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Saturday, June 2, 2012

The Coming of Quetzalcoatl

It was 1985 and I was at this time interested in the phenomenon of astral projection.  I was 19 or 20 at the time and I sensed that if one could experience this state that it could serve to help erase our fear over death.  I had read some material on it from a few sources as they popped up here and there.  I bought a book by Robert Monroe who was able to project so predictably that he was a research subject at the University of Virginia's Psychology department. Led by other academics such as Charles Tart and some of the work by Stanislov Groff and others who had gone to India, had dropped acid or eaten magic mushrooms, this 60's era expansion of consciousness brought with it an awareness of still more experience, of larger dimensions to human experience. This was what came about as a result of some of the earliest East meets West experiences, a legacy that I think has helped to push an awareness of alternate forms of consciousness.  I grew up with some of these materials like East West Journal and Be Here Now, which was like a kids book for grownups.  Like my mother who seemed interested in this aspect of the counterculture, we both were into what the hippie scene conferred long after it had come and gone.  

I had listened to an interview with a woman named Lynn Andrews on NPR who had written some books on the shamanic tradition as it related to women (Medicine Woman, Jaguar Woman, etc.) and she gave an example of how one could use dreaming as a jumping off point for doing spiritual work.  She described a method for doing this work that amounted to suggesting prior to sleep that when you fall asleep your  ego  would step aside while you did this work in dream.  The ego would move into the background as you used the dream state for more intentional work. Essentially what this meant was that you would "wake up" inside the dream using the dream state as a springboard.  This is called lucid dreaming.

I decided that I would do just this as a way to use dreaming as a jumping off point for a projection of consciousness.  Before going to bed, I simply said that I would wake up within the dream and would use this state as a way of projecting consciousness.  

That night I dutifully awoke within dreaming.  I found that I felt a sense as though there were wheels of energy moving at ever greater speeds within me.  I felt as though there was an energy that was building speed inside of me, like a car whose engine was put in neutral while its engine revved to ever higher speeds. I had the distinct impression that some process was underway that would catapult me out of my body.  

Just then, I saw in the distance of my vision the image of a coiled snake moving towards me. This snake floated through the air.  It had no wings.  It had a very Mayan looking face where the head of the snake should have been. As I looked at this form I felt something say to me that what I was supposed to do was to project my awareness into the form in front of me which was this serpent form with the human face on it.  As I looked at this dream form, old notions about the snake in the Garden of Eden cropped up.  I chided myself for falling for this fear.  I decided to ignore the fear and do as this inner voice was saying.  The wheels then dutifully sped up, the force increased to an incredible velocity, as I made this decision to just go with it.  This was building into something stronger than anything I had ever experienced before.  It felt as though the whole of the universe was moving through me as an incredible force gained speed. As the energy grew beyond anything I thought possible, I found myself feeling hesitant.  I decided that if I was falling for this fear, I needed to resolve the fear before going on such a journey as this.  The phenomenon began to subside and the snake disappeared into the distance as I slipped back into sleep.

In the wake of this experience, I kicked myself for falling for the fear.  Several years later, while in college, I took a course on PreColumbian art where I would see the same image in a traditional form of the Mayan and Aztec God Quetzalcoatl.  I did more reading on this God and found that the priests of Quetzalcoatl would encounter this form in their visions and dreams and that Quetzalcoatl would come in this way to take them  on soul journeys to other worlds.  Of all the Gods of the Aztec and Maya, Quetzalcoatl was the most peaceful. Quetzalcoatl did not ask nor seek blood sacrifice. Flowers and butterflies were instead offered to him.  As I read through this, I thought how perfect.  I wished I had not begged off from such an experience that I had had a few years previously. 


