Jose Arguelles (b. 1939) is the New Age spiritual leader for the Planet Art Network and the Foundation for the Law of Time. He holds a Ph.D. in Art History and Aesthetics from the University of Chicago, and has taught at numerous colleges, including Princeton University and the San Francisco Institute of Art. He has gained notoriety for the Harmonic Convergence event, and his mystical book about the Maya calendar, The Mayan Factor: Path Beyond Technology. After Mayan Factor's financial success, Jose and his wife L ...

Including:

• Jose Arguelles - Planet Art Network

Read more here: » Jose Arguelles: Encyclopedia - Jose Arguelles

Jose Arguelles

(1939 - ) New Age author whose book The Mayan Factor, published early 1987, argued that during a critical time (August 16-17 of that year) the prophecies of the Bible, Aztec and Mayan calendars indicated that the world would either begin a new age or be destroyed.

If 144,000 self-chosen people were "resonating" with peace during this important time, worldwide, though especially at the "power centers" like Mount Shasta, Arguelles believed the world could be saved from destruction. (see Harmonic Convergence).

He has a distinguished career as an educator, he taught at Princeton University, University of California, Evergreen State College, San Francisco State University, San Francisco Institute of Art, the Naropa Institute, the University of Colorado, and The Union Graduate School.

His pioneering books resulting from investigations into human whole systems include: Mandala (1972), A Psychophysical Aesthetic (1972), The Transformative Vision: Reflections on the Nature and History of Human Expression (1975) (1992), and, Earth Ascending: An illustrated Treatise on the Law Governing Whole Systems (1984, 1988). As one of the founders of Earth Day, 1970 (First Whole Earth Festival, Davis, California. 1970), Arguelles is a career activist for peace and the planetary transformation of consciousness.

With his wife and partner, Lloydine, they founded the Planet Art Network (1983), promoting the revival of the Nicholas Roerich Peace Pact and Banner of Peace (1935). Combining investigations of the Roerich Peace Pact with his lifetime study of the mathematics and prophesies of the Mayan Calendar.

(See also: Jose Arguelles, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

The most important of these calendars is one with a period of 260 days. This 260-day calendar was prevalent across all Mesoamerican societies, and is of great antiquity (almost certainly the oldest of the calendars). It is still used in some regions of Oaxaca, and amongst the Maya communities of the Guatemalan highlands. The Maya version is commonly known to scholars as the Tzolkin, or Tzolk'in in the revised orthography of the Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala. The Tzolkin combined with another 365-day calendar (known as ...

See also:

Maya calendar, Maya calendar - General overview, Maya calendar - Maya concepts of time, Maya calendar - Tzolk'in, Maya calendar - Divination, Maya calendar - Origin of the Tzolkin, Maya calendar - Haab, Maya calendar - Wayeb, Maya calendar - Calendar Round, Maya calendar - Long Count, Maya calendar - Calculating Long Count dates, Maya calendar - Calculating the Tzolkin date portion, Maya calendar - Calculating the Haab date portion, Maya calendar - End of the world?, Maya calendar - Venus cycle

Read more here: » Maya calendar: Encyclopedia II - Maya calendar - General overview

Over the decades much discussion has focussed on finding the exact correlation between the Mayan Long Count and the Gregorian calendar. Most researchers in the field have now come to agree that the so-called GMT correlation, placing the beginning of the Long Count 4 Ahau 8 Cumku on the Julian day 584 283, August 11, 3114 BC, is correct. This means by consequence that it will end on December 21, 2012 and most, such as Jose Arguelles, John Jenkins and Terence McKenna, who have taken an interest in the calendar of the Maya, have endorsed this date as the end of the current cycle.

Read more here: » Mayan Calendar: Why the Creation Cycles do not end December 21, 2012, but October 28, 2011

The Maya calendar is actually a system of distinct calendars and almanacs used by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. These different calendars tracked observable phenomena such as the solar year, the lunar year, and the synodic period of the planet Venus; others had a divinatory or ritualistic purpose without any known association to natural cycles. These calendars could be synchronised and interlocked in complex ways, their combina ...

