Who is or was Quetzalcoatl?

Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity who is represented as a feathered serpent, a mixture of bird and snake. I see this as an archetype of integration of opposites – heaven and earth, spirit and matter, rationality and intuition.

What did the Mayans predict for the year 2012? Are there varying interpretations of this prophecy?

The Mayans appear to have predicted a shift from one “World Age” to the next at this time. The end of the Mayan “Long Count” of thirteen baktuns, over 5,000 years, is December 21, 2012, which also concludes several larger cycles and seems linked to the Precession of the Equinoxes, from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius, and specifically the Winter Solstice Sun rising in the dark rift at the center of the Milky Way on the last day of the cycle.

We do not have a clear understanding of what the Mayans predicted for this time. It may be that they recognized its immense significance, due to their study of astronomical and temporal cycles, but saw that it would be up to the people alive during it to determine the outcome.

What is shamanism?

Shamanism is the spiritual technology of tribal people. Shamans use nonordinary states of consciousness to enter other realms of the psyche, for purposes of healing, divination, and receiving information from other forms of intelligence.

How can the evolution of consciousness change our way of life?

At the moment, global civilization is unsustainable, even in the short term. According to many scientists, 25% of species will be extinct within 30 years. Climate change is accelerating and the climate may become highly unpredictable and radically different than what we have known. At the same time, we are experiencing an accelerated development of technology, with both positive and negative consequences. Many believe that we also experiencing more psychic events and synchronicities, as if the boundary between the psychic and the physical is becoming thinner and subtler.

We appear, also, to be at the threshold of a global financial meltdown, which could give us the opportunity to create a new paradigm of value, on a planetary level.

Any evolution of consciousness, by definition, requires us to become more conscious of our situation on this planet, to discover ways to master the powerful and potentially cataclysmic forces that we have unleashed. Our old models and paradigms are not going to get us through this massive change. We will require new systems that manage resources and support sustainable local communities.

You write that we need more intuition and less rationality. What do you mean by that?

Actually I do not write or think that we “need … less rationality.” I think we need to become more rational, which includes accepting the psychic aspects of reality, the intuitive domain known to mystics and shamans. I believe that the archetype of Quetzalcoatl represents the integration of science and spirit, rationalism and mysticism. It is not either-or, but both-and.

Does “apocalypse” always refer to the end of the earth or the end of civilization?

My understanding is that “apocalypse” literally means “revealing” or “uncovering,” so it is not necessarily about physical destruction but could be destructive for the ego and any entrenched belief system that clashes with an authentic understanding of our reality.

What does quantum physics have in common with mystical beliefs?

The convergence of quantum physics and Eastern metaphysics has been recognized since the early 1970s, articulated in books such as The Tao of Physics and The Self-Aware Universe. According to both of these systems, consciousness is inseparable from matter, and there can be no objective observer separate from the processes that are observed. It makes sense that these knowledge systems that have converged as both are based on the experimental method – quantum physics follows the scientific method, while Eastern metaphysics is based on study of the subjective perceiver. Eastern mysticism or South American shamanism are not based on belief systems or superstitions, but on experiential practices that have proved effective over time.

What are some of the ways that one can explore consciousness? Is one particular way (chanting, meditation, entheogens/hallucinogens) superior to the others and why?

Breathwork, yoga, meditation, lack of sleep, lucid dreaming, psychedelic shamanism, ecstatic dancing and drumming, and thinking are all ways to explore altered states of consciousness. Each has their place, and none is “superior” to any other. In fact, we pass through different states of consciousness all the time, whether we are working, spacing out, or inducing a light trance through watching television.

Are mind and matter one and the same?

At the very least, psychic research has demonstrated a deep interconnectivity between mind and matter. Synchronicities also suggest that the psychic and the physical world are not separate. So yes, mind and matter appear to be inextricably linked.

Why is mainstream science so quick to dismiss UFO sightings and crop circles as fraudulent? What are some possible explanations for these phenomena?

Science works through paradigms, and academic disciplines tend to dismiss any evidence that falls outside of their framework of explanation. Because we don’t have explanatory grids for UFOs, aliens, and crop circles, they tend to be automatically dismissed and ridiculed. I believe there is quite a lot of evidence that supports these phenomena having some legitimacy – certainly they are cultural events that exist in the collective psyche and the popular imagination. Biophysicists have published peer-reviewed papers in science journals on the molecular changes to crops in crop circles, for instance. UFO sightings have been reported all over the world. A massive volume of experiential reports exists on alien abductions. However, the indeterminacy seems to be part of these phenomena, at this stage of their manifestation. They seem to events that cross the boundary between the psychic and physical. I like the Jungian perspective that would see these phenomena as aspects of archetypes that are presently constellating in the collective psyche. They are simultaneously psychic and real. These phenomena are still developing and changing, and may reveal different aspects in the next few years.

