Marc G. Blaine discusses the use of iron-ore mirrors by Maya Shamans to receive revelation from the spiritual otherworld.
- Type
- Book
- Source
- Marc G. Blainey Non-LDS
- Hearsay
- Direct
- Reference
Marc G. Blainey, “Techniques of Luminosity: Iron-Ore Mirrors and Entheogenic Shamanism among the Ancient Maya,” in Manufactured Light: Mirrors in the Mesoamerican Realm, ed. Emiliano Gallaga M. and Marc G. Blainey (Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado, 2016), 179–206
- Scribe/Publisher
- University Press of Colorado
- People
- Marc G. Blainey
- Audience
- Reading Public
PDF- Transcription
[Abstract]
The ancient Maya created one of the most elaborate civilizations of pre-Columbian America. Their complex, hierarchical society evolved and flourished in the tropical lowland rainforests of Central America during the Classic period ca. AD 250–900. They developed a rich cosmology and formal religious system, which can be partially reconstructed today using methods of archaeology, art history, and ethnohistory. This chapter considers complex lithic artifacts termed “mirrors,” elucidating their sociopolitical and ideational functions for the ancient Maya individuals who possessed and used them. Moreover, I advance a hypothesis and evidence regarding how the ancient Maya likely harnessed certain psychoactive substances to augment the effectiveness of their mirrors for consulting (what they believed to be) a spiritual Otherworld.
- Citations in Mormonr Qnas
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