The Hidden Maya

This work explains how Plains Indians used handsigns as symbols for communication, and that the graphic signs derived from hand gestures played an important role in the development of writing. The author deciphers Maya inscriptions to reveal their hidden messages.

Utilizing recent scientific advances and superb photography, this book reveals the hidden Maya in a wholly different light: knowledge unavailable even a few years ago.

Drawing on ancient texts and modern archeology to reveal the trans woman’s story hidden underneath the well-known myths of The Iliad, Maya Deane’s Wrath Goddess Sing weaves a compelling, pitilessly beautiful vision of Achilles’ vanished world, perfect for fans of Song of Achilles and the Inheritance trilogy. The gods wanted blood. She fought for love. Achilles has fled her home and her vicious Myrmidon clan to live as a woman with the kallai, the transgender priestesses of Great Mother Aphrodite. When Odysseus comes to recruit the “prince” Achilles for a war against the Hittites, she prepares to die rather than fight as a man. However, her divine mother, Athena, intervenes, transforming her body into the woman’s body she always longed for, and promises her everything: glory, power, fame, victory in war, and, most importantly, a child born of her own body. Reunited with her beloved cousin, Patroklos, and his brilliant wife, the sorceress Meryapi, Achilles sets out to war with a vengeance. But the gods—a dysfunctional family of abusive immortals that have glutted on human sacrifices for centuries—have woven ancient schemes more blood-soaked and nightmarish than Achilles can imagine. At the center of it all is the cruel, immortal Helen, who sees Achilles as a worthy enemy after millennia of ennui and emptiness. In love with her newfound nemesis, Helen sets out to destroy everything and everyone Achilles cherishes, seeking a battle to the death. An innovative spin on a familiar tale, this is the Trojan War unlike anything ever told, and an Achilles whose vulnerability is revealed by the people she chooses to fight…and chooses to trust.

Exploring Maya Ritual Caves offers a rare survey and explication of most of the known ancient Maya ritual caves in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. The caves were the Maya underworld, where rituals, including animal and human sacrifice, were carried out. The Maya cave cult and mythology, construction and modification of the caves, and cult art and artifacts are discussed. Chládek, an intrepid explorer, then describes important caves that he has recently visited and provides photos of their wonders.

A complete overview of more than fifty magical and medicinal plants used by Mayans. A suggestive journey into the ancient traditions, the spirit world and the consciousness of a vibrant culture, revisiting modern concepts and actual beliefs. Through the exploration of the hidden forest the reader will face the shaman within, the inner medicine man.

An engaging study that reveals sacred teachings that the Mayan priesthood hid from Spanish conquistadores in Mexico in 1519. The author explores the scientific and spiritual principles underlying the ancient glyphs, numbers, and language of the Maya.

A fascinating history of the Maya - drawing on a wealth of recent archaeological discoveries - whose civilisation in the jungles of Central America was for almost a thousand years hidden from the world. Over the last two centuries explorers have made the most remarkable discoveries in the tropical forests of Central America. Across much of present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras dozens of cities - some with populations of well over 100,000 - have been unveiled, and every year fresh reports emerge of the findings of unknown Maya ruins - great temples, palaces, towering stone pyramids and the tombs of the Maya kings. What these spectacular discoveries indicate is the former presence of an exceptionally advanced, sophisticated and complex society. Recently, major developments made in the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphics have revealed that alongside the material achievements of the Maya ran intellectual accomplishments in astronomy, maths and calendrics, seemingly tied to the complexities of Maya religion, that were remarkable for a society technically in the Stone Age. From reliefs on temple walls, from magnificent hieroglyphic stairways and from stone stelae planted by Maya rulers in the plazas of their cities, has come written history: the Chronicles of the Maya Kings. David Drew looks at why they constructed their cities in the hostile setting of the jungle, the exact age of their ruins, the strange human images depicted in elaborate costume at so many Maya sites, and he asks why at the time of the Spanish conquest, all knowledge of the Mayas had been lost.

IT’S 770 AD. IN WHAT WILL LATER BECOME CENTRAL AMERICA, THE ANCIENT MAYA HAVE FLOURISHED FOR CENTURIES, BUILDING A CIVILIZATION OF CULTURE, WONDER, AND INTRIGUE, BUT THEIR WAY OF LIFE MAY NOT ENDURE FOREVER. . . The intrepid Mara has left her homeland, Chichen Itza, on a mysterious quest when she is discovered in the jungle by Jorel, the handsome son of the king of Palenque, and his friends. Jorel takes Mara to Palenque and to Ruth, a sage and compassionate shaman. While learning from Ruth’s wisdom and connecting with the people of Palenque, Mara finds herself irresistibly drawn to Jorel—and wary of the king’s ruthless chief advisor, Caterra. Ruth shares with Mara a powerful secret that will guide her way as Mara navigates enough dangers and adventures to fill more than a lifetime. Learn about the rich cultural traditions and history of the Maya as Mara forges friendships and loves, fights for justice, and blazes her own path through history.