What do you think is going to happen in 2012 – and on December 21, 2012, to be more precise?

I don’t pretend to know what is going to happen in 2012. I think of “2012” as a window of opportunity to catalyze a shift in global culture and in human consciousness. If we have not moved in a drastically different direction by that point, we may not survive as a species for much longer.

By 2012, my hope is that we will have made a massive paradigm shift, rejecting ego-based materialism for a new understanding that incorporates psychic dimensions and ecological values. This shift will have to be supported by new systems for transferring resources, alternative means of creating food and energy, and a movement beyond the nation-state model to a truly global “society without a state.” This will hopefully be accomplished through a nonviolent evolution in global society – however it may also require a difficult period of readjustment, as the systems that currently support post-industrial capitalism begin to malfunction on a large scale.

I also offer the hypothesis that an evolution in human psychic capacities is currently underway, and may become increasingly important. We may be at the same place with psychic phenomena and psychic energy today as we were in the mid 18th Century with electricity. We may find that we can tap into psychic energy for purposes of planetary transformation, in the way that we once used to tap into electricity.

What is behind the many similar reports of abductions by aliens? Is it significant that many of the descriptions of these aliens are quite similar?

We may be encountering another form of consciousness that exists in a different dimension from our own, and seeks access to our reality. The narrative of the Greys or the “Visitors” has developed in stages over the last sixty years, going back to waves of UFO sightings and the inscrutable Roswell incident in the 1940s. This narrative may have a shocking culmination in our own time – at least that is what much of the data collected by hypnotherapists seems to suggest.

Our future as a species may depend upon us developing a more sophisticated awareness of the activities of other forms of intelligent life in the cosmos. We may find that there is a multidimensional multitude of other beings with different agendas and intentions, and we will have to learn to discriminate between psychic realms that are spiritually beneficial for us and others that are dangerous and potentially destructive for us.

Why is it important for people to be more in sync with the natural world?

When we look at the species extinction crisis and climate chage, it seems possible that the human species may not survive into the immediate future without a much deeper connection to the natural world. We are going to have to shift from destructive technologies to techniques based on biomimicry, following the perfected technologies of nature. We may end up removing some of the technosphere we have created around us in order to resensitize ourselves in relation to the planet which gives us life, and the community of species that support us.

What is the importance of calendars as they relate to consciousness? How about astrology and astronomy?

We don’t think of calendars as very important, but they might actually function as “metaprogramming devices” for consciousness. If our calendar is desynchronized from natural cycles and Sun and Moon movements, it might have the effect of alienating us from natural rhythms, manipulating us into a mechanistic relationship to the universe.

How do you see a change in personal relationships and sexuality playing into this evolutionary process?

I argue in “2012” that monogamy is only one possible social construction of relationships. “The Kinsey Report” indicated a vast range of human sexual behavior, much of it nonmonogamous. If we are constrained by a single ideal, it means that relationships will constantly fall short of our expectations, leading to frustrations and repressed negative psychic energy that will manifest in other areas of our world. I suggest that a disciplined liberation of sexuality and eroticism may be necessary if humanity is going to thrive in the future. Sexual energy can also be used for purposes of spiritual self-creation, through practices such as Tantra and Chinese sexual alchemy.

Why are many psychedelics (iboga, ayahuasca, DMT, psilocybin and amanita mushrooms, LSD, peyote) reviled and often outlawed in many contemporary societies? Why do other groups hold them up as “sacred medicines”?

Psychedelics offer direct access to the subconscious and the collective unconscious. They are tools for attaining non-ordinary states of consciousness in an accelerated way, and therefore sacred to cultures that consider the exploration of psychic realm to be essential to their lives. These tribal cultures find psychedelic plants to be medicines that can heal, kill, help them see the future, and perform other function as well. Our civilization has dismissed non-ordinary states of consciousness as meaningless, and instituted rational empiricism as the only meaningful mode of awareness. The psychedelic experience endangers the mainstream paradigm by revealing its deep flaws. I believe that our society will soon reintegrate these tools, recognizing their importance, and end the repression of them.