I wondered where I would have gone, what would I have seen had I merged into the body of this snake form?  All through history and all across the world, the serpent was an ancient symbol for wisdom, and spiritual knowledge. The Hindus had the double form of the serpent fire of kundalini, the Egyptians had the serpent (some were even winged---I write about this in the post of the Kriyas and/Mudras and the Holy Ghost that shows up in a link at the bottom of this page for popular posts), the Chinese and Japanese had serpents in the form of dragons.   The Minoans, Cretans, and early pagan Europeans all had the serpent tied into spirituality and vital force. Within my own experience I had been visited by Quetzalcoatl having never known what this image even meant, but its purpose was perfectly expressed in my lucid dream from just a year or two previous.  Some part of us knows these larger forms as we connect into the Collective Consciousness of all traditions.  We dip into the pool of our larger knowing and wonder how on earth this could be.  By shifting awareness, by allowing ourselves to move into larger realms of awareness, we tap these seemingly archetypal forms resting within the collective awareness of humankind. Its "out there" to tap for the fact that the channel lies within.  

The Coming of Quetzalcoatl is  symbolic of a deeper return of our own inner knowing, our own vital force and spiritual wisdom.  Its no surprise to me that so many have been connecting with the form of Quetzalcoatl in recent years. For people who are connecting to the Collective Consciousness, many today are left with few good ways for reaching into the divine in a way that makes sense.  Quetzalcoatl serves as a type of angel.  I know for a Christian this would be blasphemy, but this has never stopped me from pointing out the obvious.  Religious figures are propped up as though they have always been while we alone have been involved in creating them.  The Hindus refer to this as our being the "ancestor" to the gods.  This is expressed this way because, well, we DID create them.  Anyway, so we are basically short good spiritual agents that we will need in the time upcoming.  This is not hard to pin down, to know.  Its very much in the air and it leads to a lot of fascination with those same forms that wind up speaking to us about all kinds of qualities that we need that we may never have known existed.  Call it an ability to sense through the Collective Subconscious. I was not able to know that Quetzalcoatl did not have wings.  I in fact imagined him this way, yet when he did arrive, he arrived in a very traditional way, which was much more like the image of the mans face emerging out of the mouth of the snake than anything else.   And if I was merely guessing about Quetzalcoatl's connection to astral projection and "spiritual journeys" I'd say my subconscious pretty well nailed that one on the head.  Quetzalcoatl fits the bill for some because of this uncommonly peaceful character who did not demand blood sacrifices and was the epitome of peacefulness.


Quetzalcoatl and serpents go far back into the record in Meso America. Quetzalcoatl has gone through some changes over time, but has been connected to death and resurrection,as well as taking on the elements of the sky, rain, and the winds (not unlike the Thunder Bird of Northern America).  He was in the pantheon of gods in Teotihuacan, and it is believed that it was from there that his presence spread to the Maya who adopted him as Kukulkan.  Quetzalcoatl and the snake image dates back to the Olmec Preclassic period, as far back as 1150 B.C.  He has also been associated with Venus.  There are a number of stories over the long period of time that he has been worshipped. Some rulers have taken his name, perhaps in a bid to raise themselves to the level of gods themselves.   In the 10th century a ruler closely associated with Quetzalcoatl ruled the Toltecs; his name was Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl. This ruler was said to be the son of either the great Chichimeca warrior, Mixcoatl and the Culhuacano woman Chimalman.


Quetzalcoatl was also said to have made humankind out of his blood and earth.  What is interesting is that the Olmecs, Aztecs and Maya all attribute our current era as belonging to the "fifth sun" which is the result of four major catastrophes that have befallen earth and have meant the humankind had to rebound or be recreated each time, something that is very similar to the Hopi concept of the four worlds, with the fifth being the one we are soon to enter. On that note, perhaps we bear some connection in the collective of Quetzalcoatl having to do with our destiny at this higher order of our consciousness?


From the  Codex Telleriano-Remensis.
 It has certainly been "in the air" in a sense that many have been looking for ways to fill the need for spiritual agency, or connection to the divine cosmos. 


 In literal and figurative ways, we are unearthing what these potent forms represent for us.  Quetzalcoatl is interesting in that its very likely that there was a man who lived who bore the same name.  It is said that he presided over a kind of golden era which are now ruins. What gets many Westerners so interested is that he cam from the East and returned there by making a boat to sail.  He was also said to have had a beard, a very unusual thing for the Aztec and Mayans.  So often, myths mixes with legend as legend often has rooting in actual fact with myth expressing the spiritual aspects that transcend both. 

