2012: The Return of the Nine

Philip Coppens

What will happen in 2012 – or, in the Mayan calendar, 13.0.0.0.0? The question has been the subject of many books and one blockbuster movie. No-one seems to know, but there is ample speculation: from the return of Zecharia Sitchin’s aliens from the theoretical twelfth planet in our solar system to global annihilation, everyone seems to have an opinion as to what 2012 is about. It might therefore come as a surprise that for the Mayan civilisation itself – those who worked the date of December 21, 2012 into their mythology – it was no mystery at all! The Mayan prophecy to do with 2012 was that it would signal the return of “The Nine”.
“The Nine” are mentioned in an inscription on Monument 6 of the Mayan site of Tortuguero, in the Mexican state of Tabasco. The monument was erected in 669 AD and is one of the very few pre-Conquest sources that mention 2012. Various translations or partial translations of the inscription exist. This is the most common one: “At the next creation, the Bolon Yokte Ku, or Nine Support Gods, will return.” However, the actual word “return”, sometimes translated as “descent”, is not intact on the monument. Still, it is a safe conclusion to make that the missing word is return. Why? Because other Mayan sources reference the return of these deities at the ending of each baktun. Hence, they are expected to emanate on Earth in 2012 too.

Who are the Bolon Yokte Ku – The Nine? They have variously been translated as the God of Nine Strides, the Nine-Footed God, Jaguar-Foot-Tree and Nine-Dog-Tree. They were seen as living in the Underworld and were generally described as god(s) of conflict, warfare, and are hence linked with dangerous transition times, social unrest, eclipses, and natural disasters like earthquakes. It is said that at the end of a baktun, they would abandon their underworld realm and rise to the Earth’s surface, where they would do battle with the 13 deities of Heaven.
To further identify what the Nine Support Gods are supposed to be, we need to consult other sources, in this case, anthropological ones. Such evidence makes it clear that the Nine Gods appeared during ceremonies that were held at the end of each baktun, the last of which occurred in 1618 AD.
The ceremonial of the baktun is described in chapter 29 of the The Book of Chilam Balam de Chumayel, a Mayan chronicle. It provides a detailed description of the ceremonies that were performed in Merida in 1618 AD, at the end of 12.0.0.0.0.
In total, there are twenty acts, each representing one of the twenty katuns that make up a baktun-cycle.
After some initial preparations, in act 2, the bee god tied the masks of the 13 gods of Heaven to those people who were going to perform in the ceremonies. The actual baktun cycle was ended in act 3, whereby the Nine Gods fought, conquered and sacrificed these 13 Gods. Night had conquered day. The subsequent acts involved rituals to do with the election of the new officials for the new period, while in act 12, the Nine Gods sacrifice the Seven Pacers and count the mats, which is an initial line-up of the candidates for investiture for the coming era. In act 13, the 4 yearbearers reappear, in the guise of the four death gods. Most importantly, in act 15, the Nine Gods announce the fate of the new era. This fate was largely the will of the gods, which the community had to achieve during the new era.
In short, the baktun ceremony was therefore a series of rituals, focusing on the Nine Gods and their emanation and rulings. However, these extraordinary rituals have seldom been understood for what they are: part and parcel of the 2012 phenomenon.

The question nevertheless remains as to who these Nine Gods truly are. Indeed, “Nine Gods” are not just an ingredient of the Mayan culture. There were also Nine Gods in the ancient Egyptian religion, as well as many others (e.g. India). To the Egyptians, they were also known as the Nine Principles and they were directly linked with their Creator Deity, Atum.
Control over these Nine Principles was deemed to be instrumental in the successful rule of a Pharaoh: proper control over them meant that balance – linked with the deity Ma’at – was maintained and all was well with Egypt, the world and the universe. We can therefore see that The Nine in an Egyptian or Mayan setting, were closely related; in both instances, they determined the ruling of an era, whereby their consultation was of extreme importance to the success of the nation.

