This information is primarily derived from the work of Carl Johan Calleman and Ian Xel Lungold.

I’ve tried often to impart this information in person. My dear friend Ellen says she is starting to grasp the jist of it after hearing this same story clumsily recited 20 or so times. Thus, it is as much for my own clarification as hers and yours that I attempt this most basic of written explanations.

The Mayan calender that most folks focus on (2012! ahhhhhh!!!) is one of many different calenders used by both ancient and contemporary Mayan cultures. There’s the solar, a lunar, a ceremonial, one for agriculture, and so on. These calenders are like interlocking gears turning in the complex machinery of time. It is a beautifully organized system for understanding the nature of existence, and thus of course far beyond my minor comprehension.

Therefore, in the interest of sticking with what we know, the (in)famous calender with which we are here concerned is called the Tzolkin.

The Tzolkin calender describes a 13-part cycle consisting of 7 days and 6 nights. A complete cycle is referred to as an Underworld. It is understood that there are 9 Underworlds: Cellular, Mammalian, Anthropoid, Human, Regional, National, Planetary, Galactic, & Universal.

This evolutionary “week” repeats itself with ever increasing frequency, moving through its similar stages 20 times faster every go-round.

I imagine a set of stacked circles, moving from the largest circumference at the bottom and spiraling progressively up into a cone, or circular pyramid, with 9 layers. The much-debated, greatly-anticipated date of December 21, 2012, represents the tip of the cone, the top of the pyramid, where all cycles of creation twirl so fast as to reach a point of unification.

In the initial, Cellular cycle, each day and night lasted 1.26 billion years. In the current Universal cycle, each day and night is a mere 18 days.

It is important to note that we are still experiencing the 7th day of the Cellular cycle (we still have cells, correct?). We are still enmeshed in the 7th day of the Mammalian cycle (we remain mammals, yes?). Same with the Familial, Tribal, Regional, all the way up the pyramid.  In this way, each progressive cycle includes and transcends the previous one, which sounds like something Ken Wilber would say.

To exemplify the reflective nature of these spiraling cycles, I like to point out that the approximately 400 years encompassing the European renaissance — that explosion of human cultural expression marking the unequivocal end of the Dark Ages — is analogous to the 20 years between 1950 – 1970, in which time the Flower Child movement sought to expand experiential limits and toss off the restricting shroud that the World Wars of the previous era had thrown over the global consciousness. The two periods are in direct correspondence, except that the 20th century cycle whirled through the same changes at a vastly accelerated pace.

So it’s true: history repeats itself. Terence Mckenna expressed a similar concept — of holographically repeating historical cycles — by decoding the binary I-Ching (Book of Changes) sequence to produce his Time-Wave Zero theorem. His phrase for the process was the ever-increasing “ingression of novelty into space-time.” The unification point at the tip of our conceptual cone-of-time represents maximum novelty.

This accounts for fads and fashions. Hem-lines are rising and falling in a rhythm based on the rise and fall of empires millenia ago, and these things are as causally linked as the orbit of the earth is linked to the sun… The spiral is tightening.

In a practical sense, moving towards “maximum novelty” means karmic cycles are quickening. It means the distance between action and reaction is growing shorter by the day. The calender quite literally describes how time-space as we perceive it is accelerating.  Instant Karma is upon us!

By that I mean, the process of manifestation — whereby energy progressively condenses from thought into form — is shortening. This means that every moment of expression is being magnified. Every spark of rage, each instance of impatience and indulgence in fear is being thrown right back at us. What we put out is being ever-more instantly mirrored for us to take in.

This is a blessing! Simply by replacing old strategies (samskaras) with new more positive tactics, we can begin to sense a change immediately. Catch yourself defaulting to negativity, complaint or criticism — then change! Zoom out, find a more Universal perspective from which you can recognize the lila for what it is and cultivate an attitude of gratitude for what you find.

I know, this “secret” is old news for many, but its practical applications never cease to strike me as extremely exciting.

Has anyone noticed this happening? Have you felt the increase in novelty in your own experience? Have you been struck yet by a speeding karmic boomerang?

For me, the 24-hour news cycle is prime evidence of this acceleration. There is so much going on in the world, that to attempt to keep track of it all might make a person mad as hell.

