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p. 193
American Indian
Symbolism
THE North American Indian is by
nature a symbolist, a mystic, and a philosopher. Like most: aboriginal
peoples, his soul was en rapport with the cosmic agencies manifesting about
him. Not only did his Manidos control creation from their exalted seats
above the clouds, but they also descended into the world of men and mingled
with their red children. The gray clouds hanging over the horizon were the
smoke from the calumets of the gods, who could build fires of petrified
wood and use a comet for a flame. The American Indian peopled the forests,
rivers, and sky with myriads of superphysical and invisible beings. There are
legends of entire tribes of Indians who lived in lake bottoms; of races who
were never seen in the daytime but who, coming forth from their hidden caves,
roamed the earth at night and waylaid unwary travelers; also of Bat Indians,
with human bodies and batlike wings, who lived in gloomy forests and
inaccessible cliffs and who slept hanging head downward from great branches
and outcroppings of rock. The red man's philosophy of elemental creatures is
apparently the outcome of his intimate contact with Nature, whose inexplicable
wonders become the generating cause of such metaphysical speculations.
In common with the early
Scandinavians, the Indians of North America considered the earth (the Great
Mother) to be an intermediate plane, bounded above by a heavenly sphere (the
dwelling place of the Great Spirit) and below by a dark and terrifying
subterranean world (the abode of shadows and of submundane powers). Like the
Chaldeans, they divided the interval between the surface of earth and heaven
into various strata, one consisting of clouds, another of the paths of the
heavenly bodies, and so on. The underworld was similarly divided and like the
Greek system represented to the initiated the House of the Lesser Mysteries.
Those creatures capable of functioning in two or more elements were considered
as messengers between the spirits of these various planes. The abode of the
dead was presumed to be in a distant place: in the heavens above, the earth
below, the distant corners of the world, or across wide seas. Sometimes a
river flows between the world of the dead and that of the living, in this
respect paralleling Egyptian, Greek, and Christian theology. To the Indian the
number four has a peculiar sanctity, presumably because the Great Spirit
created His universe in a square frame. This is suggestive of the veneration
accorded the tetrad by the Pythagoreans, who held it to be a fitting
symbol of the Creator. The legendary narratives of the strange adventures of
intrepid heroes who while in the physical body penetrated the realms of the
dead prove beyond question the presence of Mystery cults among the North
American red men. Wherever the Mysteries were established they were recognized
as the philosophic equivalents of death, for those passing through the rituals
experienced all after-death conditions while still in the physical body. At
the consummation of the ritual the initiate actually gained the ability to
pass in and out of his physical body at will. This is the philosophic
foundation for the allegories of adventures in the Indian Shadow Land, or
World of Ghosts.
"From coast to coast," writes
Hartley Burr Alexander, "the sacred Calumet is the Indian's altar, and its
smoke is the proper offering to Heaven." (See Mythology of All Paces.)
In the Notes on the same work is given the following description of the
pipe ceremony:
"The master of ceremonies,
again rising to his feet, filled and lighted the pipe of peace from his own
fire. Drawing three whiffs, one after the other, he blew the first towards the
zenith, the second towards the ground, and the third towards the Sun. By the
first act he returned thanks to the Great Spirit for the preservation of his
life during the past year, and for being permitted to be present at this
council. By the second, he returned thanks to his Mother, the Earth, for her
various productions which had ministered to his sustenance. And by the third,
he returned thanks to the Sun for his never-failing light, ever shining upon
all."
It was necessary for the Indian
to secure the red stone for his calumet from the pipestone quarry where in
some remote past the Great Spirit had come and, after fashioning with His own
hands a great pipe, had smoked it toward the four corners of creation and thus
instituted this most sacred ceremony. Scores of Indian tribes--some of them
traveling thousands of miles--secured the sacred stone from this single
quarry, where the mandate of the Great Spirit had decreed that eternal peace
should reign.
The Indian does not worship the
sun; he rather regards this shining orb as an appropriate symbol of the Great
and Good Spirit who forever radiates life to his red children. In Indian
symbolism the serpent--especially the Great Serpent--corroborates other
evidence pointing to the presence of the Mysteries on the North American
Continent. The flying serpent is the Atlantean token of the initiate; the
seven-headed snake represents the seven great Atlantean islands (the cities of
Chibola?) and also the seven great prehistoric schools of esoteric philosophy.
Moreover, who can doubt the presence of the secret doctrine in the Americas
when he gazes upon the great serpent mound in Adams County, Ohio, where the
huge reptile is represented as disgorging the Egg of Existence? Many American
Indian tribes are reincarnationists, some are transmigrationists. They even
called their children by the names supposed to have been borne by them in a
former life. There is an account of an instance where a parent by inadvertence
had given his infant the wrong name, whereupon the babe cried incessantly
until the mistake had been rectified! The belief in reincarnation is also
prevalent among the Eskimos. Aged Eskimos not infrequently kill themselves in
order to reincarnate in the family of some newly married loved one.
The American Indians recognize
the difference between the ghost and the actual soul of a dead person, a
knowledge restricted to initiates of the Mysteries. In common with the
Platonists they also understood the principles of an archetypal sphere wherein
exist the
NAVAHO SAND PAINTING.
From an original drawing by
Hasteen Klah.
The Navaho dry or sand paintings are
made by sprinkling varicolored ground pigment upon a base of smooth sand. The
one here reproduced is encircled by the rainbow goddess, and portrays an
episode from the Navaho cosmogony myth. According to Hasteen Klah, the Navaho
sand priest who designed this painting, the Navahos do not believe in
idolatry, hence they make no images of their gods, but perpetuate only the
mental concept of them. Just as the gods draw pictures upon the moving clouds,
so the priests make paintings on the sand, and when the purpose of the drawing
has been fulfilled it is effaced by a sweep of the hand. According to this
informant, the Zuni, Hopi, and Navaho nations had a common genesis; they all
came out of the earth and then separated into three nations.
The Navahos first emerged about 3,000
years ago at a point now called La Platte Mountain in Colorado. The four
mountains sacred to the Navahos are La Platte Mountain, Mount Taylor, Navaho
Mountain, and San Francisco Mountain. While these three nations were under the
earth four mountain ranges were below with them. The eastern mountains were
white, the southern blue, the western yellow, and the northern black. The rise
and fall of these mountains caused the alternation of day and night. When the
white mountains rose it was day under the earth; when the yellow ones rose,
twilight; the black mountains brought night, and the blue, dawn. Seven major
deities were recognized by the Navahos, but Hasteen Klah was unable to say
whether the Indians related these deities to the planets. Bakochiddy, one of
these seven major gods, was white in color with light reddish hair and gray
eyes. His father was the sun ray and his mother the daylight. He ascended to
heaven and in some respects his life parallels that of Christ. To avenge the
kidnapping of his child, Kahothsode, a fish god, caused a great flood to
arise. To escape destruction, the Zunis, Hopis, and Navahos ascended to the
surface of the earth.
The sand painting here reproduced is
part of the medicine series prepared far the healing of disease. In the
healing ceremony the patient is placed upon the drawing, which is made in a
consecrated hogan, and all outsiders excluded. The sacred swastika in the
center of the drawing is perhaps the most nearly universal of religious
emblems and represents the four corners of the world. The two hunchback god,
at the right and left assume their appearance by reason of the great clouds
borne upon their backs. In Navaho religious art, male divinities are always
shown with circular heads and female divinities with square heads.
p. 194
patterns of all forms
manifesting in the earth plane, The theory of Group, or Elder, Souls having
supervision over the animal species is also shared by them. The red man's
belief in guardian spirits would have warmed the heart of Paracelsus. When
they attain the importance of being protectors of entire clans or tribes,
these guardians are called totems. In some tribes impressive ceremonies
mark the occasion when the young men are sent out into the forest to fast and
pray and there remain until their guardian spirit manifests to them. Whatever
creature appears thereupon becomes their peculiar genius, to whom they appeal
in time of trouble.
