Guardians of the Past--Harbingers of the future
Julie Gillentine

Anthropological orthodoxy insists that civilization began in Sumeria six thousand years ago, and the modern metropolis is the pinnacle of culture and evolution on the planet. But, Circa World War II, humanity shattered the rails of our technological playpen, sporting new atomic bombs. And, it is said, Space-faring ETs took notice, and silver saucers suddenly filled the skies. The UFO era was born; Roswell was a defining moment.

An alternate view is emerging, however. According to indigenous peoples from the Americas to South Africa, they have guarded the hidden history of humanity all along, quietly maintaining contact with visiting and resident stellar relatives. Mobilized, now, by what they believe is the fulfillment of long-prophesied warnings, the elders of these indigenous people around the world have begun, they say, to break vows of silence and share their ancient secret stellar wisdom.

African Epiphany
Thanks to the work of Robert Temple, (The Sirius Mystery) the startling knowledge of Sirius and its dwarf companion by Africa's Dogon tribe is widely known. The Dogon possess knowledge, such as the star system's orbital periods and the companion star's invisibility, which cannot be confirmed by naked eye observation, and which modern Astronomers have learned only recently.

In South Africa, Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa, a renowned Zulu elder and author of Song of the Stars: The Lore of a Zulu Shaman, claims that, in terms of knowledge of African shamans, this is but the tip of the astronomical iceberg. Credo Mutwa has chosen a path of 'openness', coming forward to share secret star lore of indigenous Black Africans. "I pray that this effort will unite thinking people around the world and diminish the severity of our prophecies," Credo explained recently. A master storyteller, he has traveled to more than twenty countries sharing his vision and wisdom despite the great personal loss which his openness has cost him. Credo's son was brutally murdered, apparently, by those who want him silenced.

Indigenous cosmology of stellar relationships is complex, he explains, often dwelling at the heart of sacred ceremony. Rich oral traditions, including protocol for contact and how to distinguish friendly off-earth visitors from those who are potentially harmful, have been handed down from one sangoma, (shaman) to the next for thousands of years. Star lore is an essential component of sangoma training. According to Credo Mutwa, "In every language in Africa, the meaning of star is Bringer of knowledge? or Bringer of enlightenment." Credo has traveled the continent of Africa, sculpting haunting images of visitors from the stars, which were described to him by other African shamans. "These beings have been coming and going to Africa for forty thousand years," he says. Some bear striking resemblance to beings reported by modern experience's of the UFO phenomenon.

Cradled in South Africa's Krueger National Park lies a private game reserve called Timbavati. This emerald jewel of the African bush is almost mythical in reputation. White lions are born in here, it is said. "A long story is told about a chieftainess called Numbi," Credo recounts. "Many generations ago, she and her people saw a burning white light like a star fall out of the sky right where Timbavati is today. The story is that it was not a star; it was a shining ball of metal, brighter than the Sun. When this ball came down to the ground, Queen Numbi, who was a sick old woman at that time, went towards the light and was swallowed by the light. In that light, very faintly seen, were strange beings with very large heads. These beings received Numbi into the light, and for some hours she was inside. When she emerged and walked toward her people; she had become much younger than when she had gone into the light.

"After that star fell, stayed on the ground for some days, and then rose back into the sky, strange things started happening there. Cattle with two heads were born repeatedly. Lions, leopards and even impalas with snow white fur and green eyes were born, until to this very day. This story is one of the most amazing in Africa. Even to this day, white animals are still being born in Timbavati. Some years ago, a snow white elephant with beautiful blue eyes and long tusks used to roam the area, until white adventurers shot it.

"When a tribe of invaders appeared at Timbavati many years after Numbi's experience," Credo said, "they brought sacred stones which had been taken from Zimbabwe, and planted these stones there in honor of that place. Timbavati, which is Zulu for 'the falling down of a star'? is one of the holiest places in South Africa . But now its story is lost and has been overshadowed by a lot of nonsense."

The standing stones of Timbavati, brought from Zimbabwe to honor Numbi's visitors, are reminiscent of megalithic sites around the world and give mute testimony to the antiquity of the place. Most of the stones now lie on the ground, overgrown by the grasses of the African bush, but the outline of a large circle is suggested. This writer stood on the spot at March Equinox sunrise--the beginning of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere--and the alignment of certain stones which remain erect pointed to the eastern horizon.

The standing stones have a resonant quality when struck with a smaller stone, similar to the deep, bell like resonance of certain Egyptian monoliths. Adjacent to Timbavati is an enigmatic place known as Manyeleti, which means, "Gateway to the Stars." A community of thirty shamans lives there because they believe Manyeleti binds heaven and earth.

In his book, Credo Mutwa relates a prophetic vision of four great leaders emerging around the world: red, black, white and yellow. The colors are the same as the Lakota Medicine Wheel, mentioned below, and four races of humanity. "These leaders will work to unite the planet," Credo says. "One of these, a female leader, will arise in America. She will be called the Red Savior, because of the fiery color of her hair." Native Americans, such as the Lakota Sioux, have an expression, "Mitakuye Oyasin," which means "All our relations." Four-leggeds, winged ones, crawling ones, plant and stone nations are greeted as relatives. The Lakota Medicine Wheel is composed of red, black, white and yellow, representing four races of humanity. Within Native American cosmogony, it is natural to include and respect the Star Nations among extended family members.

Standing Elk, Dakota elder and Sun Dance chief, recently presented an open letter to the Elders of Turtle Island. "My heart told me to speak of the secret knowledge of Native Americans concerning the Star Nations, since the time of our prophecies is at hand." Believing the knowledge belongs to the world, Standing Elk has created Star Knowledge Gatherings, a forum to share this information. Sharing such secrets is controversial and unpopular with some native peoples. Standing Elk, like his African counterpart, has received numerous threats.

At Standing Elk's gatherings, Native Elders share the conference podium with prestigious researchers in the UFO field. "Alien" contactees speak openly of their experiences. Indigenous Elders perform ceremony and give candid testimony of their knowledge and relationship to the Star Nations

"Humanity was seeded from the stars, and we have a profound genetic kinship with humanity's stellar brethren," Rod Skenedore, a native elder, recently told an audience of hundreds in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

At the same Star Knowledge Gathering, Quiche Mayan Elder, Grandmother Windrider, talked of her visions and her challenging personal path. "I challenge conscious people to stand together in peace and tolerance to make a difference at this time on Earth," Windrider said.

Mayan Calendar Connection
From Central America, Guatemalan Mayan Elder, don Alejandro, speaks of vast and repetitive cycles of time. "The Mayan calendar never has to be altered, because it is based on the stars," he points out. Our unwieldy western counterpart, on the other hand, has been changed many times and is still not very accurate. "This knowledge was bequeathed to the Mayas by the Abuelos, the grandfathers, who came from the stars," Don Alejandro said. He enigmatically links the origin and destiny of the Mayas with the Pleiades, who he says, were called May. According to the work of archeoastronomer Anthony Aveni, certain Mayan sites appear to be aligned with zenith rising of the Pleiades. One of the named stars in the constellation of the Pleiades, The Seven Sisters, is Maia.

December 21, 2012, will be the end of the current Mayan long count. According to scholars, this Great Cycle began August 11, 3114 BC. In Mayan terms this time period equals thirteen baktuns. In the Gregorian lexicon, this equals 5125 years. Five Great Cycles, or suns, equals 25,625 years, which is amazingly close to what modern astronomers count as one cycle of the precession of the equinoxes, 25,920 years. Mayan daykeepers say we are living in the time of the fifth sun, approaching the end of a major cycle. Mayan prophecies also point to this time as filled with earth changes and transformation.

On December 21, 2012, winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, a significant astronomical event will occur. From the vantage point of Earth, looking through the constellation of Sagittarius toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy, our Sun will align the Galactic Center. This close conjunction occurs only during a specific epoch each twenty-six thousand years. In his book Maya Cosmogenesis, John Major Jenkins likens the four quarters of the processional cycle to seasons of a grand year. He believes this juncture is the completion of one full cycle, described and monitored by the sophisticated Mayan calendar.

Prophets and Seers
Ancient prophets and modern seers seem to speak with one voice and see with a single eye. The Bible, Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, Hindu texts and Hopi prophecies predicted this time on earth would be marked by miracles and cataclysm, the storm before a long-prophesied golden age. Credo Mutwa told me, "Anyone who investigates will come upon this amazing fact. In South America, in Brazil, in Peru and in Bolivia, different Native American tribes are expecting a worldwide cataclysm in this coming century. They have been expecting this cataclysm for centuries, and they knew it would occur very early in this coming century."

If numerous traditions concur that we are poised at the culmination of their prophecies, how did they know the specific time frame thousands of years ago? If the triggering event of global cataclysm is an external object like a comet, with a cyclical orbital period, its return would be predictable and monitoring the movements in the sky would be vital. The last such juncture seems to have occurred roughly thirteen thousand years ago, halfway through this large cycle and resulting, it would seem, in the last ice age.

Pieces of this puzzle continue to move into position. Investigators increasingly believe that our history, and that of our progenitors, has been recorded in legend, myth and star lore. William Sullivan's ground breaking work with the Incas, (Secret of the Incas), decoded myths as astronomical metaphor. Robert Bauval and Graham Hancock have shown that megalithic monuments contain critical stellar alignments, and, when understood, convey messages and timing significance. Physical evidence of earlier life experiences may have been left on Mars, as Richard Hoagland and others suggest.

Other forgotten civilizations, perhaps several, may have preceded us--their life cycles and attainments terminated by cataclysmic events which also destroyed the evidence. Humanity's true origins and history may have been bequeathed to us through the metaphorical oral traditions of Earth's indigenous peoples and a world wide web of stone. Sherlock Holmes asserted that the best place to hide something is in plain sight. It appears that once we have decoded these Rosetta Stones of the stars, our place in the interplanetary scheme may become more clear. When we remember the code and decipher the messages, the truth may be obvious.