Ancient Wisdom Today

James K. Papp

“To be Mayan is not the color of your skin.
To be Mayan is your consciousness.”

~Elder Hunbatz Men,
Mayan daykeeper, shaman, ceremonial leader

We may come from different families and traditions, but all of us share the same ancestors. Ancient wisdom is here for all humankind to learn and benefit from, with great gratitude and respect. Indigenous tradition, at its core, values the relationships we have with ancestors, with the Earth and the Sun, and with Spirit. These relationships direct a way of being.

Ancient wisdom is Earth medicine, humanity’s original translations of the workings of the Universe into a holistic practice of integrated science and spirituality. Meditation, prayer, and making offerings are among the techniques used by our ancestors, as valid today as they were millennia ago.

We give great gratitude to our teachers from the Mayan tradition who have blessed us with their presence: Mary Magdalene of the Cross, Hunbatz Men, and Rigoberto Itzep Chanchavac. They continue inspiring us to cultivate and share more lightness on this good Earth. They shine as beacons of light to so many, reminding those who have known them to live in Spirit with kindness and with respect for all life.

In 1997 I met spiritual teacher Mary Magdalene of the Cross. As Hereditary Priestess of Temple of the Deer Wisdom School, she shared her Mayan teachings with me through ongoing lessons and initiations. Several years later, Lisa joined in with the teachings. Mary moved us to change our thought patterns about Spirit and about life in general. This was what we needed to experience our lives in a more harmonious and joyful way. This marked our commitment to walk the path of Spirit and an acceptance of the new way we had chosen to be in the world.

Leading up to 21 December 2012, a huge amount of doomsday negativity and misinformation circulated about what this important Mayan calendar date really meant. I wanted to write about what the Mayans themselves had to say, as their voices weren’t getting much attention. However, teacher Mary burst my bubble by advising me that sharing more Mayan prophesy was not what people needed. If I wanted to write, she counseled, then I should write about what we are really looking for underneath our worries – how to live a fearless, harmony-filled life that is led by Spirit. And so I began the process of writing a book, Inquire Within: A Guide to Living in Spirit which Lisa and I published.

Dear teacher Mary passed away in early 2025. Her core message was that all spiritual paths come from the same fountain of wisdom, and that fountain of wisdom is filled with the truth that life is love, life is goodness. She told us that “the real life that all of us should be focused on is love, so that we care about each other, and so that we all have peace. We are all seeking peace,” she reiterated. “So, it doesn’t matter what journey you’re on, whether it’s Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, or any of the other paths that people have used. We are all seeding the same foundation for our lives, and that is peace. We really want, not even success, we want peace! Our spirit seeks to join back with our great creators, and that is the ultimate peace, to join back, to become One again. Being a human being and just believing we are human beings, we sever that tie, and so we want to remember who we really are, which is not really our body. We want to go back to remembering our essence. All spiritual paths flow from the same fountain of wisdom.”

Mary used key foundational practices in her teachings. These included humility, non-judgment, and – perhaps the hardest practice of all – forgiveness. Mary said that “it appears, sometimes, that some things cannot be forgiven. This is what makes it so hard for many people to practice forgiveness, for they can only forgive so much, and some trespasses seem to be totally unforgivable… If I accept another person as they really are – then I cannot look upon his human self. That is what I have to forgive, and I cannot continue seeing this person as the other – we have to make a choice. You either see things with one perspective of holiness and spiritual clarity, or we see them still as the old self that is unforgivable.”

Through Mary we met Mayan elder Hunbatz Men in 2001. A shaman and a daykeeper, he welcomed us into the Mayan world when he sat with us and pronounced that, “To be Mayan is not the color of your skin. To be Mayan is your consciousness.” For the earnest seeker to be given permission to participate in his teachings was received by us as a heartfelt and priceless gift.

I would like to tell you the story of the Mayan marriage ceremony that Hunbatz Men performed for Lisa and me in Mexico. It remains one of the most profound and beautiful events of our lives. It illustrates the benefits of learning about and experiencing the ancient ways. On Winter Solstice 2004, this was a celebration of twenty years of civil marriage. We were originally wed by a Justice of the Peace in a Seattle courthouse, and eventually we both desired to have a spiritual ceremony.

Seven of us arrived at the Temple of Ak’e in the Yucatan in mid-morning under a brilliant sun. Joining Lisa and me were Lisa’s mother, Maureen; teacher Mary and her friend Mary; Hunbatz Men and his friend, William, a Mayan archaeological expert. No one else, except for the gentleman we purchased our admission from, was there at Ak’e. Hunbatz Men, who is from the Itza Maya tradition, sat us down on the bottom step of the main temple in the shade of the lone tree along its wide base.

He proceeded to speak with us for a long while, educating us about the history of the Mayan people living in this particular area, and telling us about the Mayan wedding ceremony – what it means and what the responsibilities are of those who engage in it. It was like a Mayan university lecture on marriage.

Hunbatz Men said a Mayan marriage may occur when two human beings have each reached the ends of their individual roads, their paths, and they are ready to walk together on a new path. The Mayan concept of marriage is very different from the Western world’s view, in which the society is run for and controlled by men. To the Maya, men and women are equal, and the world needs counsel from both of them. The man could be “scared of the trees,” and the woman could help him with it. The woman could be “afraid of the night,” and the man could help her with that. Life is approached and experienced together.

