The Mayan people use three calendars, all dating from the time of their origins: a civil calendar, a calendar that is used for inscriptions, and the tzolkin, the one they call the sacred calendar.

The Tzolkin is carved into a massive piece of stone which is located in Coba, Mexico. It is the only calendrical system on Earth that measures the evolution of consciousness. In the system employed by the Mayans to describe and predict the process of the development of consciousness, a grand period of 16.4 billion years is required for awareness to move from a point of beginning to whole-minded awareness. In their cosmic genius, the Mayans divide this inconceivable timespan into nine stages, each of which is 20% shorter as its predecessor, but just as powerful in its impact.

The journey from the mysterious Big Bang to a single-celled organism required the passage of 16.38 billion years. Getting from cellular development to mammalian development took less time: only 819 million years. From the earliest mammals to what we would recognize as a hominid with an awareness of familial bonds was quicker: 40.3 million years. Then, in just over 2 million years, the family-minded hominid would develop a broader awareness: that of being part of a tribe.

For the tribes to develop culture took a mere 102,700 years. Not bad, but leaping to an awareness of nations was even more impressive: it took 5,122 years. This is when humankind and the planet saw the first “laws.”

This brings us to 1755, when the Industrial Revolution began. The leap from national awareness to an awareness that we had an entire planet at our disposal required the lapse of just over 256 years. Corporations came into being right on time during this time period—manmade legal entities that were given “rights” to explore, survey and seize under the authority of various monarchs, sanctioned by religious authorities. Groups of very powerful individuals began forming corporations and setting them loose to seek out the “highest and best use” of natural resources. During this time, power and wealth and control were accumulated on a massive scale.

All for good reason, as you shall see, for what I’ve just described are the first seven periods, or Underworlds, outlined in the Mayan calendar. From the Big Bang to the first cellular organism to the accumulation of power so great we can launch people into space, has been an exhilarating ride. But, it’s only going to get more thrilling.

On January 4, 1999, we—meaning you and I—began our journey in the eighth Underworld. This period is marked by evolution straining towards the awareness that there is a world beyond the planet: the galaxy. Once we are able to conceive of a galactic context for our actions, we are able to act as if this beautiful blue home is an entity of its own with extraordinary systems that we should learn from, not just feed upon. Having acquired experience of how power can be used and misused, consciousness is integrating the concept of ethics. This phase requires 3,380 days, and, we’re almost finished.

On February 11, 2011, we enter the time of the great finale, the ninth Underworld. It will achieve in 260 days the amount of change in consciousness that it once took 16.38 billion years to achieve. During these unprecedented 260 days, we will take the ultimate steps and evolution will make its grand spiral into wholemindedness. A Mayan shaman recently made the shocking prediction that the world won’t be ending in 2012. Things will be familiar—only much, much better. His words won’t sell more newspapers or ignite television screens with hysteria, but by October 28, 2011, and through 2013, our thirst for drama, shock-and-awe will be mostly sated. You will hear conflicting “end” dates for the Mayan calendar…natural given that we’re talking about the end of a 16 billion+ year period. Concerning the radical changes, however, there is no equivocation. Things are changing and for the better–and just in time.

Learning will be our passion. Healing the planet will be our great adventure. Bringing forth the best that is within each person will be the quest. Diversity will be cultivated. Indigenous cultures will be considered our planet’s greatest treasure. New values for a new era that is beyond artificial, mechanical, clock time. Values that make sense…but only if consciousness is sacred. That is the wholeness to which our world and our minds are spinning.

Join me in celebrating “the end of days.” For here and now, in the sacred chamber of your body, the rational and the emotional, the masculine and the feminine, the electrical and the magnetic, the spiritual and the carnal, the scientific and the mystical, will embrace and the battle against the “Other” will cease. You will know peace. Your mind will be whole and you will perceive wholeness. And, the world, as the external reflection of your internal emotional state will reflect the quiet tranquility of a being lost in rapture at its perfect indivisibility. Yeshua and Mary of Magdala, the Holy Bride, represent this Oneness…and it is their voices that call you in from exile.

To see some photos of the sacred Mayan calendar, a phenomenal legacy in stone, click here: http://mayanmajix.com/ancient_F1.html.