 In the historical account, Quetzalcoatl had a sister whose name was Quetzalpetlatl.  If we consider how these two forms of myth and legend might flow and merge, it is certainly possible that Quetzalcoatl and Quetzalpetlatl express the masculine and feminine aspects of a still larger realm of spiritual experience.  We then have a masculine serpent and a feminine one as well.  Just as in the Hindu story of kundalini as two serpents, we have a full form that expresses the totality of creative potential in physical and spiritual form.  In this way, we all have access to those forms that align more closely to our own inner masculine or feminine selves. The coming of Quetzalcoatl can also herald the coming of his feminine aspect, Quetzalpetlatl.  The wisdom of what this myth represents is open to all.  

If you can consider that we know more than we consciously realize, that there is a much broader realm of experience available to us in what Jung called the Collective Subconscious, then all of these things can make more sense in how we might encounter these archetypal beings without any present knowledge.  The resonance from a past life, or merely tapping a broader range of inner knowing can bring us into contact with those elements which can serve us in our own inner alchemy.  If you can approach all of this in the form of a very creative activity without a lot of structure, your higher self can suggest new possibilities that simply were not possible previously.  This material can be given a new life and old forms rewound through our own present experience. Its as though we take clippings from another time and make new art forms from the images and ideas contained in them.  As long as we don't get hung up on what is supposed to be, experience is less limited.  Your being is innately creative, and you will be amazed at the insight that these forms can provide you if you allow things to flow more and be less controlled by any rules about their structure or older traditional material.  

it was this process that has led me to a greater understanding of my own process as I come into contact with these archetypes.  Even removing the need to know WHY they show up will allow you focus in the moment to create anew.  I suspect that this is what all of this work with archetypes is all about; a creative enterprise where the old is made new again.  Don't be afraid to go at this like an artist.  This is how new worlds are formed, ideas birthed, new resources uncovered.  There is a lot more to know and to become.  Even the Plains Indians had a process where the old forms were brought out, shown, then new ones put in their place.  These became the great sacred bundle that helped to direct spiritual understanding.  Like a snake shedding its skin, none of this was static, but ever-changing. Don't be afraid to move with change and see what great promise it may yield to you!

NOTE:  Now just a few weeks after having first posted this entry, I notice that this post has an unusual number of views.  I first asked myself what was it that was drawing so much attention to this? The answer is simple I think. People have been finding the post often through searches FOR Quetzalcoatl. People are already looking for information on this mythical being.  People are focused, drawn by him. Is it because of all the Mayan 2012 stuff?  Perhaps. But I also tend to feel this goes even deeper.  I suspect that we sense that Quetzalcoatl serves as a medium for self transformation, a "Way Shower" of sorts.  We FEEL like h is somehow helping to usher something in.  I suspect that he is, in a way, but I also think that "he" also leads to the "she" as well, which is one of the great things about this age, the return of the divine feminine (there is a lot about this on this blog--use search tags to find them).  He holds a vibration which is a truth that we can sense from a vast distance.  How was it that I experienced Quetzalcoatl in such a way that was so close to his role in a culture that wasn't even my own?  Somewhere in the space beyond our thinking lies a knowing about things. We see a distant light and feel a yearning to be there, to go nearer it, never knowing that it leads to some larger world that is within.  How do salmon know to swim upstream? Why do Monarchs find South America after thousands of miles?  We say it is instinct.  Perhaps instinct ties us into a more vast field of knowing.....even when we think we are not aware.  We hunger for a new path, I think.  A brilliant light to show us the way.....Even as I completed this addendum to the post, I noticed that on my popular blog entries section at the bottom of the page that this entry is now showing up there.  This is just how rapidly this post has gained popularity. We are looking for a light that we know exists....

Update:  8/20/2012

In a recent discovery of some old documents, I am pouring through a rather interesting tie-in with the Seraphim of the bible and how these beings were also called winged serpents.  These winged serpents took the shape of heavenly beings that brought illumination to humankind.  Either we have a collective awareness of these beings as serpent-like or it was part of a very ancient and wide-spread symbology that was used in most every culture in one form or another.  

