by Frank Waters ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 10, 1975
Not simply another Chariots of the Gods, this sophisticated and ultimately obscurantist tome attempts to synthesize Mesoamerican archaeology, Jungian archetypes, astrology and various branches of esoteric ""knowledge"" into a mythology for the immanent Age of Aquarius. Waters, who first created controversy with his mystical interpretations of primitive myths in The Book of the Hopi, begins with a straight history of pre-Columbian Mexican civilization and, while adopting the stance of an uncommitted rationalist, gently nudges his readers toward ever more daring conclusions: that some Mesoamericans were descended from a late wave of Polynesian migration; that the Americas were inhabited and perhaps highly civilized as long as 250,000 years ago; that the 52-year cycle of Mayan chronology derived from the 52-year interval between cosmic catastrophes as posited by Velikovsky; and, finally, that the end of the 5000 year Mayan Great Cycle coming in 2011 will mark a new age of world civilization heralded by ""an influx of cosmic forces"" and ""psychic upheavals"" resulting in ""evolution in a new phase"" of the sixth world consciousness. No doubt somebody will find this reassuring. And although Waters' dense thesis is more likely to be discussed than read in its entirety, the current vogue for things Mayan will guarantee it a wide currency. Waters' pseudoscience panders to that popular longing for assurances of an Aquarian future -- a longing that reveals something sad about our own psychic bankruptcy. Still, having robbed the Native American of his material kingdom, it seems poor taste to plunder his spiritual one.
Pub Date: April 10, 1975
ISBN: 0804009228
Page Count: -
Publisher: Swallow
Review Posted Online: N/A
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1975
Categories: NONFICTION
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