Including:

• Maya calendar - General overview
• Maya calendar - Maya concepts of time
• Maya calendar - Tzolk'in
• Maya calendar - Divination
• Maya calendar - Origin of the Tzolkin
• Maya calendar - Haab
• Maya calendar - Wayeb
• Maya calendar - Calendar Round
• Maya calendar - Long Count
• Maya calendar - Calculating Long Count dates
• Maya calendar - Calculating the Tzolkin date portion
• Maya calendar - Calculating the Haab date portion
• Maya calendar - End of the world?
• Maya calendar - Venus cycle

Read more here: » Maya calendar: Encyclopedia - Maya calendar

The Harmonic Convergence was a loosely-organized new age spiritual event that occurred on 1987, August 17th, when groups of people gathered in various sacred sites and "mystical" places all over the world to usher in a new era, a date based primarily on the Maya calendar, but also on interpretations of European and Asian astrology. The Harmonic Convergence was supposed to be a global awakening to love and unity through divine transformation. It was initiated in 1987 by Jose Arguelles. According to his interpretation of Mayan co ...

Read more here: » Harmonic Convergence: Encyclopedia - Harmonic Convergence

With the development of the place-notational Long Count calendar (believed to have been inherited from other Mesoamerican cultures), the Maya had an elegant system within which events could be recorded in a linear relationship to one another, and also with respect to the calendar ("linear time") itself. In theory, this system could readily be extended to delineate any length of time desired, by simply adding to the number of higher-order place markers used (and thereby generating an ever-increasing sequence of day-multiples, each day in the ...

See also:

Maya calendar, Maya calendar - General overview, Maya calendar - Maya concepts of time, Maya calendar - Tzolk'in, Maya calendar - Divination, Maya calendar - Origin of the Tzolkin, Maya calendar - Haab, Maya calendar - Wayeb, Maya calendar - Calendar Round, Maya calendar - Long Count, Maya calendar - Calculating Long Count dates, Maya calendar - Calculating the Tzolkin date portion, Maya calendar - Calculating the Haab date portion, Maya calendar - End of the world?, Maya calendar - Venus cycle

Read more here: » Maya calendar: Encyclopedia II - Maya calendar - Maya concepts of time

Mayanists have bestowed the name tzolkin (or tzolk'in, in the revised orthography which is now preferred) on the Maya version of the Mesoamerican 260-day calendar. The word was coined based on the Yucatec language, with an intended meaning of "count of days". The actual names of this calendar as used by the pre-Columbian Maya are not known. The Aztec calendar equivalent was called by them t ...

See also:

Maya calendar, Maya calendar - General overview, Maya calendar - Maya concepts of time, Maya calendar - Tzolk'in, Maya calendar - Divination, Maya calendar - Origin of the Tzolkin, Maya calendar - Haab, Maya calendar - Wayeb, Maya calendar - Calendar Round, Maya calendar - Long Count, Maya calendar - Calculating Long Count dates, Maya calendar - Calculating the Tzolkin date portion, Maya calendar - Calculating the Haab date portion, Maya calendar - End of the world?, Maya calendar - Venus cycle

Read more here: » Maya calendar: Encyclopedia II - Maya calendar - Tzolk'in

The Haab was the Maya solar calendar made up of eighteen months of twenty days each and a five day month at the end of the year known as Wayeb or Uayeb that was called "the nameless days." Victoria Bricker estimates that the Haab was first used around 550 BC with the starting point of the winter solstice. The Haab was the foundation of the agrarian calendar and the month names are based on the seasons and agricultural events. For example the thirteenth month, Mac, may refer to the end of the rainy season and the fourteenth month, Kankin ...

See also:

Maya calendar, Maya calendar - General overview, Maya calendar - Maya concepts of time, Maya calendar - Tzolk'in, Maya calendar - Divination, Maya calendar - Origin of the Tzolkin, Maya calendar - Haab, Maya calendar - Wayeb, Maya calendar - Calendar Round, Maya calendar - Long Count, Maya calendar - Calculating Long Count dates, Maya calendar - Calculating the Tzolkin date portion, Maya calendar - Calculating the Haab date portion, Maya calendar - End of the world?, Maya calendar - Venus cycle

Read more here: » Maya calendar: Encyclopedia II - Maya calendar - Haab

Neither the Tzolkin nor the Haab system numbered the years. The combination of a Tzolkin date and a Haab date was enough to identify a date to most people's satisfaction, as such a combination didn't occur again for another 52 years, well above life expectancy. Because the two calendars were based on 260 days and 365 days respectively, the whole cycle would repeat itself every 52 Haab years exactly. This period was known as a Calendar Round. The end of the Calendar Round was a period of unrest and bad luck among the Maya, as they waited in expectation to see if the ...

