CENTER><STRONG>Skeletal Jaws<BR>"Mouth" to the underworld<BR>Figure 5=20
</STRONG></CENTER>
<P>
<CENTER><IMG src=3D"figure7.gif"></CENTER>
<CENTER><STRONG>Glyphic Jaws<BR>Figure 6</STRONG></CENTER>
<P><FONT size=3D+2>A</FONT>lthough it isn't mentioned in the text, I should=
point=20
out that the "Black Hole" glyph shown on page 75 (Fig. 85b in Stuart and=20
Houston) looks like a miniature abbreviation of the gaping skeletal mouth i=
n=20
Figure 89 (see Figure 6 above). The skeletal mouth seems to serve the same=
=20
symbolic purpose as other mouths - passageways to the underworld; i.e., the=
=20
<EM>xibalba be</EM> or dark-rift.=20
<P><FONT size=3D+2>W</FONT>hen placenames (mythological or otherwise) are a=
ttached=20
to a verb, this indicates the location of an event (77). The matawil compou=
nd=20
behaves like this, and in several texts describing the birth of certain dei=
ties,=20
the matawil compound follows a birth event. Most likely then, "Matawil is w=
here=20
the deities are born" (77). In Mayan thought, life comes from death: one is=
dead=20
before they are born. One comes into the earth plane from xibalba. One is b=
orn=20
through the birth canal portal (the dark-rift/Black Hole) into this realm.=
=20
Considering matawil's association with the dead ancestors of the underworld=
, the=20
way to get from the underworld to being born on earth is thus through the=20
birth-place, through <EM>the road which leads to/from the underworld . </EM=
>
<P><FONT size=3D+2>"B</FONT>ut where is this Matawil?" (77). This query is =
now=20
answer able with a good amount of certainty, but Stuart and Houston veer do=
wn=20
another path in looking for the answer. They even say it clearly: There are=
=20
hints "that Matawil corresponded to an area both enclosed and defined by=20
skeletal jaws..." (77). <EM>Again, skeletans refer to the dead, jaws or mou=
ths=20
refer (as in the archaic symbol of the Jaguar's mouth) to the entrance to t=
he=20
underworld. The road to the underworld is called xibalba be , whose astrono=
mical=20
counterpart is the dark-rift in the Milky Way. </EM>I say they appear to ba=
rk up=20
the wrong tree in the paragraph which attempts to explain where Matawil is,=
but=20
maybe they're just being obscure. They do mention the early mythic history =
of=20
Palenque and migration legends (which I should add, are tied to creation an=
d=20
emergence legends). A phrase they use here is rather distressing, which, ag=
ain,=20
makes me think they err: "...in terms of movements over a landscape fusing =
real=20
and mythological imagery." (77). The counterpointing of "real" and=20
"mythological" suggests that mythological places are being thought of as pu=
rely=20
imaginary, without any place in the real world. However, Mayan mythology ha=
s=20
been shown to be very concrete - it is observed in the sky - and this has b=
een=20
my guiding interpretative basis all along. That this interpretive key is mi=
ssing=20
is reiterated in Stuart and Houston's final words in this section on=20
mythological placenames - which I'll get to momentarily. But to restate: if=
=20
Stuart and Houston had embraced the key understanding that mythological eve=
nts=20
are found in the sky, they may have been more accurate in some of their=20
interpretations.[2]=20
<P>
<CENTER>
<H1>A Speculative Example</H1></CENTER>
<P><FONT size=3D+2>A</FONT> final mythological placename (with event) consi=
sts of=20
the number five, a glyph possibly meaning flower and the glyph NAL (house?)=
. The=20
creation text of Quirigua Stela C ostensibly locates this event in the remo=
te,=20
mythological past. (Of course, I would add, it may in fact refer to the=20
immediate, astronomical future.) Five Flower House. Fifth Age, Ahau House. =
The=20
Ahau House or Throne may refer, as we suggested before, to the center of=20
creation, the place of creation and birth, the dark-rift as birth-canal. Fi=
ve=20
may refer to the quincunx cosmograms primarily found in Central Mexican art=
,=20
suggesting the World Age doctrine (just guessing here). Anyhow, something=20
involving creation and birth is going on here. Stuart and Houston point out=
that=20
the same event seems to be portrayed on an intriguing design from an=20
unprovenienced Early Classic tripod vessel (see Figure 7). According to an=
=20
unpublished essay by an astute artist friend of mine, Mayan calendar studen=
t=20
Mark Valladares, this common design-motif represents the female reproductiv=
e=20
system with its and ovaries and eggs (Valladares, 1995); the cross refers t=
o the=20
crossing point of Milky Way and ecliptic - the navel of the sky.=20
<CENTER><IMG src=3D"figure8.gif"></CENTER>
<CENTER><STRONG>Figure 7.<BR>Ovaries, reproductive system, and birth-canal=
=20
crossroads. </STRONG></CENTER>
<P><FONT size=3D+2>T</FONT>o support the notion that the crossing point is =
also=20
thought of as a cosmic navel - from where the four directions are measured =
-=20
I'll point out that modern Yucatec Maya healers imagine a four-directional=
=20