The outstanding hero of North
American Indian folklore is Hiawatha, a name which, according to Lewis Spence,
signifies "he who seeks the wampum-belt." Hiawatha enjoys the distinction of
anticipating by several centuries the late Woodrow Wilson's cherished dream of
a League of Nations. Following in the footsteps of Schoolcraft, Longfellow
confused the historical Hiawatha of the Iroquois with Manabozho, a
mythological hero of the Algonquins and Ojibwas. Hiawatha, a chief of the
Iroquois, after many reverses and disappointments, succeeded in uniting the
five great nations of the Iroquois into the "League of the Five Nations." The
original purpose of the league--to abolish war by substituting councils of
arbitration--was not wholly successful, but the power of the "Silver Chain"
conferred upon the Iroquois a solidarity attained by no other confederacy of
North American Indians. Hiawatha, however, met the same opposition which has
confronted every great idealist, irrespective of time or race. The shamans
turned their magic against him and, according to one legend, created an evil
bird which, swooping down from heaven, tore his only daughter to pieces before
his eyes. When Hiawatha, after accomplishing his mission, had sailed away in
his self-propelled canoe along the path of the sunset, his people realized the
true greatness of their benefactor and elevated him to the dignity of a
demigod. In Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha the poet has cast the great
Indian statesman in a charming setting of magic and enchantment; yet through
the maze of symbol and allegory is ever faintly visible the figure of Hiawatha
the initiate--the very personification of the red man and his philosophy.
THE POPOL VUH
No other sacred book sets forth
so completely as the Popol Vuh the initiatory rituals of a great school
of mystical philosophy. This volume alone is sufficient to establish
incontestably the philosophical excellence of the red race.
"The Red 'Children of the
Sun,'" writes James Morgan Pryse, "do not worship the One God. For them that
One God is absolutely impersonal, and all the Forces emanated from that One
God are personal. This is the exact reverse of the popular western conception
of a personal God and impersonal working forces in nature. Decide for yourself
which of these beliefs is the more philosophical. These Children of the Sun
adore the Plumèd Serpent, who is the messenger of the Sun. He was the God
Quetzalcoatl in Mexico, Gucumatz in Quiché; and in Peru he was called Amaru.
From the latter name comes our word America. Amaruca is, literally
translated, 'Land of the Plumèd Serpent.' The priests of this God of Peace,
from their chief centre in the Cordilleras, once ruled both Americas. All the
Red men who have remained true to the ancient religion are still under their
sway. One of their strong centres was in Guatemala, and of their Order was the
author of the book called Popol Vuh. In the Quiché tongue Gucumatz is
the exact equivalent of Quetzalcoatl in the Nahuatl language; quetzal,
the bird of Paradise; coatl, serpent--'the Serpent veiled in plumes of
the paradise-bird'!"
The Popol Vuh was
discovered by Father Ximinez in the seventeenth century. It was translated
into French by Brasseur de Bourbourg and published in 1861. The only complete
English translation is that by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, which ran through the
early files of The Word magazine and which is used as the basis of this
article. A portion of the Popol Vuh was translated into English, with
extremely valuable commentaries, by James Morgan Pryse, but unfortunately his
translation was never completed. The second book of the Popol Vuh is
largely devoted to the initiatory rituals of the Quiché nation. These
ceremonials are of first importance to students of Masonic symbolism and
mystical philosophy, since they establish beyond doubt the existence of
ancient and divinely instituted Mystery schools on the American Continent.
Lewis Spence, in describing the
Popol Vuh, gives a number of translations of the title of the
manuscript itself. Passing over the renditions, "The Book of the Mat" and "The
Record of the Community," he considers it likely that the correct title is
"The Collection of Written Leaves," Popol signifying the "prepared bark" and
Vuh, "paper" or "book" from the verb uoch, to write. Dr. Guthrie
interprets the words Popol Vuh to mean "The Senate Book," or "The Book
of the Holy Assembly"; Brasseur de Bourbourg calls it "The Sacred Book"; and
Father Ximinez designates the volume "The National Book." In his articles on
the Popol Vuh appearing in the fifteenth volume of Lucifer,
James Morgan Pryse, approaching the subject from the standpoint of the mystic,
calls this work "The Book of the Azure Veil." In the Popol Vuh itself
the ancient records from which the Christianized Indian who compiled it
derived his material are referred to as "The Tale of Human Existence in the
Land of Shadows, and, How Man Saw Light and Life."