See also:

Maya calendar, Maya calendar - General overview, Maya calendar - Maya concepts of time, Maya calendar - Tzolk'in, Maya calendar - Divination, Maya calendar - Origin of the Tzolkin, Maya calendar - Haab, Maya calendar - Wayeb, Maya calendar - Calendar Round, Maya calendar - Long Count, Maya calendar - Calculating Long Count dates, Maya calendar - Calculating the Tzolkin date portion, Maya calendar - Calculating the Haab date portion, Maya calendar - End of the world?, Maya calendar - Venus cycle

Read more here: » Maya calendar: Encyclopedia II - Maya calendar - Calendar Round

Since Calendar Round dates can only distinguish within 18980 days, equivalent to around 52 solar years, the cycle repeats roughly once each lifetime, and thus, a much more refined method of dating was needed if their history was to be recorded accurately. The Long Count employs the use of number series, roughly base 20 and is constructed by counting whole number of days alone. The Mayan name for a day was kin; twenty of these kins are known as a uinal; eighteen uinals make one tun; twenty tuns are known as ...

See also:

Maya calendar, Maya calendar - General overview, Maya calendar - Maya concepts of time, Maya calendar - Tzolk'in, Maya calendar - Divination, Maya calendar - Origin of the Tzolkin, Maya calendar - Haab, Maya calendar - Wayeb, Maya calendar - Calendar Round, Maya calendar - Long Count, Maya calendar - Calculating Long Count dates, Maya calendar - Calculating the Tzolkin date portion, Maya calendar - Calculating the Haab date portion, Maya calendar - End of the world?, Maya calendar - Venus cycle

Read more here: » Maya calendar: Encyclopedia II - Maya calendar - Long Count

Another important calendar for the Maya was the Venus cycle. The Maya were excellent astronomers, and could calculate the Venus cycle extremely accurately. There are six pages in the Dresden Codex (one of the Maya codices) devoted to the accurate calculation of the location of Venus. The Maya were able to achieve such accuracy by careful observation over many years. The Venus cycle was especially important because the Maya believed it was associated with war and used it to divine good times for coronations and war. Maya rulers planned for wars to begin when Venus rose. The Maya also possibly tracked other planets’ movements, i ...

See also:

Maya calendar, Maya calendar - General overview, Maya calendar - Maya concepts of time, Maya calendar - Tzolk'in, Maya calendar - Divination, Maya calendar - Origin of the Tzolkin, Maya calendar - Haab, Maya calendar - Wayeb, Maya calendar - Calendar Round, Maya calendar - Long Count, Maya calendar - Calculating Long Count dates, Maya calendar - Calculating the Tzolkin date portion, Maya calendar - Calculating the Haab date portion, Maya calendar - End of the world?, Maya calendar - Venus cycle

Read more here: » Maya calendar: Encyclopedia II - Maya calendar - Venus cycle

Harmonic Convergence

An assembly of millions of New Agers gathered at spiritual sites (vortexes) around the world. to usher in peace on earth and the unity of all life and acknowledge that the New Age had arrived.

Held August 16–17, 1987, it was formulated by Jose Arguelles, based on Mayan prophecies and astrological conjecture. Other significant dates were 31 December 1987 and a culmination in 2012.

(See also: Harmonic Convergence, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

The term New Age describes a broad movement of late twentieth century and contemporary Western culture, characterised by an individual eclectic approach to spiritual exploration. Collectively, New Age has some attributes of an emergent religion, but is currently a loose network of spiritual teachers, healers, and seekers. The movement is most visible where its ideas are traded—for example in specialist bookshops, music stores, and New Age fairs. The name "New Age" also refers to the market segment in which its goods and servi ...

