A Quake and a Guru

Zip Dobyns

Almost immediately after The Mutable Dilemma went to the printer, we had our 6.1 magnitude earthquake with the epicenter just a few miles southeast of our home. The largest aftershock (5.5) was 3:59 A.M. October 4. The only damage in our house was one clay pot which fell off a shelf. I also found my most recent book about the Mayas on the day of the quake after hunting it for weeks. The evening before the quake, I was told that Jose Arguelles’ horoscope was in Barbara Hand Clow’s book. A postscript to The Mutable Dilemma seemed in order.

Arguelles’ chart is printed in Barbara’s book without data, but if it is accurately calculated it looks like about 6:16 P.M. CST near Lemoile, MN. [Note: 18:21 in Kasson, MN] As I speculated in the Mutable Dilemma article, Arguelles has had his progressed (P) Neptune opposite his natal Moon all his life so far, with P Sun currently opposite Neptune. He also has the Pisces dwad of Leo rising. With all the emphasis on harmonics, I was amused to find P Harmonia currently on his Vesta along with P Sphinx: an appropriate pair connected to his work. P Lucifer and P Gaea are both on the Descendant. Three of the sun gods are prominent, fitting his continuing fame: his picture fills the front page of the Whole Life Times, a monthly newspaper in Los Angeles which is mostly devoted to new age activity. P Apollo is conjunct P Neptune, P Aten is conjunct natal Sun, and P Amun is conjunct natal Mars.

The (temporarily lost) book is titled Maya, the Riddle and Rediscovery of a Lost Civilization by Charles Gallenkamp. This third, revised edition is dated 1985 by Viking Press. I could fill a whole issue of The Mutable Dilemma with quotations that amplify and spell out more details on what I had written in this Virgo 1987 issue, but I will just include a few which point out the dubious nature of the Mayas as a source of metaphysical wisdom. On page 68, Gallenkamp describes the Olmec as the probable source of the earliest calendar and hieroglyphs, including one of the oldest dates in the Long Count calendar equal to 31 B.C. Remember, the Long Count calendar was previously considered purely Mayan while the Short Count (52 year) system was probably brought in by Nahua (Toltec, Aztec) invaders. The 31 B.C. inscription was carved on a stela in “typical” Mayan bar-and-dot numerals with a “relief mask representing a typical Olmec werejaguar.” Also, Olmec figurines, pendants, celts, plaques etc. were inscribed with glyphic symbols that suggest early forms of Mayan hieroglyphics.

Gallenkamp also described at length how the Maya nobles and priests controlled wealth and power at the expense of the commoners. They were graphically portrayed in stone carvings as named giants who used the tiny bodies of unnamed commoners or captives as pedestals on which to stand. Warfare was a way of life, partly for control and tribute from conquered areas and partly for captives for sacrifice and slavery. Children and women were sacrificed, in addition to adult males. Cross eyes and slanting foreheads were considered beautiful, so infants’ heads were bound with boards to flatten the skull and a bead was hung between the eyes. “All misfortune and illness was viewed by the Maya as resulting from evil spirits or disfavor of the gods.” p. 135 One remedy involved burning an iguana alive on a flat plate and using the ashes. A painted mural from Bonampak (dated at the height of the classic age prior to the Nahua incursions) shows a (presumed) dead captive whose hands and feet are held by attendants while a priest flailed his limp body with a wandlike object.

Gallenkamp suggests a variety of causes for the decline of the classic Mayan culture. In some cities, the commoners seem to have finally rebelled against their ruthless overlords since statues of the rulers were broken and defaced. In some cases, invaders apparently conquered the city and the rulers were killed or fled though commoners continued to live there without building more pyramids or carving more stelae. In some cases, the skeletons of the commoners are smaller and show signs of malnutrition; scurvy, anemia and periodontal disease, whether from overpopulation, crop failures, or from excessive demands from the nobles. Scientists continue to expand their understanding of the old hieroglyphics and we may have more answers in time, but we have sufficient knowledge now to be skeptical of those who would idolize a religion that practiced human sacrifice. A knowledge of mathematics and the ability to construct stone buildings does not make up for ruthless cruelty and the abuse of power.

The earthquake chart is interesting with Venus on the Ascendant, Moon near the IC and Jupiter near the Descendant. The major aftershock occurred with the Moon exactly on the Descendant. Quakes commonly occur near the new or full moon with one or both lights near the angles. Among the asteroids, Pele was on the south node of the Moon, Urania was on the Sun, Pompeja was on the Moon, and Mars was on Fama square California. Only two people were really killed by the quake; a student who was hit by falling concrete from a parking structure and a workman when earth caved in on him. The other deaths were from fear; heart attacks and a man who jumped out of a window. I was most fascinated by the noise that accompanied the shaking. It sounded like a kind of whistling and a sudden wind blowing. I was on our front porch, bringing in the newspapers when the first quake hit, and half asleep on a screened porch for the biggest aftershock. We first checked the computer which was doing an all-night run during both quakes. It was chugging along with no problem, so we then ran charts for the quakes on a different computer. I’ve never been able to predict a quake, but the second week in December this year looks interesting if there is to be an aftermath.

Copyright © 1987 Los Angeles Community Church of Religious Science, Inc.

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