The meager available native
records contain abundant evidence that the later civilizations of Central and
South America were hopelessly dominated by the black arts of their
priestcrafts. In the convexities of their magnetized mirrors the Indian
sorcerers captured the intelligences of elemental beings and, gazing into the
depths of these abominable devices, eventually made the scepter subservient to
the wand. Robed in garments of sable hue, the neophytes in their search for
truth were led by their sinister guides through the confused passageways of
necromancy. By the left-hand path they descended into the somber depths of the
infernal world, where they learned to endow stones with the power of speech
and to subtly ensnare the minds of men with their chants and fetishes. As
typical of the perversion which prevailed, none could achieve to the greater
Mysteries until a human being had suffered immolation at his hand and the
bleeding heart of the victim had been elevated before the leering face of the
stone idol fabricated by a priestcraft the members of which realized more
fully than they dared to admit the true nature of the man-made demon. The
sanguinary and indescribable rites practiced by many of the Central American
Indians may represent remnants of the later Atlantean perversion of the
ancient sun Mysteries. According to the secret tradition, it was during the
later Atlantean epoch that black magic and sorcery dominated the esoteric
schools, resulting in the bloody sacrificial rites and gruesome idolatry which
ultimately overthrew the Atlantean empire and even penetrated the Aryan
religious world.
THE MYSTERIES OF
XIBALBA
The princes of Xibalba (so the
Popol Vuh recounts) sent their four owl messengers to Hunhun-ahpu and
Vukub-hunhun-ahpu, ordering them to come at once to the place of initiation in
the fastnesses of the Guatemalan mountains. Failing in the tests imposed by
the princes of Xibalba, the two brothers--according to the ancient
custom--paid with their lives for their shortcomings. Hunhun-ahpu and
Vukub-hunhun-ahpu were buried together, but the head of Hunhun-ahpu was placed
among the branches of the sacred calabash tree which grew in the middle of the
road leading to the awful Mysteries of Xibalba. Immediately the calabash tree
covered itself with fruit and the head of Hunhun-ahpu "showed itself no more;
for it reunited itself with the other fruits of the calabash tree." Now Xquiq
was the virgin daughter of prince Cuchumaquiq. From her father she had learned
of the marvelous calabash tree, and desiring to possess some of its fruit, she
journeyed alone to the somber place where it grew. When Xquiq put forth her
hand to pick the fruit of the tree, some saliva from the mouth of Hunhun-ahpu
fell into it and the head spoke to Xquiq, saying: "This saliva and froth is my
posterity which I have just given you. Now my head will cease to speak, for it
is only the head of a corpse, which has no more flesh."
Following the admonitions of
Hunhun-ahpu, the young girl returned to her home. Her father, Cuchumaquiq,
later discovering that she was about to become a mother, questioned her
concerning the father of her child. Xquiq replied that the child was begotten
while she was gazing upon the head of Hunhun-ahpu in the calabash tree and
that she had known no man. Cuchumaquiq, refusing to believe her story, at the
instigation of the princes of Xibalba, demanded her heart in an urn. Led away
by her executioners, Xquiq pleaded with them to spare her life, which they
agreed to do, substituting for her heart the fruit of a certain tree (rubber)
whose sap was red and of the consistency of blood. When the princes of Xibalba
placed the supposed heart upon the coals of the altar to be consumed, they
were all amazed by the perfume which rose therefrom, for they did not know
that they were burning the fruit of a fragrant plant.
Xquiq gave birth to twin sons,
who were named Hunahpu and Xbalanque and whose lives were dedicated to
avenging the deaths of Hunhun-ahpu and Vukub-hunhun-ahpu. The years passed,
and the two boys grew up to manhood and great were their deeds. Especially did
they excel in a certain game called tennis but somewhat resembling hockey.
Hearing of the prowess of the youths, the princes of Xibalba asked: "Who,
then, are those who now begin again to play over our heads, and who do not
scruple to shake (the earth)? Are not Hunhun-ahpu and Vukub-hunhun-ahpu dead,
who wished
FRAGMENT OF INDIAN POTTERY.
Courtesy of Alice Palmer
Henderson
This curious fragment was found
four feet under the ground beneath a trash pile of broken early Indian pottery
not far from the Casa Grande ruins in Arizona. It is significant because of
its striking to the Masonic compass and square. Indian baskets pottery, and
blankets frequently bear ornamental designs of especial Masonic and
philosophic interest.
p. 195
to exalt themselves before our
face?" So the princes of Xibalba sent for the two youths, Hunahpu and
Xbalanque, that they might destroy them also in the seven days of the
Mysteries. Before departing, the two brothers bade farewell to their
grandmother, each planting in the midst of the house a cane plant, saying that
as long as the cane lived she would know that they were alive. "O, our
grandmother, O, our mother, do not weep; behold the sign of our word which
remains with you. " Hunahpu and Xbalanque then departed, each with his
sabarcan (blowpipe), and for many days they journeyed along the perilous
trail, descending through tortuous ravines and along precipitous cliffs, past
strange birds and boiling springs, cowards the sanctuary of Xibalba.