So are we waiting for their return in 2012? If so, what are we meant to expect? Interestingly, since the 1950s, decades before the 2012 phenomenon rose to prominence, there has been a select number of people that have been speaking about a “Return of the Nine”. For some, this is the return of nine extra-terrestrial beings, for others this is the return of the Egyptian Nine Gods. Some even link The Nine with the nine founding members of the Knights Templar order – a concept that, alas, resulted in a series of mass suicides in France, Switzerland and Canada in the mid 1990s. However, despite the mass interest in 2012, until now, no-one has drawn attention to the fact that for decades, people claimed to be contacting The Nine and the fact that Mayan inscriptions speak of a return of the Nine Gods in these “end times”!

So what are The Nine? A group led by paranormal researcher Dr. Andrija Puharich that contacted “The Nine” in the early 1950s. They believed they were an alien intelligence: not necessarily physical, but definitely not terrestrial in the most literal sense. The nine participants each challenged one entity, which communicated through them as a collective. Puharich was quite clear that these entities had a connection with ancient Egypt. In the 1970s, he chanced upon a young Israeli psychic, Uri Geller. During the many scientific experiments Geller was put through as part as the CIA’s Remote Viewing experiments, Puharich realised that Geller could contact The Nine, and, specifically, that whereas in all previous attempts, he had required a panel of nine people to participate, Geller could channel all nine together.
As Geller’s fame rose, Puharich decided to write a biography of the exploits of this remarkable psychic. In the book, Puharich mentioned the Nine, but for reasons that will forever remain obscure, he largely ridiculed The Nine, even though for several decades before – and after – he would remain obsessed with them. Equally, whereas previously he had spoken of them as an alien intelligence, in the book, they had become an extraterrestrial intelligence. There is a difference…

Geller has always remained silent on what transpired with the Nine, as he was unconscious throughout the channelling. When in contact with the Nine, they summoned him to UFO fly-pasts and more. Puharich claimed he made tape recordings of these sessions, but none have ever been made public, so it truly is a case of Puharich against the world. If true, then Puharich asked “Are you behind the UFO sightings that started in the United States when Kenneth Arnold saw nine flying saucers on June 24, 1947?” to which they answered yes. Swiss psychologist Carl Jung made a detailed study of UFOs and was convinced that they were an alien – though not extra-terrestrial – intelligence that was here to help guide us into a new world, which he identified with the cosmic Age of Aquarius.
According to Puharich, The Nine stated they were from a world called Hoova, though on occasion, they called themselves Rhombus 4D. They contacted Puharich and Geller as they had been chosen to prevent war, as well as steering the Earth’s fate into a specific direction, which the Nine argued was indeed to their own needs and benefits, though it was also for the benefit of Mankind. Here, we therefore see clear parallels with the methodology the Nine employed with the Maya, namely their directing the fate of Mankind. The Nine also claimed that they were responsible for Geller’s powers and that the way in which Mankind used Geller would determine whether The Nine’s “programme for Planet Earth” would continue, or not.
Others, like Phyllis Schlemmer, have also contacted “Tom”, who is a spokesperson for the Nine, with whom Puharich spoke too. Her story made it into Stuart Holroyd’s “Prelude to the Landing on Planet Earth” and the later “The Only Planet of Choice”. Other Nine contactees are Don Elkins and Carla Rueckert, who channelled “Ra”, a member of The Nine, who declared that it was he who had built the Great Pyramid. In sessions with Puharich, “Tom” said the Sphinx was built and named after him. Tom adds: “I am the beginning. I am the end.” – wording that could be lifted from the baktun-ending ceremonies.
I would personally not go as far as to argue that The Nine as per these channellings are who they claim to be. I have done extensive research into them for more than a decade, and they are, quite simply, a complex issue that defies easy categorisation. But what can be said about them, is this: it is clear that each culture, whether Mayan, Egyptian or 20th century Western society, was and is in contact with an alien intelligence, which each time, relates messages that are identical in context.