To read a little more about this connection click on this LINK to read about the Serpent Fire.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

I've seen the feathered serpent, he came to me as a shadow, flowing through the sky, whispering a silent ancient knowledge which I just 'understood' he stayed with me for a long time. I was not under the influence of any psychedelic or other drug. I accepted him completely and listened to his silent teaching intently. He was facing east, and his face which is what it looked like depicted in aztec impressions. He was a shadow, yet he had so much expression and un egotistical authority. I just 'knew' he was all, the wind, the earth, the skies, colours, higher consciousness. He was beautiful. My experience of him came when I was sitting in ceremonial circle in a teepee with a shaman, she tapped into something in the back of my head. I felt pure contentment and peace. While the feathered serpent was visiting me, I started seeing colours in everyone who was in the circle, I saw the Indigos in the room, I saw the greeny yellow colours in those who had 'spiritual pain' to resolve and shed. From time to time the face would turn to the west, it was the twin, the other head. Similar features but it's own being. It whispered silently but I knew it was trying to push it authority, I knew it was the 'dark' twin, or the ego. Exactly what we have in each of us, the ego and the spirit. The east face would quickly take over again, almost dismissing the darkness. Knowing it was there, but knowing that he was more powerful and always spoke the true knowledge. Light always conquers darkness. Light is aware that dark is there, but light will never allow dark to completely take over.

I'd never seen images of the feathered serpent in my life, when I went to research what I had seen, I didn't even know how to start. My research eventually lead me to the toltec civilization and the deitys. I saw my first ever depiction of quetzalcoatl and it looked exactly like the feathered serpent that visited me in the teepee.

I have been doing constant research for months now, hoping to find similar stories from other people who had also seen the feathered serpent.

I wanted to share my experience as I got so excited reading your post, knowing someone else has also had similar experiences to me.

I am currently on a journey of higher consciousness, and I know that the vision I had was a guided, loving invitation to another world.

Love and light to all x

Him said...

What an amazing story to read, Ana! Thank-you for being willing to share your experience. I think its a fascinating world we live in and the return of these old gods and goddesses and archetypes is a very interesting turn of events. My sense, at least in my case, was that I had a past life as a Mayan which I had a dream about years ago that placed me in Palenque prior to the coming of Cortez, and then later in a life AS one of Cortez's men (which is itself an interesting wrinkle in being able to see things from a variety of different sides). I may have had some past knowledge about Q. lurking in the background from my time in Palenque, I am not sure. I would need to dig up more about that past life in the jungle to learn more. Thanks for stopping by!

Unknown said...

I wish I able to contact Ana from the above comments...maybe she will see this.

Here are my stories. Every so often, I Google "Quetzalcoatl dream" to see if the people I'm supposed to connect with have come yet. For years, there was no talk of Quetzalcoatl. I was told some specific things that I haven't put on my blog and am awaiting the people who have the information.

http://michellependergrass.com/the-mitchell-hedges-crystal-skull/

http://michellependergrass.com/quetzalcoatl-dream/

http://michellependergrass.com/second-quetzalcoal-dream/


Thank you for this insightful post. I have saved it and will come back to check it to see if there are updates :)

Unknown said...

I found this post after searching for dream meanings of colorful sea serpents. I had a dream maybe a year ago or more about this brilliantly colored sea serpent but it never left me. It was so vivid. I can’t even describe the color because it was like something I’d never seen before - iridescent and metallic and extremely vibrant. Although I don’t remember feathers in the traditional sense the gills were petallike and fluffy, for lack of a better word.