Including:

• New Age - Definitions
• New Age - History
• New Age - Beliefs
• New Age - Quotations
• New Age - Lifestyle
• New Age - Underlying assumptions
• New Age - Language
• New Age - Critiques of the New Age
• New Age - Medicine
• New Age - Music
• New Age - New Age communities

Read more here: » New Age: Encyclopedia - New Age

Though there are no formal or definitive boundaries for membership; those who are likely to sample many diverse teachings and practices (from both 'mainstream' and 'fringe' traditions) and to formulate their own beliefs and practices based on their experiences can be considered as New Age.' Rather than follow the lead of an organised religion, "New Agers" typically construct their own spiritual journey based on material taken as needed from the mystical traditions of all or most world religions, includin ...

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New Age, New Age - Definitions, New Age - History, New Age - Beliefs, New Age - Lifestyle, New Age - Underlying assumptions, New Age - Language, New Age - Critiques of the New Age, New Age - Medicine, New Age - Music, New Age - New Age communities

Read more here: » New Age: Encyclopedia II - New Age - Definitions

Major critiques of the New Age have emerged from rational philosophical and scientific views that seek to understand the nature of New Age notions. These often highlight the discrepancies between New Age's seemingly irreconcilable mix of occultism and acceptance of the laws of physics. Rather more extreme views have emerged from evangelical Christians who reject all forms of occultism; from skeptics suspicious of paranormal claims and woolly beliefs in general; and from New Agers themselves. Some, including neo-pagans, who are frequently lab ...

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New Age, New Age - Definitions, New Age - History, New Age - Beliefs, New Age - Lifestyle, New Age - Underlying assumptions, New Age - Language, New Age - Critiques of the New Age, New Age - Medicine, New Age - Music, New Age - New Age communities

Read more here: » New Age: Encyclopedia II - New Age - Critiques of the New Age

Many people with a New Age perspective also adopt complementary and alternative medicine. Some rely on New Age related treatments exclusively, while others use them in combination with conventional medicine. This is completly compatible with New age belief in the unity of mind body spirit and the emphasis on things natural. Some techniques worthy of mention are herbal medicine, Ayurveda, acupuncture, homeopathy, iridology, auras and the ...

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New Age, New Age - Definitions, New Age - History, New Age - Beliefs, New Age - Lifestyle, New Age - Underlying assumptions, New Age - Language, New Age - Critiques of the New Age, New Age - Medicine, New Age - Music, New Age - New Age communities

Read more here: » New Age: Encyclopedia II - New Age - Medicine

Many adherents of belief systems characterised as New Age rely heavily on the use of metaphors to describe experiences deemed to be beyond the empirical. Consciously or unconsciously, New Agers tend to redefine vocabulary borrowed from various belief systems, which can cause some confusion as well as increase opposition from skeptics and the traditional religions. In particular, the adoption of terms from the language of science such as "energy", "energy fields", and various terms borrowed from quantum physics and psychology but not then app ...

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New Age, New Age - Definitions, New Age - History, New Age - Beliefs, New Age - Lifestyle, New Age - Underlying assumptions, New Age - Language, New Age - Critiques of the New Age, New Age - Medicine, New Age - Music, New Age - New Age communities

Read more here: » New Age: Encyclopedia II - New Age - Language

See a longer description at the New Age music article Although more rock than new age in genre the 1967 successful musical Hair with its opening song "Aquarius" and the memorable line "This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius" brought the New Age concept to the attention of a huge world wide audience. The first actual mention of the term was by American rock and roll band The Velvet Underground in their not-s ...

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New Age, New Age - Definitions, New Age - History, New Age - Beliefs, New Age - Lifestyle, New Age - Underlying assumptions, New Age - Language, New Age - Critiques of the New Age, New Age - Medicine, New Age - Music, New Age - New Age communities

Read more here: » New Age: Encyclopedia II - New Age - Music

In Experiential Spirituality and Contemporary Gnosis Diane Brandon writes: "And this emphasis on spirituality and consciousness reflects an acknowledgment that we are, in essence, spiritual beings - and beings of pure energy, as consciousness is a form of energy - even though we are "in the body." Deepak Chopra: "...our bodies are contained within our consciousness, not our consciousness contained within our bodies." Michael Sharp: "As above in consciou ...

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New Age, New Age - Definitions, New Age - History, New Age - Beliefs, New Age - Quotations, New Age - Lifestyle, New Age - Underlying assumptions, New Age - Language, New Age - Critiques of the New Age, New Age - Medicine, New Age - Music, New Age - New Age communities

Read more here: » New Age: Encyclopedia II - New Age - Quotations