“The future is as it was ordained to be by the gods. The people can know this future, it is not prohibited, it is just reserved to be revealed in small pieces to those that ask. For to reveal the future in its entirety all at once would surely put the fate of the world and even the gods themselves in jeopardy”, so goes the saying of Tizimin a seer who foretold many events in the Katun 5 Ahau of the ancient Maya.
The Maya believed that the gods had sacrificed parts of their own divine blood to give life to man. Consequently, human blood was part made up of the blood of the gods. In order to ask the gods to reveal a snippet of the future, the Maya believed that blood had to be given back to the gods.
Maya Vision Serpent
To understand the words of the gods, it was also necessary to request the aid of someone with a direct link between the spirit land of the gods and the physical world. Such a link was the Vision Serpent.
Maya mythology describes serpents as being the vehicles by which celestial bodies, such as the sun and stars, cross the heavens. The shedding of their skin made them a symbol of rebirth and renewal. Thus the Vision Serpent could communicate and talk to the gods on behalf of someone who is requesting to know a piece of the future. But to gain the aid of the Vision Serpent was no easy matter. It would have to be brought forth in a ceremony that opened the door between the physical and the spirit world.
Such a ceremony required the use of a Maya pottery vessel that had been purified. The Ancient Maya usually decorated the vessel with passages describing the roles of the gods and Maya ancestors. In preparation for calling the Vision Serpent, burning ambers and copal (a tree resin believed to be the blood of trees) would be set in the vessel.
conjuring the vision serpent
The Vision Serpent was brought forth by soaking paper strips with blood from a self inflicted wound and placing that paper upon the ashes of the burning amber and copal. The act of burning the sacrificed blood symbolized the transfer of the offering to the gods via the rising smoke.
From this smoke the serpent appeared. Its image would emanate from the pottery vessel and rising smoke and tower over the one who called it forth. It is at this point that the caller should hear……”he who calls me forth…… what is the answer you seek from the gods”?
Tizimin further states, “Be not surprised by what you learn; the act of asking to learn the future does not require the revelation to be what you would want it to be. The truth will remain the truth”.
Today, ancient Maya art in pottery and artifacts depicting scenes of the vision serpent are popular in Mexican style décor. And, especially popular are ceremonial items used by Maya shamans to burn the sacred copal and call forth the gods.
View Mayan pottery used to burn the sacred copal.
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