Just this week:

News broke about Osama; the head of the IMF was arrested; Donald Trump dropped out of the presidential race; the Mississippi continues to flood; tornado victims are still surveying wreckage in the South; and the nuclear crisis in Japan is far from resolved.

The increasing frequency of major natural disasters and momentous geopolitical upheavals provide endless fodder for apocalyptic proselytizers who insist we are living in the end-times.

And indeed, I know I am not the only one who is feels like everything around me is spinning too fast, moving from future to present then passing on into an ever-intensifying whirlwind of emotional strife or financial abandon, from unexplained devastation to inexplicable bliss and in many instances back and forth and back again.

Quantum operations show clearly how these apparently internal processes are mirrored in our current worldly experience. The battles being fought in desert cities are the direct reflection of those being waged within. Self-loathing and emotional strife are causally linked to corruption and war. Everybody plays their role to perfection, whether we recognize it or not.

Okay, but so what?

As the spiral that is the essential structure of time-space twirls in on itself with the most immense Coriolis force imaginable, the safest place to establish one’s Self is in the center of the cyclone. Any venture into the zipping swirl is obviously fraught with seemingly-dangerous intensity.

The prescription, as ever, is meditation. Basic pranayama, perhaps.

It is only by consciously slowing the egoic mind to a still point that we can safely surf the tsunami. As the amplitude of the energetic waves always around us reaches never-before-seen extremes, it is best to abide in a node, floating in a neutral space as life-soup sloshes in the storm.

Ponder a moment with me, if you will: If time-space is accelerating, karma quickening, then all blockages, any place of resistance will be encountered as a dam; the back-up will create chaotic discomfort as pressure builds; and a flood of relief will eventually overwhelm, overflow and flush whatever form is refusing to move.

By this logic, dictatorial tyrants are comparable to an overdue bowel movement, and the supremely intelligent clockwork of the universe is assisting us with our spring cleanse. We must harmonize our metabolism before we require a full-on colonic.

May 20, 2011

marked the start of the 3rd day of the 9th wave, or Universal cycle. This,

…Third day(which we went through in 2003 and also previously) is another period of Light. The seed’s root system develops and the second set of leaves will be a permanent part of the plant. It is the establishment of the new consciousness as viable. In human history lies or failed systems are disclosed so that progress is not blocked.

What are you blocking? What is suppressed and ignored within you?

In my experience these questions can only have uncomfortable responses, but it is important to strive for courage in choosing to face the shadow-self now, because the already-approaching Third night,

([correspondent to] 2004) is another period of Dark. The seedling set of leaves are dropped from the plant as another set of leaves spring from the top. These are at 90 degrees from the last set. In human history failed systems have been jettisoned, usually by force, during this section.

Let me emphasize: failed systems have been [will be] jettisoned by force.

Yes, in the South now we see how it is wise to open the floodgates to quell an anticipated deluge; let the release be long and slow, as opposed to fast and dramatic.

But knowing humanity as a whole, we might be in for a wild ride as the end of this Underworld draws nigh. We are still only in the early stages of our ascent.  For some, the imminent divings, risings and curli-Q loop-di-loops provoke exclusively panic, visceral terror and confusion — wondering why anyone would ever sign up for such a ride.

Whereas, equally, there are those who can’t wait — those enthusiastic souls amongst us who throw their hands up with glad abandon screaming with smiles so wide that no one can hide, like a summer sun burning off a morning fog.

As I am still embodied in gross three-dimensional duality, I tend to vacillate between these two extremes. Don’t you?

In the meantime, I advise finding time to practice floating in the nodal point, let it all swirl through you with faith that you will be safe so long as you are willing to let go of any delusions of permanence. Easy said…

Bonus: Bill Hicks!

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Born on planet Earth, David Telfer McConaghay has since wandered across its surface in search of something which, when found, kindly insists that he continue searching. His immediate family lives in Minneapolis, MN, though he also feels at home in Washington D.C.; Grass Valley, CA; Bogotá, Colombia; and now, almost Boulder, CO. He completed his B.A. in English & Creative Writing at The George Washington University in 2008. Experiences at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm are the primary source of any yogic inspiration David aka Sri Nivasa may express. He plays on Facebook HERE and can be followed on Twitter HERE