday night's guest, believes ancient civilizations such as the Mayans may have had knowledge, particularly about our cosmology, that surpasses ours. "Maya means illusion," Cotterell said, explaining that the Mayans knew that the most important things you couldn't see, such as spirit. He believes they became extinct around 750 AD (as they themselves predicted) due to magnetic changes on the sun, which caused atmospheric problems that reduced their fertility.

The reason the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, still remains somewhat mysterious to Cotterell. According to his calculations the next magnetic flip of the planet may not be until the year 4360. However he speculated that the Mayans may have been aware of conditions that could lead to massive volcanic eruptions in 2012 which would in effect create "a global winter," killing off most life.

Cotterell also discussed his latest book The Lost Tomb of Viracocha where he examined Incan pyramids in Peru and deciphered the pictograms on them. Viracocha, according to Cotterell's reading, was the name of a great spiritual teacher akin to Jesus who had the ability to heal. Cotterell also connected ancient civilizations across time and continents, in their shared worship of the sun as a central force. "In a simple sense if you look at the sun's rays coming down, they describe a pyramid shape as they strike the earth…and (the word) pyramid comes from pyrotechnic or a funeral pyre…the pyramid represents the fire in the sky—- the sun on earth," he explained.

Related Articles

Spotlight on: Mayan Prophecy

Among the books tonight's guest Maurice Cotterell has written is a fascinating treatise called The Mayan Prophecies (co-authored with Adrian Gilbert). When Cotterell was working as an electrical engineer at the Cranfield Institute of Technology, he developed a computation that correlated the relationship between the sun's magnetic field and the Earth. His calculations yielded the known 11.5-year sunspot cycle but he also discovered evidence of much longer cycles-- including one of 1,366,040 days. When Cotterell found that the Mayan Holy Number (1,366,560 days) nearly matched his number, he realized there could be a connection. He traveled to a Mayan ceremonial center in Palenque, Mexico to study their inscriptions. "Imagine my astonishment when I realized that my discoveries about the sun, and how its cycles affect life on earth, had all been discovered before; by the Maya more than 1,250 years ago," he wrote.

According to Cotterell, the Mayan Holy Number refers to the "birthdate of Venus," and is related to a time when that planet toppled on its axis around 3113 BC and "her brilliant light blazed across the cosmos." He writes that the Mayan calendar prophecies a similar fate for our planet and that we are nearing the end of a fifth age or "final sun." Their calendar ends on December 22, 2012, and Cotterell believes this could spell cataclysmic consequences for us.

--L.L.