The number nine is prominent in another culture, which is believed to have had direct links with the Maya: the Hopi of Arizona. They too believe we are approaching the end of an era, though their doctrine does not stipulate a precise date. Instead, they argue that for a New Era to be born, a series of nine prophecies need to be fulfilled. Still, according to Twylah Nitsch, her grandfather Moses Shongo, the last of the traditional Seneca medicine men who died in ca. 1925, did predict that there would be a 25 year of purification that would end in ca. 2012. Generally, the Hopi argue that it is due “soon”, as eight of the nine prophecies linked with it have been fulfilled. The first “sign” occurred as far back as the 16th century, and involved the arrival of the “white men with guns”. The eight, incidentally, were the Hippies! The only prophecy remaining to be fulfilled, is that of the Blue Star Kachina, which is often interpreted as an alien, and sometimes extra-terrestrial presence that will manifest itself on Earth.

As early as 1948, the Hopi tried to speak at the United Nations General Assembly about their prophecies for our ending era. They feel that they are the caretakers for the American continent and felt they needed to share the message of the necessity for humans to be in balance with nature. Twice, the Hopi elders were turned away, but they eventually were allowed to speak in 1976 at a United Nations-sponsored conference in British Columbia.
Like the Maya, the Hopi adhere to a cyclical world view and believe that we are about to emerge from the Fourth into the Fifth World –out of a total of seven worlds. Even though the Hopi do not specifically state Nine Gods will return, they do argue that one specific entity needs to return, which will be the final sign that the Fourth World has ended. Kachinas are “spirits”, which are visualised during the Hopi religious dances, very much on par with the masks the participants in the baktun ending ceremonies wore. In 1914, a song was first sung at the Wuwuchim ceremony, which marks the start of the ceremonial calendar year in November. The 1914 rendition of the song was the first mention of the imminent “Emergence into the Fifth World” and stated that this would occur when the Saquasohuh – the Blue Star Kachina – would dance in the plaza.

The Tortuguero Inscription, mentioning the return of "The Nine"

According to the “Book of the Hopi”, by Frank Waters, Saquasohuh “represents a blue star, far off and invisible, which will make its appearance soon”. Others have referenced it as “You will hear of a dwelling-place in the heavens, above the Earth, that shall fall with a great crash. It will appear as a blue star. Very soon after this, the ceremonies of my people will cease.”
In recent years, there has been intense speculation as to what the Blue Star could be. Candidates included the appearance of Hale Bopp in 1997, or the supernova of SN1987A, which occurred on February 23, 1987. The latter was the brightest supernova observed for four centuries.
It seems, however, that the Hopi prophecy has been ill-understood. Simply put, the prophecy clearly refers to a future tribal ceremony, at which point a kachina – a Hopi spirit – known as Blue Star will reveal himself. As such, Blue Star is nothing more or less than his name, and not necessarily linked to a stellar phenomenon. He is, however, by all accounts a deity – an alien intelligence that will return.
However, in recent years, the Hopi themselves have seriously clouded the debate over what is supposed to happen. Some Hopi argue that our current timeframe is known as the “Great Day of Purification”. Hopi elder Oh Shinnah Fastwolf states this period will be over by 2011 and that it will be at that moment that the blue star will appear in the sky. Speaking Wind, the son of a Pueblo shaman from New Mexico, has said that the Fifth World will start in 2012. He however argues that the final cleansing of the Earth began in 1998, when in September, the five planets aligned. He also saw a planetary alignment of nine bodies on May 5, 2000, as very important, as it was the begin date, until 2012, of how the earth would be purged. “If mankind will not willingly let go of the illusion, and the lie, it will be stripped away.”
And so, despite details and fringe claims, whenever we turn to the core of a phenomenon and the core of the 2012 phenomenon, we are confronted with one key message, one that even archaeologists have uncovered as being at the root of the Mayan prophecy about 2012: it is about the return of the gods. The Bolon Yokte Ku, who will signal in a new era. The Time Returns!

This article appeared in Sagengate Zeiten, Issue 6/2010, Vol. 12 and Frontier Vol 17.4 (May-June 2011).