[Meg]

The Maya and the Quetzal Bird

http://www.mayanmajix.com/qbird.jpg

(Isn't that a beautiful bird? I love this bird and it's story :flowerfac )

The Quetzal bird of Central America ( Ket-zal) and the rattle snake shared the position of most reviered creatures by the ancient Maya. The feathers of the irradencent Quetzal were used in Royal costume and ceremonial garb for kings and priests. The Quetzal symboloized the movement of Creation and the will of the Creator come to earth. As the Serpent moves side to side on the ground, the Quetzal flaps and glides through the jungle. That is it moves up and down in it progression. The Maya knew that Creation moves from Day to Night or Creation to Destruction in a wave like pattern.

The Maya married the two creatures, Quetzal and Serpent into Quetzal Coatl. (Plumbed Serpent) This diety is the movement of Creation and all effects so produced by that movement. That means you and me and everything we can think, feel or see, are all part of the Plumbed Serpent and his/her movement.

Serpent skins, bones and rattles were used in most Maya's clothing and personal effects as sacred decoration. Serpent venonm was used as a prescription by Maya shaman for a number of treatments or cures.

Ian Xel Lungold

http://www.mayanmajix.com/quetzal.html

[nanna]

That *is* a beautiful bird, and story, Meg. Thanks!

There are some who say that the "feathered serpent" is a reference to Kundalini, as well.


nanna
(wow, chunky dark matter and feathered serpents, and it isn't even noon yet!)

[Meg]

Hi, nanna. :wave: Yes, a very beautiful bird. I didn't know some say that the "feathered serpent" is a reference to Kundalini. In fact, I had to look up Kundalini. :O I see what you mean though.

(wow, chunky dark matter and feathered serpents, and it isn't even noon yet!)

I bet it is noon somewhere on this planet. ;)

[nanna]

Here's a reference of one interpretation of that: http://www.divinehumanity.com/custom/fsmw.html



THE FEATHERED SERPENT MEDICINE WHEEL
The Path of a Divine Human

"With forgiveness our seeds take root and produce the vines that through divine love bear flowers and fruit… with peace and harmony we tend the flowers and pick the fruit and with oneness we eat the fruit and share with all others as brothers and sisters…” Dr. JC Husfelt 1993

The Feathered Serpent is the Archetype of the Divine Human. It is the union of heaven (divine) and earth (human), the divine-human. The Feathered (Precious) Serpent or Plumed-Serpent was known as Quetzalcoatl. As a spiritual teacher, Quetzalcoatl brought to the people the knowledge of the ‘light body’ and the process of symbolic death and re-birth through ritualistic water immersions and was seen as the ‘once and future king’ destined to return when the world was at it's darkest.

The word Quetzalcoatl is derived from Quetzal and Coatl - literally Quetzal Serpent. A Quetzal is a brightly plumed tropical bird with brilliant bronze, green and red plumage. Coatl is the sacred snake whose movements mirror the way that Kundalini energy moves up the spinal column awakening the wheels of light that surround each of the major body centers. When this serpentine energy reaches the pituitary gland, the pineal gland and the crown chakra at the top of the head, we become one with the light of the heavens and the dark of the earth. Quetzal is the sacred bird that connects Earthly power with the Heavenly realms of the universe. Together the Quetzal and the Coatl are the creatures that are closest to the earth and heaven as well as representing the sacred balance of female and male.

Quetzalcoatl was known as Kukulcan by the Mayas, Viracocha by the Incas and Gukumatz by the Quiche Maya. Each was associated with Venus, the Morning Star. According to Frank Waters in his Mexico Mystique:

“Quetzalcoatl was a uniting symbol achieving union of opposites: heaven and earth, morning and evening star, matter and spirit… the transcendental meaning of this great myth is clear. It is an expression of the universal doctrine of sin and redemption, of death and resurrection, the transfiguration of man into god… this myth, in the broadest possible terms, enunciates the principle of all Creation: the incarnation of divine light, purity, and spirituality into gross matter; and then the agonizing redemption of matter by spirituality—the immortal theme of all world religions.”

As ‘masters of ecstasy and transcendence,’ shamans from the Americas honored the earth with a cosmology centered on the four powers—the cardinal directions of the compass. This four-fold path to knowledge, power and healing, known as the Medicine Wheel, enabled the shaman to shed the past, face fear, step beyond death and achieve the mastery of vision.

(snip)


FWIW


nanna

[Meg]

Thanks, nanna. That is so beautiful. :angel: