These Changes We Are Living

And now we announce the new Sun,

That will be one of Justice.

But this new Sun must be made by the common people,

by the Macehuales, with our sacrifice to offer,

Now it’s our turn.

El Sexto Sol is our description of what others may call the Great Awakening or the Ascension. At the time of the so-called conquest of Mexico, our ancestors composed this major decree to help us understand what we would be facing in these times.

In this tiny excerpt, the Decree of el Sexto Sol announces who is responsible for creating that new Sun, for making this Sun better than the last one. The Decree names the Macehuales, the common people, us!

That responsibility is clearly bigger than anything we humans have ever tried and the decree tells us, “It’s Our Turn,” implying that while other types of beings have had a part in the creation of the five suns before this one, this time we get to do it from our very own human perspective.

There is however, as you may have suspected, a caveat to the definition of “common people.” The word macehual covers the idea of ordinary, non-ranking, people, yes, but another realm of meaning permeates the word macehual as it lives today. Macehual refers to common people who are deserving.

What deserving means is a wide-open topic,of course, and so, perhaps another day. I’m struck more by how the idea of being common and deserving reminds me of “The meek will inherit the Earth,” from the Bible. “The meek” will perhaps follow the Ten Commandments to earn this inheritance; it makes sense. The toltec will follow the Three Commandments of Quetzalcoatl, the Plumed Serpent, to become a macehual. Those commandments are simple, yet as challenging as anything life can throw:

Love God                   Live in Peace and                  Don’t Waste Time

The macehuales and the meek both exemplify a hard-won virtue. We celebrate that struggle and we try to understand how it is we common folk are going to make it happen. I remember an interpretation I heard about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

A respected believer explained that the true lord of this universe, Jesus Christ, had already done all that was needed on his first visit, that he had no need to return. Then came the punchline, “We, human beings, are the Second Coming.”

I think the Toltec-Aztec Ancestors will agree. It’s the responsibility of us ordinary, but deserving people to create El Sexto Sol and Inherit the Earth.

So Vámonos! Deserving One, let’s create El Sexto Sol, and forevermore

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