I was alone lying in a row boat close to the shore near some rocks on what appeared to be the calm Mediterranean Sea when it appeared. Things got a bit stormy and I ended up on the rocks scared for my life. Then this beautiful majestic creature came up from the depths. I was horrified as it loomed over me and stared. I was sure I was dead but then it spoke and I was immediately at ease. It told me not worry and to get on it’s back. Everything would be okay. So I did and I felt empowered and safe and adventurous. We talked during that time but it wasn’t really talking per se. It was more like a knowing. I remember having fun and going really fast through the water. We made it to an island and parted ways. I remember feeling sad but also relieved and grateful although spent. I sat on the beach for a while to reflect I guess and someone who I recognized came to get me. The person who I couldn’t see but felt like a friend or family member said they were waiting for me to start the party. They were having a party to celebrate me. I believe it was a welcome home party.

Since I had that dream my life has completely changed. I moved across the country and I’m doing the best I ever have. I used to be on tons of prescription medications and suffered from a lot of emotional issues but haven’t been for about a year. I mean, I’ve had my struggles but I can deal with them in a much more healthy and productive way. I’ve been through a lot of self improvement and transformation. More specifically looking into alternative medicine and lifestyles so I’ve been delving into shamanism. Learning about it has awakened me to possibilities I can’t comprehend but feel a longing and a need to explore. I think that’s why the memory of this dream came back to me so strong recently...if only to express the power of my dreams and that I may have a gift.

It took all that to say: If Quetzalcoatl can swim, I think I might have met him ��

Him said...

I am glad you found my blog and felt like you could tell me about your experience, Joselida.

I often wonder about experiences such as these. I think about Joseph Campbell who said how these forms crop up throughout the world, and his sense was mirrored or echoed a generatin before by Carl Jung who spoke of the Collective Unconscious where all of these archetypes existed....in all of us. So I wonder, then, if Quetzalcoatle slips into the stream of purer serpent energy as it existed throughout the world as a near-universal archetpe or mythological god-form. The characteristics of the serpents, absent the one that cropped up in Judaism (and even that one may have itself become distorted through time), all deal with the regenerative characteristics of the serpent spiritually. It deals universally with vital force, and healing. It also refers or covers spiritual insight, awakening, and enlightenment. Is Quetzalcoatle a part of this? I certainly think so, all you have to do is look at how the Maya, the Aztecs, and the Olmec before them, handled the serpent in their arts and architecture. So maybe if a serpent is not seen or known to, say, emerge from the water, it doesnt mean that it couldn’t. Could the waters be representative of your own subconscious, your own deeper ocean of wisdom and knowing? As the serpent, the vital force rises from it, your own knowing, what does this have to say about your relationship to it? Now maybe this isnt something you have thought specifically about, and you might feel like it doesnt fit. But sometimes I find later that some dream symbols have broader meaning and exist almost like a living thing does, existing in this reality hard to explain where even just ideas have a reality of their own, a validity....and of course, only you will know for sure, but I sure thought your dream was interesting! Again, thank you for being willing to share!

Unknown said...

I saw the feathered serpant and the were the primary colors and they filled up the room with their bodys and in a certain patten then went through my chest and felt my sink diwn

Unknown said...

Hi Ana, I have also had an experience of the winged Quetzalcoatl a couple of months ago. I did however participate in a mushroom ceremony as I was guided to by intuition and it was my first time. Prior to that, years before I had dreams of translucent white cobras. Amongst others, I have a connection with the serpeant energy. In my experience there were many serpents, it was in a mountainous region similar to the forest but with hills and valleys and cliffs. They were all flying, young and old and different sizes and different ones, some looking like Chinese dragons. Out of that He came and approached me. He had a conversation with me and then it went. During that time Mother Earth also had a conversation with me. Fast forward to yesterday, Saturday, 17th November I was teaching a class and when I closed my eyes, He was there again - no mushrooms this time. I also had a vision of mother earth again in the same instance. I have for many years (8yrs or so) been feeling mother earth's vibration in my body,first it was very obvious, now it's on 'stealth mode'. I still feel it every morning upon awaking. Mother earth uses me when it comes to natural disasters and the intensity can sometimes be extremely overwhelming. The last one being a day after the Indonesian Tsunami.

Him said...

How wonderful. These experiences help us all to see in some ways the potential hidden in everyone. Plus, it's great to know of others who have had similar experiences...so thank you for being willing to share.

