We read some of the articles on John Major Jenkin's site as well as his book Tzolkin: Visionary Perspectives and Calendar Studies. Readers also wrote us concerning the controversy over the count. Jenkin's maintains that the Jose Arguelles count used on this site is not correct and in fact is +51 days off from the "true count". We are trying to find out from him how he decided which count was the "true count" since many Mayan groups use different counts. Our letter to him and his response follows. We have not as yet receive a response from Jose.

Dear Mr. Jenkins,

I read your article about dreamspell. I think you may be overeacting in terms of Jose's intent. I know for a fact that he makes no money publishing the Dreamspell kit -- in fact much money has been lost on that project and thousands were given away for free. I don't know him personally, but I know many people around him and they are very well intentioned.

I was also disturbed, as were many others about the leap year issue. I then had a lucid dream, however, where I was taught about the seals and how to use them for personal transformation. I was told that the dispute concerning the calendar was not that significant -- that the fact was that the seal symbols in and of themselves have such power in them that they will positively transform people just by gasing at them -- even if they are not gazing at the correct one for the day count. I was told to do what I could to expose people to these symbols. This is why we put up the "galactic signature of the day" on our site.

Perhaps Jose didn't really understand the error until after the Dreamspell kits were printed. Now it seems that he does not want to back down from his count, because he already has thousands of Dreamspell kits printed and out there. I believe that was a mistake, but apparently his view is that the main issue is to get people focused on the symbols and away from using the Gregorian calendar.

In regards to this, Aluna Joy, who is the main representative of the day keeper Hunbatz Men, says that Hunbatz is not upset about the count discrepency at all -- in fact he is just glad that Jose is spreading the word. Aluna does Mayan calendar readings and claims that Jose's dates give more accurate results than the Mayan count.

Sincerely,
Yari

Dear Yari,


Thanks for the feedback regarding the Dreamspell document on my Four Ahau Press website. In this essay I overreacted because Jose and many other people I had contacted in good faith had underreacted to my concerns and invitation to dialogue.

For a long time, I too thought that the day count discrepency was not all that important. But then I had a clear vision of what the ritual effects are of imposing a different ceremonial cycle over one already in use. This is when I realized that, whether Jose intends in consciously or not, the *ritual effects* of his dislocated count-placement is bad news for authentic Mayan culture.

Regarding Aluna Joy, I also consider Denise Lajetta, one time intimate of Hunbatz Men, to be speaking for the Hunbatz school. She is now publishing "Wacah Chan", a newsletter devoted to work that many individual seekers are doing. Ph: 714 858 5486. You might consider subscribing. Though Aluna Joy claims she gets better results with the Jose count, it seems to me that you would have to do an exhaustive statistical study comparing the two counts. Bruce Scofield did this, using a large number of western astrological charts from his astrology practice, and determined how the day-signs (according to their astrological meanings in the Aztec traditon) related to western astrology. Obviously, there is a great amount of subjectively perceived meaning in interpreting what is "better", but I would follow Bruce in his readings because of the time and research put into the question. He uses the True Count, the one followed by the Aztecs and the Classic Maya, the one followed by dozens of Mayan communities today in Central america.

We must remember that, historically, the Yucatan and Central Mexico is where the count was successfully disrupted by the invaders; thus, distorted counts coming from these areas today are can't claim direct lineage to the Classic Period "galactic masters." Gazing at the symbols is fine and I'm sure they have symbolic multidimensional mysteries encoded within them. But this is just half the picture, what you might call their "static" value. It is their dynamic placement in the flow of being, their manifestation in real time, that defines what you might call their "dynamic" value. In closing I'll point out that my work is not at all about being an Arguelles' adversary, that my research covers a wide range of questions in Mesoamerican cosmology, iconography and culture, with a special focus on elucidating the nature of the end date in 2012 A.D. Thanks for your feedback,

Regards,
John Major Jenkins

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