Transcendent Wisdom of the Maya

The Ceremonies and Symbolism of a Living Tradition

By: Gabriela Jurosz-Landa

Narrated by: Gabriela Jurosz-Landa

Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

An initiate’s inside account of ancient Maya spiritual practices alive today

• Includes a foreword by José Luis Tigüilá NABÉ kaxbaltzij, spokesperson of the Maya municipality
• Details the initiation process the author went through to become a Maya shaman-priestess, including rituals, prayers, and ceremonies
• Explains the foundational spiritual wisdom of the Maya calendar as a living entity, its cycles of time, and the significance of “the counting of the days”, which helps keep time itself alive
• Examines the power of dance and Maya ceremonies, Maya future-telling, and communication with ancestors through the sacred fire

Offering an insider’s experiential account of ancient Maya spiritual wisdom and practices, initiated Maya shaman-priestess Gabriela Jurosz-Landa opens up the mysterious world of the Maya, dispelling the rampant misinformation about their beliefs and traditions, sharing the transcendent beauty of their ceremonies, and explaining the Maya understanding of time, foundational to their spiritual worldview and cosmology.

The author, an anthropologist, details the initiation process she went through to become a Maya shaman-priestess in Guatemala, including rituals, prayers, the presence of numinous forces, and the transmission of sacred knowledge. She explains the spiritual wisdom of the Maya calendar as a living entity, its cycles of time, and the significance of “the counting of the days,” which helps keep time itself alive. She examines Maya spiritual and cosmological concepts such as how the universe is shaped like a triangle over a square. She reveals the profound power of dance in Maya tradition, explaining how ritual dance halts the flow of time, reactivates primordial events, and captures vital energies that keep the Maya spiritual tradition vital and alive. Exploring other Maya secret knowledge, she also details Maya ritual attire, Maya future-telling with the calendar, the reading of the Tzi’te beans, and how the Maya communicate with ancestors through the sacred fire.

Illustrating how contemporary Maya life is suffused with spiritual tradition and celebration, the author shares the teachings of the Maya from her initiate and anthropologist point of view in order to help us all learn from the ancient wisdom of their beliefs and worldview. Because, to truly understand the Maya, one must think like the Maya.

©2020 Gabriela Jurosz-Landa. All Rights Reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic reviews

“Transcendent Wisdom of the Maya bridges the Western scientific worldview and the spiritual world of the Maya brilliantly. Its wonderful photographs and detailed storytelling are very compelling. I have enjoyed time with the Maya in the Yucatan, and Gabriela’s wonderful stories of weaving, dancing, healing, and divining brought it all back to me as if I’d never left. Her description of her welcoming ceremony by the Quiché Maya is a significant contribution to anthropological literature, and the New Era celebration in 2012 offers hope for our future. This is a heartfelt and genuine story of Maya life, a must-read for understanding their time cycles and culture.” (Barbara Hand Clow, author of The Mayan Code and Awakening the Planetary Mind)

“Gabriela Jurosz-Landa’s rich and enlightening book is a surprising spiritual journey to mysterious cultures, an inner-self journey, and possibly a road map for our culture’s future survival. Her destined journey from her native Czechoslovakia to Germany to the United States and Guatemala, where she was initiated as a daykeeper (shaman-priestess), is fascinating. Gabriela generously shares deep knowledge and wisdom of the ancient Maya heritage as she takes us through the process of her initiation. I highly recommend this superb book.” (Itzhak Beery, author of The Gift of Shamanism)

is full of biases and ignorance towards the ancien

is full of biases and ignorance towards the ancient maya culture. not everything about the maya culture is how it used to be before the Spanish and aren't giving credit to changes like , giving rights to women, changing the way people were punished for offenses with torturous methods to something more fair and humane. The French revolution apparently meant nothing to the author despite all 5he benefits the world has obtained from it, including changing the current maya religion for good. i recommend listening to an expert in the matter instead, that is neutral about the facts.

Sounds about white

This anthropologist had the most extraordinary opportunity to give so much insight and wisdom from the mayan community and they fumbled completely. they didn't speak the language and used a translator some of the times. the rest of the time they "listened and observed". instead of getting details about the beliefs, ethics, Community, way of life they spend the whole book talking about their experience as a white blonde blue eyes woman who went the the ceremony of being titled a mayan shaman which is a very sacred and honorable title... typically if you get ceremonied in as a date keeper it is important you stick with the community. she took the title and lives in Connecticut now.

over all there is some information to learn about mayans who should have been the focus, not her. but it is audio book form of click bait. you have to listen for so long about her perspective as an entitled colonizer in order to get to bits and pieces of mayan culture. Would not recommend this book. history is already told through the white lense. we don't need another.