There is a long history of the use of entheogens like mushrooms in assisting in creating the state of mind you just described. Aboriginal people have long known how useful these substances can be when used sacramentally. The Native Americans who use peyote do, as do the South Americans who use ayahuasca. In fact, mushroom use was even in the early Christian church. Not many know this, but two species of psychedelic mushroom grace stained glass windows, all together, in an early church in Europe. Clearly, the war against drugs has sought to quell our getting in touch with those depths from which comes some of our most significant insights. I think whether under no substance or with help (both from the mushroom AND your intuition), you were able to efficiently open a door which remains open to you.

I actually had a dream about that tsunami several weeks before it happened. It was a strange dream being knee high in water that had torn through the land and destroyed so much. It didn't take long to realize what the dream was about; I saw the landscape clear enough to know that it was the same place from the dream. So I encourage you to nurture your special connection with the earth because not everyone really understands the changes that are happening right now, not all is as they seem, or are how humans in power are seeking to spin all of this. Gaia has intelligence. It is not some rock spinning through space.

Thank you!

Unknown said...

Thanks 'Him'for your reply, its Fazlyn from South Africa again. We booked our trip to Phuket end of March and it happened so suddenly and unexpectedly. When I enquired from consciousness why Phuket, the response I received was 'to clear the after effects of a tsunami' our trip was for 23 Sept-2 Oct. I assumed it was the olsotsunami at Patong beach. The day after the tsunami we were actually on the sea for an island tour, as well as the next day. The Saturday at 6:30am I felt off kilter already. We started the boat trip at 9am and I closed my eyes when we were boarding I could see 3 tornados embedding into the ocean floor. Even though the energy intensity in my head was severe and my temperature was 42°C, I felt especially peaceful, calm and at one with my surroundings,I was very silent. I just wanted to be in the sea. When we started the trip at 9am and I closed my eyes I could see 3 tornados embedding into the ocean floor. Some verbal clearing statements came to mind that I continuously needed to recite. I couldn't consume any food the entire day and night and upon our return at 16:30, took a shower and jumped straight into bed. When I go through these experiences I noticed my body either wants no food or only raw vegetables/fruit. The only thing I can do during this time is support my body as best I can and Be the energy, space and consciousness of what is required by mother earth at that time. By the way, I am a Munay-Ki teacher. When I did my teacher training I had such a wonderful experience. After the first day of training, upon arrival at home a stray grey/brown leopard skin cat entered my home and remained there for 3 months. Even though I have 2 black cats, it just took over the home... It represented the 9 rites...

Him said...

I remember reading a book by Villoldo back in the 80's about the psychics in South America. I was impressed by the man who channeled artists who had passed into spirit. He painted paintings, "afterdeath paintings" by Impressionist painters, one if whom would paint with his feet...not realizing that the painter had severe rheumatoid arthritis toward the end of his life (his feet were not affected). This was Degas. Then he did pieces by Modigliani (or "Modi" as they called him). I thought Villoldo was doing good work, but I never went back to see what he was up to next.

You sound like you are an earth sensitive---they are out there---affected by earthquakes with bouts of nausea and other sensations. This earth churns with energy from her molten core. It's not unusual for some people to be sensitive to that and translate the information into visions, sensations in the body.

Munay-Ki sounds a lot like what kundalini does, clearing the energy body of stored emotional material and karma, all very good things in my book. How do they move the energy? Movement? Breath? Meditation? It sounds very interesting!

Anonymous said...

I dreamt the name. I didn't know the name from site. My relative in my dream, wrote the name on the wall/ceiling of the back of a tall staircase and as I said did you enjoy your Easter, tell me please you enjoyed it. I was childlike in the dream, the relative was being controlled by other family members and made to go away, out of sight. He yells and points to the name he wrote on the wall and says, "there are no college classes on this subject." My childlike self felt challenged to find out where it was taught. I woke up with the name lingering and googled it. Now I'm here after some review of the encyclopedia. Very very very much feeling tied to this in so many ways. I'm in awe.

Him said...

It sounds like your dreaming self helped you in gaining some understanding of your connection to the idea or subject.