The actual ordeals of the
Xibalbian Mysteries were seven in number. As a preliminary the two adventurers
crossed a river of mud and then a stream of blood, accomplishing these
difficult feats by using their sabarcans as bridges. Continuing on
their way, they reached a point where four roads converged--a black road, a
white road, a red road, and a green road. Now Hunahpu and Xbalanque knew that
their first test would consist of being able to discriminate between the
princes of Xibalba and the wooden effigies robed to resemble them; also that
they must call each of the princes by his correct name without having been
given the information. To secure this information, Hunahpu pulled a hair from
his leg, which hair then became a strange insect called Xan; buzzing
along the black road, the Xan entered the council chamber of the princes of
Xibalba and stung the leg of the figure nearest the door, which it discovered
to be a manikin. By the same artifice the second figure was proved to be of
wood, but upon stinging the third, there was an immediate response. By
stinging each of the twelve assembled princes in turn the insect thus
discovered each one's name, for the princes called each other by name in
discussing the cause of the mysterious bites. Having secured the desired
information in this novel manner, the insect then flew back to Hunahpu and
Xbalanque, who thus fortified, fearlessly approached the threshold of Xibalba
and presented themselves to the twelve assembled princes.
When told to adore the king,
Hunahpu and Xbalanque laughed, for they knew that the figure pointed out to
them was the lifeless manikin. The young adventurers thereupon addressed the
twelve princes by name thus: "Hail, Hun-came; hail, Vukub-came; hail,
Xiquiripat; hail, Cuchumaquiq; hail, Ahalpuh; hail, Ahalcana; hail, Chamiabak;
hail, Chamiaholona; hail, Quiqxic; hail, Patan; hail, Quiqre; hail, Quiqrixqaq."
When invited by the Xibalbians to seat themselves upon a great stone bench,
Hunahpu and Xbalanque declined to do so, declaring that they well knew the
stone to be heated so that they would he burned to death if they sat upon it.
The princes of Xibalba then ordered Hunahpu and Xbalanque to rest for the
night in the House of Shadows. This completed the first degree of the
Xibalbian Mysteries.
The second trial was given in
the House of Shadows, where to each of the candidates was brought a pine torch
and a cigar, with the injunction that both must be kept alight throughout the
entire night and yet each must be returned the next morning unconsumed.
Knowing that death was the alternative to failure in the test, the young men
burnt aras-feathers in place of the pine splinters (which they closely
resemble) and also put fireflies on the tips of the cigars. Seeing the lights,
those who watched felt certain that Hunahpu and Xbalanque had fallen into the
trap, but when morning came the torches and cigars were returned to the guards
unconsumed and still burning. In amazement and awe, the princes of Xibalba
gazed upon the unconsumed splinters and cigars, for never before had these
been returned intact.
The third ordeal took place
presumably in a cavern called the House of Spears. Here hour after hour the
youths were forced to defend themselves against the strongest and most
skillful warriors armed with spears. Hunahpu and Xbalanque pacified the
spearmen, who thereupon ceased attacking them. They then turned their
attention to the second and most difficult part of the test: the production of
four vases of the rarest flowers but which they were not permitted to leave
the temple to gather. Unable to pass the guards, the two young men secured the
assistance of the ants. These tiny creatures, crawling into the gardens of the
temple, brought back the blossoms so that by morning the vases were filled.
When Hunahpu and Xbalanque presented the flowers to the twelve princes, the
latter, in amazement, recognized the blossoms as having been filched from
their own private gardens. In consternation, the princes of Xibalba then
counseled together how they could destroy the intrepid neophytes and forthwith
prepared for them the next ordeal.
For their fourth test, the two
brothers were made to enter the House of Cold, where they remained for an
entire night. The princes of Xibalba considered the chill of the icy cavern to
be unbearable and it is described as "the abode of the frozen winds of the
North." Hunahpu and Xbalanque, however, protected themselves from the
deadening influence of the frozen air by building fires of pine cones, whose
warmth caused the spirit of cold to leave the cavern so that the youths were
not dead but full of life when day dawned. Even greater than before was the
amazement of the princes of Xibalba when Hunahpu and Xbalanque again entered
the Hall of Assembly in the custody of their guardians.
