The Return of Quetzalcoatl

Inspired by Comets Over Albion by Ben Fairhall, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck, and cyberspaceorbit.com by Kent Steadman.

Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, is more accurately, "the serpent veiled in plumes of the paradise-bird" who was adored by the Children of the Sun and identified as a "solar god" and / or "god of the winds" by Manly Hall. [1]

Quetzalcoatl:

... came out of the sea, bringing with him a mysterious cross. On his garments were embellished clouds and red crosses. In his honour, great serpents carved from stone were placed in different parts of Mexico.

The cross of Quetzalcoatl became a sacred symbol among the Mayas, and according to available records the Maya Indian angels had crosses of various pigments painted on their foreheads. Similar crosses were placed over the eyes of those initiated into their Mysteries. When Cortez arrived in Mexico, he brought with him the cross. Recognizing this, the natives believed that he was Quetzalcoatl returned, for the latter had promised to come back in the infinite future and redeem his people. [2]

... The fourth book of the Popol Vuh concludes with an account of the erection of a majestic temple, all white, where was preserved a secret black divining stone, cubical in shape. Quetzalcoatl partakes of many of the attributes of King Solomon: the account of the temple building in the Popol Vuh is a reminder of the story of Solomon's Temple, and undoubtedly has a similar significance. Brassuer de Bourbourg was first attracted to the study of religious parallelisms in the Popol Vuh by the fact that the temple, together with the black stone which it contained, was named the Caabaha, a name astonishingly similar to that of the Temple, or Caaba, which contains the sacred black stone of Islam. [3]

If we look at the similarities of Quetzalcoatl and other stories, the results are remarkable. Quetzalcoatl was known as the solar god who was crucified and would return in the future to redeem his people, as well as the builder of a temple building reminiscent of the Temple of Solomon containing a sacred black stone named Caabaha. How do historians account for these similarities to the Abrahamic religious texts, yet the vast discrepancies in time and distance from the supposed origin of these stories?

The return of Cortez noted above, and hinted at in the recent movie "Apocalypto," is portrayed as occurring during a time of human sacrifice. Again, Manly Hall:

The meager available native records contain abundant evidence that the later civilizations of Central and South America were hopelessly dominated by the black arts of their priestcrafts. In the convexities of their magnetized mirrors the Indian sorcerers captured the intelligences of elemental beings and, gazing into the depths of these abominable devices, eventually made the scepter subservient to the wand. Robed in garments of sable hue, the neophytes in their search for truth were led by their sinister guides through the confused passageways of necromancy. By the left-hand path they descended into the somber depths of the infernal world, where they learned to endow stones with the power of speech and to subtly ensnare the minds of men with their chants and fetishes. As typical of the perversion which prevailed, none could acheive to the greater Mysteries until a human being had suffered immolation at his hand and the bleeding heart of the victim had been elevated before the luring face of the stone idol fabricated by a priestcraft the members of which realized more fully than they dared to admit the true nature of the man-made demon. The sanguinary and indescribable rites practiced by many of the Central American Indians may represent remnants of the later Atlantean perversion of the ancient sun Mysteries. According to the secret tradition, it was during the later Atlantean epoch that black magic and sorcery dominated the esoteric schools, resulting in the bloody sacrificial rites and gruesome idolatry which ultimately overthrew the Atlantean empire and even penetrated the Aryan religious world. [4]

So these similarities are between not only the allegorical stories surrounding Quetzalcoatl, but also the historical record of a turn to the dark side after the golden age and a false savior. After a time of high spirituality and technology, the Mayan people went from being victimized by their preistarchy, to being victimized by the Spanish conquistador - out of the frying pan and into the fire. The desire for some kind of saviour seems to be a characteristic that some are only too willing to exploit. How much do these similarities feel familiar to us now? And what of the return of Quetzalcoatl? Could it be now?