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Thursday, 20 October 2011

Meeting the Rainbow Warrior - a pilgrimage to the Yucatan






First Impressions

The temple took my breath away. This simple structure nestled on the horizon silhouetted against the stark blue Yucatan sky line. A rough chalky path, which I later learned was called a sac'be, ceremonial way, snaked off into this distance to join it.  It felt like a complete homecoming as tears stung my eyelids. But it wasn't until the following year that I got to meet the Rainbow Warrior himself.

Spring Equinox -Meeting the Rainbow Warrior

We returned to the Yucatan peninsula the following year to do some more work with the Itza Maya Shaman and Daykeeper Hunbatz Men, and were spending a couple of days recovering from jet-lag before starting our journey proper with the other Mayan Solar Initiates.  Equinox is seen as a really powerful time because days and nights are of equal length.

Although I couldn't wait for the rest of the group to arrive, I felt drawn to going back to the same temple again.  After all, it wasn't all that far from our hotel..  I asked a few of the friends I'd made from U.K in the previous year to join me.  We set off together in a taxi, thrilling at the sites and souncs of the exotic countryside, until we eventually pulled up at the site itself.

Inside the museum, what at first appeared to be a huge family tree spread completely over one wall, turned out to be a huge diagram representing the indigenous Mayas who'd been enslaved to the conquering Spaniards. They had each been given Spanish names to disinherit them from their culture. Outside the museum and to one side, stood a ruined Catholic chapel, another tactic used to the invaders to imprint their own culture onthe local people.  Close to tears once again, we made our way towards the ceremonial pathway, the sac'be, leading to the temple

The site bathed in the silence of a hot Mexican springtime, and we were quite alone.  We linked arms, walking slowly towards the temple, each with out own thoughts but focused on the building ahead. I wondered what on earth I thought I was doing there.  We sipped on some much needed water to rehydrate us after our escape from a still frosty England.

Simple Ceremony

We'd been taught to mount the steps in a serpentine fashion, which is exactly what we did. Whilst my friends stayed outside and formed a circle to hold the energy, I walked right into the heart of the building.  I paused to look at at the funnel chimney opening out to the clear blue sky above. After a few more moments considering whether I had indeed lost the plot, I swallowed hard whilst my friends waited patiently outside and finally held my amrs aloft and we all began chanting K'in, the Mayan word for Father Sun.  Soon the sound reverberated through the temple, wave upon wave of sound tumbling over the steps in a complete wall of sound.

The Rainbow Warrior

The sound echoed back onto itself as if it was forming a seething cauldron right in the middle of the temple where I stood. I felt as if I was being drawn along by it, and didn't resist. It was magical.  The sense of movement stopped almost as sharply as it had began, and then the air itself seemed to rustle.

Inside this very sacred space stepped the Rainbow Warrior, as I later came to call him.  His brightly coloured feather head-dress vibrated with all the colours of the rainbow.  There was no sense of fear at all, just utter calm, as if this was a perfectly natural occurrence, even though he was several times the size of an average human being.  Obviously a warrior of some considerable status, he had a special gentility about him.

The Journey since

Its taken me a while to unravel the gift I was given that day, and also a great deal of courage because some people including a previous writing coach, put it all down to a vivid imagination. During this time my search has expanded to include another Mayan temple in particular, the one at Chichen Itza. These magnificent temples are said to contain the ancient mysteries of the Mayas, which still have their relevance to society today, especially as we are a stones throw away from 21st December 2012, the supposed end date of the Mayan Calendar.

Across the Rainbow Bridge

During this time, I've journeyed across the rainbow bridge with the Rainbow Warrior to transform my understanding of the world, as well as my place in it.  And hopefully I have become a better medium through it, able to help people have a better understand of their own lives. I've learned that the pyramids symbolise our spiritual journey, and that the  geometric shapes encoded in them hold many mysteries.

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