The fifth ordeal was also of a
nocturnal nature. Hunahpu and Xbalanque were ushered into a great chamber
which was immediately filled with ferocious tigers. Here they were forced to
remain throughout the night. The young men tossed bones to the tigers, which
they ground to pieces with their strong jaws. Gazing into the House of the
Tigers, the princes of Xibalba beheld the animals chewing the bones and said
one to the other: "They have at last learned (to know the power of Xibalba),
and they have given themselves up to the beasts. " But when at dawn Hunahpu
and Xbalanque emerged from the House of the Tigers unharmed, the Xibalbians
MIDEWIWIN RECORD ON BIRCH BARK.
Courtesy of Alice Palmer
Henderson.
The birch-bark roll is one of the most
sacred possessions of an initiate of the Midewiwin, or Grand Medicine Society,
of the Ojibwas. Concerning these rolls, Colonel Carrick Mallery writes: "To
persons acquainted with secret societies, a good comparison for the Midewiwin
charts would be what is called a trestleboard of a Masonic order, which is
printed and published and publicly exposed without exhibiting any secrets of
the order; yet it is net only significant, but useful to the esoteric in
assistance to their memory as to the details of ceremony." A most complete and
trustworthy account of the Midewiwin is that given by W. J. Hoffman in the
Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. He writes:
The Midewiwin--Society of the Mide or
Shaman--consists of an indefinite number of Mide of both sexes. The society is
graded into four separate and distinct degrees, although there is a general
impression prevailing even among certain members that any degree beyond the
first is practically a mere repetition. The greater power attained by one in
making advancement depends upon the fact of his having submitted to 'being
shot at with the medicine sacks' in the hands of the officiating priests. * *
* It has always been customary for the Mide priests to preserve birch-bark
records, bearing delicate incised lines to represent pictorially the ground
plan of the number of degrees to which the owner is entitled. Such records or
charts are sacred and are never exposed to the public view."
The two rectangular diagrams represent
two degrees of the Mide lodge and the straight line through the center the
spiritual path, or "straight and narrow way," running through the degrees. The
lines running tangent to the central Path signify temptations, and the faces
at the termini of the lines are manidos, or powerful spirits. Writing
of the Midewiwin, Schoolcraft, the great authority on the American Indian,
says: "In the society of the Midewiwin the object is to teach the higher
doctrines of spiritual existence, its nature and mode of existence, and the
influence it exercises among men. It is an association of men who profess the
highest knowledge known to the tribes."
According to legend, Manabozho,
the great Rabbit, who was a servant of Dzhe Manido, the Good Spirit,
gazing down upon the progenitors of the Ojibwas and perceiving them to be
without spiritual knowledge, instructed an otter in the mysteries of Midewiwin.
Manabozho built a Midewigan and initiated the otter, shooting the
sacred Migis (a small shell, the sacred symbol of the Mide) into the body of
the otter. He then conferred immortality upon the animal, and entrusted to it
the secrets of the Grand Medicine Society. The ceremony of initiation is
preceded by sweat baths and consists chiefly of overcoming the influences of
evil manidos. The initiate is also instructed in the art of healing and
(judging from Plate III of Mr. Hoffman's article) a knowledge of
directionalizing the forces moving through the vital centers of the human
body. Though the cross is an important symbol in the Midewiwin rites, it is
noteworthy that the Mide Priests steadfastly refused to give up their religion
and be converted to Christianity.
p. 196
cried: "Of what race are
those?" for they could not understand how any man could escape the tigers'
fury. Then the princes of Xibalba prepared for the two brothers a new ordeal.
The sixth test consisted of
remaining from sunset to sunrise in the House of Fire. Hunahpu and Xbalanque
entered a large apartment arranged like a furnace. On every side the flames
arose and the air was stifling; so great was the heat that those who entered
this chamber could survive only a few moments. But at sunrise when the doors
of the furnace were opened, Hunahpu and Xbalanque came forth unscorched by the
fury of the flames. The princes of Xibalba, perceiving how the two intrepid
youths had survived every ordeal prepared for their destruction, were filled
with fear lest all the secrets of Xibalba should fall into the hands of
Hunahpu and Xbalanque. So they prepared the last ordeal, an ordeal yet more
terrible than any which had gone before, certain that the youths could not
withstand this crucial test.
