The Ahau Chronicles Volume 19 January 3, 2011 Subscribers: 360 Long Count: 12.19.18.0.0 Egyptian Sphinx Today is the one year anniversary of the premier of my film Apocalypse Island. It is also the end of the tun, the Mayan count of 360 days, which leaves a “0” in the second-to-last position of the Long Count as shown above. Only two more tuns remain before the Great Cycle will come to an end on 13.0.0.0.0. The earth-shattering change predicted for this time will arise from the revelation that the course of human history was foreseen by the ancient Egyptians and Maya and that their greatest monuments are in fact time capsules meant to be opened by us in our era in response to the end of the calendar. No single monument embodies the mystery of ancient Egypt better than the enigmatic Sphinx, standing guard over the pyramids at Giza and joined in symbolic alignment to the heavens beyond. Half-man, half-lion, the Sphinx stares eastward at the rising sun, a silent sentinel of the first light of each new day. The battered face is a regal visage whose proud bearing seems to refute Shelley’s famous poem as if to say: “Look upon my works, ye mighty, and rejoice.” But its true inspiration may lie half a world away. Along with the largest pyramid at Giza, the Sphinx is typically attributed to the pharaoh Khafre, but measurements of known statues of Khafre do not match the Sphinx. During a 2008 expedition to the island funded by Discovery Channel, my travelling companions and I ran into three island cowboys who were herding cattle on the back side of the island. Nelson, shown at far left, took pains to tell each of us about the “Man in the Mountain”, the enormous face recognizable in the profile of El Yunque, the tallest peak of the island. I had recognized this face myself years earlier when studying the landscape surrounding the island monument, shown circled below. Of the countless photos I had taken, it was not surprising to find that many of them perfectly framed the giant facial image. The great face of El Yunque stares skyward with all-seeing white eyes. The facial profile is apparent on both sides of the volcanic peak and on both sides unusual white spots are visible in the precise locations where one would expect the eyes to be. The Mayan 2012 Eclipse Monument is nestled in the bosom of an enormous recumbent figure, a “caracol” (snailshell) pectoral to protect a sacred heart. On the beach at Zipolite, Mexico, where the ferocious Pacific Ocean pummels the coast and kills dozens of tourists a year, I first recognized the resemblance of the island profile with the Egyptian Sphinx. I had with me the photos I had taken on the island during my brief return there in March, 1997, after I discovered the monument the previous December. Having hiked in from the airport at the far end of the island, I took many snapshots as I approached the monument from a distance. The image at left, with the monument at center, frames the profile of El Yunque exquisitely. And remember, this was purely accidental on my part since I was only intending on capturing the monument in its natural environment. But what if this lucky “accident” was in fact intended as part of the program of revelations built into this strange island in the middle of nowhere? My recognition of the Sun God face on the monument triggered my further investigations which in turn revealed a whole cast of characters assembled here, playing out a cosmic drama scripted for the final katun of the Great Cycle of the Mayan calendar. The El Yunque Sphinx looks skyward and beckons us to turn our gaze toward the heavens and to ponder the grand cycles of human history. While the evidence linking the Maya and Egyptians presented in the last newsletter may have been too abstract for some people, I think the combination of that with the island Sphinx is fairly conclusive. And this is not just a case of seeing faces in the rocks, for the profile of El Yunque is a precise match for the forensic measurements of the Sphinx discussed above. The adventure continues in 2011! Happy New Year!