Why would a Catholic priest build an Aztec pyramid?
Rituals in caves invoked the power of earth and underworld
Grasshoppers - archetypal Aztec mutants...
Is this an early Mesoamerican unicycle?
Is the chacmool anything to do with the ballgame?
To be moral was to follow the example of your ancestors
A cremated example of a death whistle is rediscovered
Aztec rain gold was in fact a rare meteorite...
Guess how many feathers went into making this shield?
In Aztec poetry warriors die - to return again and again
Do you know the names of all the Aztec gods?
Tenochtitlan depended on an ecological miracle
Experts give their opinions on the Spanish Conquest
Pregnancy and birth influenced Aztec human biology
Memory cannot be burned...
Visit the only royal chocolate kitchen in Britain
An extraordinary ancient Mexican wind resonator
Aztec artists were considered as razor sharp
The Aztecs were skilled users of shell in making mosaics
Chanting in Mesoamerica has ancient roots
General Aztecs Maya Tocuaro Kids Contact 20 Apr 2021/4 Wind
Text Size:

Link to page about the Maya Calendar
Today's Maya date is: 13.0.8.8.2 - 3043 days into the new cycle!
Link to page of interest to teachers
Click to find out how we can help you!
Search the Site (type in white box):
Welcome
How can games question misunderstandings about the Aztecs?
What first inspired our Experts... (2)
What first inspired our Experts...
Zotz - a Mesoamerican comic
The Beatles and the Aztecs
Damien Hirst and the Aztec Sunstone
Surrealism and Claude Cahun
Fran Ilich: ‘Aridoamérica Winter Plan’
Reconstructing Moctezuma’s Headdress
The Aztecs in Video Games
Mexica Manga!
‘Nine Seasons: Beyond 2012’
Aztec sounds in modern compositions Click the flag for a Spanish translation
‘Aztec Century’
The Aztecs in Taiwan!
‘A Soldier in Every Son’
D H Lawrence and ‘The Plumed Serpent’
Aztec crime thrillers
Doctor Who
Mexicolore reviews ‘Nine Seasons: Beyond 2012’

‘Nine Seasons: Beyond 2012’

This is a gem. Indeed Professor Davíd Carrasco of Harvard Divinity School called it ‘good for early and late, young and ancient and the hours and years in between’ - ie, for all of us. Subtitled A Manual of Ancient Aztec and Mayan Wisdom, it’s written by Carlos Aceves, illustrated by Hal Marcus, 96pp, published by paso al sol, Texas, 2011. (Written/compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

This is an attempt to offer a pathway to a balanced, fulfilling and meaningful life ‘in harmony with creation’, based on ancient Mesoamerican principles.
Full of nuggets of wisdom (when, in sympathy with nature’s own rhythms, to cut the hair, cut down a tree for furniture, sow seeds, according to the cycles of the moon...), Aceves (a bilingual teacher) considers a human lifespan to be 104 years (a double-’century’ in ancient Mexican calendars), the first 52 being ‘receiving’ years, the second 52 ‘giving years’. He explains how to divide our lives into nine ‘seasons’ or stages, always following seven ‘practices’ based on air, water, food, exercise, feelings, thoughts and sharing activities. The strengths of staple Mexican foodstuffs, led by corn, beans and squash, are explored, and the reader is encouraged to work towards a natural, positive, ‘good’ death, for which we CAN prepare.
Life and death are of course part and parcel of the same eternal cycle of energy - nothing like the linear timelines by which we too often tend to ‘measure’ our fleeting stay here on earth. Reincarnated spirits/souls/life forces are perpetually recycled, carrying, in Aceves’ words, ‘the memory of our human experience’.

Scholars may nitpick at the mixing and matching of elements from different ancient Mexican cultures - for starters, the famous first page from the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer, to which Aceves refers several times, was not an ‘Aztec’ codex. But this misses the point. Clearly illustrated, this is a simple and inspirational book, based on ancient Mexican teachings, through which, as Carrasco says ‘readers will discover guides to good, sane living for today’.

RECOMMENDED!

This article was uploaded to the Mexicolore website on Aug 21st 2013

An online calendar correlation resource, established in 2006, recommended by Aceves
Feedback button

Here's what others have said:

Mexicolore replies: One of the best and most accessible books that we would recommend is ‘A Scattering of Jades: Stories, Poems, and Prayers of the Aztecs’ translated by Thelma D. Sullivan, edited by Timothy J. Knab (University of Arizona Press, 2003).