The seventh ordeal took place
in the House of the Bats. Here in a dark subterranean labyrinth lurked many
strange and odious creatures of destruction. Huge bars fluttered dismally
through the corridors and hung with folded wings from the carvings on the
walls and ceilings. Here also dwelt Camazotz, the God of Bats, a hideous
monster with the body of a man and the wings and head of a bat. Camazotz
carried a great sword and, soaring through the gloom, decapitated with a
single sweep of his blade any unwary wanderers seeking to find their way
through the terror-filled chambers. Xbalanque passed successfully through this
horrifying test, but Hunahpu, caught off his guard, was beheaded by Camazotz.
Later, Hunahpu was restored to
life by magic, and the two brothers, having thus foiled every attempt against
their lives by the Xibalbians, in order to better avenge the murder of
Hunhun-ahpu and Vukub-hunhun-ahpu, permitted themselves to be burned upon a
funeral pyre. Their powdered bones were then cast into a river and immediately
became two great man-fishes. Later taking upon themselves the forms of aged
wanderers, they danced for the Xibalbians and wrought strange miracles. Thus
one would cut the other to pieces and with a single word resurrect him, or
they would burn houses by magic and then instantly rebuild them. The fame of
the two dancers--who were in reality Hunahpu and Xbalanque--finally came to
the notice of the twelve princes of Xibalba, who thereupon desired these two
miracle-workers to perform their strange fears before them. After Hunahpu and
Xbalanque had slain the dog of the princes and restored it to life, had burned
the royal palace and instantly rebuilt it, and given other demonstrations of
their magical powers, the monarch of the Xibalbians asked the magicians to
destroy him and restore him also to life. So Hunahpu and Xbalanque slew the
princes of Xibalba but did not return them to life, thereby avenging the
murder of Hunhun-ahpu and Vukub-hunhun-ahpu. These heroes later ascended to
heaven, where they became the celestial lights.
KEYS TO THE MYSTERIES
OF XIBALBA
"Do not these initiations,"
writes Le Plongeon, "vividly recall to mind what Henoch said he saw in his
visions? That blazing house of crystal, burning hot and icy cold--that place
where were the bow of fire, the quiver of arrows, the sword of fire--that
other where he had to cross the babbling stream, and the river of fire-and
those extremities of the Earth full of all kinds of huge beasts and birds--or
the habitation where appeared one of great glory sitting upon the orb of the
sun--and, lastly, does not the tamarind tree in the midst of the earth, that
he was cold was the Tree of Knowledge, find its simile in the calabash tree,
in the middle of the road where those of Xibalba placed the head of Hunhun
Ahpu, after sacrificing him for having failed to support the first trial of
the initiation? * * * These were the awful ordeals that the candidates for
initiation into the sacred mysteries had to pass through in Xibalba. Do they
not seem an exact counterpart of what happened in a milder form at the
initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries? and also the greater mysteries of
Egypt, from which these were copied? Does not the recital of what the
candidates to the mysteries in Xibalba were required to know, before being
admitted, * * * recall to mind the wonderful similar feats said to be
performed by the Mahatmas, the Brothers in India, and of several of the
passages of the book of Daniel, who had been initiated to the mysteries of the
Chaldeans or Magi which, according to Eubulus, were divided into three classes
or genera, the highest being the most learned?" (See Sacred Mysteries among
the Mayas and the Quiches.)
In his introductory notes to
the Popol Vuh, Dr. Guthrie presents a number of important parallelisms
between this sacred book of the Quichés and the sacred writings of other great
civilizations. In the tests through which Hunahpu and Xbalanque are forced to
pass he finds the following analogy with the signs of the zodiac as employed
in the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Greeks:
"Aries, crossing the river of
mud. Taurus, crossing the river of blood. Gemini, detecting the two dummy
kings. Cancer, the House of Darkness. Leo, the House of Spears. Virgo, the
House of Cold (the usual trip to Hell). Libra, the House of Tigers (feline
poise). Scorpio, the House of Fire. Sagittarius, the House of Bats, where the
God Camazotz decapitates one of the heroes. Capricorn, the burning on the
scaffold (the dual Phœnix). Aquarius, their ashes being scattered in a river.
Pisces, their ashes turning into man-fishes, and later back into human
form."