Hunbatz Men told us our marriage would also be with the air, the wind, the trees, the stones, and the sun. If we were to decide no longer to be together, he did not want a phone call or letter from us – rather, we would have to tell the air, the wind, the trees, the stones, and the sun. This way of being adds great depth to the idea of marriage as we know it in Western civilization.

For the Maya, marriage is with the whole world – with all the elements, with each other, with the Cosmos, and with Hunab K’u, 1 the Only Giver of Movement and Measure. 2 Marriage brings with it a responsibility to help create a better world, to live in a new way – which is really an old, time-tested way.

Hunbatz Men led us to the far side of the long grassy plaza extending south from the temple. We arrived at a stela (a standing stone symbolizing the sacred tree), set prominently by itself. He counseled us there and made prayers to Father Sun and Mother Earth. He asked that we be taken care of and made happy. It was such a beautiful, touching, heartfelt prayer.

Following his instructions, we waited until he slowly walked back to the main temple and ascended the giant steps to meet our small wedding party. Then Lisa and I proceeded slowly, stopping many times on our procession. During the entire extended, slow-motion walk toward and up onto the Temple of Ak’e, Hunbatz Men blew a high-pitched bone whistle, a whistle that seemed to conjure the wind.

The wind came up suddenly and blew strongly from behind us. We felt the wind pushing, guiding, and inspiring us upwards. We remembered our instructions as we walked, communing with the elements and putting our negative thoughts and experiences into the Earth. Mother Earth accepts them from us, Hunbatz Men told us; she takes our burdens when we give them to Her. It was an emotional walk with tears of joy.

We arrived at the top of the magnificent temple to an awesome panorama and stood side by side in front of Hunbatz Men. Lisa held out her left hand and I held out my right hand and Hunbatz Men bound them together with a colorful woven cloth band. Then tobacco was placed in those hands, and we were told to close our eyes.

Hunbatz Men made a prayer in Mayan and then in English. At one point he had Lisa open her right eye and held a quartz crystal upon it. Then he had me open my left eye and held the crystal upon it. Then he stood behind us, our eyes closed again, and blew the bone whistle several times in succession.

During this sequence I experienced two powerful sensations. First, I saw a vision of us being married at the top of a different Mayan temple – one I have never seen in this lifetime – in a similar style of ceremony with similar Earth and sky around us. We have done this before, I realized.

The second sensation was – with Lisa’s right eye opened and my left eye opened, and with the shrill whistle blowing through us – we had become a single body, bound together and animated by the whistle.

Hunbatz Men told us to be happy, that a happy body makes a happy spirit, and a happy spirit makes a happy body. He told us it is very important to help each other to be happy by smiling. What beautifully simple and practical advice!

We opened our eyes, and he unbound us and sent us to opposite sides of the temple’s long platform to deposit our tobacco as an offering. With that done, we met back in the middle, and the ceremony was complete. Pictures were taken, and we descended the grand steps to leave the sacred grounds after this profound and blessed ceremony on this special solstice day. Dear Hunbatz passed away in 2016.

In 2013 Lisa and I were blessed to spend time studying and sharing in ceremony with Mayan elder Rigoberto Itzep Chanchavac in Momostenango, Guatemala. The most meaningful lesson we received was about the importance of ancestors.

The Mayan vision of the Cosmos is based on relationships – relationships between people, between people and ancestors, and between people and the Universe. The first focus is on relationships with ancestors, for everyone has ancestors – this is universal. We all have roots.

Don Rigoberto explained that there is an infinite line of generations, and we don’t know how far back (or how far forward) it goes. Our parents have (or had) beliefs and customs, and maybe we don’t like them. But in this chain of generations what is passed on is not the passer’s fault. For example, perhaps we are gifted with creativity. We don’t know how far back that attribute entered our lineage.

The first step is to recognize and accept that we have ancestors. Then we venerate them. When we don’t respect our ancestors, we isolate ourselves from the line of those who came before us and are without harmony, said Don Rigoberto. When we cut ourselves off from our ancestors, we cut ourselves off from a part of our self. If we sever communications with ancestors, we are isolated and stuck. We are like a tree without our roots. Holding onto our ancestors’ values is a way to retain connection with them.

Ancient wisdom, as you can see, is extremely practical. It is an ongoing upholding of universal human values rooted in an innate worldview that all of life is sacred. And within this sacredness live all the human beings who reside on our planet. In a sense, we have collective amnesia about the sanctity of this wondrous world we share together. Each one of us needs healing in our own unique way. Ancient wisdom is here to support us in the sacred act of coming into tune with ourselves and, hence, with the world.

1 Carlos Barrios (Sedona, Prophets Conference, 2004). Mayan daykeeper Carlos Barrios said that Hunab K’u is a Mayan name for God. Hun is one, Ab is diversity, and K’u is heart. Therefore Hunab K’u means “the diversity of one unity in one heart.” (Father Sun is our local representative of Hunab K’u.)

2 Hunbatz Men, Secrets of Mayan Science/Religion (Santa Fe, Bear & Company, 1990). According to Hunbatz Men, Hunab K’u symbolizes form and energy and is the Absolute Being, the architect of our universe. Hunab K’u, the giver of movement and measure, is represented symbolically by a square within a circle.