schema emanating from the navel of the human body. Physical therapy begins =
and=20
spreads outward from here to the body's extremities, the hands and feet. Th=
e=20
prevalence of threes and sixes imply something associated with the feminine=
=20
principle is being portrayed.[3] The "location" refered to is reiterated on=
the=20
side of the vessel by a head variant of the "witz" or hill sign, with a cle=
ft=20
inside of it. "Cleft in Hill" seems to suggest a cave, with all the attenda=
nt=20
complex of biological and astronomical inflections echoing around. The cave=
=20
symbol also peripherally supports the womb/birth-canal interpretation of th=
e=20
main design. This last example is speculative and obviously not as strong a=
s the=20
previous ones.=20
<P><FONT size=3D+2>I</FONT>n their sum-up of this chapter, Stuart and Houst=
on say=20
something profound: "just as the deities acceded to high office or gave bir=
th,=20
so too did they live in specific places, ranging from the "fifth sky" to th=
e=20
"black hole"" (80). But then they feel the need to keep humans separate fro=
m=20
deities: "the overlap between human and mythological geography would appear=
to=20
be small..." (80). Their conclusion continues by thus saying that human bei=
ngs=20
didn't perform rituals in the places where supernaturals were, nor did deit=
ies=20
dwell among people. This is kind of true, but coupled with the previous quo=
te in=20
which their misconception of mythological geography as "not real" is restat=
ed, I=20
think they're invoking a dualist framework where it is not appropriate.=20
Terrestrial geography provided a parallel map to celestial geography, and=20
astronomical events <EM>are</EM> the landscape of so-called mythological pl=
aces=20
and events. Sky and earth is the duality here, and the Mayan concept "skyea=
rth"=20
suggests that the Maya don't perceive these as separate realms. So, I can't=
=20
accept that these two geographies - mythological and terrestrial - were "ke=
pt=20
rigidly apart" (80). In that the entrance to the underworld could be found =
in a=20
nearby cave, in the body of a woman, as well as in the dark-rift in the sky=
,=20
celestial and terrestrial geographies are clearly interwoven. Said another =
way,=20
dead ancestors and other deities are immediately present; much of Mayan rit=
ual=20
is concerned with feeding these ever-present beings.=20
<P>
<CENTER>
<H1>Summary</H1></CENTER>
<P>If my own work is on the mark (Jenkins, 1994, 1995a and 1995b), it would=
seem=20
that the birth canal of the Great Mother is an extremely important=20
"mythological" location which, as is the convention, has an astronomical=20
counterpart. Stuart and Houston's identification of the mythological placen=
ame=20
called "Black Hole", with attendant contexts relating to ballcourts,=20
mythological "birth" events, Ahau rulership, underworld doorways, and the=20
beginning date of the current era (with likely reference to the astronomica=
l=20
events that actually occur on the end date), strongly suggest that the Blac=
k=20
Hole concept refers to the dark-rift in the Milky Way in Sagittarius. As a=
=20
result, we can begin to examine how this prevalent Mesoamerican concept, ce=
ntral=20
to Mesoamerican cosmogenesis and calendrics, transforms from its realistic=
=20
representations on Izapan Stelae, through its Classic Period abstractions, =
to=20
its later pictorial expression in Central Mexican codices.=20
<P>
<CENTER>
<H1>Notes: </H1></CENTER>
<P><FONT size=3D+2>1</FONT>. In sweat bath ceremonies of the modern Tzutuji=
l Maya,=20
in which emerging is a kind of symbolic rebirth, the word for the "door" of=
the=20
bath house is the same as the word used for the human cervix or birth canal=
, yet=20
it is also referred to as "the mouth". In addition, an unpublished Tzutujil=
=20
creation story similar to the Popol Vuh is to be called "Of the Sweat Bath"=
=20
(Prechtel 1993).=20
<P><FONT size=3D+2>2</FONT>. Stuart and Houston's study was drafted during =
the=20
late-1980's while Schele's breakthrough theories came in the early-1990's. =
This=20
may be why astronomical locations for these mythological place names were n=
ot=20
sought.=20
<P><FONT size=3D+2>3</FONT>. There are compelling arguments for a universal=
=20
association between the feminine principle and the numbers 3, 6 and 9; for=
=20
example, the nine muses and three norns. Valladares (1995) believes the=20
Mesoamerican "Nine Lords of the Night" to originally have been Goddesses. I=
n=20
early Mesoamerican thought, Peter Furst (1981) argues that the triangular=20
"cleft-head" found so frequently in Olmec art is an attribute of the Bufo=20
marines toad species; frogs are associated with the Great Mother because th=
ey=20
call the rains. The triangle motif involving threeness also delimits the sa=
cred=20
space of the birthing passage.=20
<P>
<CENTER>
<H1>Sources</H1></CENTER>
<P>Furst, Peter. 1981. "Jaguar Baby or Toad Mother: A New Look at an Old Pr=
oblem=20
in Olmec Iconography" in <EM>The Olmec and Their Neighbors</EM> . Dumbarton=
=20
Oaks.=20
<P>Jenkins, John Major. "