It would seem more appropriate
to assign the river of blood to Aries and that of mud to Taurus, and it is not
at all improbable that in the ancient form of the legend the order of the
rivers was reversed. Dr. Guthrie's most astonishing conclusion is his effort
to identify Xibalba with the ancient continent of Atlantis. He sees in the
twelve princes of Xibalba the rulers of the Atlantean empire, and in the
destruction of these princes by the magic of Hunahpu and Xbalanque an
allegorical depiction of the tragic end of Atlantis. To the initiated,
however, it is evident that Atlantis is simply a symbolic figure in which is
set forth the mystery of origins.
Concerned primarily with the
problems of mystical anatomy, Mr. Pryse relates the various symbols described
in the Popol Vuh to the occult centers of consciousness in the human
body. Accordingly, he sees in the elastic ball the pineal gland and in Hunahpu
and Xbalanque the dual electric current directed along the spinal column.
Unfortunately, Mr. Pryse did not translate that portion of the Popol Vuh
dealing directly with the initiatory ceremonial. Xibalba he considers to be
the shadowy or etheric sphere which, according to the Mystery teachings, was
located within the body of the planet itself. The fourth book of the Popol
Vuh concludes with an account of the erection of a majestic temple, all
white, where was preserved a secret black divining stone, cubical in shape.
Gucumatz (or Quetzalcoatl) partakes of many of the attributes of King Solomon:
the account of the temple building in the Popol Vuh is a reminder of
the story of Solomon's Temple, and undoubtedly has a similar significance.
Brasseur de Bourbourg was first attracted to the study of religious
parallelisms in the Popol Vuh by the fact that the temple together with
the black stone which it contained, was named the Caabaha, a name
astonishingly similar to that of the Temple, or Caaba, which contains
the sacred black stone of Islam.
The exploits of Hunahpu and
Xbalanque take place before the actual creation of the human race and
therefore are to be considered essentially as spiritual mysteries. Xibalba
doubtless signifies the inferior universe of Chaldean and Pythagorean
philosophy; the princes of Xibalba are the twelve Governors of the lower
universe; and the two dummies or manikins in their midst may be interpreted as
the two false signs of the ancient zodiac inserted in the heavens to make the
astronomical Mysteries incomprehensible to the profane. The descent of Hunahpu
and Xbalanque into the subterranean kingdom of Xibalba by crossing over the
rivers on bridges made from their blowguns has a subtle analogy to the descent
of the spiritual nature of man into the physical body through certain
superphysical channels that may be likened to the blowguns or tubes. The
sabarcan is also an appropriate emblem of the spinal cord and the power
resident within its tiny central opening. The two youths are invited to play
the "Game of Life" with the Gods of Death, and only with the aid of
supernatural power imparted to them by the "Sages" can they triumph over these
gloomy lords. The tests represent the soul wandering through the sub-zodiacal
realms of the created universe; their final victory over the Lords of Death
represents the ascension of the spiritual and illumined consciousness from the
tower nature which has been wholly consumed by the fire of spiritual
purification.
That the Quichés possessed the
keys to the mystery of regeneration is evident from an analysis of the symbols
appearing upon the images of their priests and gods. In Vol. II of the
Anales del Museo Nacional de México is reproduced the head of an image
generally considered to represent Quetzalcoatl. The sculpturing is distinctly
Oriental in character and on the crown of the head appear both the thousand-petaled
sunburst of spiritual illumination and the serpent of the liberated spinal
fire. The Hindu chakra is unmistakable and it frequently appears in the
religious art of the three Americas. One of the carved monoliths of Central
America is adorned with the heads of two elephants with their drivers. No such
animals have existed in the Western Hemisphere since prehistoric times and it
is evident that the carvings are the result of contact with the distant
continent of Asia. Among the Mysteries of the Central American Indians is a
remarkable doctrine concerning the consecrated mantles or, as they were called
in Europe, magic capes. Because their glory was fatal to mortal vision, the
gods, when appearing to the initiated priests, robed themselves in these
mantles, Allegory and fable likewise are the mantles with which the secret
doctrine is ever enveloped. Such a magic cape of concealment is the Popol
Vuh, and deep within its folds sits the god of Quiché philosophy. The
massive pyramids, temples, and monoliths of Central America may be likened
also to the feet of gods, whose upper parts are enshrouded in magic mantles of
invisibility.
Next: The Mysteries and Their
Emissaries